Comments on: Apple is cool http://blog.contriving.net/2006/01/15/apple-is-cool/ Things that interest me about rationality, science, and technology Mon, 08 Mar 2010 23:30:23 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Dustin http://blog.contriving.net/2006/01/15/apple-is-cool/comment-page-1/#comment-398 Dustin Sun, 22 Jan 2006 03:30:57 +0000 http://blog.contriving.net/2006/01/15/apple-is-cool/#comment-398 I think you misunderstood me. I am in no way an OS X hater. I think it's probably the best OS out of the box out there. Apple's are also the best for "new" people for all the reasons you mention. However, for experienced users, an Apple is a hard sell because of the fact that we already know how to make XP do exactly what we want and Apple's carry a premium. This premium is worth easily worth it to some, but for many it's a hard sell. As far as a couple of your other points...spyware and viruses are best avoided through smart use of your computer. I've had one virus in 15 years of computing, and I don't run AV software. I never have spyware because I know how to use the internet safely. Every couple of months I'll fire up AV and spyware scans just to be safe, but I'm always clean. Its a kind of "dirty secret" of advanced PC users...most of them don't run AV software, but advise others to do so. Most people aren't savvy enough to avoid the pitfalls. This of course, again couples with the point that XP works fine for advanced users... I think you misunderstood me. I am in no way an OS X hater. I think it’s probably the best OS out of the box out there.

Apple’s are also the best for “new” people for all the reasons you mention.

However, for experienced users, an Apple is a hard sell because of the fact that we already know how to make XP do exactly what we want and Apple’s carry a premium. This premium is worth easily worth it to some, but for many it’s a hard sell.

As far as a couple of your other points…spyware and viruses are best avoided through smart use of your computer. I’ve had one virus in 15 years of computing, and I don’t run AV software. I never have spyware because I know how to use the internet safely. Every couple of months I’ll fire up AV and spyware scans just to be safe, but I’m always clean. Its a kind of “dirty secret” of advanced PC users…most of them don’t run AV software, but advise others to do so. Most people aren’t savvy enough to avoid the pitfalls.

This of course, again couples with the point that XP works fine for advanced users…

]]> By: Varun http://blog.contriving.net/2006/01/15/apple-is-cool/comment-page-1/#comment-397 Varun Sat, 21 Jan 2006 21:43:38 +0000 http://blog.contriving.net/2006/01/15/apple-is-cool/#comment-397 There is no denying that you can do whatever a mac do on a PC, probably even more. But the fact is that if you even want a decent environment to download images from your camera and organize them, you have to know about picasa, and then go and download it. What if you want to make a podcast? You might be able to do it better, but hey its still effort. On the other hand, on the mac i have garageband and iphoto both conveniently available without any extra effort. This convenience is very important to a lot of people. And not all of those people are lazy and dont wanna do anything. For example, the hour i would spend making a windows box equivalent to a mac one, (and an hour only because i have been a very heavy user of windows and know what software i would need...people who dont have much to do with the tech world, which is most consumers, would take much longer, even if they ever would manage it,) would cost me at least a 100 dollars in actual money. The amount i make in an hour. And I have not even spoken about the monetary effects of the stress, and the fact that these are all disparate software which dont play nice with each other. While for a lot of people, Windows, and Linux are great, for example if you have unsupported software your company uses, or you love having tons of apps, there are many people for whom a mac is entirely sufficient, and is all they need. Not only is it all they need, it does stuff they need to do best. For example, download music to an ipod and make a podcast. Oh and yeah, did i mention the hour my computer would spend everyday running various anti spyware software, and those spent fixing the mess zone alarm and norton had created on my computer? Finally, all the OS'es do somethings really well, and there is no need being an OSX hater because it doesnt work for you. It works brilliantly for a lot of people. There is no denying that you can do whatever a mac do on a PC, probably even more. But the fact is that if you even want a decent environment to download images from your camera and organize them, you have to know about picasa, and then go and download it. What if you want to make a podcast? You might be able to do it better, but hey its still effort. On the other hand, on the mac i have garageband and iphoto both conveniently available without any extra effort. This convenience is very important to a lot of people. And not all of those people are lazy and dont wanna do anything. For example, the hour i would spend making a windows box equivalent to a mac one, (and an hour only because i have been a very heavy user of windows and know what software i would need…people who dont have much to do with the tech world, which is most consumers, would take much longer, even if they ever would manage it,) would cost me at least a 100 dollars in actual money. The amount i make in an hour. And I have not even spoken about the monetary effects of the stress, and the fact that these are all disparate software which dont play nice with each other.

While for a lot of people, Windows, and Linux are great, for example if you have unsupported software your company uses, or you love having tons of apps, there are many people for whom a mac is entirely sufficient, and is all they need. Not only is it all they need, it does stuff they need to do best. For example, download music to an ipod and make a podcast.

Oh and yeah, did i mention the hour my computer would spend everyday running various anti spyware software, and those spent fixing the mess zone alarm and norton had created on my computer?

Finally, all the OS’es do somethings really well, and there is no need being an OSX hater because it doesnt work for you. It works brilliantly for a lot of people.

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