QUOTE(Galahad @ Feb 12 2008, 04:26 AM) Sadly, M$ will eventually make people migrate from XP to Vista, just as they did make people migrate from Win98 to XP in the past... I think MS (Yes, I don't use derogatory names, like Linsux, Fackintosh (<- swearword?) and Windoze), after they make people migrate from XP to Vista, will cut off compatibility in an update. This will ensure that people stay with Vista. It's sad how they go through things.

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Personally, I had the choice of choosing to upgrade to Vista or switch over to Leopard (Mac). I did the latter, and I am glad I did so after hearing the massive complaints in this thread as well as from all my friends on how resource intensive Vista is. Though the minimum requirements is 1GB, to actually run it decently (not high end); you would basically need 2GB of memory. And notice the keyword is decently, to run smoothly, even more memory is needed.

Sure enough Vista is reborned with a classy and beautiful interface, the glossiness was nonetheless copied from Mac. Where is the innovation in the design which Microsoft has promised? I do disagree about the fact you should only get a Mac if you don't game much. I do play games like WoW and Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 which is running on my Windows XP partition. Once again, I have not touched Vista and unless by force, will never ever use it.

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Personally, my switch to vista has been relatively flawless for the programs that I run....that being said I bought a new computer a year ago and had no choice. XP was no longer available where I made my purchase.
I've been relatively happy with it. Once I made my piece with the constant "Are you okay with this action" pop ups when I was customizing and the odd upgrade needed I was okay. My only BIG problems were the fact my one year old printer was obsolete and I was forced to buy a new one as an upgrade wasn't going to be available for another 4 months (grrr).

If I was to do t all over again though......I think I would have gone the Mac route, just to try it out at the very least. In all honesty I only stayed with Windows due to the graphics program I have become accustomed to.

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I'm starting to get sick of this whole comparison gig where one OS supposedly copied another. It's starting to get to the point where I don't care anymore, as long as the OS works well.

I haven't gotten a chance to sit down and play around with a Vista machine, but I just hear horror stories after horror stories. Same with Mac's Leopard. And of course, Linux's Ubuntu is always in development.

A lot of people are going to have a mixed bag of opinions when it comes to operating systems because everyone uses them in different ways. Developers will probably bash them for inefficiency; geeks will bash them for being incompatible with a majority of applications and/or hardware (driver support); and everyday computer-illiterate (normal ) consumers will appreciate the new operating systems for their shiny eye candy. (And we all know how we love our shiny eye candy.)

I got the chance to play around with a Mac with Leopard installed at Best Buy and for the very basics, I can safely say that it's okay if you're doing the very basics. I never got too in-depth into it, but given the opportunity I'll explore it more and probably give you a different opinion on the operating system itself. Funny enough, it strikes a VERY strong semblance to Ubuntu... especially the Control Panel/System Preferences/System Settings section. (I don't know who came up with that look first and I'm starting to not care.)

Nowadays, it's hard to actually pitch operating systems against each other as being the best, as each operating system almost caters to certain audiences. Windows XP is the staple for most computers nowadays, and in my opinion, Professional SP2 is the best in terms of software variety (especially our beloved Adobe programs). Things just work on SP2, and really, it's one of two operating systems right now that actually can boast that "it just works" that I know of personally.

Vista is on the opposite spectrum, apparently, being much of a resource hog and incompatible with a lot of things. I have no real experience on the operating system so I can't say much about it.

I haven't touched Mac OS X aside from general use on my buddy's Macbook, and it's okay as far as general use. Leopard brings more features to the table, but if it's actually like Mac OS X, it wins my book for being visually-pleasing, easy to pick up, and being expensive as hell. Not to mention that I hate this elitist thing that goes on for a lot of Mac users.

I've been using Kubuntu on and off for a bit, so I'm sort of familiar with it. It is the second one of the two that I can safely say that things just work... but if it doesn't, be prepared to be lost in researching for an answer to your problem. If you're not familiar with Linux, you can get lost with the command lines and the feeling that you have to be a geek to play with 'nix operating systems. It's constantly being developed, so I can say that there's hardly anything actually WRONG with the operating system, but then again, a lot of programs for Linux, although free, may be ridden with bugs (unless it's out of beta).

So basically...

- Windows XP is still going to be popular, in my opinion, until Vista becomes more viable. It's probably what most PC users will stick to.

- Windows Vista is still not a good move yet. I don't know what the first service pack fixed, but until it actually performs better than its predecessor in terms of compatibility and performance (in proportion), computer-literate consumers will stay wary.

- Mac OS X is apparently pleasing the Apple crowd. It seems easy to use and is visually-pleasing, but it comes at a high cost to be "in" with the younger, hipper crowd, as Apple almost seems to be gearing their products towards.

- Leopard seems to follow the Mac OS X legacy, although peer reviews suggest otherwise. I'm thinking that it's on the same path with Vista, although nowhere nearly as bad.

