[Hidden-tech] Apple v. Microsoft - Part 3,289,426

[B. Kimo Lee]

Hi Frank,

Practically speaking, it does come down to what the user is going to  
be doing with the system and what software is available for  
performing those tasks.
For instance, I do all my creative work on a Mac, but even though  
Quickbooks is available for a Mac, my (stupid) bank won't interface  
with Quickbooks for Mac. So I do my bookkeeping on a PC. If your  
company uses an Exchange server for email, you go with a PC... yada  
yada.

But philosophically speaking, my opinion is that across the board  
when comparing products, it seems pretty obvious that the Mac product  
lines are at another level above what Microsoft puts out, in terms of  
overall ease of use, productivity, simplicity, elegance, UI  
creativity, etc. Microsoft has gotten a lot better, but each time you  
think Bill's troops are catching up, Apple seems to raise the bar.  
Apple has taken the drag-n-drop paradigm to new heights with the  
extremely responsive touch-screen on the new iPhone. Flicking your  
finger fast, scrolls faster. Flicking slower, scrolls slower.  
Pinching to zoom in, very cool. I think that brings the very tactile  
user interface of the film Minority Report closer to reality.  
Someday, we won't have to sit at a keyboard and click a mouse. We'll  
just touch things and interact with them, as humans were designed to do.

The cool thing is that underlying all of Apple's slickness is OSX,  
based on UNIX, a stable and proven operating system. Does anyone  
remember that a while back the US Defense Department had switched to  
Mac servers for the defense system network? I never really looked  
into it, so if anyone has any info on that, please share it.

Perhaps you said it best regarding "getting from A to Z (hi AmyZ!)  
without getting in your way"... and I'm just thinking that Apple is  
definitely working with that in mind.

Best,
Kimo

On Jan 18, 2007, at 1:34 PM, Frank Aronson wrote:

> I'm going to throw a little cold water on this discussion, with  
> apologies to Mac Apostles...
>
> I like the Macs.  They're darned good machines.  But each platform  
> has its pluses and minuses and you have to decide if that's the way  
> to go.  Most Mac users are very happy with what they have (as well  
> they should be) and most Windows users that I've seen who have  
> tried to switch over get infuriated by some of the Mac interface  
> that claim to make it "easier" for the end user experience.  The  
> fact is, they're both valid platforms and you just have to be  
> comfortable with what you need to work on.  Frankly, I think that  
> the claims made by Apple are somewhat overblown, just as are the  
> claims made by Microsoft every time they introduce a new operating  
> system.  In the end - and I know this is sacrilegious to the Mac  
> Apostles - these are simply machines.  They are tools to get you  
> from point A to point Z without trying to get in your way as you're  
> doing it.
>
> All that being said, check out the top of the line Mac Mini.  It  
> tends to be light on disk space (A question for the Mac Apostles:   
> Why would that be?!) but you can run both Mac OS X and Windows XP  
> (not sure of Vista yet) on it.
>
> A good reason to stick with Windows:  Office 2007.  I've got a  
> trial copy on my laptop right now and while it's going to take some  
> getting used to, I think it is a huge improvement over the current  
> status quo.  They just may have gotten it right, although I don't  
> know if they are releasing a Mac version right off the bat.
>
> Be well,
> Frank

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