Microsoft Vista: Another Reason to Switch to Apple
In 1984, Apple Computer ran a still-talked about Super Bowl ad. It is often credited for starting the annual competition for best ads during the championship game. Twenty-two years later, I’m finally getting Apple’s message. I guess some of us are just a little slow.
I started with IBM clones and Windows software where I worked. I continued it at home because of the good and inexpensive educational software that was easily available for my very young child. In the past couple of years, though, I’ve been routinely defeated by spyware and viruses. I use two different programs and have a firewall installed, but spyware beats me every time. I finally decided I had to do something drastic. I had to switch to Apple.
After extensive research, I was ready for change. Then something happened that made me think twice. I learned that Microsoft is coming out with a new operating system, one that is supposed to fix all those flaws. The new software will make it much easier to keep my PC clean. I had to take a second look.
This is what I found out. The new operating system, called Vista, promises that security will not be the issue it has been. Vista will be much harder to hack than older operating systems. It will also have system-wide parental controls. This sounds exactly like what I’m looking for. I’m aware that users of Apple’s Tiger probably take this stuff for granted, but it’s new to Windows users. I’d rather stick with Windows because upgrading to Vista shouldn’t cost as much as buying a new computer.
Vista is planning to make it easier to find all your files. Desktop searching will be much more rapid, and it will use virtual files. This term was new to me, but I learned that virtual files help you to find specific files wherever they are located. This is not anything new for Apple users, but the upgrade sounded great to me.
Vista is promising data synchronization, too. It should work pretty much the way it already works on Macs, keeping data on cell phones and PDAs in sync. O.K., so Mac has already been doing this stuff. I can be pretty stubborn (and cheap), and as I mentioned earlier, I’m not always the quickest to know when to give up what I’m already using. I’d still rather upgrade.
I was getting excited about Vista. I wanted to learn more, specifically about the release date. I wanted to upgrade the minute it was available.
Then I learned about the hardware requirements. Vista is not going to work well on budget PCs. As I said, I’m cheap. My PC would definitely classify as budget.
This means I’m still stuck with an operating system that welcomes viruses and embraces spyware. Even though I have been using Windows for almost as long as Windows has existed, I can’t just upgrade to the new system and expect good results. I have to buy an entirely new computer.
Now that I know I need a new computer, should I buy another Windows system and hope Vista lives up to its hype? Or should I go with Apple, remembering that users have told me they are not bothered much by spyware and crashes are unheard of? Then there’s one more thing to bring into the mix: my daughter plans to be a musician. Music is also my passion. She uses Apple computers at school. She wants GarageBand, and from what I’m reading about GarageBand 3, I’m with her.
I may be a slow learner, but the timing looks good. Apple is shipping out its new computers. It’s time to send one my way.
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Comments
Great article Janet, it is nice to have you on board. Good luck with Garage Band, I have no musical talent whatsoever so I can’t give you any help with that one!
Try out an iMac (dual core intel) at your nearest Apple store. It comes with all the softeware you need for a digital multimedia lifestyle. Be creative on a computer without the hassle.
Have you ever looked forward to working with your computer (in the sense of treating oneself to some computer time)? If not, then you will with a Mac.
There’s certainly a stark contrast between the computing expeirence on Mac OS and Windows right now. I use both daily - Windows is *so* far behind it isn’t funny. And even Vista has viruese already - and it’s not even released yet! Mac OS X has been around 6+ years and has zero! Plust most of the software on the Mac is top-notch compared to tons of crapware out there for Windows. If you go Mac with an open mind, you’ll likely never go back to Windows again. I’d say jump in now - the water’s warm!
Another bonus is that by the time Vista is released you will be able to run it on your new Mac! As a “budget” purchaser you could wait for the Mini to go Intel; but I would recommend the iMac. Put additional memory in it yourself through the easy-open door on it’s bottom. You can’t do any other upgrades unfortunately; but it should do the job for many years.
Welcome to the world of stress-free computing! Once you get over the relatively minor hurdle of getting used to OS X, you’ll find that you actually enjoy using your computer again. Switching to the Mac in March of last year was the best thing I ever did to invigorate my career as a software developer.
Welcome Janet. Great piece. My wife said just the other day that forget about everything else, what she loves about the Mac is not having to worry about or deal with viruses.
Vista will run on the Intel Macs if you ever need (which I doubt you will by the time it comes out), so you get the best of both worlds.
Wait for the Intel Mac mini if budget is tight - they can’t be too far off, maybe March/April.
Beeblebrox is sorely missed in this type of discussion.
Believe it or not, Apple didn’t invent the desktop search with Spotlight, and there are plenty of good tools available for Windows.
Data sync? My XP box at school syncs my PDA and cell phone no problem. My friend has bluetooth for his computer, and it does it wirelessly for
him too.
Hardware requirements ... last I checked, 256mb of RAM (maybe 512?), 64mb vram, 2GHz or so P4. So that costs, what, about $300 - $400 with a monitor right now (look at all the $299 Dell computer spam here, for example)? Also, Vista is (supposedly) coming out in 6 months, so by then the price’ll be even lower.
So the author is stating that they don’t want to spend more than say $400 on a computer, and they want to switch over to a Mac. So this seems like they’ll be getting a last gen Mac Mini. Guess what? It’s not going to run Garade Band 3 very well, and you’ll have to buy Garade Band 3 on top of that.
That said, there are plenty of good reasons to switch over to a Mac. I use a Mac and I really like it, and I definitely recommend it to other
people in almost all situations. This article’s arguments are ridiculous though - it’s like me saying that I drive a Toyota because Honda’s cars don’t have wheels.
