Poll: Computer Choice

[Sakurazaki1023]

Personally, I use windows simply because I am familiar with it.

I have always wondered why Macs are considered to be the more artistic computers and have a large following of people who consider themselves indie and experimental with their computing. This view seems completely contradictory since compared to Windows, there is very little freedom associated with owning Apple products (No putting Windows on your iPhone, No music from other sources besides iTunes, no unauthorized programs or apps, etc...). I'm finding it a bit hard to believe that artistic people are using the most conformist and simplistic computing system on the market without thought to the irony of it all...

Windows and Linux Users:
Why don't you use Macs?

Mac Users:
What is it that you like about Mac computers?

 

[Funkysandwich]

I use windows on my gaming PC, for reasons which I hope are obvious, and Linux on my media centre, for the flexibility it offers.

And yes, I don't see why people think Apple's products are so individual, their DRM is so restrictive and iTunes is the worst music/media application I have ever used.
Sony walkman forever!

 

[Julianking93]

I use a Mac OSX10 or something that was made back in 07 and I love it.

I just use it because its what was given to me after my PC crashed and I like using it much better. The only things I do on the computer are download music, write and get on the web and its perfect for that.

Its hard for me to go back to PC now even though I'm typing this on PC right now at a library.

I honestly don't know why Macs are considered all around better. Yeah, its faster, doesn't get pop ups and has a few things made easier, but its not that much different than PC

 

[Bat Vader]

I use Windows XP on my desktop PC for playing computer games. I use my Laptop which has Linux as an OS for surfing the internet. My consoles are also for playing games as well.

I don't use Macs just because I never really gotten into them. Macs are good, but I like my PC better.

 

[pntaylor]

I use a PC at work but for home use I'm a Mac user. I made the migration because at Uni my course was heavily Unix based but I didn't want the hassle that came with getting Linux on to laptops. I appreciate that this has improved over time but I wanted the ability to run Emacs and still have something I didn't have to gerrymander to make it work on a laptop. I haven't looked back since. The gaming side is unfortunate but these days I'm mainly a console gamer with only Football Manager (which is Mac friendly) being the only non-console game I play.

What I like about Macs is the interface and some of the gui features along with some of the apps like Quicksilver [http://www.blacktree.com/]. It has been stable as hell too with only one crash (which my own coding caused) to speak of in the years I've owned one.

As for why Macs are considered more artistic, if I remember correctly Photoshop started out on the Mac and many graphic design companies use them.

 

[DoctorNick]

I've used Windows for all of my PC using life starting about 14 or so years ago when my brother saved up some money and bought a windows 95 PC. It's what I know, it is what I'm comfortable with. Several times in the past I have attempted to use Macs, just to see if they really were all that and-a-bag-of-chips. In each one of these trials it was an exercise in frustration and failure, generally ending with me wanting to punt the thing out a third story window. The biggest issue is that nothing reacted the same, none of the keyboard shortcuts I know & love worked and nothing was where it 'should' be. I guess if I was to buy a Mac and use it full time most of these issues would be overcome, but it is not worth the time and effort to me.

As for Linux I've messed with a few distributions of it in the past and some of them were kind of neat. But, I still contend that it's cute how a lot of Linux hardcore fans think that they have a product that's acceptable to most average computer users and it's going to take over the PC market any day now!

 

[DazZ.]

I use my computer for gaming, that is my main computer use and therefore I'm going to go with the OS best for that, which is Windows.

I'd love to mess about with the others but I need a laptop first, I'm not going to duel boot.

 

[JemJar]

Windows and Linux Users:
Why don't you use Macs?

Direct X.

 

[gilthanan]

Macs don't play games, are over priced, aren't as customizable, and while they have less issues the issues they have tend to be harder to fix. The lack of viruses is nothing more than those making viruses have no need to target a small minority of the market, but viruses for Macs are starting to emerge.

 

[AvsJoe]

I have been with Windows since 98. I have no intention of switching back to Mac. Not that Mac did anything bad to me but Windows has provided me with a decade of good to great quality (with the exception of ME) and I won't switch back while they're on a roll.

 

[Pingieking]

If Linux could game effectively, I'd go with that. But it can't so I generally stick to Windows.

 

[BourneGamer]

I'm a windows boy, born and bred. Most of my hard-drive is occupied with games, and I've figured out all the nuances and pitfalls of my computer to the point where most problems can be pre-emted. And I dislike MAC because; to get things to work to the full potential you have to be part of their little clubhouse.

 

[j0frenzy]

I use a Mac. I have had several bad experiences with Windows and came to the conclusion that I don't want to be tech savvy enough to run Linux. As it stands, I have not had to reinstall my OS, look for new drivers to install anything, or go searching for new virus protection because a new Trojan got through the other three programs I was using. It is just a big time saver and head ache reducer on my end. I will admit that I don't game on computers much so that not having access to games is a little annoying, but nothing that can't be overcome. I don't get the whole artsy thing though. Maybe it is because it comes with all these weird art producing programs installed on it, but I don't use them.

I've used Windows for all of my PC using life starting about 14 or so years ago when my brother saved up some money and bought a windows 95 PC. It's what I know, it is what I'm comfortable with. Several times in the past I have attempted to use Macs, just to see if they really were all that and-a-bag-of-chips. In each one of these trials it was an exercise in frustration and failure, generally ending with me wanting to punt the thing out a third story window. The biggest issue is that nothing reacted the same, none of the keyboard shortcuts I know & love worked and nothing was where it 'should' be. I guess if I was to buy a Mac and use it full time most of these issues would be overcome, but it is not worth the time and effort to me.

