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  • OS Wars

    Mac or PC?

    Palm or Pocket PC?

    Treo or Crackberry?

    iPod or other mp3 player?

    Y2Kanaka or Luddite....?

    nah, nah....

    What gadgets work for you? Thinking of crossing platforms?

    aloha, Pua'i

    (who is a Mac/Treo kinda gal.)

    pax

  • #2
    Re: OS Wars

    PC's, best for games and I love the fact you can tear em a part and have lots of hardware choices to make em a hotrod 3D graphics code crunching fire breathing monster!!

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    • #3
      Re: OS Wars

      Yike. Mac v. Windows and other platform debates are the third rail of message boards.

      Mac v. Windows? I use both. And see advantages to both. My primary machine at home is now a Mac, but I was all Windows-based for more than ten years.

      I love my iPod. It was definitely the "gateway drug" to changing my desktop PC to an Apple. But I got it for the simple, elegant design. I know there are awesome devices out of Creative and other manufacturers that actually have many more features, but for what it does, the iPod is perfect for me.

      Similarly, as for handhelds, I prefer the simpler PalmOS to PocketPC, and love my Treo 650 (phone and PDA). There are some pretty cool Microsoft-run handhelds out there, though, and I know some folks will never give up their "Crackberries." Different strokes...
      Last edited by pzarquon; September 20, 2005, 10:55 AM.

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      • #4
        Re: OS Wars

        Originally posted by pzarquon
        Yike. Mac v. Windows debates are the third rail of message boards.

        I use both. And see advantages to both. My primary machine at home is now a Mac, but I was all Windows-based for more than ten years.
        LOL.

        As to the fun pasttime of OS Wars, I admit to my fair share of fray-moshing in my youth. But my reasons are different this time around.

        </hand over heart>

        Although I am a Mac person, I am thinking about getting a PC, for several different reasons, most importantly because my kids are pretty adept at using the Mac, but know nothing about the PC, and while I have been fortunate enough to get by life w/o using a PC, chances are slim that they will be afforded the same luxury.

        Pzarquon, help me on this. What was it like for you to cross platforms? Anyone else done so? As for me, I will remain a Mac Addict for the rest of my life. But I see the practicality of being bi-platform.

        pax

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        • #5
          Re: OS Wars

          Originally posted by Pua'i Mana'o
          Pzarquon, help me on this. What was it like for you to cross platforms? Anyone else done so? As for me, I will remain a Mac Addict for the rest of my life. But I see the practicality of being bi-platform.
          Only six months ago, our computer room held six Dell PCs running Windows XP and Windows 2000 and an HP Tablet PC (also with XP). Then a good friend donated a Mac G4 tower to my daughter (age seven). I started playing with it. I ended up getting an iMac G5. My wife started playing with it. I got her a Mac mini. It's amusing to see her desk, with the Dell monitor, keyboard and mouse but no hulking CPU -- just an elegant little box.

          I actually wanted the Mac for my daughter because she was less likely to download spyware, malware, or have her computer hijacked. I know Macs aren't immune (and are increasingly targets for malicious coders), but for the most part, the upside to not having the same range of software options for a Mac that PC users have means the same scarcity on the trojan/virus front. It's also more stable -- no more crashes that require my intervention to untangle.

          I had the same concern, that being a Mac kid would mean she was disadvantaged in the "real world," but the fact of the matter is, she knows her way around Windows just fine, and there are (gasp!) even Windows PCs at her school.

          More fundamentally, I don't think the next generation will have half the 'adaptability' problems we had dealing with new interfaces and gadgetry. This stuff is second nature to them. For a while (between Windows PCs), her computer was actually a Linux system (Knoppix). I don't think she even noticed. A mouse is a mouse, a pointer is a pointer, no biggie.

          So, stability, system security, and just plain philosophy made Mac the best choice for my kid, and ultimately, for me. And I didn't find the transition all that hard -- keyboard shortcuts and 'right-click' were probably the biggest quirks, but I'm just as productive as I was on my PC... and meanwhile enjoy the experience, even on a solely aesthetic level, much more.

          Downsides? Fewer software options. Cool toys on the PC (the TiVo Desktop link for streaming media, the Google Earth utility, etc.) often never make it to the Mac side. And my daughter has already learned that she's a second-class citizen in computer land, as all the software programs she sees on TV don't work for her machine. I, of course, see that as a good thing!

          But, hey, I have the Office suite, I have Photoshop, and stuff built for Mac (Mail.app, GarageBand, iPhoto, and especially Widgets... oooh!), and that's 99 percent of what I need. I still have my PC under my desk as a crutch, but I haven't turned it on for weeks now.

          Price, of course, is the great leveler in the debate (though less so since the Mac mini debut). I can see the reasoning behind buying your kid a $349 cheapo PC for your kids to pound the hell out of, rather than risking a $799-$1,299 Mac.

