No, it does application switching by default, entering the name of an already open brings it to the top (which can be done just as quickly with alt-tab anyway). You were complaining that its slow for song changing, refreshing pages, looking things up, and answering IMs, etc. The Adium plugin is explicitly for answering IMs. There are similar plugins for email.



For the record, Apple hasn't used IBM hardware in 3 years, and the firmware of their nVidia graphics cards is Apple specific.

Great, so we are in agreement that it is exclusive and overpriced.
Not to join in on the arguement, but what exactly is so good about macs, assuming the user knows how to use a computer?

(See, I know someone who is always talking about how great macs are because _he_ knows how to use them, which means that only they can do the things he knows how to do. In other words, since he knows how to, e.g., change his screen resolution on macs, they do it better than windows computers because he doesn't know how to do it on them.)

Snappiness (UI latency). Security. People will tell you Vista runs fine on modern hardware, which to some degree is true, but only if your definition of "runs fine" comes from a lifetime of using Microsoft software. My Vista experience index is, iirc, a 5.3 (4GB of DDR3, 2.53GHz Core 2 Duo, 512MB 9600M GT, 5400rpm hard drive, with 90GB on my Windows Partition, 40+ of which are free). It's still the most sluggish of the 3 operating systems I run on this computer, crashes the most frequently, takes the longest to copy files, takes the longest to install updates, has to have its BCD repaired after every change to the partition table (this may only be a problem arising from EFI, I'm not sure if Vista uses a BCD on a BIOS-controlled motherboard), and had this weird crackling in the audio until I disabled a-band on 802.11a/b/g/draft-n wireless card due to poorly coded wireless network management that caused big processor spikes (Google "Vista anti-lag").

Oh, and multitouch + enormous trackpad ftw. Besides which, every person who's seen or touched my computer has commented on how elegant it looks and feels, how great the screen looks, and how much they like the design of my keyboard (backlit black chiclet keys) and the fact that I can adjust the brightness of my screen and keyboard backlighting.

Sounds like you got some low quality hardware there. Vista on my desktop runs just as fast as Ubuntu, and hasn't crashed for several months (and I leave it running for weeks at a time) - the last crash was from when I was overclocking my 4850.

Likewise, Vista on 2 different laptops is very stable, although lags a tad behind Ubuntu since they both only have 2GB of RAM, but it isn't until I start firing up Visual studio, SQL server, etc... that I start to actually notice.



Multitouch is just "meh". My lenovo's trackpad supports multitouch (3 points iirc), and I disabled it because its annoying, not helpful. A fun toy, but not very productive.



Holy crap, those chiclet keys suck ass. Easily the worst thing about a Macbook (other than its ridiculous price). My friend who has a MBP (and several other macs - he is a macfag like you) agrees that the keyboard on the MBP is horrible.



Is that honestly a feature you are trying to brag about? I'm fairly sure every laptop EVER could adjust screen brightness. As for keyboard backlight, its honestly something I could do without. Even if it was an option (like on those Dell studios), I would still skip it. I touch-type anyway, so whats the point?

Wow, they still make those, after being almost universally derided in the 1980s? I suppose you could paint a rainbow stripe in the bottom-right corner for the retro feel.

Why do I have a windowed case and lighted fans? Bling.

not really... mac os, the glossy screen and sharp edge all basically as bad as the keyboard... though yes, the cost:functionality ratio certainly is the biggest =D

Ok, I'm glad you at least came up with reasons, anyway, elf. I don't find it hard to believe that vista is slow compared to something else, because that's exactly how vista is meant to be. It's definitely a heavy OS. However, give me an example of how Mac is better than every possible configuration of Linux whatnot. You can easily configure a system to have speed, security, and elegance to match or surpass a Mac. Sure, Linux lacks many things compared to Windows, but compared to Mac, I don't really see much difference. In fact, the similarity to other unix-y systems is practically the biggest reason to use a Mac that I can figure out.

