Apple 'Switchers'

[Kemistry]

Dear All.

I've been a loyal long suffering Windows user since the days

of 3.1. Lots of things have got better since then. But then again lots of things have gone worse.

So when Apple started promoting their "Switchers" campaign, I was more than intrigued. I have used Mac here and there but was really never that impressed. However, since watching the Macworld Keynote speech http://www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/mwny02/

I was dead impressed in MacOS X 10.2 (Jaguar)

So basically how many of you lot have switched?

Are you tempted?

Lets face it no matter how much you skin XP, It ain't never gonna look as good as Mac OS X..

My View anyway...

Cheers

Kemistry

[MxxCon]

if "how it looks" is all you care about:ermm:, stick to fisher price toys.

for me windows looks better than mac.

i don't really care for any animation, bubbles or other crap that rest of the world seem to be ****ing hot milk over.

fast, steamlined, non-intrustive interface is what it's all about.

Classic theme+windows commander is the only way to fly.

[Keldyn]

Moved to macintosh

[Joseph Zollo]

I really like the OS X GUI, and I would probably get OS X if it were available for x86 based processors. I don't want to go out and buy a whole new system that's slowly becoming outdated. Let's face it, the macs are only at 1Ghz now, while Intel has plans to release a 3Ghz processor by the end of the year. Don't give me that crap about "megaherts doesn't matter", because it's clear that the 3Ghz P4's will make the 1Ghz G4's look like pocket calculators (well, not really...heh). If apple suddnely releases a G5 processor tommorow at speeds of around 2Ghz, then they'd get my attention. The Mac platform is just to limited for my personal taste. Plus, i'm a big gamer, and OS X has a pretty bad gaming platform...enough said.

ps, 800th post! w00t!

[MxxCon]

oh common, you can't compare mhz=mhz

but indeed, today fastest x86 is faster than fastest mac...in most cases.

[Wickedkitten Veteran]

Originally posted by MxxCon

if "how it looks" is all you care about:ermm:, stick to fisher price toys.

for me windows looks better than mac.

i don't really care for any animation, bubbles or other crap that rest of the world seem to be ****ing hot milk over.

fast, steamlined, non-intrustive interface is what it's all about.

Classic theme+windows commander is the only way to fly.

Obviously looks don't matter much to microsoft as well seeing as how they have been feeding you the same interface for the past 7 years.

Looks don't matter, its what's inside that count according to Microsoft.

Unfortunately that kind of pales in comparison to OS X as it has both.

[Wickedkitten Veteran]

Originally posted by JZolloXP

I really like the OS X GUI, and I would probably get OS X if it were available for x86 based processors. I don't want to go out and buy a whole new system that's slowly becoming outdated. Let's face it, the macs are only at 1Ghz now, while Intel has plans to release a 3Ghz processor by the end of the year. Don't give me that crap about "megaherts doesn't matter", because it's clear that the 3Ghz P4's will make the 1Ghz G4's look like pocket calculators (well, not really...heh). If apple suddnely releases a G5 processor tommorow at speeds of around 2Ghz, then they'd get my attention. The Mac platform is just to limited for my personal taste. Plus, i'm a big gamer, and OS X has a pretty bad gaming platform...enough said.

ps, 800th post! w00t!

Indeed. The only idiots that worry about megahertz in the first place are gamers. That's the only reason that people have to keep upgrading their computers in the first place is because they have to keep up with games specifications.

Once you grow up and realise theres more to computers than games not only will you be a much more enlightened person but you will also have a lot more money to spend on other stuff.

[Wickedkitten Veteran]

I used to be like half of these idiots on neowin with their anti-mac arguments and the only difference is that I can come up with a lot more intelligent reasons to not use a mac than "because it won't play games".

As already stated in various other threads around the planet you can game on a mac. Just because people choose to pay $400 for the latest and greatest video card just so they can play Doom3 on the pc that doesn't make them morons :ponder:

I'd just rather spend that amount of cash on an ipod

[Kemistry]

Hmmm...

Interesting comments from you guys. By trade I'm a Sys Admin

and most of my working career I've been surrounded by fools who slag off the Mac for one reason or another, usually about MHz and gaming.

Very few of these 'fools' have actually USED a Mac and therefore I dismiss their comments. In response to your commensTo be frankly honest, I HATE upgrading. My current rig is a Dell Dimenson 8100 1.5 Ghz processor with 512 MB of Ram blah blah blah. I bought it over a year ago and was suckered into upgrading the bits and pieces to reach its current state. Not only this but I've spent god knows how many hows tweaking XP to get it to work how I want it...

Frankly this is all BS.

I want my machine to be like my woman.

I wanna come home to nice a machine, thats looks good, responds to my needs that I don't have to spend hours trying to under what's upset it today.

Wicked Kitten has my respect not only as a Mac User but someone who isn't snobby about computers and more importantly someone who has an 'open mind' AND not blinkered by shortsightedness...

P.S On a recent trip to the US I bought an iPod.. F-ing marvellous. Works brilliantly with Xplay and gives me more pleasure than possibly Doom III would..

