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The battle of techies: Windows vs MAC
Windows, because smart is better
A room filled with brainwashed, gray look-a-likes stare mindlessly at the image of a man talking at them on a screen. A woman dressed in vibrant colors rushes toward the room pursued by riot police. In an act of rebellion, she hurls a sledgehammer into the screen smashing it to pieces. Apple announces the launch of the Macintosh computer.
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This 1984 ad, directed by Ridley Scott and aired during Super Bowl XVIII, signified the coming of change in the computer world. The Mac was to be the daring rebel here to free us from the bonds of uniformity. But 25 years later, has the rebel become the regime?
What sets these two platforms apart? What is it that makes the Mac the attractive, young, rebel and the PC the vile, oppressive, old talking head?
Ignoring all other variable and focusing on the “brain” of the PC and Mac, perhaps we can find what physically makes these two platforms so different and the Mac so rebellious.
A standard PC will either have an AMD or Intel processor while a Mac would have . . . an Intel processor? Having recognized the inferiority of its proprietary hardware, Apple began using Intel CPUs in their most powerful products.
Taking this fact into account, it can clearly be seen that the only physical difference between a Mac and a PC is in its presentation, a presentation that is actually more limited when purchasing a Mac.
Apple seems to be in love with the “beautiful” presentation of its line of computers. However, if aesthetics is the only thing a buyer cares about, then the world of the PC is where to turn. Unlike the Mac, which forces a user into buying a uniform, non-customizable product, the PC is not limited to what you may see at the HP or Dell website. PC customization has become nearly an art form for some users. With everything ranging from multi-color LED and paint jobs on cases to — and I am not making this up — luminescent keyboards that can roll up and fit in a pocket, PC users seem to be ones sporting the vibrant colors here.
Now what about software? There is no point arguing the differences between most of the software on these two platforms: a music player is a music player; a photo editor is a photo editor, and, lets face it, no one uses Internet Explorer or Safari anymore. It’s all Firefox.
I am not going to waste too much time arguing OSX versus XP. I concede on this point that Vista needs work. But I will say this: There is a reason why XP is the most commercially successful and widely used operating system on the planet and there is a reason why OSX is not.
The problem with the Mac and OSX is the over-simplification. You cannot upgrade a Mac component by component. You cannot buy after-market upgrades, such as a liquid cooling system. You are stuck with what you bought.
The saddest part of the Mac culture is that its user base has been tricked into thinking that they are the young, attractive rebels. Yet while Mac users worldwide sit in uniformed ranks staring at identical screens smashing bluntly at their all-mighty one button mice and enjoy a limited array of software, the PC users of the world are proudly wearing their bright colors and enjoying the limitless individuality which having options has allowed them to explore.