solrac
Mac Ninja
From someone bagging on macs, my reply below his...
Well that's the beauty of mac: I got to learn unix stuff (FreeBSD technically) WITHOUT having to partition anything, it just is part of it, and at the same time, have this SUPER easy to use interface.
And I'm not JUST learning UNIX. I've actually learned some stuff and successfully used it. Especially FTP, File browsing, searching files with advanced tags and even regular expressions. All great stuff to learn. I actually think the greates thing is that I can do all this WITHOUT a dual boot system. (I can still make this a dual boot system, by the way, and put Linux on it if I wanted to learn that for example.)
And like you said, Photoshop and Flash is what I use it for. And more. Actually, it's Photoshop, Flash, Dreamweaver, After Effects (soon), Word, Excel, all the main web browsers (for testing), Illustrator, and InDesign.
Now, all those programs are ONLY available on Mac and Windows. There is no other choice. Mac used to **** as an OS. Windows used to ****, too, in different ways. The only really good OS was a *nix. But none of the above software =(
Now... windows ****s a lot less as an OS, but Mac is AWESOME as an OS.
In fact, Mac is truly the best OS in the world. Because it is a true *nix, with the ease of use known of Macs (their only greatest asset), and all the software.
And one more thing macs have hands down, that M$ is trying to catch up with. Multimedia for the people. Apple has iPhoto (digital camera), iTunes (digital music), iMovie and iDVD (digital movies), these all link together to any device you plug into the mac, and makes the whole digital world really easy, simple, and awesome for n00b computer users. It's even good software for professionals! And anyway, that's what Apple needs, n00b users, to gain market share, but they keep the professionals happy too, ALL the time.
It's true that PC architecture is currently faster if you buy the best ****. Like think of a dual 2.53 GHZ P4 system. That will rock any mac right now because the fastest mac is a dual 1 GHZ G4. But the dual 1 GHZ will still be faster than a dual 2.53 GHZ in certain tasks. And even then, if we are talking average users here, they will NEVER EVER EVER NEVER tap all that power. Not even close.
One thing you PC people never understand, is that the chip speed and hardware make very little difference. It's the software that counts.
Look at flash player. On Macs, it ****s. Animation is SLOW. Very slow. It's simply bad software. Now, take a Pentium 2 266 mhz computer. OLD ****ING ****. Now, LOL, put flash player on it. It's WAYYYY Faster than the dual 1 GHZ mac!!! Now you can't say that's a faster computer. It's not. It's a Pentium 2 266 mhz. It's the flash software that just WORKS on PC, not on mac.
Mac has way better software. It's a true *nix OS with the Mac ease of use, it's got Apple's digital collection, it's got better pro tools for video and audio (don't forget audio, macs RULE in audio), AND it has M$ Office and all the Adobe **** you can get on PC like Photoshop, etc. Meaning equal or better software.
Yes PC has more software. A lot more, but quantity means nothing. Mac has like 5 audio converting utilities. PC has like 500. But they all do the same ****. So the 5 on mac are just as good as the 500 on PC. The only thing PC really has more of is games.
Now it's very easy for a PC to come out seeming like a better workstation at your work. Older macs ****, especially if they do NOT have OS X. But try this. Go to your work, and try using (if there is) a brand new fast top of the line mac, with OS X, lots of RAM, and the right software on it. You'll see it's just better to use than the PC if you're willing to learn the software.
And one more thing.... you talk about webservers and servers/workstations in a LAN/WAN environment to be rarely or never seen used on OS X because it is just not a good idea. You say that in that department, *nix variants or even WinNT/2k will be the top choices.
But that's just a false statement. First of all, Mac OS X is a fully POSIX compliant *nix variant. Second, why is it not a good idea? Since it is *nix it is actually a very good idea. And Apple sells Mac OS X Server OS. And it is better than windows. (Same reason, it's *nix, and has the mac ease of use.) Also, apple just released XServe, their rackmounted server solution. It's a GREAT start and a badass server. Within the next year or two, you will see Apple getting a lot of business in the server market and eventually you'll hear people say "Oh yeah, you know what. That Mac server is actually pretty damn good." Also, currently the ONLY server provider that sells a server AND hardware AND the OS ALL from the same company is Sun. Sun makes its own hardware, they make their hardware, and they make their own OS (IRIX, etc.). Now, Apple is the second. The only other company that makes the hardware, makes the OS, and provides the server.
You'll see Apple's image turn around totally. In 5 years, this whole "Oh mac ****s. It's overpriced, ****ty OS, no software...."
Oh my god that is so gonna be in the past. Very much so. Give it a chance, dude.
Haha, ok the cute thing was a cheap shot, but I will stand to my point and I'm sure you'll stand to yours. You say you use the Unix features of OS X because you're learning them, but that to me doesn't really constitute for actually having a use. Yes, you are technically running programs and learning command line functions, but you really are not doing anything else but learning. I can simply partition my HD so I dual boot any flavor of *nix I want, even FreeBSD. When I think of using FreeBSD or the like, I think of what it was normally intended for, webservers to be the main one and then servers/workstations in a LAN/WAN environment. You will rarely or never see OS X do these things because it is just not a good idea. In that department, *nix variants or even WinNT/2k will be the top choices.
