[bettafish]

To begin with, this is my first posting, so i would like to say HI to everyone out there! I am a Mac user and curently own a Powerbook G3(pismo)....and Im loving it. Here are the specs for anyone who's interested:
-400
-20 gig hdd
-256 ram
-cd burner/dvd
-airport

Well on with my posting.....
First of all, I have only just switched to the mac 2 months ago. And have, for most of my life, used the "Windows" based system. I switched to the mac world because the college I attend has a Mac lab. Students walk around with ibooks, and there is a convenient wifi network set up(airport). I admit, I was somewhat "bought" into the whole mac scene, but glad I was. At the time I was using a Fujitsu Lifebook running Windows XP.(I am a computer technician...and I have had so many formats and reinstalls in that ONE month than I had in my entire span of service calls. I sold my Fujitsu and purchased a second-hand "pismo" g3, and have not had one freeze up, driver conflict, virus, reformat, ect. This made me laugh, and I specifically drove to the dealer where I purchased my powerbook and bragged about my awsome experience with my new PB.
Now the point of this post is to contrast XP and OS X. Now dont think I am an unexperienced Macintosh User, I used to own an LC2(pizza box mac)..and the original iMac. (Not OS X however!)...I am very experienced with Mac OS 7-9, and can say I never had a problem with it. (I admit I was confused as I was unclear of how to go about some tasks)...but thats besides the point.
First of all, OS X is a revolutionary OS. Why? Because it is building on the foundation of what the users need, not what the programmers want to include. I am going to break down my argument into sections.

INTERFACE:
Right from first look, OS X is impressive. Now I can safely say, at first glance, I was impressed with XP, Im not too fond of the childish bright green and blue colours, but overall, not bad. Back to OS X, as soon as my mouse pointer glided over the liquid like icons on the dock, I was instantly captivated!! This was to me, a BREAKTHROUGH!!! THANK YOU APPLE! Finally an OS that is acually GRAPHICAL(thus the term GUI-graphical user interface)....By exploring the OS I realised every aspect was optimized for these effects. (even window shrinking, scrolling, icons were even resizable yet they didnt loose their quality)...now this may sound like I am getting all excited over nothing, but in reality, interface is an IMPERITIVE aspect of an os!!!! Now over to XP. Microsoft claims that "everything you do will be more fun"....no offence to you Bill Gates, but operating systems have never been fun, well not up until now(as of the release of OS X)...After an hour using XP, I was disapointed. Why? I asked myself this question over and over: "Why did I spend $149 to upgrade to XP?" To be bluntly honest, XP did not help me do anything faster, it only slowed me down by making the start bar 3 times more complicated, rearranging ALL my documents, forcing me to get patches for half my programs as they were now "incompatible"...the only improvement I can see is that my computer now looked "cool." (Ironically I disabled the visual themes a week later because I experienced lagging)...
Now back over to OS X...what improvements,if any, did I gain? The dock is one of the best idea Apple has come up with for their OS...ever. The first thought that came to my mind: "Is it customizable?" I was surprised that all I had to do was drag and drop programs/folders to and from the dock. (Note: Windows requires you to right click and use exlorer to add programs to the start bar)...a long process that requires you to hunt through many directories. Now I admit, I am listing some simple and basic elements of the OS's, but simplicity is whats important when it all comes down to it. If a user cannot even figure out(on their own) how to do a simple task like add a program(of his choice) to a start bar or dock, then pherhaps its back to the drawing board. (I have had many people ask how to such simple tasks-in XP)...OS X in my opinion is straight forward, and Apple assumes that people have enough brain cells to figure out how to do tasks themselves without having pre-tuned "wizards" walk them through every step. Whereas in OS X, the UI has been superbly designed(layout...ect)...and wizards are simply not needed, it's obvious where to go.
PERFORMANCE:
Okay, for you Windows haters, here is where I am going to really "bash" windows, but I must be honest here. Windows XP does absolutely nothing to ENHANCE individual program speed, nor does it deliver better performance on older machines(Microsoft states that it DOES)...I want to take the time to praise Apple for creating an OS that actually uses hardware to accellerate its performance. For example, OS X uses your graphics card to render the graphics, and relieving your proccessor of this job, therefor leaving it to carry on other tasks. XP is a resource eating monster that focuses on running tasks(background and startup)...there is no EASY way to disable startup items. Seriously, what the hell is Microsoft thinking? XP is literally plagued with startup items!!! On a SLOWER computer "startup items" are poison. I believe Microsoft has done everthing possible to make their OS look COOL they have completely forgot that XP drags computers down HORRIBLY. For example: Music at startup, hugh graphical user log in, startup items)...Mac OS X gets away with this because it is real time rendering, and the processor does not have to redraw every window everytime you move it or click on it. Microsoft has been making their OS for many years, and I finally thought that this was going to be the one to change them all. IT IS THE SAME OS as Windows 2000 with useless colorful themes to make it more user friendly. The themes do not actually HELP users, they certainly make it look cooler, but they are useless. In OS X, the colors are representitive of what things mean(like the close/minimize, resize buttons)...I could go on forever, but I think you can get my point. Oh and one more thing:
Microsoft, Im not trying to insult your software, but GIVE THE USERS WHAT they need! Dont force users to adapt to your programs, because honestly, their sad. You can buy a new Apple right out of the box(lets say an ibook...) and have everything you need to edit movies, organize your pictures, easily connect to a wireless network...ect. OS X comes with a professional quality suit of software that is actually GOOD! And is intigrated to work together! Not a load of programs that have been around since Windows 3.1(paint, ms-dos prompt, notepad)...Sure, XP is bundled with movie maker and media player. But thats it. What makes OS X is the integration with the programs and the OS itself! Everything works to smoothly together. Well I should end this before I really rant. I hope none of you XP fans rant me out. This is just my personal opinion.
-Jacob

