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- Seaton, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Here's my switching story:
I was a devout Mac addict for years. I spent many hours in IRC rooms in heated arguments over why the Mac was superior to the PC. I bought Umax clone cases off eBay and literally assembled my own Macs. My C600 with 400MHz G3 running OS 8.6 would blow the doors off any Wintel box back in 1998. My S900 with a G4 card and 1024MB of RAM was also a powerhouse at the time. These boxes were rock solid and at one point I owned 3 PowerBooks and 4 Umax towers.
Jump ahead to 2003, I am in the market for a new Powerbook. As a temporary solution, I used a company Compaq laptop for the duration of the summer. I learned more about Windows that summer than any amount of tinkering could have taught me before. The idea that I could now run all that software that my friends were telling me about was just mind blowing. Yes, XP has issues, but I like to tinker and I learned to deal with the problems and overcome them.
I had all intentions of buying an Apple PowerBook. I walked into an Apple Store with $3000 cash in my pocket, I needed a computer NOW. I did not want to compromise and settle for a 12" or 15" PowerBook, I really wanted the big one, which at the time ($2799.00) I couldn't even take home that day, thanks to taxes. I couldn't believe that I couldn't even get the laptop I wanted for under 3 grand. I did some shopping and settled on the just released ZD7000 series laptop from HP. CompUSA wouldn't honor the sale price on the HP that was posted 2 days prior, even when I showed them the cash and copy of their ad. CompUSA was in the same shopping center as BestBuy. I told the manager I was going to take a walk across the parking lot and couldn't believe they wouldn't close the deal. BestBuy had my HP laptop on sale but none in stock. A little checking around the store and they had one in an open box. I got a $2,000.00 HP 17" laptop for a little under $1,400.00 because I still got the rebates even on the open box price.
If I had bought the PowerBook at nearly double the price, my computer would now be considered slow and outdated. I'm typing this on a HP 17" laptop with pristine display, running a P4 @ 3.0GHz, 2.0GB RAM, upgraded 7200RPM Travelstar drive, it's 2 years old, and still looks and runs like brand new. I pull this thing out of my bag at Starbucks and those little iBook users in the corner cower and tremble at the presence of my 11 pound ungodly fire breathing beast. My laptop eats PowerBooks for lunch and Apple is switching to Intel because Steve Jobs knows it.
Do I still love Apple? Yes, Unconditionally. I watch every keynote speech religiously. I have many iPods.
Will I switch back to Mac and OSX? Not unless their prices come down from the stratosphere. Even then, I will still keep my PC. I still like the fact I can run all the programs (almost) everyone else can (e.g. Google Earth).
What you now have on your hands is Digg user who is capable of all the passionate griping and bitching of an Apple Fanboy (used to be one) combined with the logic of a PC user who doesn't throw negative comments into the fold just because someone spoke with a slight Pro-Windows tone.
I hope other "reverse switchers" post comments as well. - dotpage, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2OK, I switched to Macs, all the 4 computers in the house, me, wife, kid and file server, but for some of the same reasons as this guy, I switched my machine back to a PC (ZV6000 A64 laptop), but this is the thing, I sold my 6 months old powerbook on ebay for 100 some bucks more than what I paid for (after student discount). A Mac will hold a good value, like a Honda or a Toyota, a PC is snapier but full of bugs when running windows, and lacks support running Linux, so it's more like a souped up Ford taurus, it's fast, but when you try to resell it, you're down at least half of your money. Me, I like the setup I have now, Mac serving the everyday pourposes for my wife and kid, and my Athlon 64 smoking my apps.
- trunkster, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"Windows Anti-aliasing for LCDs is more refined than OS X. You’d think it’d be opposite, but to me Macs seem fuzzy."
Dude you are ***** blind... Mac anti-aliasing looks like you are reading a PDF file all the time, it is freaking awesome. I was going to post a nice reply here but apparently the guy is an idiot.. so whatever. - manfesto, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Why do people have to "switch?"
I mean, just cuz I have a mac mini and am about to buy an iBook, doesn't mean my PC sits unused in the corner or anything. I built the damn thing and have too much history screwing with it and fixing its problems to not use it. And it's not like it's the last PC I'll ever build, either.
Geez. Why is it so black and white in the tech world?
But this guy is more than free to post his opinions on the internet. Good for him, going back to what's comfortable to him. - tibby.dude, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Russell is just doing a Dvorak ... should drive lots of traffic to his blog.
- elShaggy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2He's running slower macs. Dont complain about graphics in a $500 computer.
He simply dislikes the apps apple provides. Windows is for him, Enjoy Windows. - UGM2099, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1He's treating his opinion as objective fact.