It sounds like this is more and more a comparison of things as they come out of the box. As I have mentioned before, I once met someone who had amazingly configured his XP laptop to the point that it looked like he had written his own operating system that was a hybrid of Mac os X, windows, and Linux (but that was probably just the pictures of Tux everywhere). If you really care enough, you can make your computer do pretty much anything, so arguing about simple features (like the abilities of the topic app) seems silly.

I guess I would care more about things that simply can't be modified. The inherent security flaws of windows or lack of a massive software library on other platforms would be an example (Virtualization notwithstanding).

not much given MacPorts. This is a big plus though: http://www.apple.com/support/ (specifically Apple Care, if you buy an apple product without it, you're a fool).


Kerm and I had the going for a while. I think I posted some pictures of my "Mac-ish" XP desktop.


That too

Fixed.

Look up Pwn2Own. In terms of OS security, it is Apple that is trailing by a *lot*. Apple's Safari/OSX combination fell in under 2 minutes. Vista was exploited a mere single time, and not until the rules were tweaked and it was compromised via a flaw in an *Adobe* product. Ubuntu was unscathed.

It is exceedingly obvious that Apple's only "security" is obscurity. That, and a steaming pile of bullshit

So what? That is an inherent "feature" that can't be changed as long as the other one I mentioned holds true (which it will until Mac actually becomes Windows).

Good thing I don't use a webkit based browser, huh?

Note the all important "only". MacOS is notoriously unsecure...

So your solution to keeping your Mac safe and secure is to *not* use Apple's software?

I admit, that does work, but I question the point of a Mac then....

just because he dosen't use safari dosen't mean that he dosen't use apple software... multimedia teachers tend to <3 imovie, iweb *snicker*, final cut, aperture, etc...

correct me if I'm wrong, but don't dashboard widgets use webkit? Sure, its not quite the same as pointing a browser, but a malicious widget dosen't seem too far out of the question...

a) interface
b) iPhoto, iTunes, Preview (owns the crap out of any Windows or Linux PDF reader I've used), the ability to print anything directly to a PDF file, Time Machine > rsync or any other backup software, iMovie, GarageBand, Automator + AppleScript, iDVD dvd authoring software, Transmission, Image Capture instead of dealing with a shit ton of third party scanner software, Grapher, iTerm and Terminal both > cmd.exe
c) Disk Utility, Activity Monitor, System Profiler all > equivalent Windows and Linux tools (with the exception of GParted)
d) ColorSync Utility + DigitalColor Meter
e) Voice recognition that actually works
f) Growl

The Dashboard is mostly useless actually, though slightly less obtrusive than Vista's widget sidebar, but I don't really use it, for anything besides what's on there now. Here's mine.


People who go adding random crap to the dashboard are just as dumb as Windows n00bs who add random smiley and cursor packs.

From your list of pros, I question the ability to print to PDF (PrimoPDF or CutePDF both work fine on Windows) and relying on third party software or drivers to acquire images from scanners or cameras (WIA offers a standard interface that any vaguely competent image editor supports, even Paint).

Most of the other points are subjective, of course (eg I find the iTunes spreadsheet-o-vision UI pretty poor).

just to throw in my two cents, I'm essentially addicted to windows simply because of familiarity... I only know a few UNIX terminal commands. I'm just so used to command prompt and windows' keyboard shortcuts that I tend to find other oses irritating. Sure, it's closed minded, but I simply can work much more efficiently in windows.

Plus, the only "apple programs" equivalents that I need are photo-management, disc-burning, and photo-editing, which third parties do very well =D Plus, vista's voice recognition isn't bad, and I never use it anyways...

at least one of those costs money

O_o since when does Paint support image acquisition from a scanner?


admittedly, iTunes, Safari, and QuickTime are obnoxious under Windows, under OS X they work very nicely....

Both of them are free (including for commercial use) if you just want to print to PDF, but have commercial versions that add a bunch of additional tools not directly related to printing PDFs. I guess it's a similar situation to Foxit Reader, which will display PDFs for free but charge you to use the annotation tools.

I'm not sure; Vista's Paint supports it, 2000's doesn't. I don't have access to any XP machines to test XP's Paint (either way, Paint.NET supports WIA on XP).