Microsoft pays for inaccurate "Apple Tax" study, issues 3rd TV ad

[AndrewNZ]

Hi.

 

Let me point out, if I may, that the comment regarding opinions was aimed squarely at the original post. Heck, I've also made my opinions about this known so it would be most hypocritical of me to suggest you have no right to an opinion. In my mind it was obvious that I was addressing the posting of a fansite diatribe here in the 'news/reviews' section. Apparently it wasn't as obvious as I thought, so my sincere apology if my comment was ambiguous to you.

 

That said...

 

As others have suggested, the Apple Tax is acceptable to some, not so to others. One thing it seems we're all pretty much agreed on, is that there is one, no matter what else is debated. So the consensus is that the AI fanboys are full of it. But that's no surprise.

 

"what I am saying is that Mac OS doesn't become unstable through regular use"

And you'd be wrong in saying that. You qualify your statement by introducing various malware issues that you believe affect all Windows users, but which, as I've commented, don't affect me. So I see your statement as untrue - my Vista installation has not become more "unstable" through regular use. My Leopard installation has issues that cause things to stop functioning as they should with security/bug-fix updates, so Mac OS does indeed become unstable through 'regular' use.

 

I'll repeat that for effect. Leopard does become unstable through regular use. And there are a lot of internet posts out there that agree with me. So...

 

Tiger as 10.4.11 was the most stable OS X release I have used. I can but wish that Leopard in any of its updates was so.

 

"Nothing I've seen in XP or Vista tells me that a vanilla install has the same functionality as Mac OS."

Such a broad brush as that is, frankly, unanswerable. I could just as easily claim that "Nothing I've seen in Mac OS tells me that a vanilla install has the same functionality as XP or Vista ." It would be just as valid. But I'm not about to make such a vague assertion without specifics. You have specifics, let's talk about those, but such utter rhetoric is simply a waste of bandwith.

 

"I am in the position of being the friend/roommate/family member/IT professional"

As, so it happens, am I. But your point escapes me.

 

"my experience has been that windows users need more professional assistance than mac users"

My experience is incompetents/ignorants exist on both platforms and are equally vexing. But, as I pointed out earlier, my elder sister, tech-challenged though she is, has coped fine for a decade with various flavours of Windows without feeling the need to ask for my 'professional' advice, and she's never has a virus or other malware episode. So the 'perceived wisdom' that Windows is somehow inferior to OS X in the hands of the average user is, in my experience at least, debatable.

 

"Apparently, you have needed the services of a computer professional at some point, actually proving my point"

What point is that? That I don't have infinite knowledge of everything there is to know about Apple hardware and software, and complete and utter knowledge of the infinitely vaster universe of Windows variants and the almost limitless varieties of hardware upon which it runs? Is there some alternate dimension where limited choices are logically better than having more choice? Is that your point? I can't actually tell because you haven't made it clear.

 

But I'm happy to have proved your point, and I'll be even happier when you explain it.

 

"it might have been necessary to enter single user mode or boot from a live cd of some sort to do so, if neither of these would of worked, your problems were not caused by a corrupt font."

Can you show me where I wrote that I had a corrupt font? The point was that such a thing should not happen in a 'stable' OS, and it doesn't, hasn't happened in any version of Windows, as far as I can tell. The font issue was raised in a discussion with a colleague who does IT for a living, both on Macs and PCs of myriad flavours, for multiple corporations. This man earns his bread maintaining systems and I don't doubt his expertise at all. So your "problems were not caused by a corrupt font" assertion is, if you'll pardon the bluntness, empty.

 

"run windows vista for six months, using and installing all the software you normally use, track the time you spend maintaining your system, and you will be surprised"

I thought that I'd been quite clear in the last post that the software updates take care of themselves so my time spent maintaining the Vista install is negligible. Is it more than Leopard? Doubtful. Is it less than Leopard? Probably. Do I get a prize for spending my time tracking to make sure either way?

