Yes, very shiny, very attractive hardware. I really don't see what the problem is. If you want Mac 'quality' and software, you buy a mac. If you don't care about looks or Mac-style 'quality' you make your own, buy a beige box or buy one of those hideously garish neon-studded monstrosities.

After all, Compaq used to have their own software. You couldn't get that on any other system and no one complained so far as I'm aware. Apple's just more successful.

Proprietary = Limitations. Aftermarket hardware = freedom of choice. Build as only one
vis a vis Building as big or as little as you please. NUFF SAID!

Personally, I like Windows compared to Apple. Mainly because you can upgrade software and hardware, and because, generally, it supports more stuff. People say that Windows has more viruses (virii?), but i have had very few. Virus scan, my friends.

Then people are saying that there's hardware problems. Consider this. Windows was created for a variety of configurations, from the basic beige box to the hard core, 12 CPU, 1 TB RAM, neon, platinum rims, hydraulics mod-strosity. (12 CPUs? hey, there's an idea!) Whereas, Mac was designed to work on very few hardware configs. But, I'm sure each has their own advantages.

My advice? Stick to what works for you.

EDIT: Also, those Mac commercials... I'm still waiting for the PC Casemodding one, it'd be like the PC would be this huge hulking monster, totally badass, and he'd say stuff about casemods.

I own a sleek brushed alumium Lian Li(case) with matching Rom drives/floppy, etc....very conservative. It doesn't look like a "neon-studded monstrosity" or a FRANKENSTEIN!! There is a choice between beige & garish...      

Ditto.....though it's pretty old...so I replaced all the case fans....and now I'm a wee bit 'blue'....

Similar - black case blue dials and fans. You can see where the idea for my latest skin comes from

You'd better get used to taking second place   

time for babys bottle and a nap

What are you talking about?

Apple are a PC maker. Dell are a PC maker. Neither have a monopoly.

Microsoft are an OS maker. Apple are an OS maker. Neither have a monopoly, but Microsoft enjoys monopoly powers.

Personally, I oppose anti-trust law and don't care whether Microsoft have a monopoly, whether they have monopoly power, or whether they "abuse" it. But the fact that Apple have a monopoly over their own product is not a useful comparison to Microsoft's situation.

In fact, I advocate that the government uses its monopsony power (as the single largest customer) to influence the market from within the system. Just make it law that government agencies must not by from the market leader (except in matters of health care and defence etc.) and we would always have a stable competition going on.

Can you expound on this one a bit? What exactly do you mean by "full package"?

Ah...them was the days...my very first, w/3 ext. drives & printer, c.1994   

Wow, I was inclined to agree with your original post until I saw this. In one fell swoop you've managed to destroy any credibility you might have had and have demonstrated that as a person you leave a lot to be desired.

Next time try keeping your immaturity and personal failings hidden if you are trying to make a case for something.

Keith,

You are unaware of the full history of me and fuzzy. The guy makes a habit of dumping on everything I say. It's drawn on. Unfortunately, blacklist on this site doesn't work as well as it should and fuzzy can still post to my blog.

Want to disagree with me? Fine. But it IS possible to do it without being an asshat about it.



Mason,

I'm referring to the "plug and play" functionality where you can take it out of the box and be up and running with very little prerequisite knowledge. Linux is easy enough to handle, but it's not the system "your grandma could use".

Of course, I'm beginning to think neither is Vista.

The topic of the post was a comparison of Apple and Microsoft as corporations and I will offer my opinion that history shows Apple the more evil of the two.

Back in the day....

In 1985, Steve Jobs had resigned from Apple to found NeXT Computer and Apple decided to compete directly with Microsoft, to produce an OS and license others to resell that.

"By 1995, Apple Macintosh computers accounted for about 7% of the worldwide desktop computer market. Apple executives decided to launch an official clone program in order to expand Macintosh market penetration. Apple's clone program entailed the licensing of the Macintosh ROMs and system software to other manufacturers, each of which agreed to pay a royalty for each clone computer they sold. From early 1995 through mid-1997, it was possible to buy PowerPC-based clone computers running Mac OS, most notably from Power Computing. Other licensees were Motorola, Radius, APS Technologies, DayStar Digital, and UMAX. In terms of exterior styling, Mac clones often more closely resembled generic PCs than their Macintosh counterparts, but they frequently offered better performance at a lower price than true Macs."

Now cue the Evil Empire music....

"Soon after Steve Jobs returned to Apple (1996), he attempted to re-negotiate the clone manufacturers' license agreements to raise Apple's royalty. Jobs proposed to raise the per-computer royalty by an amount that would render all the clones unable to compete on price. When the clone makers refused, Jobs in turn refused to license later versions of Apple hardware and operating system software to the clone vendors. The initial OS license was valid only for the 7.x series of the Mac OS; at the time these contracts were signed, Mac OS 8.0 was expected to be the next-generation Copland OS. Jobs exploited this loophole by declaring the imminent version of the Mac OS (which would otherwise have been numbered something like 7.7) to be 8.0, leaving the clone manufacturers without the ability to ship a current Mac OS version and effectively ending the cloning program."

Quoted from WWW Link

Companies that had entered into a partnership with Apple, in good faith, lost their shirts. In the meantime, companies that were selling Windows-based PCs (Dell, HP, Compaq) continued to do well.

Use whichever OS you prefer. But history has shown that Gideon's point has validity.

The initial OS license was valid only for the 7.x series of the Mac OS; at the time these contracts were signed, Mac OS 8.0 was expected to be the next-generation Copland OS. Jobs exploited this loophole by declaring the imminent version of the Mac OS (which would otherwise have been numbered something like 7.7) to be 8.0, leaving the clone manufacturers without the ability to ship a current Mac OS version and effectively ending the cloning program."

I have read that story before. Somehow my own experience never confirms the stories I read. There was the story about Microsoft Windows coming with every PC at a time in the 90s when I bought all my computers with either OS/2 Warp Connect or no OS at all.

My UMAX S900 Mac clone which I bought to run BeOS came with Mac OS 8.

I don't know where people get the information they use for these stories. Unfortunately these stories are then soon used as sources and their claims become known facts.

Reply By: PhoonPosted: Friday, March 23, 2007 Uh-Oh.. Phoon waits quietly for the shitstorm to hit..

Me as well- oh wait!  I am too late!