- The Linux distribution of Ubuntu seems to be heading in the right direction, offering a complete, working operating operating systems with hundreds if not thousands of alternative, open-source software [all for free, mind you], but continued development, beta programs, and an intimidating (and almost necessary) inhabitance of the shell console keeps most everyday people away. This is changing, however, as Ubuntu is becoming even more user-friendly. (I think that most other distributions may cater moreso to certain computer-literate tastes, although my experience out of Kubuntu only includes Freespire, in which I didn't spend much time on.)

 

 

 

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You'd get confusion from most people if you mention Linux, maybe even Mac. Most people are just too lazy to actually investigate the differences between the OS's themselves and assume that 'big brother' knows best so Vista is the way to go.


Nobody makes you read it, it's just there, and it will always be there. And most comparisons aren't interested in claiming others copied it, they're mostly out there to try and inform people that there's other options.

It's like saying "Alright everybody, lets get us a new idea in the next 30 seconds, never thought before." People are bound to make things similar to the things that inspired them.

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I haven't used Vista for an extended period, Call me crazy but I'm not a fan of spending 100's of $$ on a DVD which is essentially 1's and 0's... I am a mac user, yes, running tiger. See unlike Microsoft Apple make the hardware as well as the software, so they know the strengths and weaknesses of each. And because they make a majority of the software for the mac, they don't charge alot... because they've got a cut before you bought it. They would just be triple (because they get a cut for the OS & The computer itself) dipping if they were charging alot for their software.

Lets weight this up,

Mac Vs. Pc

The latest operating system:

Mac OS X Leopard ($129 single user, $199 Family pack (4 or 5 licenses i think)
Windows vista Home Basic ($385 single license)

Windows Vista Ultimate ($754)

Lets review shall we?
Leopard (which doesn't have a basic version with all the cool stuff turned off btw.)
#$129, 199 for 5 licenses (i think)
#Specs fit computers upto 4+ years old

Vista
*Different versions, different costs none of which is under $300 brand new
*Very Heavy on the graphics..

I have used XP before I became a Mac user... And it was good, Except that once every six months or so i would have to back everything up and run the recovery disk, then have to re-install all my software.
With my mac I've had for almost a year, I HAVE had to clean out my documents folder and such... but never had to do a clean recovery.

I used linux for a while (edubuntu) and I thought it was ok... I never really got into it for very long. I do however like 'puppy linux' a lightweight version of linux. Very basic, word processor, net browser and a few other handy utils... The only thing was i didn't have drivers for it to work with my hardware which was the end of a perfectly good linux OS...

Basically My point of view on the matter is this:

No matter what you do, it all comes down to the user. Some people like macs, some like windows and others like freeware operating systems like linux, darwin and such... I prefer mac because i have not had a problem which was unprovoked. When finder crashes (The equivalent to explorer) other programs are generally not affected and i can relaunch easily. in otherwords... when explorer trips, windows falls over. With mac, when a program freezes, its generally the only thing that freezes... and when i it CMD+Option+ESC(CTRL ALT DEL equivalent) it pops up fairly quick... and isn't built into the finder... which means when finder dies... it doesn't, unlike windows task manager...

And the mysterious "No viruses for mac" Conundrum... its sprung a few conspiracy theories as to Microsoft knowing the vunerabilities, and giving those to virus developers/anti-virus developers... not to mention the numerous "security updates" Windows, if you're going to make an operating system, finish it. And if there are a few problems... yeah update them. But finish them first.

The countless updates, every few days 'security update' this or 'priority update' that... My mac- once a month or so an update or two (mainly when new versions of apple software (itunes, quicktime, safari, has a new release... or the pro apps have been updated, occaisionally there's a firmware update, but i've only had one of those i think.

Long story short, I'm not a huge fan of windows anymore, The best PC I had was a p2 i think with 600mHz processor, 32 mb ram with a 1.5 GB hard drive running windows 98... only crashed once, and that was when we tried to load sim city 2000 on it... which it couldn't handle.

It all comes down to what you want to do with your computer, but always keep your mind open. play with a mac next time you get a chance.

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I'd use Vista if it were there, but I generally prefer Windows XP Professional. Vista's fancy windows and effects slow it down tremendously. When I have to use Vista, I pretty much, start by changing the theme to Windows Classic, that speeds it up a bit in my opinion.

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Actually, neither of them do, Apple just modifies it to be specifically for Apple. Apple has no right to create NVIDIA or ATI video cards, it just buys the chips and makes the rest.

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The problem with Microsoft is that they have a closed mind. They want to force everyone to buy their products (an "anti-push" factor, so to say) and use their endorsed hardware, as well as assimilating smaller companies (a "double-pull" factor, where one company pulls the company that pulls other customers), rather than trying to work with them. Why do you think they're so against the open-source movement?

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The issue about Macs are that you pay for the OS more than anything else. You could be paying a SGD 3,200 for a Mac when you can get a high performance PC for SGD 2,000. It all boils down to the OS, I personally would not mind paying SGD 1,200 more for a lower spec computer with a much superior OS in my opinion. Though the starting was tough for me, as I had to readapt to the new keys like command and option, where control isn't control like in Windows, I have passed the transition period that using Windows is increasingly difficult now.

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