Comments on: Microsoft still pushing 'Apple tax' notion
Ahead of Macworld, top Windows marketer says consumers can't afford to go Mac. But with the economy in tatters, will people be buying any PCs other than Netbooks?
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During her years at CNET News, Ina Fried has changed beats several times, changed genders once, and covered both of the Pirates of Silicon Valley. These days, most of her attention is focused on Microsoft.
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if it's so easy to make a virus then why don't people do it ???
and don't say small user base they r 10s of millions of mac users in the world
Macs may be many things but they r secure for sure !
M$ don't like letting go of their power over the customers. We let them own us!
M$ is very sneaky! They stole the gui idea from Xerox!
M$ thinks we are stupid that 's what I don't like about M$.
Windows is a good OS and is used by 90%, but don't mean it's a great product!
Add on Keynote, Pages, and Numbers which offer good standalone basics plus multi-media integration as opposed to a stripped down Office in Microsoftworks and we have real value in computing. For many the Mac packages are worth twice the PC packages with their anemic, badly integrated home software. Software is critical and people now know it.
even better, a good bit of them are open src
CCleaner a registry cleaner.. free...... all available on this website for download.
I know as a mac user you cant help to think that everything costs money, and lots of it.
And they are anything but free in terms of CPU, disk, or RAM usage. One of my XP machines is an absolute pig until it gets done with its "quick" scan.
Add in the cost of a decent backup program (is there anything like TimeMachine even available for Windows? I've been doing Windows since v2 and I haven't seen anything.), PDF creation tools, and then OS upgrades (and please don't compare OS X with Vista Home Basic's pricing -- even Premium doesn't have some of its features). Then add in more U*X-style elegance in terms of security architected in (deny by default) rather than glommed onto DOS (allow by default), and you'll understand why the Microsoft Tax is so painful.
Oh, and did you know that defragging is done automatically by OS X? The file system is automatically checked? Log files are automatically rolled? Backups are done hourly? All those things that make up system maintenance in the Windows world for the end-user, are all done automatically by the computer under OS X. After all, that's what computers are for -- THEY are supposed to be the tools. Not us humans.
And yes, I'm a Windows sysadmin (hell, I've got 5 Windows systems at home), a Linux admin, an OpenVMS admin. And I also have one Mac. I'll take the Mac any day of the week.
With the existence of several alternate operating systems computers, there is no reason why the sale of a computer nowadays should be force-linked to a Micro$oft Windows operating system.
However, when trying to buy a new pc or laptop from a mainstream supplier, I often ask the staff whether it was possible to buy a machine that has NOT gotten some sort of Windows on it. Knowing the answer beforehand of course, I still love listening to the verbal acrobatics of the sales persons why that is NOT possible. I do feel sorry for them and understand they have no say in this.
This leads me to say, that Micro$oft's stranglehold on pc manufacturers is so unbelievable, one could compare it to mafia-style protection rort, without feeling bad. I really don't understand, that nowhere anyone has brought up a class-action yet against this monopolistic behavior. Having followed this situation for years, it is my understanding that several people/institutions actually tried, but mysteriously the process gets squashed somewhere in the pre-government ... courts area.
Now that is what I call a Micro$oft tax!
You do realize that most people using a computer have no idea how to use a computer and wouldn't even be able to do a reinstall of the software. They'd also not realize that a reinstallation of the OS will be faster than letting it run as it is. They'd also not realize that a reinstallation will generaly rid your PC of viruses. The problem is Windows, not that he doesn't know how to use a computer. Try out Ubuntu and realize just what a difference an OS can make. Ubuntu runs faster, is easier to keep organized and is much more customizable than XP ever was. It's also more compatible and keeps me logged into my wireless network much more reliably than XP and on top of that it came with all the software I would have needed had I not been connected to the internet and using this PC as just an office computer, no extra licensing required. Face it, Windows has lots of problems. Mac has its own list of problems and Linux has its own list of problems and they can't all be contributed to the user just not knowing how to use a computer.
Windows slows down over time, that is by design.
You don't know anything about computers either!
There are things far more painful to pay with than cash. Owning and using a PC extracts all of them all the time.
A Windows PC configured with hardware similar to a Mac Pro will cost less, but will also *never* achieve the same performance.
The last PC I bought (and the last straw) was an HP laptop at Best Buy with Vista installed. The sales rep at Best Buy actually "offered" a service that for "only $60" they would remove all the crap that came preinstalled on my laptop to help speed its performance etc. Nevermind that Vista is an utter piece of crap OS...it is completely ridiculous that if you want to purchase a preconfigured PC it is impossible to buy one that it not cluttered with a bunch of crap shareware and trial software...and that it is so bad that now they offer to remove it for a fee?
When you pay that Apple "tax" (a ridiculous assertion), you get a faster more reliable machine and a better overall experience. If I take my mac home and decide I *like* any of the preinstalled software, it is all fully functioning. I have already paid for it.
Crysis: I win no sweat with perfectly playable 30+ fps average
want more?
Yes Mac is expensive, but a better OS.
Buy the Dell Hybrid and create a dual partition with gdisk.
Re-install MS os first then install Linux Mint 6.
Use them both and see for yourself which is better. I bet you will like Linux Mint 6. I got my attention.
I'm just tied to Windows for Gaming
it'll blow away the Dell in Price performance ratio
it's funny how these statements were made exacly before
Apple's release of there new line of desktops
also notice how the notebooks weren't compared !
Finally after all these years Ms is getting good at taking cheap shots at their competitors
Bravo to the most Efficient organization in the world
You can buy a nice Linux PC for $299
While the same hardware with Windows XP is $499, including all the advertising crap that came bundled with it and you're going to spend hours to get rid of.
The Micosoft Tax is a whopping 40% over the same hardware loaded with Linux and Open Office.
But Hey, I pay my own fair share of Tax, so why would Microsoft or Apple be any different? Do you pay your taxes, do you?
It`s the best of both worlds as Windows is just a click away. The Linux OS can`t be written to so it is safer than ANY platform for web browsing. It uses Fire Fox for the browser BTW. Gotta love the little penguin ;)
You haven't been able to buy a Dell or HP without Windows for quite some time - at least not without jumping through several hoops and giving up support options. There's no Apple or Windows "tax" - call it a usability "tax" if you must, because no PC is usable out of the box for mainstream applications without one or the other.
Oh wait, Apple doesn't like that.
Treat it how you will, but in the end I don't think it makes a bit of difference.
Windows has the best and largest library of available applications, and the largest ecosystem of supported hardware, etc.
Windows and Windows Applications can be run on HP, Dell, Toshiba... custom-built, and self-built computers. With MacOSX and Mac OSX Applications, your only computer hardware choices are Apple, Apple, and Apple.
- by getwired January 5, 2009 3:06 PM PST
- First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
- Like this Reply to this comment
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