Where We Left Off

The premise of the experiment was to have a hardcore OS X (Leopard) user and a hardcore Vista (Ultimate) user switch computers for a weekend and see how they compared relative to their standard preference. I’m not sure when my friend plans on writing up his experience, but we spent about two hours going over what we liked and didn’t like about each other’s systems.

What I Liked About OS X

The biggest thing that I liked about OS X were all of the little things - automatic detection and configuration, less bubbly notifications than Vista, and so forth. All of those little things add up to being a really nice touch overall. Here are the things that I liked about OS X:

1. Spaces - I really liked being able to stick stuff in the background when I was trying to do work; when I was installing Vista on Parallels I had it sit in the background while I watched Deadliest Catch via EyeTV in the active Space. Being able to have full control over my visual area was pretty nice - the fact that my friend’s MacBook Pro had a 17″ monitor helped too, I might add. My XPS has a much smaller monitor.
2. Automatic Gmail POP3 Configuration in Entourage - I had to set up my Gmail POP3 access by hand in Outlook 2007; in Entourage all I had to do was provide my login information and it figured out the rest for me. While this isn’t a “major feature,” I think it’s a nice touch. Ironically enough, that was Microsoft’s decision - not Apple’s. Correct me if I’m wrong, but when I set up my Gmail account using Apple Mail I’m pretty sure that it also set itself up automatically.
3. Download Integration with Safari - I downloaded a few pieces of software and installed them on my friend’s MacBook Pro; I really liked the fact that when I went to install those pieces of software hours after I downloaded them I received a pop-up notification from OS X letting me know when I had downloaded the file via Safari and warning me that I was about to install it. I thought this was a nice, unintrusive security feature.
4. Automatic Detection of my External Hard Drive as a Possible Backup Device - As soon as I plugged my USB hub into the MacBook Pro OS X detected the external hard drive linked up through the USB hub and asked me if I wanted to use it as a backup location for Time Machine; again, that’s pretty cool. I had to set that drive up manually for Windows Backup.

What I Didn’t Like

I hope you weren’t here for yet-another-glowing-review-of-OS X, because to be honest, I was surprised at not only the lack of software that came out of the box with Leopard but the software that was bundled with Leopard was utterly inadequate at satisfying my business needs. Here’s what I didn’t like about my experience with OS X:

1. Not Enough Software Out of the Box - One of the things that I hear people complain about in a lot of Apple vs. PC rants is the fact that Apples typically cost more - but most of those comparisons only go as far as the price tag of Macs out of the box. Those comparisons typically don’t include all of the other stuff that you have to buy in order to get the same level of usefulness out of a Vista Ultimate machine. For instance, you have to buy EyeTV if you want to get any of the TV tuner functionality that Media Center has, and the biggest irony of all - you have to buy a copy of Windows in order to play most video games on the Mac.
2. No Built-in SharePoint / Shared Document Control Functionality - I complained about this earlier in the week but Office 2008, Safari, and Apple Mail don’t support SharePoint or any other large document versioning/control systems natively. I assume that Microsoft’s didn’t include any SharePoint functionality in Office 2008 intentionally, but that doesn’t explain  I had to install Firefox in order to view one of my client’s web-based SharePoint systems in order to get access to some drafts that I needed for work. If I hear any Apple fans going “OH WELL, YOU CAN USE SVN FOR DOCUMENT CONTROL *HYUCK*” then I am going to scream - SVN works great for coders who feel comfortable using command lines, not typical business people or even most Apple users.
3. No Surprise - Parallels and VMWare S-U-C-K for Gaming - I decided to opt out of installing Half-Life 2 via Parallels since it takes like 6 discs to install and I didn’t want to pay that much attention to the install process; instead I loaded up my copy of Medieval Total War 2, which takes two DVDs to install, and play that on both emulation platforms. The result? I couldn’t get the loader for MTW2 to launch before Parallels threw a “not supported” error; the loader for MTW2 doesn’t even use the game’s graphic engine. When I was told that VMWare was actually worse than Parallels by my roommate, a MacBook gamer, I said “screw this” and stopped my MTW2 installation. All of the hype I’d heard about Parallels didn’t have much substance behind it apparently. Stick to Boot Camp if you want to game.
4. Crashing - I didn’t expect my friend’s MacBook Pro to crash at all when I used it, given that I only used the system for about 12 hours. It crashed twice - the OS didn’t crash, but some of Apple’s other software did. Safari crashed for no apparent reason at one point and in one other instance the Java VM tanked (that’s SUN’s problem.) My counterpart, who used my XPS for the same duration I used his MacBook Pro - reported no crashes whatsoever. This tickled me pink. For the record, the only crashing that I’ve ever experienced on my Vista Ultimate machine are crashes from Firefox and the infamous “Google Desktop Kills WinSock32.dll” incident.
5. EyeTV is Great - Unless You Want to Change the Channel - I thought EyeTV was pretty cool until I had to figure out how to change the channel. Instead of going to the program guide and clicking on the television program that is currently running I have to look at the guide, flip over to a channel screen which doesn’t show the full names of the network (KYWN vs. ABC for instance) and try to remember what was playing on the given channel. I guess when EyeTV was replicating Media Center’s interface it forgot some key usability issues. Side Note: My counterpart didn’t think that Media Center was very usable at all.

