Xp / Mac / Or Linux ?

[Chemical King]

Whats your preference and why ?

[Chemical King]

I always go with XP becasuse I have no experience with the others yet but would like to hear opinions on the others

[Panzerfaust]

XP..because the majority run Windows and being in the IT field and not knowing Windows is career suicide. I can get away with not knowing a ****ing thing about a MAC, but cannot say the same about Windows.

[Chemical King]

XP..because the majority run Windows and being in the IT field and not knowing Windows is career suicide. I can get away with not knowing a ****ing thing about a MAC, but cannot say the same about Windows.

true but overall reliablity as wel as compatibility and backward compatibility id also an issue

[Panzerfaust]

true but overall reliablity as wel as compatibility and backward compatibility id also an issue

Yeah, but it is also called job security.

[Chemical King]

Yeah, but it is also called job security.

fair comment.

[Jakspro]

Mac hands down. If you do extensive multimedia you really can't top the reliability of Macs. With the new Macs you can dual boot windows natively if you need. Vista is coming out and all its "new" features are actually EXACT copies of Mac's OS X. No viruses. Sleek laptops. Quad Xeon chips in the towers. There are alot more reason why you should go Mac.

[Carlos_E]

XP..because the majority run Windows and being in the IT field and not knowing Windows is career suicide. I can get away with not knowing a ****ing thing about a MAC, but cannot say the same about Windows.

Depends who you work for. I don't have to touch a PC at work unless I choose to.

[Chemical King]

does havin a mac effect ur ability to run the majority of programs and games available or are most compatible with all ?

[yourmom]

I've been beta testing Vista for over a year. I have my xbox 360, my home 7.1 with my 42' plazma running seamlessly together. I can run photo shows, custom music mixes, record live tv, all with one remote. Mac cant touch it. Oh yea, got a Zune for christmas, docked it with the 360, and watched myself kick the crap out of my freinds playing Halo. Man Im a geek, didnt know it until I put it in writing.

[spywizard]

see you didn't say what you want to run or accomplish..

xp for commercial viability and apps created for it..

fedora for hacking, and ip level and application manipulation of data

mac for artistic endevors, there are advantages to them all..

give me a mainframe, but hey, i learned on punch cards...

go figure..

[Carlos_E]

I've been beta testing Vista for over a year. I have my xbox 360, my home 7.1 with my 42' plazma running seamlessly together. I can run photo shows, custom music mixes, record live tv, all with one remote. Mac cant touch it.

Ummm... I could do all of this on my mac years ago.

[Foskamink]

does havin a mac effect ur ability to run the majority of programs and games available or are most compatible with all ?

most programs off the internet and CD are windows only. some are duel games that are made by blizzard are mac and pc on the one cd but majority are not. that also is for programs u download. but u can run windows + mac os on your mac pc. my friend just switches over depending what he wants to do. but if ur just a casual computer user who does the forums / msn / email / games / myspace ect. windows is for you. easier to learn and use i think for that. but if ur getting into editing / media and software mac is required.

[Carlos_E]

does havin a mac effect ur ability to run the majority of programs and games available or are most compatible with all ?

All Apple computers are now intel based computers. Meaning, you can buy a Mac and boot to Mac OS X or windows on the computer. And yes, it also runs windows vista. In my opinion, buying a mac is a better buy because you're getting 2 computers in 1.

[Carlos_E]

Making the Switch from PC to Mac
By Robyn Peterson


When Apple switched to Intel processors, I switched to a Mac. It was that simple. And judging by Apple's latest financial report, millions of you are coming with me: Mac sales have increased 30 percent since last year. But Apple is more than just the Coca-Cola of computing: The company builds solid machines that are capable of handling office work and, in my opinion, are vastly superior to Windows machines when it comes to multimedia editing.

For example, by using the iLife suite on my new MacBook, I transformed my raw wedding video into something that scored major points with my in-laws. First, I edited it down from 2 hours of boring footage into 30 minutes of highlights using iMovie. Then I dubbed in music from iTunes whenever the audio went south. Finally, I burned it all to a multichapter DVD with a flashy welcome screen, using iDVD. Whenever I've tried to edit video on a PC, I've faced system crash after system crash. And don't get me started on the lack of integration between video-editing software and music- and photomanagement software on Microsoft Windows. Yuck. Apple just makes it simple, and that's refreshing.


A Mac can do more than just multimedia. I have Microsoft Office installed so that I can work on Word and Excel documents, and I use a Cisco VPN to connect with my office network. In fact, I use my MacBook as my sole PC at home, whether it's work or play.

Though it's fairly easy to find your way around a Mac, I've answered the five questions most frequently asked by recent Mac converts or those folks simply pondering a potential switch.

Where's The Start Menu?
You don't need no stinkin' Start menu. On a Mac, you browse through your documents or navigate to your applications via a Finder window. And you can place frequently used apps in the system Dock, which you can place at the side or bottom of the screen. (Find preferences for the Dock in the Apple menu at the top left). You can set it to emerge when your cursor approaches it.

