Glimpse at my nerd side- PC vs Macs - Uncover Ostomy
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26 Jan Glimpse at my nerd side- PC vs Macs

Posted at 23:00h in Uncategorised by

Ok so I know this has nothing to do with ostomies or my life or anything, but I felt the need to blog and maybe get some responses, because I’m annoyed.

For those who don’t know- I’m an AVID PC supporter and hate hate hate Macs. [I’m also a huge computer nerd but that’s beside the point]

What I hate about Macs is how simplified they make things. I feel like I’m a 10 year old child that Apple felt needed a simplified version of technology in order to use it. I also hate how hard it is to customize the internal structure of the computer and make it my own because they put up “easy to use” options. I also hate the operating system… Not that Windows Vista was ANYTHING good, but I’m on Windows 7 now, which is an improvement. I know the big thing with Macs is that they don’t get viruses, but like I said, if you don’t act like a 10 year old child and watch what you search for on the internet and are careful with that you download- you wont get any.

What I don’t understand is how the heck people think they are the GOD of technology.

I’m watching Global National right now and they just had a segment on how Mac is releasing its NEW AND AMAZING tablet tomorrow and how it’s “going to revolutionize” newspapers and media as a whole. Why? Because it’s a tablet! [For those who don’t know what a tablet computer is, it’s just a screen that you can hold and touch and write on and it’s like a thicker piece of paper] Apparently, this is the NEW WAVE of technology.

No. No it’s not.

You know why it’s not?

Because the computer that I am typing on right now, the computer I bought last year… IS A TABLET by HP.

Yes, my laptop is a tablet PC where it works as a laptop and then the screen flips and folds to let me do all the things Apple is claiming their new tablet will do such as read newspapers online and even- wait for it- watch VIDEO FROM THE NEWSPAPERS ON IT.

Wow.

Guess what, Apple. I’ve been doing it for a year.

/rant.

 

Thoughts anyone?

 

Tags:
Jessica Grossman
info@uncoverostomy.org
11 Comments
  • August
    Posted at 23:46h, 26 January

    First of all: How’s it going?…its been a while. I realize it seems a bit creepy and nerdy jumping on here and posting this long thing…but…I do list my religion on Facebook as ‘Church of Mac,’ so if I see something like this on my Facebook feed, Jobs Chapter 10, Verse 15 obliges me to respond,

    Before I get dismissed as a non-computer nerd: I used to build PCs, and used Windows (3.1, 95, 98SE, Me, 2000Pro, XPPro). I know have an iMac, though I have had to fight with Vista at one of the offices I work at – where I also help them do their IT & Networking.

    Apple is totally customizeable, in the same way that PC is…and yes the easy-to-use options are annoying, but they can always be ignored, and replaced with one’s own settings. Furthermore, it’s easier to customize things without completely screwing up the OS…namely because no matter how you cut it, the UNIX core in OS X is ridiculously more stable than a PC.

    I also find Mac’s much more logical to navigate…if you think you want to do something, then just do it, and 9 times out of 10, it happens – this is best exemplified by the drag and drop feature. Furthermore, I find the ‘dock system’ much easier to use then the ‘start menu’ system…its also easier on system resources. Which brings me to a point about background tasks – they are much more in the background with a Mac…my guess is this is because the hardware and the software are both manufactured in the same place….making things more streamlined. And while yes, on a PC, I can CTRL+ALT+DEL and get to the System Processes, and sort through them one-by-one…the point is, this is unnecassary on a Mac.

    This is not mentioning the fact that Macs are simply more powerful – it’s why people in music (like me), or video, or graphics can get a mid-level Mac, and still be able to use professional applications. Yes, I can get a PC that is powerful to run ProTools HD, with all the bells and whistles, but I’d be paying so much for it, I might as well get the 8-core mac with 8 GB of RAM.