[MDA]

Very, very well put.

MDA

[Nonsuch]

Welcome to the Good Side.

[juanpacolopez]

Couldn't have said it better myself.

[drnkn_stylz]

I'm printing that off to show my comp. teacher. He does not like Macs. Hehehe...

[typoon]

Welcome, Great Post. It sounds like a switch story. You should send it to Apple.

[Nonsuch]

Originally posted by typoon:
Welcome, Great Post. It sounds like a switch story. You should send it to Apple.

Or to Paul Thurott.

[MPMoriarty]

I agree with with all the others, very true post.

You know it's quite funny. I was always a dedicated PC user, until I happened to one day visit Apple's website looking at their iPod.

I saw their "Mac OS X" tab on their navigation and decided, "Ah, what the heck, let's see what Apple's OS look like today."

I was expecting it to look similar to what I used back in OS 8. Boy was I surprised.

Mac OS X literally shocked me. I never realized how advanced and beautiful it had become. The more I read about it, the more I wanted to try it.

So I went to a nearby CompUSA and tried out one of their Power Macs with Jaguar on it. I simply loved it. I never had so much fun using a computer before until then. I'm serious.

Mac OS X delivered everything I have always wanted...performance, stability, and an interface that works with me and not against me.

Bascially, I switched and never looked back. Yes, I still do use Windows XP at my job and don't like using it. Until using Mac OS X, I never realized how much crap I actually put up with on a normal basis.

Now I am not going to "bash" Windows because there are some people out there who like it. Everyone has their own unique tastes and I am not going to argue with them. I mean, Windows has some good things, just not enough to keep me a user that's all.

Whenever someone asks me why I bother with Macs when Windows is used by more people, I simply respond with...

"It might be true Windows is more popular, but that doesn't always mean it's better."

Again, great post.

Hope you continue to enjoy your Mac experience.

Mike
----------------
"Sorry Microsoft, I simply Found a better OS."