Windows 7 tempting a Mac user

[Lighthalzen]

haha, I am the same as above... I switched to OS X when Vista came out with SP1. Now that Windows 7 is here and my new Dell Laptop, I have not opened my Macbook Pro for 2 weeks now.

[rawr_boy81]

Mac people use Mac for a few reasons. First is: they have no choice, second is because it's a fashion accessory, third is: they were raised with it and fourth is: they don't feel comfortable thinking that they are not different, fifth is : they don't like viruses.

True, for me it was the lack of power on one hand with user interface consistency and software accessibility on the other hand - hence the reason why Linux/etc was always out of the question; the lack of mainstream software and hardware support.

Windows 7 is great, I really enjoy it, but if I were you I would think wisely on this and don't read to much of these posts because it will just be overwhelming and will confuse anyone's purchase decision. Good Luck

True, I made the mistake a while ago to move to Windows then ran back to Mac when I found it wasn't all it was cracked up to be. I am tempted though to wait until USB 3.0 become mainstream and Windows 8 is launched - by then I'll be due for a refresh of my desktop and laptop where I will be able to compare 10.7/10.8 to Windows 8. Hopefully by the time Windows 8 rolls around there will be Internet Explorer 10, improved consistency, refresh of all the components to use the new technologies - right now with future investigation I always get the feeling that Windows 7 is 'work in progress' rather than it actually reading the destination.

[master2k27]

but there is lots of other browsers by 2011 , firefox 4.5, google chrome 85 i dont think there will be IE10

[manosdoc]

I had hard time to make an iMac work with Windows 7 only ( Formatting the whole Hardisk, no OSX partition, no Bootcamp ) because of problems between EFI 1.1 and UEFI 2.0 but once I made a custom iso of Windows 7 without MBR it loaded and got installed. Well the experience is very nice, and didn't take time to adopt.

The big difference I noticed if you can call this difference, is the rich variety of Software at the Windows World. You're not stuck into i-This, or a "bad port"-lower quality of Windows applications (say μtorrent for example). You can choose for example between 4 very well known zip archivers if the native one does not work for you.

Well you can give it a go. Won't dissapoint you. Maybe after long time you will find it difficult to adopt it or maybe you won't like it at the end, but it won't dissapoint you as an OS.

[Damian]

Are you serious?

Mac people use Mac for a few reasons. First is: they have no choice

What do you mean by they have no choice?

second is because it's a fashion accessory

A fashion accessory? so people buy macs to look good?

third is: they were raised with it

I wasn't raised with macs. but with Windows like most people who switched to macs.

and fourth is: they don't feel comfortable thinking that they are not different

???

fifth is : they don't like viruses.

Who does like viruses? Windows users?

[zagor]

Are you serious?

What do you mean by they have no choice?

A fashion accessory? so people buy macs to look good?

I wasn't raised with macs. but with Windows like most people who switched to macs.

???

Who does like viruses? Windows users?

I have to agree with him on the fashion accessory. Most people I know who own a mac usually bought it to look fashionable at a starbucks...

[protocol7]

The big difference I noticed if you can call this difference, is the rich variety of Software at the Windows World. You're not stuck into i-This, or a "bad port"-lower quality of Windows applications (say μtorrent for example).

This is probably the main reason to switch. Comparing OS features is one thing, but software choice in Windows is far superior. Third party OS X software is hit-and-miss (still waiting for anything close to foobar2000) and often times anything even remotely useful seems to be shareware when a more advanced Windows alternative would be freeware. Windows has always been my main OS, with OS X on my laptop. I'm happy using both, but if I had to choose only one it would be Windows.

[justmike]

I think that the entire pool of user experiences is so diverse that the only effective way for you to know how you'll like Windows 7 is to try it out yourself.