Why? ?

Cos I can get out an about and enjoy the sunshine.. (or this weekend at least in the UK)

Peeps..

Think Different.. Who knows you may even surprise yoself..

Faster processors, bigger memory feed bloatware...

[usr.bin]

...Respectivly sniped for brevity

Originally posted by Kemistry

I wanna come home to nice a machine, thats looks good, responds to my needs that I don't have to spend hours trying to under what's upset it today.

Wicked Kitten has my respect not only as a Mac User but someone who isn't snobby about computers and more importantly someone who has an 'open mind' AND not blinkered by shortsightedness...

P.S On a recent trip to the US I bought an iPod.. F-ing marvellous. Works brilliantly with Xplay and gives me more pleasure than possibly Doom III would..

Why? ?

Cos I can get out an about and enjoy the sunshine.. (or this weekend at least in the UK)...

Wow, nicely said. I'm sure Cathy will be equally impressed when she gets out of the shower. It's always a plus to be able to get outside and still be around a nice piece of electronic marvel (i.e. iPod). ;)

And for the record, Cathy used to have a closed mind about Mac, her shortsightedness caused her and Ross to plunge into many an argument. (I myself was as bad as her). But we have both seen the light thanks to her marvelous boyfriend.

But to stay on topic (which is what I'm told we're supposed to do by the moderators of this good site), I agree with you on the initial skinning bit. No matter how much you skin, tweak, or throw the Windows XP in the trash, it will never look as good as OS X. :D

[disclaimer] no intentional subliminal messages were intended in the above post.

--dave

[Keldyn]

Originally posted by Kemistry

I want my machine to be like my woman.

I wanna come home to nice a machine, thats looks good, responds to my needs that I don't have to spend hours trying to under what's upset it today.

lol. Comparing a machine to a woman. Ha....thankyou, i enjoyed the laugh.;)

[Dazzla Veteran]

I think you people would be surprised at the amount of Mac users at Neowin. When I first joined there was like 1, kitten and unspec. I can't recall another. But now quite a few other users have one including myself, gator and quite a few more.

I have to say that the switch was seemless, I don't play games (Ok, I had a few games on AOE2 ;) ) so every piece of software i used was available on OS X. I have everything I need and then it comes down to choice, personal opinion, which OS do I prefer, for me that's all it boiled down to.

Having actually used OS X for quite a bit before hand I was certain that it was the only way to go, it took a bit of persuading from kitten mind ;) . I'm personally glad I made the switch, everything I do on my Mac is faster then my last computer, Photoshop 7 is fast, Office X is sweet etc etc.

I also found myself being much more productive when it came to college work, whether it's the novelty of a new OS or it was simply a much more pleasurable environment to work in, I don't know.

So these mac bashers, fine I don't really give a **** what you say, but don't just come out and say it, at least try it. You might be surprised, I was...

[Timan Veteran]

i find these threads funny. pc users think they know more than there is to know about macs. also fun reading wickedkittens post :p

[usr.bin]

Originally posted by Dazzla

I think you people would be surprised at the amount of Mac users at Neowin. When I first joined there was like 1, kitten and unspec. I can't recall another. But now quite a few other users have one including myself, gator and quite a few more.

I have to say that the switch was seemless, I don't play games (Ok, I had a few games on AOE2 ;) ) so every piece of software i used was available on OS X. I have everything I need and then it comes down to choice, personal opinion, which OS do I prefer, for me that's all it boiled down to.

Having actually used OS X for quite a bit before hand I was certain that it was the only way to go, it took a bit of persuading from kitten mind ;) . I'm personally glad I made the switch, everything I do on my Mac is faster then my last computer, Photoshop 7 is fast, Office X is sweet etc etc.

I also found myself being much more productive when it came to college work, whether it's the novelty of a new OS or it was simply a much more pleasurable environment to work in, I don't know.

So these mac bashers, fine I don't really give a **** what you say, but don't just come out and say it, at least try it. You might be surprised, I was...

Wickedkitten and unspec is 1 person? :p

If you didn't know her in her pre-mac years, you didn't get to see the wild PC animal in her. She was a regular Gates Wh0re.

--dave

[Timan Veteran]

macs may not be for games but they sure are used to make games on, halo back in 98 was made on the mac and ran in REAL TIME on a mac in 99 at macworld, i doubt a pc could do that at that time.

If u switch and your a game like my self i say keep the pc to, i can't live with out my mac but i can't live with out my pc either so... i need both :)

[BxBoy]

I wouldn't completely switchover to Mac, but rather use it on the side.. for graphics and stuff.

[Timan Veteran]

Look yall even the Dell Guy Switched!

[Dazzla Veteran]

Originally posted by hkey_root

Wickedkitten and unspec is 1 person? :p

If you didn't know her in her pre-mac years, you didn't get to see the wild PC animal in her. She was a regular Gates Wh0re.

--dave

I meant in terms of Macs owned... ;)

[Kemistry]

Bloody Marvellous...!

