Apple vs. PC Rivalry A Sham

I'm not going to compare. I just wanted to pose a thought. Any company that ignores the gamer will remain behind. This is because games drive new ideas and hardware upgrades. It keeps the PC moving to be faster and better. Mac and any other company that ignores the gamer will stay behind. I often wondered why Mac does not make Apple only games. The developers run most of the 3D software tools on an Apple so I would think that developers would jump at the chance to create Apple only games. Mac just needs to spend some cash getting a tool together. Its the final frontier for the Mac. Get the gamer and the rest will follow.

@Trevor: mac mini will probably change the tide. If Mac would have at least 20% of the market, the preassure of too few applications for Mac and too small market share will dissapear and you will be able to compare the two platforms. And guess which one is really better for the end user.

As a long time MS DOS/MS Windows user (mostly because both came with any PC I bought and PCs have always been cheaper than MACs), I completly dumped MS Windows and company last year. As a C/C++, Java and web programmer, I was sick of all the crap I had to deal with just do my work without constantly fighting viruses, spyware and crashing programs. I've been using only Linux (Gentoo first as a learning experience, then Fedora Core - which I still use today). I've never regreted my switch as I was never a big gamer... Now, I've loved the learning experience and the power of having access to all the inards of my OS and being able to customize everything and not have viruses and spyware and having access to all this great open-source software that saved me thousands of dollars I would have had to spend on Windows apps. Maintenance of my PC has become too much of a haslte for every day usage though and I just want everything to run so I can code in peace, while having access to a *nix core if I need to while using a user friendly gui and system manager the rest of the time... I have, after so many years, decided to purchase my first MAC (an 20 inch iMac G5 with OSX Tiger - whenever Apple releases it this spring). I've played with friend's MACs and just can't believe what I've been missing and how comfortable the whole experience is. JDK 5.0 will come out with OSX Tiger on the MAC and Eclipse will look just as great is it did on Windows and Linux... Firefox is availible to... I can't wait. The thing Windows, IMO, like me, is that people just don't know any better and as for price, I see it as an investment for a friendly experience and great hardware innovation and esthetics. Just my 2 cents as someone who has tried everything from DOS, Windows 3.1,95,98,NT,2k, BeOS, Linux, Solaris... I will still keep my *nix boxes at home and work as servers though. Bare minimum, hardened task-specific machines with no down time.

Well in response to Colin I would say this : Expressing creativity is in no way analogous to driving a car. If the extent of your creativity is equal to the amount of creativity involved in driving a car then I would say you change profession. True creativity whether it be music or design is within the artist not the paintbrush or the tools he is using. The true question is whether both Apples and Pc can allow an artist to express their creativity fluently. Since there are plenty of examples of fantastic design and music created on both then they are both viable tools of expression. It seems to me to be ego and familiarity which cause proponents of one brand to tout their equipment as superior . a bit like silly little boys boasting about their skaletrix sets. Neither are going to make you more creative, thats inside you. Technically, and I use Apples and Pcs , both have advantages and disadvantages.

Well in response to Colin I would say this : Expressing creativity is in no way analogous to driving a car. If the extent of your creativity is equal to the amount of creativity involved in driving a car then I would say you change profession. True creativity whether it be music or design is within the artist not the paintbrush or the tools he is using. The true question is whether both Apples and Pc can allow an artist to express their creativity fluently. Since there are plenty of examples of fantastic design and music created on both then they are both viable tools of expression. It seems to me to be ego and familiarity which cause proponents of one brand to tout their equipment as superior . a bit like silly little boys boasting about their skaletrix sets. Neither are going to make you more creative, thats inside you. Technically, and I use Apples and Pcs , both have advantages and disadvantages.

Well in response to Colin I would say this : Expressing creativity is in no way analogous to driving a car. If the extent of your creativity is equal to the amount of creativity involved in driving a car then I would say you change profession. True creativity whether it be music or design is within the artist not the paintbrush or the tools he is using. The true question is whether both Apples and Pc can allow an artist to express their creativity fluently. Since there are plenty of examples of fantastic design and music created on both then they are both viable tools of expression. It seems to me to be ego and familiarity which cause proponents of one brand to tout their equipment as superior . a bit like silly little boys boasting about their skaletrix sets. Neither are going to make you more creative, thats inside you. Technically, and I use Apples and Pcs , both have advantages and disadvantages.

I've been a designer for about 20 years and don't care what I use. The key word here is Designer ... both the Mac and PC are in the tools and just that. You proficiency with those tools depends on your experience with them. I primarily use PCs because of the investment I have in software and fonts. It would cost me well over $100K to switch to the Mac. This factor aside, I can use any environment I need to do the job at hand. Unix, PC, OS-X. Another much confused issue is the whole GUI issue ... apple didn't invent the GUI concept, in fact much of the work that led to both the Mac and Windows (among others) was done by Xerox and PARC. There is one sure sign of an amateur and that is that they will place more faith in their tools than their own abilities. Wake up ... smell the coffee and get over it. They are just tools.

Very true. I have been in their shoes so I understand. I was a Sega fanatic. It did me little good though. Sega always had great games, but only one successful system which was the Sega Genesis. Despite having the superior hardware with the Sega Master system and the Sega Dreamcast, the consoles did not sell. But I did my best to preach the Sega gospel to everyone I knew. How good a console it was, the great games that were available. But people went with the more popular consoles. In the end is was ditched as a customer twice by Sega as they crashed to the ground. Getting any format but the most popular only leads to disappointment and fanaticism. Beta users had the superior product, and they held on to it for years, fanatically defending the format even long after Sony realized it was a flop. They held on despite not being able to watch all the movies their friends with VHS could. They preached the gospel of Beta, all the while shooting themselves in the foot. Mac is the same way. Superior OS and because it's all proprietary it's very stable. But you lose out big time when you commit to it as your computer of choice because so few people have one, and because so few software programs are compatible with it. But they preach fanatically. But it's not mature behavior. Let it go Mac fans. You can accept that your system of choice isn't the best. You can admit your frustration from the times you saw that great software product on the shelf that just wasn't compatible. You can let go of Mac and join the rest of us and be normal. Let go of the fanaticism. It does no one any good, least of all you. Re: "What you will find is that the Mac vs PC debate only exists with Mac users."

Comparing a Ford Pinto and BMW would not be accurate. The reason is that if call your Apple the 'BMW', the BMW would in real life not use the same gas the Ford Pinto uses. You would have to drive past 10 gas stations to get to the one that has gas that works with your 'BMW'. Not to mention that you couldn't take your 'BMW' to Midas to get that Oil change, you'd have to drive across town to get to the only place that will change the oil in your BMW. Give it up Mac L-users! It may be more stable, but it's lack of software and hardware support makes it one luxury car that most people would prefer to do without. Re: "Experience is what brings about my appreciation and my vocal praise. To say that all OSs or programs are equal and that there is no ligitimate difference between major tools is just ignorance talking. I can drive a Ford Pinto to work, but I would rather drive a BMW and leave the Pintos to those who don't know the difference."

I've read all the comments. I'm a sales and marketing professional (but not graphics designer) who is transitioning to a consultant. Have spent 25 years using Windows, supported by company-employed technical support personnel. Now that I will be on my own, I want to minimize the expense and hassle of technical support, and the risks from viruses and spyware. Although I sold and serviced computers in the 1980s, I have no interest in what's under the hood or in games; I want a laptop that is reliable, secure, fast, and easy-to-use. My clients will be using windows. I am concerned about the downside of being dependent on just one company, and the inconveniences that I may not know about yet. Should this old dog learn new tricks or is the devil you know better than....?