Apple leads the pack once again

As you can see from my criticism of the lack of mouse buttons, I am far from uncritical. But Apple software works, and Apple hardware is cheaper than similar quality PCs with similar features. I own an iMac and an iPod. No other Apple gadgets, because I have no need of them. (No iPhone for me, thanks.) So, no, I don't run out and buy everything Apple. I just recognize the quality of their hardware and software.

I gave Bill the boot before Vista came out, so I have no experience with it. But I blame Windows for the wretched programming habits which left Windows so full of security holes that after you pay good money for Windows, you have to also buy an anti-virus program, a firewall program, and an anti-spyware program, and keep them all upgraded with yearly subscription fees and frequent downloads of signature files. And since most computer users are not savvy enough to protect their machines, Windows has guaranteed that there is an army of "bots" out there controlled by criminals who use them to f**k up the internet with spam and DoS attacks.

I get so much spam now that I can no longer look through my junk folder for false positives. All because Windows requires an IT professional to keep it out of the hands of malicious hackers.

 

Don't necessarily mean to lump you in with the fanboys Daniel. In any case, I wouldn't conclude so quickly that Vista is less secure. Here OS-X was the first to fall in a hacker conference. Here Vista has less security vulnerabilities. Here Mac OS X had more critical flaws than Windows XP and Vista combined.

BTW, I think most ISPs automatically block spam. At least mine seems to.

 

And yet, in the wild there are no OS X viruses. My understanding is that it's because OS X requires user cooperation to be infected.

The problem with blocking spam at the ISP is that some of them do not give you the option of checking for false positives. A friend of mine had to change his ISP because he was not receiving my emails. His ISP had decided that all email from a Yahoo domain was spam. And as I mentioned, spam has become so voluminous that for many it's no longer possible to wade through it all checking for false positives, and no spam filter in existence is proof against false positives.

I have no experience with Vista. I read very mixed reviews. Some love it. Others find it so unacceptable that they are willing to pay extra to go back to XP. I understad that it's more secure than XP. But the fact remains that the prestige in hacker circles that would come with designing a real-world OS X virus would be so great, that you can bet people are working on it feverishly. But the basic design of Unix today just is not conducive to viruses. The basic design of Windows invites viruses. (For lurkers who are not aware, OS X is merely a shell over Unix.)

 

The "new" trackpads aren't electronic tap (I hate those too...)

The pad itself is the button. When you press on the pad it clicks - physically. So you still have the tactile feedback.

Being glass should be really nice. Many trackpads "wear" with heavy use. Glass should stay clean for the life of the machine.


I played with the new notebooks last night at the Apple store. Both the MacBook and MBP are now as "stiff" and solid as my MacBookAir. Not nearly as light though!

 

Our local Apple store closed. Royal bummer!!! Anyway, until they get it down to one pound, or darn close, I'll stick with my N800.

 

I really wish Apple to succeed.

Thanks to Silverlight 2.0, I can continue programming in Dot Net and deploy to "Intelligent" workstations, which can be Macs.

As more core programs move to "The Cloud", the OS of your station won't matter much. The browser will be king.

I always give two thumbs up to Macs, even though I don't own any (yet).

 

I agree actually. Competition is good.

 

They really don't hold a candle to the N800 tho.

 

i am not a fan of either to be honest with ya, both (Apple to a SLIGHTLY lesser degree) want to dictate how others play and they dont always have the best ideas (in fact the RARELY do)

that is why we have 3rd party software issues. instead of adhering to a standard, both want to run off and do their own things which is fine, but to be competitive they add functionality without the knowledge of how to implement it safely which makes a whole bunch of people vunerable if said 3rd software is not installed or if the "default" installation cannot work with other installed software. i see little reason to have to re-purchase everything because MS has decided that the billions they made should be tens of billions

what both should be doing is providing a basic secure operating system and providing enough info to 3rd party developers to allow them to create a product that works.

 

To my understanding, MS has been much, much more transparent about their development path and much more transparent about releasing information to 3rd party developers. The i-phone is a perfect example of how Apple rigidly controls the apps a user can run. In a way, Apple is kind of the China of computer companies. Opaque, rigid, and authoritarian.

 

MS has been more open to their OS i will grant you that, but that is not like saying to 3rd party developers

"this is how you will do it PERIOD, and if you dont, we will bury you. then we will examine your idea, determine if it will benefit us and then take it after you go away because we have the money and you dont"

as far as the iphone goes, the virtual keyboard is something i would probably have issues with but im sure i could figure it out eventually. have everyone else offer it and i would be all over it...

have been away from ATT so long that who knows, they could be a much different company now but i am simply not willing to take that chance. and i do get a lot of feedback from people who did....

 

Just bought one of them yesterday when my old Vista machine died. Rather than wasting the Vista license, I bought VMWare Fusion and it's running Vista in a virtual box like a champ. Slow? A little. But it works!

Mostly, though I am SO happy to be on a Mac after all these years. (The Virtual Vista is just a nice extra.) What a delightful and well-made product.

Dan

 

The iPhone is one "internet solution," but it does nothing the N800 does not do except make phone calls through the last phone company I would ever use, given any choice at all. My mother spent months disputing bills with AT&T, and they consistently lie and refuse to provide documentation on any aspect of their service.

I would switch to a full-featured laptop, to get a proper keyboard and optical drive and USB and Ethernet. But only if it weighed no more than about a pound. Otherwise, my N800 does what I need in a travel computer: email & light-duty web browsing. A keyboard would make writing easier, and a bigger display would make web browsing nicer. But I've decided that above about a pound, it's not worth it. And the iPhone has (I believe) a smaller screen size and more difficult typing than the N800.

 

i dont get it!
apple uis just one opr system brand that also builds its own hardware.
so when there is anything new on the market you can only focus on 1 thing.. apple own hardware

PC like hardware is providing pack leading stuff every week or mont and you never hear anybody making topics about that
because is normal and a lot off...

have to say i have worked with apple and windows and i am a windows fan but i am triying to stay objetive!