Mac OS X turns 5 years old

[RThurmont]

You've obviously had better experiences with Dell than I have. I've had nothing but problems with them, including a cracked case and keyboard which occasionally stops working.

Well remember, I've only bought absolute top of the line products from Dell. My 8100 cost over $5000 (monitor included) when purchased new. Obviously if you're getting the entry level Dell products, you could see somewhat of a step-down.

As for keeping Windows malware free, it's possible, but on a broadband connection it's frankly more time, money, and effort than I'm willing to invest when there's an alternative.

The Mac OS X will become more of a target of hackers as the Apple installed base grows. While obviously it will never be as insecure as Windows, as a recent security scare demonstrates, OS X is by no means invincible. Even if you have OS X you should still invest money in security software.

With a good security system, Windows can be made secure, and since Apple doesn't make a tablet, and since I vastly prefer not being locked into one hardware vendor with largely proprietary systems, Windows is what I need, but I see a growing segment of consumers disagreeing with me. What the PC hardware makers need to start thinking about is developing their own distros of Linux, because their current dependency on Windows could be their undoing if Microsoft is unable to get its act together.

[Stark]

...considering the continued dominance of the moronic "Performance+Price" marketing mentality at Apple's competitors.

What do you mean by this? Could you explain to marketing-ignorant people how Apple marketing is better?

[RedImperator]

You've obviously had better experiences with Dell than I have. I've had nothing but problems with them, including a cracked case and keyboard which occasionally stops working.

Well remember, I've only bought absolute top of the line products from Dell. My 8100 cost over $5000 (monitor included) when purchased new. Obviously if you're getting the entry level Dell products, you could see somewhat of a step-down.

That'll do it. For five grand, the thing not only ought to work perfectly, it should give you a handjob while you're surfing for porn.

[phongn]

Gawd, Phong, you are, like, sooo geeky!

/bows

On design, I've noticed people getting brand new x86 laptops that still look like black, square lumps of shit. Its not just the shape: the plastic used and build quality just screams shit. I'd never buy a laptop that wasn't a Mac.

Bah, the ThinkPad look is classic (and IMHO, better built than Apple's for some years)

I don't know, I have a feeling my ThinkPad X41 Tablet can kick your MacBook's fat ass.

The X41 is a highly-portable tablet (or "classic" laptop) that has some severe compromises to get its small size (Intel integrated graphics, 1.8" hard drive, 12" XGA screen, no internal optical drive, etc.) It certainly is a fine machine but you're comparing (ahem) apples and oranges here.

As for keeping Windows malware free, it's possible, but on a broadband connection it's frankly more time, money, and effort than I'm willing to invest when there's an alternative.

It actually doesn't take all that much work - sensible browsing habits usually do the trick (along with something like a NAT router at the perimeter to fend off casual crackers).

[Durandal]

The Mac OS X will become more of a target of hackers as the Apple installed base grows. While obviously it will never be as insecure as Windows, as a recent security scare demonstrates, OS X is by no means invincible. Even if you have OS X you should still invest money in security software.

I've been hearing that for the past 5 years, mostly from the people who make that security software. For some reason, malware just doesn't catch on with OS X. Perhaps it's because OS X dramatically cuts down the vectors malware can propagate through by default with no services enabled and no automatic administrator privileges.

With a good security system, Windows can be made secure, and since Apple doesn't make a tablet, and since I vastly prefer not being locked into one hardware vendor with largely proprietary systems, Windows is what I need, but I see a growing segment of consumers disagreeing with me. What the PC hardware makers need to start thinking about is developing their own distros of Linux, because their current dependency on Windows could be their undoing if Microsoft is unable to get its act together.

Why would they go to Linux when they could court Apple? Seriously, Linux is, for any desktop computing purposes, a kludge. It works great for the server market because of its highly customizable nature, but the community can't standardize on one installable package format, one distro or one way of doing things. Desktop users don't give a shit about whether or not they can compile their kernel without SMP support. They want it to just work, and Linux just doesn't.

