Comments on: Mac vs PC

By: Simple Llama

Simple Llama — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 00:36:17 +0000

Linux as a desktop OS will probably never be mainstream. Though it’s certainly easier than ever, and better than ever…. the average user isn’t likely to use Linux. Until it becomes as simple to use as OS X or even Windows, that isn’t going to change.

Going one step further… buying a Mac is really a great all-in-one solution for a wide range of folks. Sure, it’s great for the non-techies, because there’s little to no tinkering required to get it to work properly. But it’s also great for techies who are just plain *tired* of tinkering. I don’t want to hunt down the latest drivers for my particular video card so that my flavor of Linux will play nice.

By: zxq9

zxq9 — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 16:59:46 +0000

As a Linux developer I have to agree… and cry a little inside that people consider spending thousands on Apple hardware before even considering giving a good Linux distro a spin for free.

By: zxq9

zxq9 — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 16:58:00 +0000

What a fun stab at a favorite irritation of mine: programs that won’t shut up that never should have made noise in the first place.

As a side reference on he topic of general design (following what you had to say in your response to Darko above) principle #11 in esr’s book on Unix programming is:
“Rule of Silence: When a program has nothing surprising to say, it should say nothing.”

I have this list bookmarked and check it often. Whenever I have the overwhelming urge to do something complicated and flashy for my ego at the expense of my users this single page from the book reminds me to lie down until the feeling passes:
http://www.faqs.org/docs/artu/ch01s06.html

By: zaci1

zaci1 — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 14:30:20 +0000

Please don’t equate PC’s with Windows. It makes PC’s sad.

By: Lulu

Lulu — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 16:07:17 +0000

Not that I’m in love with Windows or anything. Just a comment to the printer notification.
At work, I share a printer with other people and the printer is in another room down the hall from me. I like the pop up window becasue it tells me when the printing is done, so I can work on other tasks while waiting for a long document to print.

By: Simple Llama

Simple Llama — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 01:11:23 +0000

Adrian,
That’s a *perfect* example of the sort of thing I’m talking about. One, how could I possibly NOT know that headphones have just been plugged in? Two, why is it necessary to tell me what I already know?

Microsoft has to come a long, long way before Windows is as polished and logical as OS X.

By: Adrian Short

Adrian Short — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 17:12:23 +0000

Ah, so you filter inline links. How about a plain one?

http://adrianshort.co.uk/2007/11/21/too-much-information/

By: Adrian Short

Adrian Short — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 17:11:50 +0000

Here’s another horrible example of “too much information” from my own blog. This isn’t Microsoft’s fault directly — it comes from third-party sound drivers — but I suspect there’s a culture of “notify the user about everything, no matter how trivial” that MS tacitly encourages from other vendors on its platform. that is largely absent on the Mac.

By: Simple Llama

Simple Llama — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:50:41 +0000

Darko you may be the world’s nicest IT chief. Normally, this position is manned by the most ruthless, cold-hearted individuals on the planet. Their sole mission in life is to make things difficult for as many people as possible.

OK, maybe I exaggerate, but you get the idea

The MacBook Pro line is supposed to be getting a refresh in the near future (according to rumors, anyway). I’d wait for the update before pulling the trigger. But you won’t regret the switch – I just switched less than a year ago, and couldn’t be happier.

By: Darko

Darko — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:21:19 +0000

Ah, I see. I forgot about that. Well I’m in charge of IT in our library and if any of my colleagues needs a setting changed they tell me.

Honestly – I’ve been eying Macs for a while now. They are simply better looking, better built and appear to offer better quality software than PCs. The current batch of Windows based laptops are simply not acceptable.