Martin, why, when Garage Band is bundled, will that be an additional purchase?
Also, she did not claim that Apple invented the desktop search, only that Apple already has it native in the OS.
According to one industry analyst who attends MS conferences, minimum requirements (which won’t be published officially until mid-year) are “512 megabytes (MB) or more of RAM, a dedicated graphics card with DirectX® 9.0 support, and a modern, Intel Pentium- or AMD Athlon-based PC.”
In another article, the same analyst noted (at the Microsoft Watch site) that Microsoft had announced that the average user should have “a dual-core CPU running at 4 to 6GHz; a minimum of 2 gigs of RAM; up to a terabyte of storage; a 1 Gbit built-in, Ethernet-wired port and an 802.11g wireless link; and a graphics processor that runs three times faster than those [currently] on the market.”
What this suggests is that “minimum” is going to mean the same thing it has in the past: sluggish performance with many features disabled.
Martin, I’m already happily running GB2 on a machine that is similarly specced to a current Mac mini.
If she waits a few months, she will not have to get a “last gen Mac mini” and will get a next gen one that should run GB3 quite well.
Further, I think she also conceded that either way - Vista or Mac - she was going to have to buy something a bit better than a budget model.
Martin, Please check this link: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/windowsvista/evaluate/hardware/vistahardware.mspx
From Microsoft’s own site, as for hardware guidelines, “just about any mid-range and better processor...you should have at least 512 MB of RAM” and “pay special attention to making decisions that give you maximum flexibility later to upgrade individual components”
I own a first gen Mac mini and it runs Grageband 3 wonderfully even while I have a browser and iTunes open concurrently.
And all the iLife apps are included with any new Mac purchase (including Grageband.)
You can’t say Vista is a reason to jump ship until you have at least tried it. I find your whole article to be sensational and ill considered. Yes Vista will require better spec minimum hardware compared to XP, but usually more advanced software needs more advanced hardware, this does not surprise me, nor should it you.
I am not going to get into the Mac vs. Windows thing because seriously the only people who give a damn about that argument are Apple fanboys. Everyone else just gets on with their computing be it on Linux, Windows or Apple. Use what suits you. It seems that as your daughter uses Macs at school might be a good reason to indeed go for a Mac.
However, I don’t think that Vista is the reason to, and to use the appropriate brand-love term, “switch” to Apple. I have been using Macs and PCs for years, I have had Macs with severe software problems and I have had PCs with the same. Macs crash, fact. PCs crash, fact. Which does it more often? A home built cheap-ass PC is the answer. Bad hardware configurations (usually bad/cheap memory) almost always give problems which are often seen as software problems. A Mac is built by the same people who make the OS, for this reason it usually works better on a whole, and usually costs more. You get what you pay for with hardware.
I find that while PC hardware and software is ugly and a little careless in places it does do everything I need cheaply. I may have to poke about a lot to make it work properly but it does work. I don’t think a PC “just works” as well as it could, then again I have friends who are new Mac owners and complain about the same thing. To a certain level you always need to RTFM.
As for spyware and viruses I recommend SpyBot Search and Destroy (a free spyware tool), AVG Free (a free antivirus tool) and Firefox. These tools plus regular windows updates installed have kept me problem free. In fact, I have never had any serious virus problems and since I have stopped using IE I have no more spyware problems. Again, if you know what you are doing Windows can be good clean computing.
The only real reason OS X does not suffer from malware like Windows does is because no one writes the viruses/worms/trojans/spyware for them. Corporate computing does not generally use Apple .Mail for their email system, so viruses are written for the masses, and that is Microsoft. It would be a different story if everyone used Macs, they would find a way. Having said that OS X does seem to be built from the ground up with better security than XP could hope for.
In summary, Vista will be a long overdue update to the Windows platform, it will require newer hardware and it might not be everything you hoped for. Hopefully Vista will be a step closer to “just works” computing, it certainly is playing catch up with OS X. However, I can guarantee that a Vista PC will still be cheaper than a similar spec Mac. Apple hardware is stunning, but it is pricy, proper design does not come cheap (and it does not always work that well, just ask Ti Powerbook users and G1 iPod owners).
/End lengthy comment.
Ahh, but Mr. Carr, when your PC’s crash, do you get the sad Apple face? That’s what I thought.
Anyway, as I said before, I know that GarageBand 3 comes with new Macs, but one of the points in this article was that Vista’s minimum specs were too expensive, which puts the target price point below that of any of Apple’s new retail models. If this person wanted to buy themselves a mac, they would have to buy something from a previous generation of macs, which don’t come with GarageBand 3.
As for the OSX not being as targetted, that’s only partially true. Yes, if Apple and Dell were to switch market shares, there’d probably be viruses for the Mac, but as it stands, one of the best defences is that OSX is a unix system with sane user permissions. Just look - whenever you want to install an application it asks for your root password.
“...as it stands, one of the best defences is that OSX is a unix system with sane user permissions. Just look - whenever you want to install an application it asks for your root password.”
Totally, wholeheartedly agree. I do like both the sad Apple face over a blue screen and I also am in admiration of Jobs’ vision to build a system based on good old unix. Apple does really rock in many aspects, but this article sucks so hard it makes me sad. There isn’t even an author profile which makes me think Steve Jobs has minions putting out newspeak articles such as this. The 1984 parody ad this article talks about, maybe it was deeply ironic, maybe Jobs is big brother?
Vista will do NOTHING different for security than past version of Windows. It is the same old story from Microsoft that ‘this one has better security.’ Yeah, right. It’s not even out yet and there are viruses for Vista specifically.
Get a 20” iMac, slap 2 GB of RAM in it and call it done for 4 to 6 years.