    As to all the buzz around Apple…specifically your pet peeve with the Apple Tablet. I see it as sort of the same thing as the iPod. There were mp3 players out before the iPod – quite a few actually – and by no means did Apple ever invent the mp3 player, or the notion of music playing software on your computer (WinAmp, Windows Media etc were all around before iTunes). However, its impossible to deny (and the financial facts back me up on this one) that the iPod totally revolutionized mp3 players, and the whole world of listening to music. The iPhone is simliar…yes there were smartphones before the iPhone (notably the Blackberry), but the iPhone totally turned everything on its head. And while Blackberry still outsells the iPhone becaause of its business appeal, the iPhone has taken a huge chunk of its market, and is likely to continue doing so – even Blackberry’s specific response to the iPhone, the Storm, is getting killed by Apple sales. This is all evidenced by the ridiculous stock numbers put out by Apple just this week – and in the time of this so-called Great Recession. So I guess this is the long answer to you Tablet issue…its not that Apple invents technology, its that they have a track record of game changers, and people expect the same with this Tablet (not like I’m getting one…out of my price range)

    All that said (and jeez, I think I went on a bit of a rant here myself)…its all personal preference at the end of the day.

  • anon
    Posted at 00:27h, 27 January

    i’m sure you’re going to DISLIKE this… but just because you’re tech savvy doesn’t mean everyone else is. That being said, Mac has increased their sales substantially by making things easy to use, and attractive to the majority of people who need computers, but dont have the time to understand how to operate a complicated PC. What’s the point of owning a PC if you don’t even know how to use it or know what its capable of? Mac has ALOT of programs that make things quick and easy to do for everyday people. Ex. garageband, itunes, ical, photo booth, safari, etc. People need simplicity. Mac has done that. therefore Mac > PC. 🙂

    Also, they are the god of technology. want proof? ipods. end of story.

  • Deirdre McDonald
    Posted at 01:06h, 27 January

    Mac’s have better operating systems. Period. Ask any computer techy and they will agree. I am NEVER switching back to PC now that I use a Mac…just go with it, you won’t regret it 🙂

  • tamara
    Posted at 10:02h, 27 January

    THANK GOD.
    i am a windows girl too.
    i hate mac computers with a burning passion. which means my life is going to be hell, because i am about to study photography at a uni where they are very mac happy.
    /wrist.

    but i agree, they simplify everything and i am very anal about my organisation and my things and i like to be able to organise things how i please and it seems that mac’s do not let you do that.
    hrnghhh

    lol i had a tablet laptop too, but it was super horrid and died. now i have a compaq.
    BUT YES I AGREE
    WINDOWS4LYFE

    and oh lord windows 7 is such a godsend after the atrocity that was vista.

  • Jessica
    Posted at 16:40h, 27 January

    Yay
    I love these responses!
    I need to start ranting about random things more often.

    I’m not saying Apple and Macs are the worst invention ever or they don’t have market power or anything, I’m just saying I’m not a fan and their hype is annoying. I understand that most consumers are idiots and need simplified computers, but I do not. And it annoys me when companies feed into the idiocy of the masses instead of teach them to do more complicated things.

    Thanks for discusssingggg :]

  • Shane Nightingale
    Posted at 22:43h, 27 January

    go watch the video on the apple site
    http://www.apple.com/ipad/#video
    then ull get why it can do SO many things ur "tablet" cant
    and btw, theyre not advertising it as a computer replacement, but as a secondary device
    enda story

  • shane
    Posted at 01:10h, 28 January

    I agree 100% over hyped and over priced….itunes is ripoff visit amazon’s digital whole albums for 5 dollers and all drm free songs are 99 cents…safari is a horrible browser btw