          My problem with the "disposable computer" model is that by writing off the kids' PC as a toy, you're less likely to keep it patched, and the machine is more likely to be hit with all kinds of bad bugs. In time, that throwaway machine in the kids' room might become a veritable hub of DDoS attacks or spam storms. You might not care, but the rest of the Internet sure does.

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: OS Wars

            Originally posted by Pua'i Mana'o
            Pzarquon, help me on this. What was it like for you to cross platforms? Anyone else done so? As for me, I will remain a Mac Addict for the rest of my life. But I see the practicality of being bi-platform.
            Like sinjin said... go BI for Christmas. Now there's an alternative lifestyle for you.

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            • #7
              Re: OS Wars

              since my daughter replaced PC gaming I have been thinking about getting a mac to play with.Maybe a media center TV friendly config,how are they doing with that? Last I heard it was well,simpler,less heat/fans and more stable with TV apps

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              • #8
                Re: OS Wars

                Originally posted by Fondoo
                since my daughter replaced PC gaming I have been thinking about getting a mac to play with.Maybe a media center TV friendly config,how are they doing with that? Last I heard it was well,simpler,less heat/fans and more stable with TV apps
                Microsoft apparently has grand plans for its Media Center. I have to admit, I haven't tried it.

                I imagine the convergence of the TV/entertainment center and the computer is inevitable (hell, I have two TiVos, which are basically Linux PCs), but I'm not ready for that just yet. Especially for a kid. I mean, I rationalize that time in front of a computer is better than time in front of a TV because the former is interactive, and can connect you to the world (for better or worse). The output from the latter is just one-way, and often worthless. If my kid's computer was also a TV, I'd be afraid the kid would just soak up more cartoons, rather than explore on his or her own.

                A media center separate from a computer I can get behind entirely. And if you don't want to spring for TiVo (which is increasingly under the thumb of the media conglomerates), I've long meant to give MythTV a try. It's like TiVo, but free! Both free in cost, and free of sacrifices in the name of big business.

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                • #9
                  Re: OS Wars

                  thx pzarquon,mainly it apeals to me as an easy place to view and listen to our own media like music,pictures,home movies and such.Probobly my obsessive geek inside just wants to come out and play again

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                  • #10
                    Re: OS Wars

                    If I had the money I would have brought a Macintosh too.

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                    • #11
                      Re: OS Wars

                      Windows user here! (I'm one of those who hates MS, but is too scared to go to Linux or Mac OS X). PC gaming, video editing/burning, loads of apps to play around with are some of the reasons why I'm sticking to my XP machine.

                      I did play with Ubuntu Linux for a while, and if I need to, then I know how to get around Linux.
                      How'd I get so white and nerdy?

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                      • #12
                        Re: OS Wars

                        I occasionally use Windows XP Pro via Virtual PC on Mac OS X, so I qualify as more of a Mac user.
                        Ā Ē Ī Ō Ū ā ē ī ō ū -- Just a little something to "cut and paste."

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                        • #13
                          Re: OS Wars

                          Originally posted by Pua'i Mana'o
                          Mac or PC?
                          Palm or Pocket PC?
                          iPod or other mp3 player?
                          What gadgets work for you? Thinking of crossing platforms?
                          Computers:

                          Power Mac G4 tower - OSX 10.3.9 / dual boot OS 9.2.1

                          iBook laptop - OSX 10.3.9 /dual boot to OS 9.2.1

                          Power Computing Clone - Mac OS 8.1 / BeOS 5

                          Other older Mac OS systems.

                          Palm III - Palm OS 3.5.3

                          iPod 40GB Photo & iPod Shuffle 512MB

                          Windows OS? only at work. Not home.
                          I'm still here. Are you?

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: OS Wars

                            Originally posted by pzarquon
                            My wife started playing with it. I got her a Mac mini. It's amusing to see her desk, with the Dell monitor, keyboard and mouse but no hulking CPU -- just an elegant little box.
                            When I built my last computer I didn't want the clutter on my desk so I set up an external USB DVD Burner as the primary optical storage device and set it next to my 17" ViewEra LCD monitor with built in 3-watt speakers and the Logitech cordless keyboard and mouse.

                            Once you boot up your computer you typically never touch the CPU other than to load a CD or watch a DVD, so taking the cue from the Mini Mac, I decided I could simply have an external DVD-ROM drive on my desk instead of the Mini ATX case.

                            The desk has a minimal clutter look now and I can even take the keyboard across the room and control the PC from a distance.

                            As for Windows Media Center, I'm not ready to buy that OS yet as they still have some compatibility issues with other media players other than Windows Media Player.
                            Life is what you make of it...so please read the instructions carefully.

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