[RThurmont]

What do you mean by this? Could you explain to marketing-ignorant people how Apple marketing is better?

Well a good non-technical way to explain it would be this: if you take a look at, for example, Apple's website, and view the information for a specific Apple product, you'll read a nice, beautifully written sales pitch that talks not only about the basic performance of the unit (and the price) but also goes into great detail about the design, about value-added features, and so on, and really gives you a crystal clear notion of what the product is and why you should want one. Now compare this with the product information on most PC makers websites, where instead of a sales pitch, you get what sort of looks like a graph, at the top of which is a little picture of the computer in question (which in many cases is actually beautifully designed, but you couldn't tell it from looking at the thumbnail image), and then a sort of spreadsheet-style specifications list that extends on for two pages outlining in detail every little irrelevant tidbit about the product. The price is prominently displayed, and frequently a discount will be prominantly mentioned "Buy today with a monitor and save $100!!!" While saturating the viewer with detailed technical information about the product, this type of marketing still leaves the viewer in the dark about what the product really is all about, and offers no emotional attraction at all. Great for corporate IT managers perhaps, but not neccessarily that great for the consumer.

When is the last time you saw Apple put something on sale? For that matter, just take a look at the iPod's packaging (which gives almost no details about the product but instead seems to convey the essence of desire) and compare it with typical hardware and software packaging. Take a look at this parody video showing how Microsoft might redesign iPod's packaging for a further demonstration.

That'll do it. For five grand, the thing not only ought to work perfectly, it should give you a handjob while you're surfing for porn.

Dang, my secrets out! Now everyone on this site will be rushing to buy a Dell 8100 with optional USB handjob administration modules.

I've been hearing that for the past 5 years, mostly from the people who make that security software. For some reason, malware just doesn't catch on with OS X. Perhaps it's because OS X dramatically cuts down the vectors malware can propagate through by default with no services enabled and no automatic administrator privileges.

There actually was a security scare recently, and although it was fairly minor, it did demonstrate that OS X is in fact vulnerable. Using OS X with no security software is, in my opinion, asking for trouble. I cannot deny its better than Windows though in that respect (any software out there is likely more secure than Windows).

Why would they go to Linux when they could court Apple?

Because they couldn't court Apple. Steve Jobs is the man who, shortly after becoming CEO, terminated all of Apple's OS licensing agreements, immediately forcing three fast-growing computer makers that were dependent on licensing the Apple OS (most notably Power) out of business. He called them "leeches." I seriously doubt after all these years Steve Jobs is dumb enough to take one of the biggest selling points of Mac hardware (OS X) and license it out to competitors who would just love to produce their own line of Mac compatibles and ease their dependence on Windows. A potential hostile takeover of Apple would be one way to get OS X, but rabid Apple insiders do own quite a bit of stock in the company, so it would certainly be a nasty fight, and if it did go through most of Apple's development people would probably leave in protest anyway. A friendly takeover is only marginally more plausible than Jobs licensing OS X.

The nice thing about Linux though, is that since it is open-source, it can be modified. If the major hardware makers were to develop their own branded distributions, and use them as Windows alternatives, it could be a huge breakthrough. There would be no OEM licensing fees to pay, the interface could be totally redesigned to whatever the OEM wanted it to be (allowing them to, like Apple, compete on the quality of the GUI as much as on the quality of the hardware), and they could still offer Windows to customers that wanted it (or even ship machines with both). Furthermore, if Windows Vista really does suck, and its successor is no better, major software makers might become less interested in supporting the Windows platform, and more interested in alternative platforms, so you might see major applications become availible for Linux. Microsoft, to avoid loosing marketshare for Office, might well be forced into providing a Linux version.

Now don't get me wrong, I am not an open source fanwhore (I've tried a lot of open source software and most of it, when compared to commercial alternatives, absolutely blowsucks), but I recognize that the major PC makers have to do something to ensure that if Windows does get marginalized due to Microsoft's continuing mismanagement of its development, that they do not get marginalized along with it.