Full Feed10.5.2 makes strongest case for switchers to date
PC Mag has assumed that the main reason consumers haven’t switched to the Mac is the bugs in Leopard. The shiny new operating had flaws when it was released and Edward Mendelson of PC Mag blames those bugs on why Apple hasn’t dramatically gained market share. He also feels the best improvement of 10.5.2 is the Stacks update. I agree with what he is saying about Stacks, but disagree over Leopard being the reason to switch.
PC users generally don’t care about the operating system because they aren’t generally up to date on the latest Mac news. The way Stacks work right now are the way they should of when Leopard was released. Stacks now have folder icons and an option to display a list of all files. MacDailyNews‘s take on this article was that it has been time to switch for quite some time, since Boot Camp is now relatively stable and you can natively run Windows and Mac OS X on your mac.
A consumer doesn’t always buy a computer for an operating system, but for programs. The Mac has the advantage over Windows in every way. If you haven’t switched yet, what are you waiting for?
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It is and always has been about more than bugs—Windows users have put up with plenty for years. It’s about familiarity and it’s about price. A low-end iMac starts at $1100.00. A low-end PC (which can run everything the average user needs and a lot more) runs $300, and you have a choice of companies to buy from.
So you’re effectively saying “People didn’t buy Porshes because the radios didn’t work. Now that the radios are working, everyone should be dumping their Toyotas and Chevys and buying Porsches, because they’re better.” Sure, they’re better, but not everyone feels the need to pay a hell of a lot extra for “better.”
on February 18, 2008 at 04:57 PM - LINKI’m a recent switcher, just got my iMac a couple of weeks ago. I must say that I’m quite disappointed. After initial experiences with program crashes (PhotoBooth for example) the computer suddenly started to reboot without further information every now and then. Sometimes it refuses to boot. Since I’m quite an experienced user I started to dig the logs, but couldn’t find any relevant information there. After searching for other users comments on similar matter I understand that the iMac is not built to be analyzed that way - the error messages in the system.log file is undocumented by Apple. For corresponding errors in Windows I often find that Microsoft has documented the EventId from the logs.
I will try to get the computer repaired…
The second thing that really annoyed me is that it’s actually harder to go keyboard-only with the Mac. For example, in Windows alt-f brings up the file menu, but I understand that there is no corresponding shortcut on the mac (other than bring up the menu, navigate by arrows or press the first letter, et c, but that’s clumpsier than in Windows). Shortcuts also seems to vary between programs even more than in Windows. Furthermore some keybindings seems to loose their function when using X11-applications like Matlab, quite annoying.
Thirdly… the Finder really has to be improved, (Appe, please add a cut-functino besides the copy-function, makes the keyboard-only life so much easier), however, I understand that this is an old discussion in the Mac-community…
I think I will solve these issues during the coming months, but going from Windows to Mac was not as easy as sites like this made me think it was…
(But… it’s the best looking computer I’ve ever had)
on February 18, 2008 at 07:00 PM - LINK>> If you haven’t switched yet, what are you waiting for?
Feb. 26th… hopefully… an update to the MacBook Pro line…
on February 19, 2008 at 08:11 AM - LINK@Andrew For a $300 PC you’ll get crap. For a $1100 you’ll get $100s of dollars worth of software, and that alone should be a good enough reason to switch (iLife) Plus you get the beauty of the Mac and all the other goodness… I’m not going to rave about how much I love them, because I show my love by writing here every day about the computing platform.
on February 19, 2008 at 07:22 PM - LINKAndrew, for one, the lowest end Mac starts at $600, not $1100. Two, if you want to compare the low end iMac to a PC compare it to a another PC of similar form factor - you know, like to like? You wouldn’t compare a Tata to a SmartCar, would you? Apple doesn’t even pretend to address the bottom of the PC market. Don’t you pretend, either. If $600 is too much, it won’t matter if it’s a PC or a Mac, it’ll be too much money, anyway. So don’t blame Apple for not wanting to compete for your funds in that regard.
Mark, the “cut” function has been there for decades, try Apple-x key combo. The Apple key is also known as the “command” key. If you mean for moving files from directory to another, I agree with you. For opening files, try Apple-o. Although not entirely analogous to Windows, there is quite a bit you can do with the keyboard alone. Like any new OS, it’ll take a while to learn the differences. Also, may I suggest using any generic 3-button mouse? OS X’s UNIX underpinnings really show up well with a more standard mouse.
The spurious program crashes and reboots are disturbing. I’ve only ever seen one behave that way (not that it can’t happen in other ways) with bad HW (usually cheap or poorly installed RAM). Have you tried running the provided System Profiler application or run the hardware test on one of the installation DVDs that came with the system? Sometimes the tried and true method in one OS isn’t the intuitively obvious method in another. It’s just a matter of not being familiar enough with the new one, not it being “bad”. If RAM is the cause, you don’t need Apple RAM (too expensive, period), try a vendor who makes their own RAM like Micron’s Crucial.
Mr. Montgomery, I read the same PC Magazine article, I didn’t come to anywhere near the same conclusion you did. Implying that Leopard bugs are the primary reason Apple isn’t gaining OS market share is a pretty big reach. Please back off the KoolAid. You’re doing a disservice to those of us find the Mac extremely useful without having to get an Apple tattoo in a conspicuous location. Blanket statements such as “The Mac has the advantage over Windows in every way.” just peg you and other Mac enthusiasts as mindless trolls to be ignored. Try a little balance, PC Mag did.
on February 29, 2008 at 09:08 AM - LINK