 

Here's the payoff - this thread was started by an Apple fanboy to bash Microsoft. It isn't news. It has no place in this section but it is here all the same. There's specific places on this forum where people can endlessly debate the relative merits or otherwise of the Mac and the PC, Windows discussions or Apple discussions or, heaven help us, The Great Debate.

 

Feel free to contribute your views on OS X or Vista there and hopefully Technobob will begin his next Microsoft assault there, rather than in this news/reviews section.

 

I won't hold my breath though.

[V Plamondon]

AndrewNZ, I apologize for jumping down your throat. Reading your response it becomes apparent to me that you seem to have more experience with OS X than me, and I am going to take your word that I should not have made such broad generalizations about OS X without knowing all the facts, and that my broad generalizations were wrong.

 

I guess I should have said that, so far, I have had a very positive experience with OS X and the computers I maintain or fix on a regular basis.

 

I should mention that most of the friends/family/coworkers/aquaintances I have are to varying degrees computer illiterate and many of them expect to hit the power button and the computer will do anything and everything they expect, such as record movie blogs (in the absence of a webcam/appropriate software etc.), and that sometimes affects my attitude.

 

The other thing that drives me crazy, is some people's tendancy to download every little piece of software from any old idiot, that tends to bloat and destabilise windows. In retrospect, instead of making a broad generalsation about the stabilty of macs in which I am not in possession of all the facts, I should have stated that I appreciate that there seems to be less idiotware for OS X contributing to such problems.

 

To clarify my point about professional assistance, we all need assistance at some point. Because of the way people I know use computers, if their OS doesn't hold their hand to some degree, they need a lot of assistance, especially since their is so much malicous windows code available.

 

To microsofts credit, I think their OS's are actually well designed, and for informed users who maintain their sytem, they work quite well.

 

Another issue that plagues windows is driver stability issues, a very good reason to NOT use cheap hardware in one's computer systems, as it's definately not worth saving a few dollars, as it bites one in the ass every time.

 

I guess I am really wandering off topic, so even though I could wine about windows for a variety of reasons, I will stop here and go to the point that I originally wanted to make, that if apple computers had an "apple tax" (I don't think so), they have added value for various reasons to compensate for that tax (in my opinion).

 

In a way, I admire Apple's business sense, as since they have stopped trying to compete with Microsoft, they have been doing better and better (financially), until they have become a force to be reckoned with, that Microsoft have now taken notice. Whether Apple sell's 10000 macs or 10 million, apple is always going to make a good profit on their hardware sales, and Microsoft provoking Apple may awaken the David to their Goliath.

 

I doubt we have to worry about that though, as I believe Apple and Microsoft recognize that they are in a Coca Cola/Pepsi Cola, or Duracell/Energizer type of competition/synergy.

[AndrewNZ]

Apology not necessary, but I appreciate the gesture.

 

Everybody's experience with OSes is unique and our views are coloured by those experiences, so none of us are likely to concur exactly in our perceptions of their merits. I tend to use the web tech sites to get a perspective on whether or not the experience I'm having is down to my incompetence or if the issue is more widespread, on each the OSes I use (Tiger, Leopard, Leopard OSx86, XP, Vista and Win7 Beta).

 

It helps me get a more balanced view of strengths and weaknesses and, I hope, prevents me falling into the Mac-Suxxorz/PC-Suxxorz dogma we often see, virtually anyplace the two are discussed.

 

Off the top of my head, I can think of half a dozen things about OS X that are superior to the equivalents in Windows. And I can think of as many things that Windows does better than OS X. In my opinion, that is. The things that delight me (the Mac's universal menu bar for example) might bug the cr@p out of somebody else, while the things that bug me (like the Finder losing its place when you switch view modes) others don't even notice.

 

So, there's no 'better' OS as far as I'm concerned. Generally they both do a good job most of the time but neither is perfect. Some find it easy to claim an OS's superiority over another, and do so with enthusiasm bordering on fanaticism. I find that mindless. But just like the endless Chevy vs Ford debates, It's not going away anytime soon.