As for Linux I've messed with a few distributions of it in the past and some of them were kind of neat. But, I still contend that it's cute how a lot of Linux hardcore fans think that they have a product that's acceptable to most average computer users and it's going to take over the PC market any day now!

I have been using a Mac for a year and a half now and I have the same problem with shortcuts when I use a Windows machine now. I find it kind of funny every time I feel like yelling at a keyboard for putting the Ctrl button in the wrong spot.

 

[R3dF41c0n]

I don't use a Mac for several reason:

1. I don't do a lot of media work, and when I do Windows is sufficient.
2. When I want to browse virus and popup free I use Firefox w/ NoScript on Ubuntu (which is all free)
3. I game on my computer and Windows has the best gaming support of any OS so far.
4. I enjoy having the freedom to put what I want on my hardware.
5. I don't have the money for a Mac, and I can't justify the cost (but I do love the MacBook Pro hardware, maybe I'll hack one some day)
6. I work in IT, if something breaks on any of my computer I can fix it. I don't have to ship it off, or have an Apple tech look at it.

 

[Nalgas D. Lemur]

I have always wondered why Macs are considered to be the more artistic computers and have a large following of people who consider themselves indie and experimental with their computing. This view seems completely contradictory since compared to Windows, there is very little freedom associated with owning Apple products (No putting Windows on your iPhone, No music from other sources besides iTunes, no unauthorized programs or apps, etc...). I'm finding it a bit hard to believe that artistic people are using the most conformist and simplistic computing system on the market without thought to the irony of it all...

Let's see how much of any of that is accurate. Well, you can't put Windows on your iPhone, but you can't exactly switch the OS on very many other phones, either. You can get music from absolutely anywhere (online stores with Windows-only WMA files with DRM aside, but who's silly enough to do that instead of getting stuff from Amazon or their own CDs or Lala or eMusic or iTunes (which has had no DRM on songs for years at this point) or your sketchy pirating service of choice), and you don't even have to use iTunes to play it or organize it unless you want to sync it with an iPod/iPhone.

The app store lockin crap only applies to the iPhone/iPod touch. On an OS X desktop/laptop, you can run whatever you feel like, and it won't do anything to stop you. I've even swapped out for a different window manager out of boredom, just to see if I could get it to work. There's a pretty decent mix of commercial stuff like on Windows and open source stuff like/from Linux/BSD available.

I don't care if anyone else likes it or not, but at least know what you're comparing things to and don't do something silly like compare a cell phone to a full desktop computer, especially when they have a full line of desktops that are more similar to Windows/Linux than they are differenet.

When it comes down to it, at the moment I prefer OS X on my laptop, because it's good at getting out of my way, unlike Windows, and it's trivial to get all the hardware and power-saving features working, unlike Linux, and I really appreciate having all the usual Unix/Linux tools available (and no, crap like Cygwin doesn't cut it). My desktop runs Win7, because I mostly just use it for games and movies/TV, and that's pretty much the only choice for that. It's an enormous improvement over XP, though, and I don't really mind it too much these days. Servers generally get to run Linux, unless there's a very good reason not to, because that's what I'm familiar with and what's best supported (sorry Apple, but you've got a way to go in the server area), and the idea of putting Windows on a server terrifies me. BSD or even Solaris would also be options, but I haven't used them enough lately to trust myself to set everything up right without a bunch of reading first.

So...I guess my choice is all of the above, depending on context.

 

[dommyuk]

Windows all the way for me. I'm too lazy to do anything related to Linux and I hate Macs because I find the user interface to be very awkward. Plus the style of the keyboards nad mice annoy me. Plus that I only discovered how to turn one on last year. Who hides the power button on the back? >.>

 

[CIA]

I do, of course, have XP on my gaming desktop, but my Samsung netbook got Unbuntu Netbook Remix, which I must say is pretty awesome.

Macs are overpriced, but I do like the feel of the OS. However, they can't do most games and they lack the synaptic package manager in Ubuntu, which I find very useful. Linux has wine as well, which runs most old games decently. Also, did I mention Linux is free?

Also, selling the basic programs a computer needs to be useful is just wrong. Sure, sell AutoCad (cheaper), but don't make it so people can't get access to a word document editor without paying through the nose. For fucks sake Office 2007 costs like 200 dollars. It's just exploiting the fact that people don't know about freeware and if they do are often too scared of technology to get it.

I also enjoy making my own computers, so buying a mac is out. (Yes, I know you can put OS X on any computer. Thats not what I'm saying.)

 

[Tasachan]

Using Windows XP, simply because thats what my school distributes with its laptops. Honestly, for what they're charging me to rent this computer, I could buy a macbook. ($1300 a year?? honestly??) But they require that we use their laptops, and only their laptops. But... tech support is paid with my tuition, so all repairs are "free". (with some exceptions, if i tossed it off a balcony, I'd probably have to pay for it) So I guess that's somewhat of an upside. I have a tendency to kill my computers one way or another.

I really have no preference. Windows is familliar, I've been using it since Windows 3.1, and I'm too cheap to buy a mac. Though, I used macs in highschool when I took a bunch of design courses, and I really liked it. So. Meh. I have no preference, I just use what is given to me.

 

[Regiment]

Personally, I use windows simply because I am familiar with it.

I think this argument covers 99% of people in the world. Most people use the operating system they grew up with unless they have a reason to change. Me, I'm on Windows, and find most other operating systems difficult to use. They may be great, and people might love them, but they're not what I'm used to. Similarly, I'd have trouble driving in England, because people drive on the other side of the road and I'm not used to it. Besides, all the programs I've ever used are either Microsoft-brand or work on Windows, and it's not worth the trouble for me to change things around.

 

[Latinidiot]

I use windows, simply because I'm too lazy to try something new, or indeed, pay for it.