Windows BAD, OSX, GOOD. Making a movie for nonconvinced parent

ok, so my gfs computer is dead, and we wer all setup to get her a mini. Only her genius mother thinks the Celeron 300$ from dell is better...HAH.

Im TIRED of fixing windows PCs. my gf loves the mac, her mom is tyring to steal my G3 wallstreet running OS9..she doesnt beleive my gf when she tells her the stuff ive told her...so shes jokingly "you should make a movie about it, edit it on your mac and show her" well im bored enough, and ive got enugh friends who run windows and linux, who HATE windows...so theyd be able to provide input.

Im talking, questions and answer interveiws (just simple humor) bar graphs of speed, how often we reinstall osx vs XP, spyware, upgrading, how long it lasts, heat...the BSOD, all kinds of stuff

Id like to get a list going. Thanks in advance!

right so what exactly do you want from us?

answers to those questions?

MadSkillzMan said:

ok, so my gfs computer is dead, and we wer all setup to get her a mini. Only her genius mother thinks the Celeron 300$ from dell is better...HAH.

Im TIRED of fixing windows PCs. my gf loves the mac, her mom is tyring to steal my G3 wallstreet running OS9..she doesnt beleive my gf when she tells her the stuff ive told her...so shes jokingly "you should make a movie about it, edit it on your mac and show her" well im bored enough, and ive got enugh friends who run windows and linux, who HATE windows...so theyd be able to provide input.

Im talking, questions and answer interveiws (just simple humor) bar graphs of speed, how often we reinstall osx vs XP, spyware, upgrading, how long it lasts, heat...the BSOD, all kinds of stuff

Id like to get a list going. Thanks in advance!

Click to expand...

If someone prefers XP, let him or her use XP, it's not any worse than OS X.

All it really comes down to is what platform a person likes to use. There is no war. There is no debate. You'd be just as well off arguing about what tastes better - asparagus or broccoli.

Don't get me wrong. People like to TRY to debate, but they just end up arguing in circles, and it turns into a circus.

P.S. In my 4 years of using XP, I have never, ever had a "Blue Screen of Death" on my own computer... and I've only seen one - which was induced by the installation of an modded unsigned video card driver.

Just tell your g/f to get what she thinks is best, not her mom.

Get some Walt Mossberg quotes on how great OS X is and show them to her...

Show her Mom just how clean & easy a Mac is to use, my elderly neighbour (pushing 70) has just switched to Mac after many years on Windows. It only took a couple of afternoons of her playing with & using my Mac. I was also tired of cleaning rubbish off her XP.
By the sound of it Mom already likes the Mac and is having you on but cost may well be a factor.
Best.

Look at all the software you get from Apple. To put all that into a $300 Dell would cost well over the differece. Check Mac World's June issue. They did the very comparison you're look for.

thats what imlooking for, software. Yea things are apparent to me, ive fought with windows for years, but id like to just broaden my opinions

I got a friend who after he installed SP1, his network was no longer usable. The other friend who spent 1500$ on a dell, didnt even have PCI-E or AGP, you get like no software with windows

theres just so much that aggervated me and drove me to mac. I just cant remember lol. My brothers having a million problems in the next room. Nvidia card only displays 16 colors in videos, PC crashes when media player opens. You have all those darn drivers to worry about.

on the flipside, i havent even noticed my video card is only 64mb, NO drivers to screw with. heck the unsupported canon printer worked immediatly when i plugged it in.

Ive just been out of windows far too long, adn im trying to recall all the million problems i had...only i did 3D graphics and video editing, i hafta remember which problems werent related to that.

the gf wants the mac. Her mom doesnt car what it is, or how long itll last. her attitude is, they dont abuse computers with high end apps, so it should work. Well their emachine from 2000, that cost 1200$ is dead. My G3 mac is still in strong use from 1996, all original parts. Stuff like this im trying to compare

MadSkillzMan said:

ok, so my gfs computer is dead, and we wer all setup to get her a mini. Only her genius mother thinks the Celeron 300$ from dell is better...HAH.

Im TIRED of fixing windows PCs. my gf loves the mac, her mom is tyring to steal my G3 wallstreet running OS9..she doesnt beleive my gf when she tells her the stuff ive told her...so shes jokingly "you should make a movie about it, edit it on your mac and show her" well im bored enough, and ive got enugh friends who run windows and linux, who HATE windows...so theyd be able to provide input.

Im talking, questions and answer interveiws (just simple humor) bar graphs of speed, how often we reinstall osx vs XP, spyware, upgrading, how long it lasts, heat...the BSOD, all kinds of stuff

Id like to get a list going. Thanks in advance!

Click to expand...

Yeah, I can help you.

Last time I got a BSOD was about 3 years ago.
Spyware - no, never had that.
Viruses - had Nimda on our network, um I guess 2 years ago. Took us about 20 minutes to clean it up.

You should try to work on the positive aspects of OSX, rather than the negatives of Windows, as in fact there aren't really that many. XP is probably as stable as OSX nowadays.