I suppose the RC download may not be available anymore, but Microsoft does typically offer Enterprise trials for corporate users to download and test. These trials usually expire after a few months, but it is certainly long enough to get a feel for how things work, how well your hardware and software are supported, and how well the OS meshes with your user habits. I believe you can still get ahold of the Office 2010 Beta, and since you're involved in academia, you can probably get access to VS 2010 via the Dreamspark website. Just be aware that many people have at least some trouble switching to Windows 7 (from XP, Vista, and OS X), since the interface is different. I didn't fully switch myself after downloading the Beta - it took several weeks before I finally got comfortable with the new-ish interface. There are many things that aren't even obvious, including the new keyboard shortcuts, Jumplists, the click-and-drag method of bringing up menus... Anyway, if you're willing to explore the interface and new ways of doing tasks, you'll probably find the experience positive. Ironically, you may have an easier time switching than many XP users, since you may not have such an ingrained concept of how Windows should be.

I don't really recommend going out and playing with Windows 7 on a store machine. Those come loaded with bloatware and trialware, and generally provide a poor user experience out of the box.

You could buy from Microsoft Store, and that will take care of most of the bloat.

[zhangm Supervisor]

This is probably the main reason to switch. Comparing OS features is one thing, but software choice in Windows is far superior. Third party OS X software is hit-and-miss (still waiting for anything close to foobar2000) and often times anything even remotely useful seems to be shareware when a more advanced Windows alternative would be freeware. Windows has always been my main OS, with OS X on my laptop. I'm happy using both, but if I had to choose only one it would be Windows.

Just be conscious that it works in the opposite direction as well. One example is iMovie - many freeware solutions on the Windows side don't compete well. Windows Live Movie Maker has become severely neutered, and I'm uncertain whether the developers plan to make it better in the near future.

Also note that some of the software that you might get used to on the Apple side don't translate well to Windows. Safari, Quicktime, and iTunes are annoying to say the least.

You could buy from Microsoft Store, and that will take care of most of the bloat.

Yeah. The really key issue IMO is that anyone buying from an OEM or store must make sure that they get a disk with the OS on it. Not some bloatware infested backup partition only accessible by proprietary software. I seriously can't stress how necessary it is to have a reliable safety net. Many shops will save themselves a few dollars by not including the disk.

[Shadrack]

I use both Windows 7 and Mac OS 10.6 daily, and I can't really fault either of them or say this one is better than that one.

As for your example of MS Office software, I like Office 2008 Mac more than Office 2007 for Windows. At the same time I like Office 2003 best and am warming up to Office 2010.

It does bother me that everything for Mac ends up costing money. Freeware is a rarity on Mac.

Pixelmator - $60. Paint.net - $0

Textmate - $55. Notepad++ - $0

Cinch - $15. Aero Snap (included with Windows 7) $0

I'm sure if I think about it some more, there are other examples of awesome freeware on Windows and Mac alternatives costing money. I think that it has to do with market share. The large marketshare for Windows means that many of these freeware apps can just ask for donations.

Why don't you just install Windows on your Mac and use that?

---

I did just think of an example of something that costs $$ on Windows

Time Machine (included) - $0. Genie TimeLine or Oops!Backup $35-$40

[rawr_boy81]

This is probably the main reason to switch. Comparing OS features is one thing, but software choice in Windows is far superior. Third party OS X software is hit-and-miss (still waiting for anything close to foobar2000) and often times anything even remotely useful seems to be shareware when a more advanced Windows alternative would be freeware. Windows has always been my main OS, with OS X on my laptop. I'm happy using both, but if I had to choose only one it would be Windows.

For CD ripping I tend to avoid iTunes and use XLD due to its use of LAME which is a superior mp3 encoder to what Quicktime provides but you are right when it comes to third party applications I see a lack of freeware being a big thing for me; one only needs to look through MacUpdate to see the number of programmers who think that they can push a $15 product on a user that is free in the Windows world.

You could buy from Microsoft Store, and that will take care of most of the bloat.

Microsoft stores aren't available where I live - with that being said, having had a brief down the road at HP, Sony, Dell etc Laptops, most of them these days have alot less crapware on them than they did in the past.

