Windows, Mac, or Linux?

[JimWagner]

I started with DOS 1.1 and have run every OS Microsoft has ever put out. Currently I have pc's at home running everything from XP to Windows 7 as well as SUSE Linus. I'd love to switch from Windows to Linux, but for my purposes Linus still doesn't have acceptable alternatives to the applications I routinely run on Windows.

I've looked at Macs, but as others have said you tend to stick with what you know and are comfortable with.

I did attempt to buy an iPad, but with the stores just not having them in stock I bought a Motorola XOOM instead. Runs many of the same apps as my Motorola Android smart phone and hooks up and swaps files painlessly with my pc's.

And don't get me started on just how much I detest iTunes. What do you mean I can't run iTunes on more than one pc and actually have it sync properly with my iPod?

 

[Yeps]

I like macs, although sometimes I miss the games that I could play on my old pc.

Garage band makes my life much easier (lately I use it for recording lessons to review later)

 

[Pompidou]

I use a MacBook Pro with OSX Leopard. I sometimes get Windows envy when certain games come out, but not enough to even bother with Bootcamp again. The Mac is as reliable as everyone touts.

 

[Guttersnipe]

I dislike the whole Mac vs. PC debate. A computers is just a tool. Everything else is marketing . Like a craftsmen vs a Black & Decker tool, there are some pros and cons to each, but the creation of Mac or PC "cultures" is absurd (sorry for the rant) . . .

. . . for me, it's Windows for business and Mac OS for pleasure. I grew up on Macs, both in the home and at school, but find in industry Widows is more prevalent, so a familiarity with PC machines is crucial. Regarding the cost issue, while Macs cost more, they also have much longer service lives, as evidenced by the fact that the desktop I owned lasted for about 8 years. Including a $200 overhaul, about two thirds through that time, the cost of that computer, allocated annually, is about $150-per-year. Additionally, the last few generations of Macs are capable of running windows OS too. So buying a Mac is really akin to purchasing two computers in one these days, if you you the partitioning software which comes standard now. My work laptop is set up like this and I love it, I can work all day in XP then reboot in Mac OS and muck about.

 

[John in Covina]

I have Windows and every year Microsoft does something that makes me wish they were actually accountable for their actions. If I were to hit the Lotto I would get a super duper MAC with some of the whiz-bang video editing programs and hard ware. I have an interest in video and my old PC is very limited in it's capability.

 

[Spitfire]

MacBook Air for me. Great for opening beer bottles too!

 

[kpreed]

I started on a P.C. and for many a year only owned them, but now I have a Mac and as I did not blow it up or smash it with a big hammer, when trying to learn it's "Mac way of doing things" (nothing like my Dell), I like it much, much better now, then any computer I have ever had. Plus I do not ride or pay into, that Mircrosoft train anymore. (just the Apple train now) You will get what I mean.

 

[Tatum]

Mac (although I am on my iPad at the moment but I guess that counts). Can't beat a Mac for graphics work, and hubby "gets" it better than a PC. Keeps him from asking me how to do stuff all the time!

 

[Tomasso]

I have both: An older Sony laptop and a newer MacBook Air. I truly don't favor one over the other beyond weight.

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

I started using an IBM Displaywriter (featuring 8" floppy drives) in about 1983 - soon went to early PCs. Started creating my own web pages about 1990. I've been through DOS starting about DOS 5, and now use XP and XP Pro at work. Knowing simple DOS commands like the wild card character * is very helpful at times.

I've used Mac OS machines only occasionally, and only to attempt to do graphics or audio/video editing. Most of the time, this has resulted in my spending 90% of the time trying to navigate a system which seems to have been written using terms found in pidgin Swahili, and 10% actually doing work. I confess that I don't understand:

• The Mac OS commands terminology (finder???? Wotinheck is a "finder"???)
• The program structure
• The icons

As a result, I am completely frustrated when trying to use a Mac. The terms mean nothing to me, I can't find my way around, and I simply can't use the thing.

However, I DO understand terms like:

• Drive
• Find
• Directory / folder
• File
• Search

...all of which to me are perfectly logical metaphors and directions for operating a computer.

In other words, I have been trained to operate in Windows system terminology and process, and I find the Mac terminology extremely obscure and confusing. That's my problem, not Apple's, but I have no reason to even consider buying one of their machines. Also, you can buy so much more computer for your $$ in the PC world that there is no financial prompt for me to consider Mac.

YMMV and it often does.

Yep, I'm with ya brother.
So much more software such as games that work only with a PC, and the fact that I can build and supe up my own machine to my liking. Much like building a hotrod.

 

[DNO]

I've been using these infernal machines since the Commodore PET...no hard drive, no disc drive, 32K of RAM (if memory serves me correctly). You had to write your own programs, using BASIC. Actually...it was a lot of fun.

But now....I'm using a MacBook Pro. Can't beat it. I converted to Mac's when I finally convinced my school to introduce a Media Arts program. I'm retired now, but still using a Mac.

 

[scotrace]

I have a MacBook Pro, an iPhone 3G, and an iPad (via work). all serve flawlessly.

 

[Lady Day]

After some trouble shooting and 4 years of service, my Mac Pro ATI Radeon X1900XT card finally quit on me. Isnt it always the worst time these things happen? I did work that card pretty hard, so I cant complain too much, but fooie. I can be grateful that at least its not my logic board.

LD

 

[WideBrimm]

Yikes. I've been using DOS, then Windows all along since almost the beginning. First computer I used was the DOS based IBM XT. It had (as I recall) 2 disk drives, one for the program and one for the data! My most recent computer is a Windows 7 machine by HP. I did work in an office with only Apple computers, and so had to use a Mac, but did not like them at all. Just too hard to use, and besides the things were infested with scam emails.

I'll stick with Windows, thanks very much

 

[The Wiser Hatter]

Love my Mac's and my daughter works for Apple now makes a father proud.

 

[Lady Day]

Yikes.

Eh, it happens. CPUs are like cars, sometimes parts brake down and you need to replace them. Nearly 4 years with an ATI graphics card is a GOOD run, especially with 2 HD monitors on it all the time.
In hind sight I most likely should have sprung for a second graphics card a kind of a back up.

LD