Friday, January 13
5 reasons why my next PC will NOT be from Apple
Chris Pirillo writes Your Next PC will be from Apple
1. Duality. Windows Vista won't be blocked on Intel-based Apple hardware. This means you will (in theory) be able to purchase a Mac computer and run Windows on it, just as you would a regular ol' PC. At least, Apple won't stop folks from doing so. However, current AND future "Windows" machines will not be able to run OS X. That's a big win for Apple. It's upon this first point that the rest of my list is built.Well, I can already run Linux, BSD and Unix on my box. Considering MacOS is a modified BSD… If Microsoft can get Vista to boot with BIOS and with EFI, why can't Apple? Oh, that's right, they want to lock you in to their hardware. Apple wants to be snooty and make sure you can't run MacOS on a plain IBM PC. What happens if Microsoft gets snooty and decides that Vista or the next generation of Windows won't run on Apple's hardware? Not liable to happen? Probably not, but still, the Linux fan boys had better be hooting and hollerin' just as much at Apple as they do at Microsoft for their lock-in.
2. Style. Yes, you can trick out your PC with all sorts of neon cables and fancy case accoutrements - but there's something to be said about Apple's simplicity. No other PC manufacturer has come close to mass producing an elegant design that was equally as functional. It's the hardware, man.One thing comes to mind. The Mac Cube. Apple doesn't hit 100%. And as for style in a computer, who the hell sees my computer? Me. My family has a passing glance at it, but for the most part what you see is the monitor, the keyboard, the mouse, and the mess that is my computer desk. I don't go to LAN parties. Maybe if I did, it would be a little different. Then again, in that kind of situation, I want something that I can call my own, not some other designer's.
3. Fun. When was the last time you downloaded something new. And I don't mean a new registry cleaner. I mean something completely and utterly new - out of the box new. Something that you just hadn't seen before (either freeware or shareware). The old "there's no software for the Mac" argument hasn't held water for a couple of years now, overturning itself with the advent of OS X. You'll now have a safety net underneath you.95% or thereabouts market penetration with Windows. Safety net? Windows has a much bigger safety net. Yeah, there's always going to be somebody that claims to know what they are doing, and they don't. Like that doesn't happen in the Mac world? And then there are the people that know quite a bit about the Mac world, but once they get outside of that to IBM PCs, mainframes, minicomputers and other non-Apple hardware, they don't know squat, and they won't even bother to learn anything about it. They hear of a possible solution and go with it. I've seen that happen, and if I was in control of the situation as I had in the past, it wouldn't have happened.
4. Knowledge. Don't let platform bigotry get in the way of understanding and appreciating good technology. We all are better for knowing more, and that's something you should look forward to doing - not avoiding at all costs. Bury the hatchet if you think that this still is the Mac you first saw in 1984.Bigotry? On who's side? I have always maintained that you find the software first, and let that determine the hardware. I have seen way too much bullshit in people trying to justify their purchase of a Macintosh. I've seen people that needed PC compatibility at least at a file reading level go through a bunch of contortions to actually do their real work while they had what they think they really wanted.
5. Equality. Pretty much anything and everything you can do in Windows, you can now do on OS X. Not everything, mind you - but in knowing that a new Apple machine (with proper software, I'd assume) will allow you to boot into Windows, any kind of OS driver issues will be further minimized. There's always Microsoft's Virtual PC, too.Emphasis mine.
"not everything, mind you", uh, is that really truly equality? I have to say not. About the proper software in the underlined emphasis, you'll have to wait until Windows Vista at this point it appears. Actually, I'm betting that somebody comes out with some sort of pre-boot CD or modification of the Windows XP installation CD that allows it be installed on the Apple hardware, just like somebody is going to figure out how to get Mac OSX installed on regular PCs. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if VMWare came out with something that allowed you to at least run Mac OSX emulated, if EFI is the only thing causing that to happen. Permanent link posted by bytehead @ 1/13/2006 12:48:00 PM
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