Just be conscious that it works in the opposite direction as well. One example is iMovie - many freeware solutions on the Windows side don't compete well. Windows Live Movie Maker has become severely neutered, and I'm uncertain whether the developers plan to make it better in the near future.

True, but I've never been a big user of iMovie anyway - I'm quite happy to use the record function on Quicktime and do it all in one shot :)

Also note that some of the software that you might get used to on the Apple side don't translate well to Windows. Safari, Quicktime, and iTunes are annoying to say the least.

True but with that being said Safari, Quicktime and iTunes are hardly necessary given if I were to move to Windows I'd sell my iPod Touch at the same time because of how horrible Apple's software is on Windows.

Yeah. The really key issue IMO is that anyone buying from an OEM or store must make sure that they get a disk with the OS on it. Not some bloatware infested backup partition only accessible by proprietary software. I seriously can't stress how necessary it is to have a reliable safety net. Many shops will save themselves a few dollars by not including the disk.

Agreed - unfortunately trying to do that is almost like trying to get blood out of a stone - Although Dell seem to be pretty good in that regard with HP being not too bad either from what I have heard. Toshiba used to be quite good at one point where you could choose to restore just the operating system or the whole thing.

[Shadrack]

--x-snip-x--

True but with that being said Safari, Quicktime and iTunes are hardly necessary given if I were to move to Windows I'd sell my iPod Touch at the same time because of how horrible Apple's software is on Windows.

iTunes isn't THAT bad on Windows. What annoys most people is:

1. It looks out of place

2. Apple Update people don't want forceful installs

3. iPod/iPhone services installed, setup, and set to automatically run at startup at the install of iTunes. Even if you don't own one.

All that being said, there really is no reason to sell your iPod Touch if you still like using it. I have iTunes on my Windows Desktop but it is only for those few times that I need to hook my iPhone up to do something (which isn't very often). Other than that I use Foobar2000 as my music player and it plays music from the iTunes library folder just fine.

But I would say the performance of iTunes on Windows on my desktop is about the same as it is in Mac OS X on my MBP.

Agreed - unfortunately trying to do that is almost like trying to get blood out of a stone - Although Dell seem to be pretty good in that regard with HP being not too bad either from what I have heard. Toshiba used to be quite good at one point where you could choose to restore just the operating system or the whole thing.

Does anyone know how much OEMs are subsidized for doing this? It really does suck :(.

[zhangm Supervisor]

I did just think of an example of something that costs $$ on Windows

Time Machine (included) - $0. Genie TimeLine or Oops!Backup $35-$40

We've had System Restore since Windows ME, and with Vista, we've added on Previous Versions as well as a built-in backup management system that can do either archive-based backups, or full-disk imaging and restoration. Previous Versions is completely hands-off with no setup necessary, and once you assign a backup drive for archiving or imaging, you shouldn't need to worry about those either.

Does anyone know how much OEMs are subsidized for doing this? It really does suck .

It is a bit insulting once you think about it and realize that somehow, for the want of less than a dollar of plastic, they're willing to let you suffer endless days of downtime. :/

[Shadrack]

We've had System Restore since Windows ME, and with Vista, we've added on Previous Versions as well as a built-in backup management system that can do either archive-based backups, or full-disk imaging and restoration. Previous Versions is completely hands-off with no setup necessary, and once you assign a backup drive for archiving or imaging, you shouldn't need to worry about those either.

Maybe I just wasn't setting it up right, but the built in scheduled backup seemed to fill up my backup disc within a few backups. And then it wanted me to juggle the hard disk space around. I ended up getting Genie Timeline and so far I'm liking it. The first run through was annoying because it seemed to take forever to back everything up, but its doing a good job now staying out of my way, managing the backup volume hard disk space, and letting me restore older versions of files.