Apparently he likes to go against the grain just for the sake of it.
http://www.russellbeattie.com/notebook/1008624.html - Yaku83, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Who cares?
- theone3, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1O.K.
Now. I'm a solid MS camper. I mean, really solid, but even I think this is a plant, although no doubt, the mac fans (see below) will defend OSX to the last minute.
Which makes me wonder who planted it. A clever double game by apple? or more melodramatic microsoft marketing. - hardcoredj, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1What a maroon. He's a gamer who has no use for most of the bundled Apple apps. Gee, what a shock that he's disappointed. *sarcasm on* I hope he does go back, just so his Halo experience improves. *sarcasm off*
- neocitron, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1i was in his shoes.. went back to windows for a year... hated it then came back to OS X
- tobsterius, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I'm a Mac user.
Who cares? Switch if you want to. - Seaton, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"What an idiot. Have fun going back to .DLL Hell, where instead of removing an app by dragging it to the trash, you're scouring your registry for files after your uninstaller crashed leaving you with a bunch of random resource files you dont know what the hell they do."
I can't believe that someone is using the "I can drag an app into the trash to remove it" argument.
Let's see, we drag the app into the trash, then the surrounding folder, then let's go into the system folder, drag the pref files into the trash. Depending on the app, there might be files left all over the system. I can do the same thing on XP, manually remove the traces of the program, but I would much rather launch an uninstaller and have the program do all the work for me.
If an uninstaller crashes, it is probably because you tried to drag the app to the recycle bin.
Millions of applications are available for XP, maybe a few thousand available for OSX. The companies that release OSX software typically have the money to spend on cross platform development, so needless to say some of the OSX software is more reliable.
Let's say I want to convert multiple images to a different format and compress them. If I am running XP, I might have 100 different applications availble to do the job. If I try running 100 applications on XP, chances are several of them will be buggy and crash happy. If I want to accomplish the same task on OSX, only 5 applications may be available to do the job. Chances are, all 5 will work properly. It's just a law of percentages. More people use XP so there are more people not satisfied with the end user experience. If you have 100 people in a room, 94 of them use XP and 10 of the 94 are unhappy campers. 5 of the 100 use Mac OSX and it's rare but 1 of 5 might be an unhappy camper. 1 of the 100 use Linux and if they are unhappy, they just don't tell anyone about it.
I assume the reason Mac users get so upset when one of their own wants to abandon the platform is because it reveals a much greater percentage of dissatisfaction with OSX than previously admitted. - sfacets, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1He'll be back ;)
- barbobot, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2he thought that unix was linux? dumbass
- orbitalpunk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1holy crap, he got 100 comments in 2 days.
I've always been a windows user but bought a G5 last year to give it a whirl. I got sucked in to the eye candy i guess. but overall i returned it. working in mac is like typing with ski gloves. you just cant get to what you wanna do as fast and seemed harder to multi-task. like download, encode and listen to music. just got messy in osX.
and i dont know why people say video editing is for macs. whats the difference running premiere or avid on a pc or mac. its the same program. or why graphic artists most use macs. hey, photoshop is photoshop.
the only good thing on the mac was it didnt crash as much. but thats becuase there are a lot less programs availble for it. so there's less on it. on windows, you can experiment with a lot more stuff. some might be risky but its still experimenting and having fun. betting being locked down to only stable apps. i wanna find that niche. thats killer app that does just what i want. just hope it gets past beta. at least i have a choice. ya know?
and macs are slooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow!!!!! - RpgActioN, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"His reasoning seems somewhat ridiculous as he pretty much lists every feature of OSX that is different than Windows as a negative."
No; he stated he did not like them. It's his opinion. He chooses not to like something...
"Imagine this ***** on Linux! HAHAHA"
If you bothered to read, you would know that he is very familiar with Linux.
This guy isn't stupid, people. Just because something is mainstream doesn't make it bad and evil; you are beyond retarded if you go out of your way to displease yourself so you can create a more rebellious image of yourself to a third party. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Great read. Don't bash the guy for writing what he feels is right. Right or wrong, hes intitled to it.
BEOS forever baby. j/k
+ digg - bzImage, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1He says:
". Linux is what I know"
Yea sure, this is a guy who uses the computer just for playing games.. Go and get a nintendo, that way you will be happy. - Sentinel, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I agree with a few of his points, especially the LCD fuzzy thing. I find text to look a bit fuzzy on my LCD monitor as well.
All in all I like Windows, but I love my Mac! If this guy would rather use Windows, that's his preference. - rimco, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1theone3, you called it good! Let the flames burn until there's nothing left!