If she likes the Mac, get the Mac. She's certainly not going to sit thinking 'Boy, I wish I'd got that Dell'.

i cant see how you guys can go yay long without these issues. We've taken brand new hardware, installed XP, BEHIND a firewall, and after 3 or 4 projects, we have to reformat.

A few months back, i got 9 different calls from all over ohio, some slew of viri went NUTS all over. I was asleep. I woke up, the family computer wouldnt boot. as i removed the HDD to copy files, i forgot my bros dual CPU rig was on the internet...that went down.

I watched all kinds of .exe's fill up my macs desktop, i just laughed at that. friends from colleges, my mom even who works at the federal resesrve bank of cleveland called home to ask w t f.

In her place they have dells. They decided to lay off all the IT people, becuase the dells break down so often, or windows needs some tinkering, its actually CHEAPER to go to dell, buy new ones and trade in the old ones, than employ a small team of IT people to maintain them.

Im surprised, usually on forums about in depth PC stuff, windows is crapped on nonstop, in favor for linux/BSD and lately OSX..though i get tuanted for being the only mac user... and at an OSX forum i got people sticking up for XP? thats complete irony lol.

there isnt a bad thing i can say about my mac except im still broke, but its worth it. Its been the most enjoyable computer experience within the 8 years ive worked on computers. OS7/8/9 scared me away, OSX, and the great hardware integration brought me back.

MadSkillzMan said:

i cant see how you guys can go yay long without these issues. We've taken brand new hardware, installed XP, BEHIND a firewall, and after 3 or 4 projects, we have to reformat.

A few months back, i got 9 different calls from all over ohio, some slew of viri went NUTS all over. I was asleep. I woke up, the family computer wouldnt boot. as i removed the HDD to copy files, i forgot my bros dual CPU rig was on the internet...that went down.

I watched all kinds of .exe's fill up my macs desktop, i just laughed at that. friends from colleges, my mom even who works at the federal resesrve bank of cleveland called home to ask w t f.

In her place they have dells. They decided to lay off all the IT people, becuase the dells break down so often, or windows needs some tinkering, its actually CHEAPER to go to dell, buy new ones and trade in the old ones, than employ a small team of IT people to maintain them.

Im surprised, usually on forums about in depth PC stuff, windows is crapped on nonstop, in favor for linux/BSD and lately OSX..though i get tuanted for being the only mac user... and at an OSX forum i got people sticking up for XP? thats complete irony lol.

there isnt a bad thing i can say about my mac except im still broke, but its worth it. Its been the most enjoyable computer experience within the 8 years ive worked on computers. OS7/8/9 scared me away, OSX, and the great hardware integration brought me back.

Click to expand...

What in-depth PC forums are these?

People still don’t get it? It doesn't matter what people say about XP in Linux forums, or what they say about XP in OS X forums.

And I've read what people say about security when it comes to OS X in XP on the Slashdot blogs/forums. They are always lengthy debates, but in the end, it always comes down to marketshare. People could argue it is harder to code a virus for OS X, people could say OS X is more secure because r00t is disabled by default, but, in all honesty, no one will ever really know until OSX's market share reaches similar a parity to Microsoft's.

Because what is security nowadays? Well I once read a great quote that went something like this: "Security is the 'art' of protecting people against themselves." Interesting concept, and it really makes sense. That being said, Microsoft clearly has a more difficult problem on its hands than Apple:

1. Anyone remotely smart enough to program would undoubtedly understand that coding a virus for Microsoft would do an infinitely larger amount of damage on a broad user scale, than if they decided to target OS X. That’s just logic - Should I go after the OS with 2% market share, or the OS with 90% market share? Hmmmm...
2. Since Windows IS the most popular OS, that means they pull in a significantly larger portion of new kids on the block. These are the people that will instantaneously download an executable that claims to be a "Picture of Britney Spears naked holding a M16 Assault Rifle" - which of course, ends up NOT being a picture of Britney Spears naked with a gun, but a virus that sends e-mails to all of his other brilliant friends claiming to be a picture of Anna Kournikova naked with a machete. After the virus finishes sending e-mails it reformats their computer. Hilariously enough, these people are generally the same people that blame Windows and Microsoft.
3. The nature of competition - everyone wants to see the big dog go down. Everyone who doesn't live in New York, hate the Yankees. Everyone who doesn't live in Boston, hate the Patriots. Everyone who doesn't in LA, hate LA. Everyone who doesn't live in the US, hate the US. I'm speaking in exaggerated generalities obviously - not EVERYONE feels that way... But I'm sure you know what I'm getting at.

Today, there is NO OS protecting users against themselves. A user really can install anything they want, when they want. Microsoft could implement nasty user-end mechanisms that protect users from their own stupidity, but that would just **** people off... even the stupid people!