  • Kindredspirit7
    Posted at 03:13h, 28 January

    The first person has said everything best for me. I’m a nerd, I have a math/comp sci degree from Waterloo, I work for IBM, have for 12 years, did support for PCs before and after Windows came out for 7 years before that, but I love the Mac. It just works logically, like an extension of you and it suits my hobbies best – photography. I even produced a beautiful newsletter for my church the first day I used it – much easier that with MS products. The tablet isn’t new, they’ve been around a LOT longer than just a year – IBM and now Lenovo has had one for years, but they have not taken off, and like yours, they rotate the screen to become a tablet – which as my coworker who wanted one said, that then becomes a single point of failure for the machine, constantly rotating the screen is not good. Do I want a tablet – no, I enjoy my itouch and this week got access to my work email on it (why I do not know, but the option was there lol) and want an iphone, but I will hever give up my real keyboard for longer use. I still use my dos commands to search for files on Windows computers, it’s fast and what I learned over 20 years ago now, but I love how things just work with Mac and the OS rocks. Do I like not being able to dive under the covers – sometimes, but I didn’t buy it so I could do that, and I really don’t need to do it because it just works.

    My brother on the other hand, is Microsoft certifed and continuously threatens to disown me.

  • Shane Davis
    Posted at 18:26h, 28 January

    Jessica, I’m in agreement with you that this iPad is being overhyped. Also, what a terrible, terrible name. I mean, really.
    That being said, I enjoy the operating system I’m interacting with on this MacBook. I suppose I just find it more intuitive. And the argument that simplified systems are worse for people isn’t fair. That’s like saying any car with automatic transmission or ABS or power steering isn’t a real car. I know I’ve seen and spoken to many people who just plain don’t know how to use a computer, and they’re not necessarily using Macs any more or less than PCs. Stupidity knows no boundaries.
    Can I just say how much I disagree with some of the points other people made here? The iPod was a game-changer, yes. Godlike? No. That would be the wheel, or printing press. The iPod’s biggest contribution to society is that it has confused and interrupted the music industry’s business model, ensuring that artists are less likely to get paid and record executives are more likely to go crazy and sue a 15-year-old for 2.5 million dollars. But I digress.
    I prefer Mac. I will NOT, however, blindly submit to the hype machine like so many fanboys seem to be doing. Everyone talking about the iPad (ugh) seems to be saying one of two things: "This feature is awesome! And this one! I will use this EVERY DAY!!!!!!111" or "I want one now I don’t care how much I want it I need it I don’t know why but I waaaant it!"
    Don’t believe the hype. Figure it out for yourself.
    /reallylongrant

  • Kindredspirit7
    Posted at 20:40h, 28 January

    I guess I forgot to add, that being said, I don’t want an iPad, I LOVE my Macbook, and it took trying one to get me to get an itouch but I really don’t see the point of the iPad. Maybe they’ll improve on the idea later. I also only use any Microsoft product because I have no choice, they write bloatware, plain and simple and they release products and let their end users do the beta (or in some cases alpha) testing. Maybe they improved on this with Windows 7, I don’t know, I haven’t fired up my desktop in 18 months, and my work only uses XP.

  • Bob P
    Posted at 22:44h, 31 January

    I’m typing this on my iMac. I started with a Mac+ in 1986, used them until 2000 when my kids talked me into a Windows machine (But Dad, Windows is JUST as good as Mac now…) No, it’s not. But, who cares? Just like cars-I drive a Honda, I have owned VW, Audi, Porsche, a few Chryslers-and they all have good and bad points. Personally, when it comes to computers, even though I’ve been using them for 24 years, including IBM PCs, Encore Mainframe, Masscomp "minicomputer", VAX, Sun Micro’s, and am reasonably conversant in Fortran and Unix, I really want my computer to be simple to use. Like a toaster. I don’t want to have to get under the hood. (The same logic applies to cars, which is why I finally gave up on Deutsch-mobiles and went to Nippon-land for my transportation.)
    I don’t hate Windows. It’s actually pretty OK now. W95 was terrible, W98 a little better, WMe absolutely horrible! XP pretty good-I never used Vista or 7, But, I like Mac better.
    What’s the attraction of the iPad-it’s like a big iPhone? Exactly. That you can read on, take notes on, sketch on, surf the web with a little more real estate than the little iPhone. Personally, I think it SHOULD be able to make phone calls-with a headset, it would be amazing!