At least in my experience, I have a much more enjoyable computing experience on a Mac because it doesn't make me want to scream every time I try to do something new. I just got a new computer because my Macbook is on its last legs after years of good service and being vastly more reliable from both a hardware and software perspective, (though I think that's prolly just my weird computer juju and doesn't apply to everyone, I'm sure) and its a PC with windows 7.
Holy fucking shit, there are so many dumb, dumb dumb design choices!
I wanna use my graphics tablet with my new computer? Well, they bundled all their software with their tablet computer software and settings, so in order to not have a hideous circlie-thingy appear every single time that my pen is making contact to the tablet for more than a second, (AKA: every single stroke) I have to go disable some bullshit setting that's on by default. And then I still have to deal with it changing my cursor without letting me change it, and every time I click something, there's still this little grey blip that appears that can only be disabled by editing registry keys. Oh, and the functionality of my tablet pens' second and third buttons is pretty much nothing now. Even though on OSX (and Windows XP for that matter) it could be set to a third click, or a right click, the closest thing I can do to getting a normal right-click is a process now involving holding down the secondary button until an indicator fills up, then left-clicking by tapping the pen.
In terms of hardware, at least compared to the PC laptops I've experienced now and in the past, the touch pad for Macbooks are by far the best track pads I've ever known. Let's just put it this way: on my Macbook, I'm as good as with the track pad as I am with a mouse. And the software for swiping is better, as well. And my pinky doesn't ache when I use the COMMAND button on a Mac keyboard, while the CTRL button's PC location has always baffled me.
Also, I plugged in my mic/headphone combo so I could play some TF2, only to find that the mic automatically channels any devices like this to a seperate "communications device" audio channel and will only allow audio input from programs like skype or mumble, and automatically send any other audio through the computer's speaker. You know how you fix this? You disable the device. You know, like what you do when you want to make your other speakers not work at all. And then the computer will recognize it as normal headphones.
Oh, and to make the computer stop instantly full-screening something when you bring it to the top of the screen, you have to change a setting in the ease of access center. That makes no sense.
Oh, and this insistence on changing every damn thing between operating system versions is another complete pain! Now, I did grow up on PC, and this has plagued me all my life. When I was a toddler, I was crying over our switching from Windows 3.1 to Windows 95, because so many things were changed, and this frustration still plagues me to this day.
My mother's work website stuff will only work with vanilla Internet Explorer in compatibility mode, but it stopped working the other night, but for some reason, it wasn't allowing her to log in, so I try to go through general troubleshooting (clean caches, disable anti-malware, etc) and Everything's in a completely different place. Java's in a different place. The Control Panel's both laid out and grouped differently from previous OSs. There are so many changes to things that most users will use so infrequently that trying to use them means spending an extra several minutes figuring out what Microsoft thought would be more "convenient."
And good God, MS Word. What did they do to you, old friend? (I know this is old news, but I've managed to avoid it up until now)
Oh, and Manufactuer's Bloatware. Screw you if you dare not build a machine yourself. And good luck trying to get rid of it all.
And then all these other little things that are so damn shabby. Like when the computer tries to ask you if it can run a new program or change an important setting or something- its gotta pause, flash to black, then grey everything out except for the text box, then flash black again before returning to your normal screen after you tell it yes or no. That's just so sloppy! How have these sort of visual issues not been ironed out yet? And those text boxes from the start bar have certainly improved from previous OSs, but they're still a headache. And the different types of the same OS? Nothing's more annoying then thinking that I've found the answer to my problem, only to find that the setting I'm looking for doesn't exist on my version of Windows 7? Also, why can't I toggle constant administrator access on a Home edition? Oh, and the AUTOMATIC UPDATE RESTART BULLSHIT. And the location of the window that allows you to change the settings for that has, again, changed from previous OSs. This means another hunt for a specific setting that may or may not have a new name.
Constantly babysitting multiple anti-malware programs and having the constant issue of them potentially screwing up your other programs (one of which was causing the aforementioned problem with my mother's work website, and kept causing the problem until I uninstalled the program) is a hassle. On other OSs, if you're like me and are decently internet-savvy, don't torrent and don't use porn, just an occasional monitoring of running services and scans are all you'll need to keep yourself clean of malware.
Oh, and the thing I hold against Microsoft the most strongly is that new OSs and updates are almost always broken. You have to wait for who knows how long until you know that new updates from Microsoft won't harm your data, your workflow, or make you altogether unable to use software you were using previously. A new operating system with Mac works. It works, its almost always superior to the previous OS in every way, and its $30. And though we're not talking Linux here, even that is more reliable than Windows. At least, if something breaks and you were using a verified stable version of something, its prolly your own damn fault.
All that being said, I don't think OSX is the Mecca of computing and that we should all convert to the giant, white fruit. We all have our personal preferences and our own specific computing needs. I, personally, would rather deal with using Wine on a OSX than deal with Windows. I know that, even though it makes no sense to me whatsoever, some people totally jive with the logic of the people who decide to put things here or there on Windows 7. And as I said before, I grew up PC. I can totally understand why people would prefer it, though those strengths of the OS are totally not worth it to me. Though the more I use this computer now, the more I find that the only true advantage I can find over OSX and Linux is simply that its so damn common, everything seems to be compatible with it. And I can't really give it much kudos for just being big in the grand scheme of things when on a personal level, the threat of a voided warranty is the only thing keeping me from wiping the hard drive completely and installing the first non-Microsoft OS I can find.