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- Linus Torvalds (Creator of Linux)

i have 2 machines right now... B&W G3 450, and a Dell Dimension 2400 P4 2.5...the only reasons i keep the Dell are 1) its my girlfriends ... 2) there are some software programs that i like to use that are not available on Mac.. one being DVDshrink... another is Winamp... and WinAVI.. DVDshrink is the biggie though, for one because it is free... otherwise, i would sell the Dell and buy her a nice G3 or G4 to replace it...

$300 Dell PC. Better? That arguable. Better deal? Yes.

MadSkillzMan said:

A few months back, i got 9 different calls from all over ohio, some slew of viri went NUTS all over. I was asleep. I woke up, the family computer wouldnt boot. as i removed the HDD to copy files, i forgot my bros dual CPU rig was on the internet...that went down.

I watched all kinds of .exe's fill up my macs desktop, i just laughed at that. friends from colleges, my mom even who works at the federal resesrve bank of cleveland called home to ask w t f.

Click to expand...

I have no clue what you are talking about there.

I want to see this video when you are done

- Should I go after the OS with 2% market share, or the OS with 90% market share? Hmmmm...

Click to expand...

That's not all true .. Millions of people and companies use a Mac.. Plus these people would love to say.. I gave OX a virus.. I always see people mentioning Market shares for the reason for no spyware or viruses, that's probably true up to a point, but not totally true..

jram said:

That's not all true .. Millions of people and companies use a Mac.. Plus these people would love to say.. I gave OX a virus.. I always see people mentioning Market shares for the reason for no spyware or viruses, that's probably true up to a point, but not totally true..

Click to expand...

The market share statistic is factual. W3 records OS usage statistics every month. And for the month for June, those numbers are accurate.

Who's going to brag about giving OS X a virus? And to whom would they brag? I mean it's not as if virus programmers are "stumped." If they really wanted to get it on a Mac, they could... but that’s where it would stay, and no one would care. It comes down to a viruses potential to spread - which is very little on a Mac. And why? Because of MARKET SHARE. 90% of the computers that the virus would attempt to spread to would be Windows-based PCs, and would not be able to execute.

In all honesty, I could code a virus for my Mac right now. But why? Really who would care? Obviously I'm not going to, because 1. I don't have the mal-intent/stupidity to do so; and 2. the only computer that it would damage would be mine. Everyone that's connected to my mac, and everyone in my e-mail address book uses Windows. It simply wouldn’t be practical.

falltime said:

The market share statistic is factual. W3 records OS usage statistics every month. And for the month for June, those numbers are accurate.

Who's going to brag about giving OS X a virus? And to whom would they brag? I mean it's not as if virus programmers are "stumped." If they really wanted to get it on a Mac, they could... but that’s where it would stay, and no one would care. It comes down to a viruses potential to spread - which is very little on a Mac. And why? Because of MARKET SHARE. 90% of the computers that the virus would attempt to spread to would be Windows-based PCs, and would not be able to execute.

In all honesty, I could code a virus for my Mac right now. But why? Really who would care? Obviously I'm not going to, because 1. I don't have the mal-intent/stupidity to do so; and 2. the only computer that it would damage would be mine. Everyone that's connected to my mac, and everyone in my e-mail address book uses Windows. It simply wouldn’t be practical.

Click to expand...

So let me get this straight.... you are saying that if you wanted to you could create a virus that would damage your computer and propagate through Apple Mail/Address Book... to all other Macs and then move on from there. All without the user's permission? Of course this requires all of the addresses were to other Mac users... I understand that. But lets for the sake of comparison say they are......

You could do that?

sarahsboy18 said:

So let me get this straight.... you are saying that if you wanted to you could create a virus that would damage your computer and propagate through Apple Mail/Address Book... to all other Macs and then move on from there. All without the user's permission?

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You can't even do that on a Windows machine...

Yes you can... there are several viruses where all it takes is to open an infected email in outlook and you're in deep trouble along with the other people in your address book.

It doesn't necessarily have to even damage the machine (although there several that do)... as much as just attack the networks by overloading them with emails.... I've watched it happen several times. Heck... My dad's staff at his last job spent 90% of their time chasing down email viruses that propagated through Outlook and Outlook Express. There are several ways to trick MS software into executing viruses... Now show me those methods on a OSX.

sarahsboy18 said:

So let me get this straight.... you are saying that if you wanted to you could create a virus that would damage your computer and propagate through Apple Mail/Address Book... to all other Macs and then move on from there. All without the user's permission? Of course this requires all of the addresses were to other Mac users... I understand that. But lets for the sake of comparison say they are......

You could do that?

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Propagate through? What?

It doesn't "infect" addresses or mail apps, it simply pulls them up. It uses the e-mail address in a person’s address book to send mail to everyone in it. The recipients, of course, assume the e-mail is safe because it's from a friend, and download and execute the attachment. I.E. The Lovebug Virus.

A user isn't infected simply by "opening an e-mail", they have to download and execute the attachment.

This isn't hard to do on a Mac, at all. As I said earlier, the recipients would need to own Macs to properly execute the binary - this is where propgation on the Mac platform because an issue.