Other Thoughts

1. Mono is No .NET 3.5 - I gave Mono a try as was recommended by my readers; I used Monodevelop and all of the native Mono function calls. While I think Mono has come a long way since I first looked into it a couple of years ago, it still has a ways to go before it’s .NET 3.5. Also, the IDE (Monodevelop) reminds me of Eclipse, an IDE that I love to hate.

Overall I thought the MacBook Pro was a decent ride, but it falls short in a lot of key areas (for me, anyway.) Hopefully my counterpart writes up his report soon, although last time I spoke to him about it he said “I’m going to have to try to think of something nice to say about Vista.”

So there goes my challenge. It’s always good to branch out and try new systems, but it looks like my addiction to video games and my need to consume key services provided by Microsoft software has me hooked on Windows.

del.icio.us Tags: Apple vs. PC,Apple vs Vista,Apple

This is an article that I’ve wanted to write for a long time, because I want to know if I’m the only person out there who feels this way.

Today I read an article from Computerworld called “Five Reasons Why Vista Beats OS X;” the article made a pathetically weak case for Vista and incited the ire of the blogosphere. As an aside, I plan on doing my own “Vista vs. OS X” post later this week simply because the case for Vista was made so poorly by Preston Galla and I think the issue would be a lot of fun to write about.

However, back to the point: the blogosphere’s reaction. Social media and blogs are dominated by Apple fans for the most part; this truth is so observable that I feel comfortable saying it without backing it up with statistics.

I look at some of the reactions from Mac users and groan; many of the pro-Windows comments on Digg have been buried and angry Mac users even tarnished the article’s rating within Computerworld’s own internal rating system:

-184? The article was not well-reasoned, but come on! My gut tells me that most of those votes came from the same sort of pissed-off Mac acolytes who buried Pro-Windows comments on Digg.

Kevin Maney says it best:

Here’s something I know from experience: Dis Apple or Steve Jobs publicly, even in a mild way, and the Apple Cultists descend on you like the zombies in Dawn of the Dead. Or maybe the flying monkeys in Wizard of Oz. You get the picture. Nail Apple in a public forum, and you can depend on your in box filling with nasty-grams from dot-mac addresses.

The Cult of Apple

I admire Apple for being able to build a product and a brand that people feel connected to at a deeply emotional level; Apple users are among the most vocal and passionate customers across all industries.

Apple users, as I have claimed before, proudly boast their brand preference with “colorful” displays of passion, such as web celebrity iJustine’s “Apple” tattoo:

If you’re not at least a little creeped out by that video then you’re probably a Mac user.

And this is what I’m getting at: are Apple fans a little bit too passionate, a little too deep in the product myopia?

An example: one of my college friends was among the first group of people to get an iPhone, and he has not stopped talking about the iPhone since. Every single meeting with him means that I have to spend at least 5 minutes watching him perform some mundane task on his iPhone or watch some lame YouTube video on his tiny screen.

Within a few weeks of owning an iPhone he started to make fun of his other friends and I for using Razors, Treos, and so forth. Nothing, however, topped his attempt to pick up girls at bars by showing them his iPhone; a few of my other friends and I stood back and watched, all of us thinking “an iPhone would be cool were it not adopted by people like who think that an iPod with a touch screen and 2g wireless will get girls into the sack.”

The Apple Community: A Sales Deterrent?

Apple acquires new customers (”converts”) every day, but something about buying a Mac transforms many of those customers into smug, annoying jack asses.

I and others like me will never buy a Mac product other than iPod just because we don’t want to be associated with the same sort of smug “know-it-all” fanboys who try to pick up women at bars using an iPhone!

This post isn’t about “why I use Windows” or “why I think Windows is better than Macs;” it’s “I won’t buy Mac products because I think Mac users represent a social movement that is profoundly annoying and I think I’m not alone on this one.”

Are there people who don’t buy Mac products because they don’t want to be in the community, and are there enough of them to curb Apple’s growth?

You tell me.

del.icio.us Tags: Apple,Marketing