;-; I just hate using Windows. I hate it so much.
Holy fucking shit, there are so many dumb, dumb dumb design choices!
I wanna use my graphics tablet with my new computer? Well, they bundled all their software with their tablet computer software and settings, so in order to not have a hideous circlie-thingy appear every single time that my pen is making contact to the tablet for more than a second, (AKA: every single stroke) I have to go disable some bullshit setting that's on by default. And then I still have to deal with it changing my cursor without letting me change it, and every time I click something, there's still this little grey blip that appears that can only be disabled by editing registry keys. Oh, and the functionality of my tablet pens' second and third buttons is pretty much nothing now. Even though on OSX (and Windows XP for that matter) it could be set to a third click, or a right click, the closest thing I can do to getting a normal right-click is a process now involving holding down the secondary button until an indicator fills up, then left-clicking by tapping the pen.
In terms of hardware, at least compared to the PC laptops I've experienced now and in the past, the touch pad for Macbooks are by far the best track pads I've ever known. Let's just put it this way: on my Macbook, I'm as good as with the track pad as I am with a mouse. And the software for swiping is better, as well. And my pinky doesn't ache when I use the COMMAND button on a Mac keyboard, while the CTRL button's PC location has always baffled me.
Also, I plugged in my mic/headphone combo so I could play some TF2, only to find that the mic automatically channels any devices like this to a seperate "communications device" audio channel and will only allow audio input from programs like skype or mumble, and automatically send any other audio through the computer's speaker. You know how you fix this? You disable the device. You know, like what you do when you want to make your other speakers not work at all. And then the computer will recognize it as normal headphones.
Oh, and to make the computer stop instantly full-screening something when you bring it to the top of the screen, you have to change a setting in the ease of access center. That makes no sense.
Oh, and this insistence on changing every damn thing between operating system versions is another complete pain! Now, I did grow up on PC, and this has plagued me all my life. When I was a toddler, I was crying over our switching from Windows 3.1 to Windows 95, because so many things were changed, and this frustration still plagues me to this day.
My mother's work website stuff will only work with vanilla Internet Explorer in compatibility mode, but it stopped working the other night, but for some reason, it wasn't allowing her to log in, so I try to go through general troubleshooting (clean caches, disable anti-malware, etc) and Everything's in a completely different place. Java's in a different place. The Control Panel's both laid out and grouped differently from previous OSs. There are so many changes to things that most users will use so infrequently that trying to use them means spending an extra several minutes figuring out what Microsoft thought would be more "convenient."
And good God, MS Word. What did they do to you, old friend? (I know this is old news, but I've managed to avoid it up until now)
Oh, and Manufactuer's Bloatware. Screw you if you dare not build a machine yourself. And good luck trying to get rid of it all.
And then all these other little things that are so damn shabby. Like when the computer tries to ask you if it can run a new program or change an important setting or something- its gotta pause, flash to black, then grey everything out except for the text box, then flash black again before returning to your normal screen after you tell it yes or no. That's just so sloppy! How have these sort of visual issues not been ironed out yet? And those text boxes from the start bar have certainly improved from previous OSs, but they're still a headache. And the different types of the same OS? Nothing's more annoying then thinking that I've found the answer to my problem, only to find that the setting I'm looking for doesn't exist on my version of Windows 7? Also, why can't I toggle constant administrator access on a Home edition? Oh, and the AUTOMATIC UPDATE RESTART BULLSHIT. And the location of the window that allows you to change the settings for that has, again, changed from previous OSs. This means another hunt for a specific setting that may or may not have a new name.
Constantly babysitting multiple anti-malware programs and having the constant issue of them potentially screwing up your other programs (one of which was causing the aforementioned problem with my mother's work website, and kept causing the problem until I uninstalled the program) is a hassle. On other OSs, if you're like me and are decently internet-savvy, don't torrent and don't use porn, just an occasional monitoring of running services and scans are all you'll need to keep yourself clean of malware.
Oh, and the thing I hold against Microsoft the most strongly is that new OSs and updates are almost always broken. You have to wait for who knows how long until you know that new updates from Microsoft won't harm your data, your workflow, or make you altogether unable to use software you were using previously. A new operating system with Mac works. It works, its almost always superior to the previous OS in every way, and its $30. And though we're not talking Linux here, even that is more reliable than Windows. At least, if something breaks and you were using a verified stable version of something, its prolly your own damn fault.
All that being said, I don't think OSX is the Mecca of computing and that we should all convert to the giant, white fruit. We all have our personal preferences and our own specific computing needs. I, personally, would rather deal with using Wine on a OSX than deal with Windows. I know that, even though it makes no sense to me whatsoever, some people totally jive with the logic of the people who decide to put things here or there on Windows 7. And as I said before, I grew up PC. I can totally understand why people would prefer it, though those strengths of the OS are totally not worth it to me. Though the more I use this computer now, the more I find that the only true advantage I can find over OSX and Linux is simply that its so damn common, everything seems to be compatible with it. And I can't really give it much kudos for just being big in the grand scheme of things when on a personal level, the threat of a voided warranty is the only thing keeping me from wiping the hard drive completely and installing the first non-Microsoft OS I can find.
;-; I just hate using Windows. I hate it so much.
