Ok you Mozilla users. Question.

[Gene Steinberg]

No argument here. In the eyes of the restaurant food consuming public McDonald's is king. When people are shelling out money for food they often find the price/quality of McDonald's to be just what they're looking for. Other vendors are found lacking in either the price or quality category.



Well . . . it can't. Superior quality is often a matter of personal opinion. It does, however, often indicate which product most people are willing to spend their hard earned money on. Whoever offers the product that best meets the needs of the public (at a price they're willing to pay) will generally capture the market.



Yep . . . iPod has certainly breathed life back in to Apple. Dumping Motorolla for Intel and making sure their new intel Power Macs can run Windows XP with slight tweaking didn't hurt either.

Even with all that working in their favor they're still light years behind Microsoft in the eyes of the buying public. How this can be if they truly offer a superior product is baffling to me. It would stand to reason that the public would buy Macs overwhelmingly if they found the price and quality superior to Windows machines.

Economics . . . the one force Apple fanatics can not explain away.

-DBTrek

Some fast answers:

1. Macs are priced pretty much the same as a PC with the same features. Apple doesn't enter bottom-feeder markets, such as the $299 PC.
2. There are well over 100,000 viruses on the Windows platform and, over the years, maybe a few dozen for Macs. Under Apple's Unix-based operating system, Mac OS X, first introduced in 2001, there has never been a virus infection in the wild.
3. Surveys show that Macs are cheaper to maintain during the normal period of ownership than Windows.

The success of Windows is not because it is a better platform, or perceived as a better platform. It's all about Microsoft's marketing and Apple's erratic history over the years. The iPod has helped Apple, but so has the fact that more and more people are coming to their senses and realizing that Windows isn't a better way.

 

[Rick Deckard]

It's all about Microsoft's marketing and Apple's erratic history over the years. The iPod has helped Apple, but so has the fact that more and more people are coming to their senses and realizing that Windows isn't a better way.

No, Microsoft's 'popularity' is due to their monopolising business practises for which they have been sucessfully sued several times. The reason that they are still in business is that they can afford to hire the best lawyers.

Windows is not the best operating system by a long way.

See VHS versus Betamax.

 

[Gene Steinberg]

No, Microsoft's 'popularity' is due to their monopolising business practises for which they have been sucessfully sued several times. The reason that they are still in business is that they can afford to hire the best lawyers.

Windows is not the best operating system by a long way.

See VHS versus Betamax.

That and deceptive bait and switch marketing.

 

[pixelsmith]

according to DBTrek, the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 must be real crap.

typical pc user.

 

[Rick Deckard]

That and deceptive bait and switch marketing.

Funny you should say that - I recently bought a lost-cost PC with Intel Dual-Core processor running at 3GHz.

Guess what, it's *slower* than my 2GHz single-processor laptop.

Do you know why? Because the new PC is actually 2 x 1.5GHZ processors time-slicing a 3GHZ clock - unless your favourite app has been written to be multi-threaded (and a lot are not multi-threaded, especially games), it'll only run on one of the 2 CPUs, meaning the most CPU resource it can use is 50%. I wish I had known that before buying the machine...

...the TV adverts were very misleading in my opinion.

My bet is that they'll release lots of new software, that basically does the same as the old versions except they'll now use the extra power...talk about generating your own market.

 

[DBTrek]

No, Microsoft's 'popularity' is due to their monopolising business practises for which they have been sucessfully sued several times. The reason that they are still in business is that they can afford to hire the best lawyers.

Windows is not the best operating system by a long way.

Business practices aside, everyone who buys a PC has a choice . . . they can go with a Windows platform, or a Mac (or Linux, or Solaris, or any number of other oprions). For the sake of being the lone voice of opposition (again) I chose to base my definition of 'superior' on the platform that the most people are willing to pay money for instead of strictly on my personal opinion. The market data is clear; when people spend money on a PC the vast majority choose to buy one with a Windows OS.

Obviously the argument could go on for eternity with Apple fans pointing out specific situations or trivia where apple has an edge and Windows people replying with similar trivia where Microsoft has the edge. This is much like arguing whose favorite color is 'best'. Since there is no winning an argument of opinions why not rely on tangible data (like which system most people chose to buy) to settle the matter?

-DBTrek

 

[pixelsmith]

DB most people base their computer purchase on what their neighbor has or what they use at work.
i cant tell you how many times i have heard someone say "Macs are junk" only to find out they have never tried one.

people who buy a peecee now days are just plain stupid. if you have to have windblows for some reason, install it on a Mac. the Mac is thee most versitile computer out there right now.

 

[DBTrek]

DB most people base their computer purchase on what their neighbor has or what they use at work.
i cant tell you how many times i have heard someone say "Macs are junk" only to find out they have never tried one.

people who buy a peecee now days are just plain stupid. if you have to have windblows for some reason, install it on a Mac. the Mac is thee most versitile computer out there right now.

This is going downhill. Now we're moving from Mac fanatics having to ignore market reality to them labelling all PC users as 'stupid'.

Compelling arguments coming from the Mac side.

-DBTrek

 

[Casual Paracast Listener]

Regarding the main subject of the thread:

I recommend to you the usage of Mozilla Firefox with NoScript extension from NoScript - JavaScript/Java/Flash blocker for a safer Firefox experience! - what is it? - InformAction

For day to day use i allow scripts globally and when ever i am going to surf known problematic web sites i forbid scripts globally.

Also there are a plethora of settings from within the Mozilla Firefox settings panel that will enhance the default security of the browser with out using any external aid. Yet using NoScript extension is advisable for even more security.

