So I’ve been in with computers for about 4 years now, and it’s come to my attention the absolutely childishness that goes on in commercials, over forums, and in general arguments (walk into Starbucks and say “Mac Sucks” or “Steve Jobs is an Asshole”) and see what happens. Now with the iPhone taking precedence over the lives of many, without them realizing it makes them rant and rave about their new lightsaber application, or the one that puts an Osama Bin-Laden beard and turban on the picture that was JUST taken of them. Or how it can “drink a beer and pour a new one up at the push of a button.” or even so far as a lighter for concerts. None of these have use, but you’re suckered into buying it like a damned fool.

Why is it that people are drawn in by the most REDUNDANT things on the planet. Text messaging and Facebook. (which is another article in its own really, and I’ll probably get to it sometime, really it’s best to keep me off that topic today) Myspace is dead, and believe me it’s about time. But look at all the others that just seemed to spawn in its place like flies, kill one and 2 more come up. Photo sharing sites, video blogging, journals, and more things to post every second of your life on. Well, what computer are you going to do it with. The most common argument there is “Mac is better than a PC” and the “infallible” response “Who can play games?” or “at least i can connect to an office network” or something retarded like that which in turn starts into a heated debate full of the USELESS shit most of these users do, and half the time they find out that the PC and Mac are not so different, however the Mac user shows disappointment in his realization, he will never admit to that sad truth, the Mac is not superior, if anything, it’s level or sub par depending on the users needs. Here are some of the arguments settled by someone who doesn’t like or dislike any OS over another, I feel they all have good and bad, and personally I would like to own one. Now as a Linux/Windows user (Linux being my choice because it’s fun to set up an OS completely how you want, and i like how light it is) I crack jokes about Mac being fail and stuff, but really, this is how I see every argument unfold.

That dock feature, I can have it on Windows and all version of Linux. I had it on Ubuntu, Fedora and openSUSE. Ubuntu has the multiple work spaces, and i know OSX can lay them flat, so can Linux. Linux can also turn it into a rotating cube. Windows can also do this with the aid of a program. For windows, Rocketdock is the dock program, you can also use the equivalent from Stardock called “Fences” and for the cube, you would use a program called Deskspace. After these programs, OSX has absolutely no positives over Windows or even Linux for that matter.

Here is how i see it, All operating systems ARE THE SAME, regardless of what you Mac loving/thumping retards may assume is wrong with Windows, there is NOTHING wrong with windows when you use it PROPERLY. Good internet habits and a good well known anti virus program is all you need. I don’t even run Anti Virus, i run a program for it once a month, and I never have viruses, and i download movies, music and program ISO’s from torrent sites. (And yes i stay within legal limits, it’s not illegal to download software you own.) I never have viruses either. Linux is cool and all, and I do prefer it because I like how lightweight it is, but I don’t use it on my laptop because i has propriety components that don’t work with Linux. Mac is ok, but it’s basically a super dumbed down version of BSD code. NO IT ISN’T LINUX. The biggest misconception is that an OSX user is a Linux user. This is false. They are an OSX user, nothing more. OSX is derived from a Linux base code, ONLY because they didn’t want to make their own base coding, they just wanted to use the open source world to make the job faster and easier, and guess what else..more COST EFFECTIVE, which in turn makes your paying 3000 for a notebook, completely stupid.

The whole point of this is that, the PC vs Mac vs Linux war is completely retarded. It irritates the hell out of me because it’s so childish. The commercials piss me off, especially the new one “doesn’t it have 1000 viruses” no, it does not, there are probably less than 200 active ones right now in circulation, and less than 10 of em are serious, with good browsing habits and AVG installed, you shouldn’t have a real problem. And the Microsoft commercial about Mac being expensive, is true. You can get BETTER performance from a laptop with Windows on it for cheaper, and gaming is a possibility on Windows, in lieu of being on a Mac, you need to run a virtual machine. Now, as far as Linux goes in all of this, most people dual boot Linux so they have windows when they need to. I do on my desktops. I can game on linux, i can use Mac programs on Linux and Windows, and Windows programs on Linux and Mac. The thing it all falls down to is the real question.

“What do you want to do with your machine?”

Gaming – Get a windows machine.

Offices – Get a microsoft machine

Music and Video Editing – Windows or Mac (most say mac is better, and it has some good software for this, but you can get an equivalent on Windows)

Design – Microsoft, Mac or Linux all work for this. Photoshop is the top photo editing software out there. All of Adobe’s products are the top ones for that type of work, and there are free ones like Gimp, but Adobe’s products work on Windows and Mac natively, ad with a bit of creativity, on Linux just fine (First hand experience there)

Chatting and Social Networking – Windows, Mac or Linux. They all have IM programs, and others can be installed. They all have internet browsers, and others can be installed (I suggest chrome or firefox) and they are all internet capable.

Mac is expensive, and you can’t really swap parts from them, since it’s ALL apple stuff, and all the plugs are proprietary for all of their products, so you either have to carry them around with you (iPod and iPhone) or hope the place you’re at has one. On the other hand with the Android Phone, you need a mini usb, which is dirt cheap and anyone with a camera has one.
I know someone who was “quoted a repair price” for her Macbook that’s 2 years old. They told her it would be almost 1200 dollars of work to replace a motherboard. Any computer savvy person KNOWS a motherboard is less than 100 dollars for one a 2 years old in a basic laptop, and the work is not 1000 dollars an hour, it’s a 15 minute job, and nobody gets paid in the IT industry over 30 bucks an hour usually, especially not a service technician, but their call center was American she claimed. They also did the work for free since she had extended warranty.

Windows is pricey for an OS at times, when you want “Ultimate” on release date. Their office suite is expensive for all of it, somewhere around 500 bucks. Their servers are good and simple to manage, but expensive software. The activation of an OS is annoying as hell, with both the heavily accented eastern indian man telling you around 50 numbers super slowly to getting support for windows, which is also an out of country call line. To get an American one you pay.

Linux doesn’t have prices, call centers or expensive notebooks, just you need the know how to do certain things.

Neither of these companies are “better or worse” they’ve all got their issues, and they’ve all got their pluses. If you’re buying a machine and plan on either taking it to your office, toting it around, or playing games, get a windows one, unless your office or school says otherwise. Keep Linux as a hobby.