Your only solid point is what you probably really use it for. Photoshop and Flash(though I don't think programming flash really makes a difference in either platform). As a person who does photo/video editing as a profession, I'm sure the Mac is the choice platform, but you have to understand, that is a very slim percentage of computer users.
The average user would probably rather have the PC for the performance/price ratio. No matter what, PCs will be the easiest choice because of that. I really don't think learning Windows is all that hard to do, and crashing is not the end of the world.
Also, before you jump to conclusions about me, I do use Macs at work and I know how they work and whatnot. I do like them, but I have to still say PCs are much better for normal use. Where I work, there is a PC lab and a Mac lab. In both labs, both platforms will crash, but the PCs seem to be a better workstation computer.
Well that's the beauty of mac: I got to learn unix stuff (FreeBSD technically) WITHOUT having to partition anything, it just is part of it, and at the same time, have this SUPER easy to use interface.
And I'm not JUST learning UNIX. I've actually learned some stuff and successfully used it. Especially FTP, File browsing, searching files with advanced tags and even regular expressions. All great stuff to learn. I actually think the greates thing is that I can do all this WITHOUT a dual boot system. (I can still make this a dual boot system, by the way, and put Linux on it if I wanted to learn that for example.)
And like you said, Photoshop and Flash is what I use it for. And more. Actually, it's Photoshop, Flash, Dreamweaver, After Effects (soon), Word, Excel, all the main web browsers (for testing), Illustrator, and InDesign.
Now, all those programs are ONLY available on Mac and Windows. There is no other choice. Mac used to **** as an OS. Windows used to ****, too, in different ways. The only really good OS was a *nix. But none of the above software =(
Now... windows ****s a lot less as an OS, but Mac is AWESOME as an OS.
In fact, Mac is truly the best OS in the world. Because it is a true *nix, with the ease of use known of Macs (their only greatest asset), and all the software.
And one more thing macs have hands down, that M$ is trying to catch up with. Multimedia for the people. Apple has iPhoto (digital camera), iTunes (digital music), iMovie and iDVD (digital movies), these all link together to any device you plug into the mac, and makes the whole digital world really easy, simple, and awesome for n00b computer users. It's even good software for professionals! And anyway, that's what Apple needs, n00b users, to gain market share, but they keep the professionals happy too, ALL the time.
It's true that PC architecture is currently faster if you buy the best ****. Like think of a dual 2.53 GHZ P4 system. That will rock any mac right now because the fastest mac is a dual 1 GHZ G4. But the dual 1 GHZ will still be faster than a dual 2.53 GHZ in certain tasks. And even then, if we are talking average users here, they will NEVER EVER EVER NEVER tap all that power. Not even close.
One thing you PC people never understand, is that the chip speed and hardware make very little difference. It's the software that counts.
Look at flash player. On Macs, it ****s. Animation is SLOW. Very slow. It's simply bad software. Now, take a Pentium 2 266 mhz computer. OLD ****ING ****. Now, LOL, put flash player on it. It's WAYYYY Faster than the dual 1 GHZ mac!!! Now you can't say that's a faster computer. It's not. It's a Pentium 2 266 mhz. It's the flash software that just WORKS on PC, not on mac.
Mac has way better software. It's a true *nix OS with the Mac ease of use, it's got Apple's digital collection, it's got better pro tools for video and audio (don't forget audio, macs RULE in audio), AND it has M$ Office and all the Adobe **** you can get on PC like Photoshop, etc. Meaning equal or better software.
Yes PC has more software. A lot more, but quantity means nothing. Mac has like 5 audio converting utilities. PC has like 500. But they all do the same ****. So the 5 on mac are just as good as the 500 on PC. The only thing PC really has more of is games.
Now it's very easy for a PC to come out seeming like a better workstation at your work. Older macs ****, especially if they do NOT have OS X. But try this. Go to your work, and try using (if there is) a brand new fast top of the line mac, with OS X, lots of RAM, and the right software on it. You'll see it's just better to use than the PC if you're willing to learn the software.
And one more thing.... you talk about webservers and servers/workstations in a LAN/WAN environment to be rarely or never seen used on OS X because it is just not a good idea. You say that in that department, *nix variants or even WinNT/2k will be the top choices.
But that's just a false statement. First of all, Mac OS X is a fully POSIX compliant *nix variant. Second, why is it not a good idea? Since it is *nix it is actually a very good idea. And Apple sells Mac OS X Server OS. And it is better than windows. (Same reason, it's *nix, and has the mac ease of use.) Also, apple just released XServe, their rackmounted server solution. It's a GREAT start and a badass server. Within the next year or two, you will see Apple getting a lot of business in the server market and eventually you'll hear people say "Oh yeah, you know what. That Mac server is actually pretty damn good." Also, currently the ONLY server provider that sells a server AND hardware AND the OS ALL from the same company is Sun. Sun makes its own hardware, they make their hardware, and they make their own OS (IRIX, etc.). Now, Apple is the second. The only other company that makes the hardware, makes the OS, and provides the server.
You'll see Apple's image turn around totally. In 5 years, this whole "Oh mac ****s. It's overpriced, ****ty OS, no software...."
Oh my god that is so gonna be in the past. Very much so. Give it a chance, dude.