Home Office Face-Off: Mac vs. PC Is the eternal struggle for supremacy still relevant to home-based workers? Our home office columnist judges Apple and Windows on and off the desktop. I love using Macs, but I've never found a 'Top 10 Reasons' that didn't have at least a few bogus arguments. It may not be their fault if they haven't used a PC in awhile (ever?). They could be out of touch and using old excuses that no longer apply. I've compiled 11 up-to-date reasons why Macs are better that gives up the old song and starts a new one. Macs have less software choices. Wait a minute, don't you want more choices. Wrong, you don't want more choices, you want one choice - and you want it to be the right one. It is not even a price issue (price doesn't matter if there is only one choice). Take a look at the Linux world with all of its freeware choices. Talk about craptastic, confusing, and 'as a matter of fact I don't want to fix it myself'. Linux isn't taking over the desktop no matter how many 'free' crappy programs there are with tons of features. Let's face it: If a Mac user had a hundred office productivity programs, or a PC user a thousand office productivity programs, they are both going to pick Microsoft Office. (Don't send me any emails telling me how you personally don't use MS Office. One opinion doesn't matter.) The world currently uses MS Office. Good or bad, it is the right choice, and having other choices is nice but not required. Macs have less software installed. Didn't I just say that? Yes, sort of, but now the reason has changed. I recently visited a family who had bought HP laptops. They had three or four choices of software to burn a CD, listen to music, or do whatever. They asked me which to use - like I would know. This brings up the IT nightmare of shareware, screen savers, home programs, and other junk that gums up a computer. A good IT department will not let you install software, and they are a pain about giving you anything new. Because of support. More software means more problems, and therefore more support. ![]() Follow these same rules for yourself if you want fewer computer problems: Use only the software you need and install no extras. Here Apple helps by installing only a few extra programs on new computers. You get iLife programs, a trial game, and a trial version of MS Office, but that is about it. At least with what Apple does give there are not three different ones that all do the same thing that someone has to decide about. Mac OS X is not out to punish people who install an extra copy. Windows XP is bad enough to register, and Vista take every step possible to make it difficult to activate and stay activated. They will disable your copy if they think you are a pirate. And they are constantly inventing new ways to snoop on their own customers. They will even punish OEMs who try to sell a PC without an OS preinstalled. Mac OS X doesn't even require that you register after upgrading, and they don't snoop on my computer looking for pirated copies. If you feel guilty they sell a reduced price Family Pack to make installing multiple copies legal. Windows has its multiple pricing plans of Home, Media, Pro, etc. - nowhere in that mix is a plan to help you upgrade more than one machine. Basically they punish you if you pirate a copy and don't give a break to the honest person or business who needs more than one copy. Macs are better at pushing new standards. If you consider the low point of Apple's market share, this is impressive. When Apple decided to drop serial and SCSI support, and instead support USB and FireWire (IEEE-1394 for the PC reader out there), Apple had one transition product line, and by the next revision the old serial and SCSI ports were gone. Apple says screw legacy crap, get with the program or be left behind. Compare this to Dell: It took them until last year to finally drop computers with serial and parallel ports. Who cares, make it an added expense or adapter and clean up your design, but no they are stuck supporting long out-of-date standards. (For those who care, I apologize, but maybe that old dot-matrix printer needs to be put in a museum.) Apple does this not just as it relates to hardware but also with design. After the were a success, a whole world of products from alarm clocks to toilet seats come out in colors to match. Then Apple made these products look out-of-date by switching to all white or all black, and the world is left following Apple's lead again - and again. Remember, this was a company with 3-4% of the PC market getting alarm clock manufactures to follow their lead. If I want peripherals to match my new Mac, you can bet someone will update their product to go with Apple's latest designs.
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March 2019
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