Seriously though, will someone just sit down and realize what's going on here? You got a little silicone chip with electrons flying around like crazy and then some sort of programming that tries to make sense out of it all. Just that in-and-of itself amazes me. No OS will EVER be perfect. I personally think that Macs are great for people who aren't as computer literate or who prefer style over substance (which I walk a fine line between preferring either-or). Windows is great because it's the most widely used and, whether you want to admit it or not, has done incredible things to bring the PC community together as a whole. There's a reason why Windows is #1, and it's not just because Bill Gates is the anti-christ... it is the most concentric OS there is. Just think if MacOS, Windows, and Linux all had equal market share. My mom probably would've been confused just by looking at the classes that would be offered at the local college. "Well which class do I take? What's the difference between this MacOS or Linux or Windows? Why can't a computer just be a computer?" And there you have it... Windows has helped make a computer "just a computer". MacOS has a strong appeal, but I know that as much as I hate Windows, I can't help but respect it and use it all the same. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Kashey
Imagine this ***** on Linux! HAHAHA - davidg, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0It must be a such now that Elf Bowl runs for him.
- npulido, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0You know what i love the most about windows ?
The anti-standard Developers Developers Developers, they all think they can make whatever the wacky GUI that they want, just look at the catalyst drivers for ATI, they couldn't just make a rectangle box ? - jarinudom, on 03/31/2008, -0/+0I use both, what's the problem?
Of course, OS X is my main OS.... hehehe - wastern, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0he couldn't honestly be upset with all that after 7 months. most of that stuff was stuff you'd get passed and learn in the first week. the guy is an idiot just looking for ***** to talk
- Kashey, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0If this guy is able to crush OSX on regular basis. I can't even imaging him doing something on Windows.
- kevjava, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0From TFA: "And Linux shares the same disadvantage as the Mac in that it’s simply Not Windows. "
Some people simply aren't happy with something that isn't the beaten path. That's cool. Your computer is a tool that you use to get work done. If you get more work done with Windows, that's cool, too. I personally don't care.
I'm a converted Windows/Linux geek. I came for GarageBand, and stayed for Java, iLife, and the BSD backend. I really dig having access to a Unix-based command line as well as Microsoft Office (although I pretty much refuse to use it anymore). It works for me. - thecapitalizt, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I seriously think that he's making a joke here. Either that or he's a dumbass. "Bonjour works well, but because it isn't on windows its useless!!!" "I can't find out where HP apps automatically start from!" (dude, its login items. If you have no clue, try searching in system prefs.) "my isight doesn't play with anything other than iChat." (funny, i recorded a short video with it in imovie the other day. And my friend is using it with QT broadcaster...) "keynote and pages are cool but their file formats are wacky" (its called EXPORT) "garageband isn't particularily compelling" (then Don't use it!)
And the end-all complaint about OS X: "I don't use iMovie". Yes, he complains about how lousy a platform is, and one reason is that it provides him with an app that he doesn't use. BTW, DVD burners don't cost "a ton." Try sub-$100.
What an idiot. Have fun going back to .DLL Hell, where instead of removing an app by dragging it to the trash, you're scouring your registry for files after your uninstaller crashed leaving you with a bunch of random resource files you dont know what the hell they do. - ebullit, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0il0vemymac
not likely,
macs have there place, but are hardly flexible enough for the many applications the computers are used for. and Linux is killing MS slowly, if MS does not rethink there business plan they will be gone in a few years, - Polaris, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I lost this tool in the first sentence when he said, paraphrasing "I just joined Yahoo! 7 months ago..." Whaaaa? Aren't there Tibetan monks who have had Yahoo! accounts since 1996? And then there's the testy note shutting down the comments section.
As one customer service rep once said to a support line caller, "Unplug your computer, put it back in the box, take it back to the store. You are too stupid to use it."
Tool. - Archfiend, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Wow, this guy has some "really good reasons" to go back to PCs, it was a great laugh. Oh, he was serious? ... I'm not saying that Windows is a bad OS or anything, but going back to Windows because of those reasons is pretty silly. A couple of those options can be fixed to his specifications (He can make screenshots into a few different formats, like PNG and Halo was a bad port, try Unreal Tournament 2004 or 2003). He also didn't elaborate on some points very well, he would just say some features suck. Though he did have a few good points, most of them were uninformed and irrelevant (the whole thing with Halo, .Mac, and taking screenshots).
- BigHeadOne, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Mac users are bizarre. They're fanatical about a company. A COMPANY. They seek to get to your pocket like any other 'evil' corporate entity does. Of all the things to give two sh1ts about...it puzzles me.