I personally have a lot to thank Apple for. Back in the day when I was back at university trying to code in C, I met an ex girlfriend who used a mac extensively.

Me, being of the inquisitive type I wandered over and asked her who the "Model on the Mac was"? (Yes, cheesy chat up lines reach all time low when I'm around) Well, we hooked up and she turned out to very creative both in the sack and on her mac.

Is it just me or do all the nice looking girls use iMacs and iBooks today?

P.S. Its funny how pc users never complain about how bad the speed of things like USB are... when compared to FireWire...which just about comes as standard on an Apple Mac..

[Wickedkitten Veteran]

Originally posted by Kemistry

Bloody Marvellous...!

I personally have a lot to thank Apple for. Back in the day when I was back at university trying to code in C, I met an ex girlfriend who used a mac extensively.

Me, being of the inquisitive type I wandered over and asked her who the "Model on the Mac was"? (Yes, cheesy chat up lines reach all time low when I'm around) Well, we hooked up and she turned out to very creative both in the sack and on her mac.

Is it just me or do all the nice looking girls use iMacs and iBooks today?

P.S. Its funny how pc users never complain about how bad the speed of things like USB are... when compared to FireWire...which just about comes as standard on an Apple Mac..

prepare for the horde of pc users that will say that you can get a firewire addon for the pc

[cerbero]

Originally posted by Timan

macs may not be for games but they sure are used to make games on, halo back in 98 was made on the mac and ran in REAL TIME on a mac in 99 at macworld, i doubt a pc could do that at that time.

If u switch and your a game like my self i say keep the pc to, i can't live with out my mac but i can't live with out my pc either so... i need both :)

Don't forget Doom3 is being developed on Macs :) I even seems like they're focusing on the Mac. In the E3 Doom3 video where you see Carmack and everyone, pretty much every testing machine you see is a Mac. :ninja:

[Timan Veteran]

yep! macs rule for gaming but just there are not dev.s who devolop games for hte mac :(

[Steve]

Originally posted by Timan

yep! macs rule for gaming but just there are not dev.s who devolop games for hte mac :(

i think it'll get Better tho Tim!! ...And my Contrast, if there's as Many Switchers in the world, as there are on Neowin, Apple is Heading into some Seriou $$'s (or ??';);) @ Dazzla:D:D)

i Should have my iBook back 2morra:D:D

NeYo

[psw]

i used OSX for the first time last week on a Titanium w/ 256mb ram. I am a designer/art director and have been on Mac's for a damn long time. I can't stand them... so I had a chance to finally jump on OSX at my new job (I have the opportunity to get either a Mac or PC) I was excited to jump on in..

Yes the GUI is nice but its not all that. The red, yellow green light deal is tired.. the dock - annoying and the minimize window tornado thing brings the system to a halt. So I decide to open all that I would on my XP box (graphic apps, mp3 player, IM's, email, browsers: plural becuase Im a web designer, word) and OSX becomes a slug.. yes it could use more ram but the BIGGEST issue is switching into OS9 SUCKED and right now employers are not spending cash on new software ie; OSX only, so I along with a lot of my designer freinds have to switch between.. there is no way in heck I want to work that way. oh and there was this weird ass blank window that stayed up after switching into OS9 = nasty !

See the one big thing XP has is its an evolution of OS's that have been improved over time. OSX is a complete change from 9 and below... its a new curve.. buttons have moved, GUI is different, etc etc then you still have OS9 underneath that you have to use.

With XP all my software works, I have W2K on my other box and its runs the same stuff as XP, 98, ME, 95.

My main box is a 1ghz w/ 512 ram. I run tons of apps at the same time and it stays up for weeks. Ive had top of the line macs w/ gigs of ram and i can have them come crashing down constantly.

I love UNIX and until OSX and supporting apps all run under OSX ill try it again. I wont be getting a Mac, I will be getting a kick ass PC running either XP or W2K.

[Kemistry]

Interesting comments from PSW...

I have some of the same issues with pc's.

I suppose it comes down to personal preference. Part of me is attracted to Mac OS X 10.1/2 for sheer novelty value - its different - its unix - its innovative - it probably what Longhorn will look like in 2005.... and besides I like Steve Jobs. He appeals more as a geek to me than Gates and his Ballmer.

Lets look at the M$ Roadmap in no particular order..

MS DOS - fantastic though no GUI.

Windows 3.1 - slow, buggy though with GUI

Windows 95 - Totally different, always crashing, crap looking GUI

Windows 98 - What Windows 95 should have been 1st time

Windows Me - Its the blacksheep of the family - Enough said

(PC's users get subject to Dr. EVIL's Windows MOVie Maker..)

Windows NT - (See Windows 95) No USB support nor Plug & Pray

Windows 2000 - Things get a lot better! and for laptops too

Windows XP - Ah! The current darling, Microsoft meets the Teletubbies

Windows .NET - Finally an M$ Server OS that goes down only when you want it too...

Can't do a roadmap for the Mac (anyone care to do one?)