[Raa]

I own 3 Macs, 2 of them run Windows only. I think that about sums it up? ;)

[MrTwister]

I own 3 Macs, 2 of them run Windows only. I think that about sums it up? ;)

You need to change the "Windows 2K Rules" part of your sig then. ;)

[Kpssst]

Microsoft stores aren't available where I live - with that being said, having had a brief down the road at HP, Sony, Dell etc Laptops, most of them these days have alot less crapware on them than they did in the past.

You can buy online.

[rawr_boy81]

You can buy online.

They don't ship to my country lol.

Its all good anyway, where I live there is a good range of shops I can purchase a laptop and desktop from.

Funny story today; I got ****ed off today because my fans sped up whilst doing a youtube video because of Flash, the browser hogging 400MB even after closing all my tabs off, then there was the jitteryness when recording - damn this laptop sucks; its been occurring since I got a laptop and Apple won't work out what is wrong unless I pay them - in other words they screwed up the MacBook design and I'm paying for it with airport temperatures of 70degrees, fans kicking in far to late and when they do they have to be at the top speed possible to cool it down.

So the issue I have with my Mac is more than just the operating system, its the whole damn device itself.

[jesseinsf]

Are you serious?

What do you mean by they have no choice?

A fashion accessory? so people buy macs to look good?

I wasn't raised with macs. but with Windows like most people who switched to macs.

???

use your brain and you will answer your own questions.

Who does like viruses? Windows users?

[Motoko.]

Yeah I ended up returning that Macbook Pro today. It was a nice machine don't get me wrong but the money I paid for was like purchasing a Porche GT2 instead of a Nissan GT-R. I'm becoming very impressed with the array of applications Microsoft has for its users. I'm just anxious to install now!

If the snow doesn't interfere my ASUS should get here around noon today.

[Matrix XII]

I've always used Windows but after Vista I considered Mac OS, but I got a new Acer netbook for cheap and upgraded the starter version of Windows 7 to the home premium version which has been great, no problems at all yet.

[Damian]

use your brain and you will answer your own questions.

You can't even answer my questions. that pretty much says all about your nonsense post :)

[Team Kabooka]

I'm pretty much in a ho-hum situation right now with my Mac; the Office 2008 for Mac suite from Microsoft is very average (behind Windows), iWork '10 seems to be turning out to be yet another great disappointment (no bibliography functions, crappy templates), long standing performance issues relating to video cards, the limited range of hardware and accessories (I don't want iPod to be the only choice) and a terrible media player at that with the third party ones either being buggy or bad ports from the *NIX world, and the development tool (XCode) is a pain in the bum to use.

I look at the Windows world and I see Windows 7, Office 2010, Live Essentials, Visual Studio 2010 and I am really tempting to the Windows world once I have finished university at the end of this year to use my student ID one last time to purchase Office 2010, the development tools and so on.

Are there any other Mac to Windows converts, specifically to Windows 7, who can give me some heads up on their experience? I've pretty much gotten to the end of my tether with Mac's at the moment and the constant let down and lack of focus by Apple who seem to be more concerned about every widget and device instead of improving their Mac operating system. I look at the massive improvements in the Windows world, the sexiness of the laptops, the improved features, spec, reliability when coupled with Windows make them far more tempting than Macs.

Nooooooo dont walk over to the dark side . OSX is t3h 1337

[Motoko.]

Nooooooo dont walk over to the dark side . OSX is t3h 1337

Wait.. I thought it was Gentoo? :p

[rawr_boy81]

The more I've used Windows 7 the more I am tempted to move; it has finally addressed the issues I've been screaming about for 5-6 years.

Given that I'm going to finish university at the end of this year I've got a year to save up the cash before making a final decision. I guess there is a certain 'mystique' being an Apple user in a sea of Windows users but at the same time when it comes to getting a job done - I'm more concerned about that lol.

Plus, Visual Studio 2010 RC is pretty good so far; I'm learning C right now but eventually I'd like to move to C# in the end - Windows is the best platform for that given that mono is always behind the eighth ball.