I'm a PC user, even though I hate having to reinstall XP every 6 months to clear the registry/DLL hell. This guy has a point. It's the only place to be for bleeding edge apps. It gets the support. I would love to switch to Linux, but my penchant for gaming disallows that, ditto for Mac.
I'm a PC user because there is no alternative for a gamer. I can sympathize with this article. - nauthiz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Please spare us from stupidity, I actually feel like I lost a few brain cells just now.
Macs have some issues, but this guy has never even laid his hands on a mac.
"18. Do you know how long it took me to get the idea that I had to empty the trash before I disconnected any external drives, memory cards, etc. otherwise the files just stayed whereever they were. " I rest my case. BTW bud its wherever not WHEREEVER.
Windows users no offense but you can have this one we do not want him. - Massif, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0It strikes me as odd that this guy used an interface that he so dreadfully hates for 7 whole months. If I had that many problems with an operating system, I wouldn't last 7 days. You would think that by the third month he would have at least gotten used to it.
It might just be me, but these words don't sound like they're coming from a guy who has just been using a mac. - Philotic, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0His list is full of so many things he dislikes, many of which are why people buy macs, why the ***** did he buy TWO of them in the first place?
- mushroom, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0^^How the hell did that happen^^
Mac Mini=webtv/msntv
Witch is a hell alot better then webtv/msntv but Apple stole that ideal form wbetv/msntv go figuer Apple can steal to - ricardo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Made me laff when I read this cos I know exactly what he means.
But once you let go of your windows habits & assumptions it's all fine.
I wouldn't go back. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0ebullit
You're an OS whore! lol Oh and I accidentally marked you as a Troll... hehehe *gulp* sorry! I clicked to select excellent and in WINDOWS it highlights it when I went to scroll down it change it to Flame I think and your post *blup* gone :(. I freakin hate Windows. My beautiful iMac is coming tomorrow! So you know, this wont happen again. lol I'm stupid. - Zippo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I use both and I prefer using OS X for certain things, Windows for others. Mac makes my eyes feel at ease... just so nice to look at.
- Sweeps, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0This guy makes some - I repeat some good points. But in my opinion if he is not having a good time with his mac's and has to reboot them very often then he is doing something wrong. PEace!
- mkjones, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Nice article. I agree with a lot of his points.
Macs/PCs are about as stable as each other. I find PCs more stable as when one breaks I can take it apart and see if I can fix the issue.
I used Macs when I was at college. The art/design studio just HAD to have them. They were pretty bad. I lost SO much work becuase of them crashing and curruping things. They looked nice at least, lovely screens. - filovirus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I have always been interested in Apple since OS X came on the scene. I just could never justify the purchase until two weeks ago when I decided to buy and sell it on ebay if it did not work out. I bought a power mac dual 2.0 ghz. It had 512MB and would slow down immensely. I ordered 1 GB from newegg.com :) and the machine is wonderfully responsive with 1.5 GB.
I record O&A on XM every day because I cannot listen at work. I use apple script to turn on macXM and tune to 202. Audio hijack pro to records, encodes, splits tracks, tags, and loads iTunes. This was more tedious in XP. I cannot claim to be a switcher, but I am using my Mac 95% more than the XP. With VM for Mac, I don't even have to boot my XP machine.
For usenet, Unison is an awesome program. Usenet clients would bog down immensely in XP, but Unison just runs. Must be the dual 2.0
- maskd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Windows is stable.
If it's not stable for you you're not looking after it properly or have a hardware error. Why is it that my Windows XP has had uptime of 3 weeks if its bug-ridden and "CRASHES EVERY SECOND *****!".
I hate Mac Fanbois. - saggygrandma, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Yeah what a wanker, if he feels more comftable using microsofts copy of other products then good for him.
But at least he does know both sides well before commentating though. - UberGeekGamer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0And in total randomness..... take the blue pill
- idunno, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0lol, I can browse the web and play games, watch movies, listen to music, (all for alot cheaper than a mini) on my PSP. If these are the only things a mini is good/designed for, then why waste the money?
- cipnet, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0i love it how he lists all the things that annoy him about osx and gives us the impression he's going to change in the title, then shows that he still prefers OSX over any other OS in the last paragraph :)
i love my ibook, but i'm glad my desktop is a pc - Zivko, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"Anyone who says that Macs are more stable than Windows are smoking dope."
Either you're a moron or you're a ***** stirrer, either way, stop talking *****.
Most of the reasons he brings up are just about whinging or complaining or showing hate. He dislikes it because it's THERE.
This shouldn't even be dugg, this guy is just pathetic. - cypher35, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0*sob* I can't get halo up to 60fps on my Mac Mini *snif*
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