Where's My Right Mouse Button?
In Windows, the right mouse button brings up what's called a context menu. To bring it up on a Mac, hold down the control key and click the mouse button. Or just attach a mouse with a right-click button. It will work the same way as in Windows.

How Do I Install Apps?
File installation feels a bit strange at first since some apps, such as Firefox, mount as a drive when you double-click on the setup file. But then you simply drag the icon to your Applications folder, and it's installed.

How Do I Search For Files Or Apps?
Searching on a Mac couldn't get any easier, using Spotlight. Click on the blue icon in the top right of your screen and type in any phrase. You can search filenames, file contents, e-mail, contacts, even metadata.

Where's The C: Drive?
Forget about delving into the depths of the Windows C: drive. On a Mac, you can find all of your files by simply using the Finder. And if you're hard-core, drop into the Terminal app and get your Unix groove on.

[Ufa]

I like the part about video editing and music.

[yourmom]

I guess the 'copy and paste' feature is easy to use.

[cfiler]

I prefer XP because I'm a gamer. My home computer is used 90% of the time for games.

If I didn't play as many games on my system, I'd probably go to a Mac laptop. OSX is nice, and with the duel boot I could use XP when ever I needed to.

I really hated the old Mac computers that I had to use in school. They were horrible. But Apple is growing on me, and I'm thinking my next computer may be a Apple.

[RobbieG]

see you didn't say what you want to run or accomplish..

xp for commercial viability and apps created for it..

fedora for hacking, and ip level and application manipulation of data

mac for artistic endevors, there are advantages to them all..

give me a mainframe, but hey, i learned on punch cards...

go figure..

What?!

Haven´t seen nix's in this formation of sentence for maaany years

I haven´t hacked anything in my ubuntu, fedora, debian nor my slackware for amazingly many years, but linux is safer.

I run Vista Ultimate + Ubuntu on my inspiron 9300 work machine, if I'm in nix and I have to use some windows-App I just use Wine.. (:

And for your info, GNU/linux is unix based ( Unix TSS - > GNU project -> GNU/Linux ), and so is Mac.

IF you can do it in mac, you can do it in other nix's, but it´s usually a hasle with windows b/c win apps is usually DX driven apps.

but hell, you can use vista to hack, but it isn´t safe, so I would use nix's to do so

[MuscleScience]

I got my first mac, I love the thing to death. I havent got one virus or scum ware, or had any crashes and its just like windows as far as navigating it. I dont know why anyone would ever buy a PC if they had a mac. I know I will never buy one again

[spywizard]

What?!

Haven´t seen nix's in this formation of sentence for maaany years

I haven´t hacked anything in my ubuntu, fedora, debian nor my slackware for amazingly many years, but linux is safer.

I run Vista Ultimate + Ubuntu on my inspiron 9300 work machine, if I'm in nix and I have to use some windows-App I just use Wine.. (:

And for your info, GNU/linux is unix based ( Unix TSS - > GNU project -> GNU/Linux ), and so is Mac.

IF you can do it in mac, you can do it in other nix's, but it´s usually a hasle with windows b/c win apps is usually DX driven apps.

but hell, you can use vista to hack, but it isn´t safe, so I would use nix's to do so

well why don't we just go back to the kernal and change the hooks..

you should use fedora, the newest version..

but hey, whatever works for you..

[Panzerfaust]

Depends who you work for. I don't have to touch a PC at work unless I choose to.

Being a network admin/server admin, i will probably never touch a MAC. I messed with one about a month ago only because it was the owners daughter, and then the issue was with virtual desktop (windows).

[rafael]

been using linux / Xinix since 1996-97ish....use it at work...at home...wouldnt touch anything else.

[Carlos_E]

Being a network admin/server admin, i will probably never touch a MAC. I messed with one about a month ago only because it was the owners daughter, and then the issue was with virtual desktop (windows).

I work in IT as well. Network/server admin. We have OS X based servers and desktops.

[S431M7]

Whats your preference and why ?

I installed XP and I find it most common wherever I go. But both iMac and Linux has advance graphical features with multitasking/multimedia capabilities.

[jdspinna]

I work in a mixed environment. OSX, Windows and Linux. There are drawbacks and benefits for each one. Personally I would rather manage an all microsoft environment over any of them but, I enjoy working with all three platforms.

[jdspinna]

I got my first mac, I love the thing to death. I havent got one virus or scum ware, or had any crashes and its just like windows as far as navigating it. I dont know why anyone would ever buy a PC if they had a mac. I know I will never buy one again

That must be a coincidence. As a long time Apple user and supporter I can tell you they have their share of problems.

[Crest]

this is well a nerdy thing to know but linux is way more secure and stable than anything from microsoft, msn internet/messanger etc runs off of linux servers :s lol just thought id share that with u