Also from the same developer there is another great extension called FlashGot which adds download manager integration for applications such as Free Download Manager, You can get FlashGot from FlashGot - Best Firefox Download Manager Integration - what is it? - InformAction and FDM from Free Download Manager - absolutely free download accelerator and manager

Regarding the off-topic subject:

I have to say that i was surprised form the harbored notion by some that MS-WIN is superior to a Apple-MAC...

Anyway have a nice day all and get Mozilla Firefox from Choose the independent browser

 

[Gene Steinberg]

This is going downhill. Now we're moving from Mac fanatics having to ignore market reality to them labelling all PC users as 'stupid'.

Compelling arguments coming from the Mac side.

-DBTrek

The reality is that best product doesn't equal best-selling.

 

[Rick Deckard]

The reality is that best product doesn't equal best-selling.

The only thing that keeps me using my Windoze box are my 'cherished' applications - the ones that I've been using for years.

BUT, the free (open source) software on Linux has nearly caught up and very soon I'm gonna find it hard to justify using my Windoze box at all. At that point I can install a dual-boot Linux installation and only bother with Windoze if I really need to.

If anyone's interested in free alternatives to Microsoft software, I started an info page a while ago - Deckard World Online - Links: Free Software

It's not an exhaustive list - just the software that I have tried and continue to use regularly - but there are a couple of links to websites that do have (almost) exhaustive lists of free alternatives to the Gate's empire.

 

[pixelsmith]

if it looks like a duck..

i am a little sensitive about this right now as 2 friends and 3 family members keep calling me this week for tech support on their peecees. all of them chose peecees over Macs because of the reasons i stated above. their neighbor has a peecee and said "Macs are only good at graphics" or they use a peecee at work. i am so sick of that mentality. i guess i am taking it out on DBTrek. i am sorry, sorry you are using a peecee with winddoze.

buying anything but a Mac nowdays IS stupid. i do not take that back.

 

[Rick Deckard]

...or they use a peecee at work.

That is a *big* factor and Microsoft knows it.

 

[DBTrek]

The reality is that best product doesn't equal best-selling.

Fair enough. If you don't want to bestow the title of 'best product' on the most widely used, most widely supported, or most widely bought what measure would you prefer to use?

-DBTrek

 

[Gene Steinberg]

Fair enough. If you don't want to bestow the title of 'best product' on the most widely used, most widely supported, or most widely bought what measure would you prefer to use?

-DBTrek

The best product is the one that is the most productive for the task at hand. I can quote the surveys, but that's what Google is for. Basically, they demonstrate that Macs are more productive and cheaper to maintain.

While I have no dispute over the need for Windows to run certain applications not duplicated on other platforms. But if the software you need is available on a PC and Mac, the latter will almost always be a better product.

By the way, Apple's notebook sales just exceeded 10% in the retail market in the U.S., according to an NPD survey for March 2007. Apple continues to improve its share ahead of the rest of the PC industry, so people are beginning to take notice.

 

[pixelsmith]

DBTrek if you used a Mac for 3 months you would never go back to a peecee.

 

[Casual Paracast Listener]

The old die hard apple vs. oranges

Apple/Mac vs Microsoft/Win
GNOME vs KDE
The GIMP vs Adobe Photoshop
American Cars vs German & Japanese Cars
And of course no powder keg is really full untill you spice it up with some old QuickTime/iTunes vs Windows Media Player
religion x vs religion y vs no-religion
to the rest of the VS wars...

As for the Mac vs Win

I understand very well why the MAC sayers get passionate about the Apple product which due to its religious attention to detail & continuousness of innovation had created a well deserved fan cult status while on the other hand all that Microsoft had done was to trick people into using their product and sticking with it afterwards through their marketing schemes.

Market share does not reflect quality. "I want to say something very stupid here" Oh here it comes: It reflects Market share.

I remember Steve Jobs saying on a newsweek interview regarding the phenomenal success of the iPod that he said something to the effect of "For once the quality product makes it to the no. 1 spot"

I think that in a perfect world Windows would be non existent and good guys would make it to the finish line first.

All that i can say is if you have some cash and intending on buying a new computer machine fight that old urge to go to dell and the likes or the urge to compile your own hardware combination and for a change do a bit of a research on Macs vs Win... Visit both of the official sites, read some professional non biased product comparisons "If such a thing does exist" and regarding the whole high price myth, Well you said you have some cash right!

If you like you can check Minneapolis services - We tell it like it is for a bit of a comparison but be warned that it is not about the verdict that they had come up with but about yours and i also have to admit that this comparison is simplified because it is based upon out of the box settings rather than what people actually do. "Oh an by the way the QuickTime cap is so cheap, This is so not Apple... This is something that Microsoft should do Not Apple"

By the way if you know about any good X vs XP, Post the link... Something that is side by side and takes into account that some computer users comes with a brain included label.

One major draw back that Mac has though is Pc Games however that has nothing to with Mac as game developers naturally are going to make sure that thier products has to run on the no. 1 market share os however if that is an issue for you and your home, You can always keep your last Win box just for that with few upgrades.

By the way iLove apple/mac but i use windows, What can i say i am so inMatrix!

Funny thing this whole "War and Peace" thread started over IE insecurity but it always starts that way...

By the way have anyone saw the the Nightline piece the other day or week about atheists vs christians?!

It seems that mankind has this tendency to convert just for the sake of converting...

"iConvert" | The last thing Hell Gates will ever say on his death bed...

 

[Rick Deckard]

Pepsi or Coke?

 

[Gene Steinberg]

Pepsi or Coke?

Dr. Pepper.

 

[Rick Deckard]

Dr. Pepper.

Hey, will I have to pay a carbon-offset tax everytime I open a bottle of fizzy drink? After all, a certain amount of CO2 is released into the atmosphere which we all *know* is causing Global Warming...


...not.