A rant

[May-chan]

don't read further if you are fond of macs or ipods...

and warning, some angry language use ^_^










Sorry Mac users (and I know there are probably many of you here) but I can’t stand your systems and every time I see one of those Mac vs. PC commercials I want to leap onto that guy’s face and maul it like a rabid wolverine…

I really think those commercials are just for Mac users to stroke themselves (you know what I mean…) since I can’t believe they are convincing anyone to switch to Mac… as they kind of make Macs look like a bunch of cocky douches.

Furthermore… yes I have used a mac, and yes I am going to have to use one in school this upcoming semester… however all the times I have used a mac I was grossly unimpressed… the “they don’t crashâ€

[Xiao]

I know how you feel. I have used a Mac, and they aren't nearly as great as Windows bashers claim they are. Also, yes, the commercials make me want to throw filled wine bottles at the screen.

I have two friends, and no matter what I do they will say "That would be better on a mac!" and it's freakin' annoying. Once I was editing a song in Audacity and one goes "You should buy a Mac and use garage band. It's the exact same thing, only a little harder to use and it's for a Mac so it has to be better."

When I comment on how I don't like the top and right orientation (utilities bar at the top of the screen, icons go to the right side) or that I like playing games, they go ballistic on how I'm biased and how they don't believe you buy a computer to play games.

They DO crash, and a lot. I am not too sure on the extra speed they brag about either, my PC with 512 MB of RAM seems to be able to load things long before my friends Mac with 1 GB of RAM can. And them bragging about not having viruses? That's not a programming feat, it just means that the majority of people who hack/make viruses prefer to use a PC.


I will admit to owning an iPod, but in my defense I got it it before every other person in the world had one, though that doesn't help my case much. In my opinion, the iPod and iTunes is very easy to navigate and find what I want to play faster. I also like how I just have to plug in my iPod and iTunes will automatically sync it without me having to manage files for awhile.

I don't, however, buy a new iPod every time one is thrown at me. I still have an old one without color/video/pictures/other useless stuff, and it's almost perpetually in my car.

[Chibi MitchellTF]

I have an I-Pod, it's a good, simple-to-use MP3 player. I might get a new I-Pod, but only because my old one is dead. And it's a big 'might' because I didn't use it enough due to battery issues.

[Aaron]

I hate those commercials as well.

In the journalism lab at my school, we had to use Macs. In one of my classes, we had to use InDesign, a page design program. That's one of the things Mac's are advertised to run rather well, right?

This was a once a week course, most of which was a lab to use this program to design. With only 10 or so weeks, anytime a problem came up, it made things terrible. Problems came up every damn week. Twice the program froze and close, somehow making the previous work inaccessible, forcing me to start over. When the teacher would try to send us all the necessary things to finish an assignment, it would never go through to everyone, and it wasn't even the same people who wouldnt' get it, it was completely random. And don't even bother trying to save it, that would cause it to close down and be inaccessible. There was only twice that the program would actually open with no hitch. Usually, I'd try to open and not only would it needlessly copy whatever I was trying to open. Other times, I'd try to open it to see the program I was clicking get deleted somehow, no real rhyme or reason, just the action of clicking it caused what I was clicking to be deleted. Art computer my ass, it was nothing but problems from the start. Trying the same program on a PC worked fine. For all they try to advertise it for doing the artistic things, the fact that the actual art school here uses PC's in their lab to run all of their modeling, art and animation programs would seem a little odd, wouldn't it?

And don't get me started on the lack of a right click. Worst mouse design ever. Give me a button on the side or anything.

It's funny how they try to pawn off the PC for using spreadsheets and stuff, we had to use Macs in the journalism lab and that was one of the only programs I had no beef (aside from the lack of a right click) using. They work just as fine on a PC, but everything else just seems to work smoother on a PC than on a Mac. For that extra speed, my home PC with all of it's crap and "trial software" runs faster than the macs in that lab every day of the week, even with the anti-spyware software.

I use my PC for everything I've needed to, and it's been far better at it then trying to use it on a Mac. I do a lot with voice recording and editing for my job, it works absolutely fine on a pc.

Fortunately, I don't have to use those things anymore, as none of the classes I have remaining require the use of the journalism lab.

[Queen Octavia]

I won't rag on windows 3.0 or windows 95. Since then, however, I think there has been no innovation. Making my own OS is on my to do list, but until then I guess I'm stuck with XP. Vista is pathetic (Look! Sideways window feature or whatever they call it! Wooow!). My mallet on Bill Gate's head puts the ow in wow, and also in now coincidentally.

I have used fedora alot on the school computers, and will probably get a dual boot system in a couple year's time. I have never even touched a mac, and I'm probably happier for it.

I dont have an iPod either, I do have an mp3 sony discman, but most of the time I just whistle when I'm walking to class or whatever.

I dont have a cell phone either for that matter. Counterculturism for meee!

[Xiao]

Vista is pathetic, though I don't really like Linux that much. I had it on my computer for about three weeks and couldn't take it anymore. Windows Black is the way to go.

[Musashi]

I like my Mac, honestly. XD I think it's a Macbook or something. Some kinda laptop. I used an older Mac desktop in the past and hated it, but I had to get this one for college. It suits my needs... I can do my work on it, and I can play on it too.

*Shrug* But I use a PC laptop too, and I like it just fine. I'm not really into the whole "PC vs. Mac" thing. I think both have pros and cons, and you just use whichever works for ya. Or in my case, use both! :D

I have an Ipod too, but only because I got it for free. When I was buying my Mac and a printer/copier/scanner (three in one, whoo!) for school, they had this offer to get a particular model of an Ipod, and then you send back a rebate and it's free. So I did that and... free Ipod! :3 I wanted one anyway, cause they can hold ten tons of music, but they were too expensive.

[Selena Aninikkou]

I can't comment on the Mac, 'cause I've never used one. However, if you spend a lot of time at computer sites like I do, you see some of the stupidest posts ever from EVERY group...

And Vista is the worst.

http://kadaitcha.cx/vista/dogsbreakfast/index.html

Other than that...



Fedora-tan for the win ^^

[Queen Octavia]

Glad to see another Fedora supporter. Seriously though, there are lots of capable programmers out there, people just need to work together to get stuff done right. Corporations like microsoft are just out there to make a quick buck, and will never advance computer software/hardware as fast as they should.

All hail C!

[Rowan]

Woot! Give 'em Heck May-chan!

[Garath the Shadowshifter]

Well I never used Macs all that much, but from what I did use, I don't recall them being all that great.

I too really hate the Mac VS PC commercails regardless though.

Ipods... The only thing I see good about an Ipod is storage space. Though do you REALLY need 60 gigs?

I've got the best MP3 player in the world. My opinion of course.

It's called the PSP, and it has Tales of Enternia in it. That automatically makes it a thousand times better then anything on the market.

Heck for the price of an Ipod I think I could buy two 4Gig cards for my PSP and have more then enough space for music and videos then I'll ever NEED.

Oh and:

And them bragging about not having viruses? That's not a programming feat, it just means that the majority of people who hack/make viruses prefer to use a PC.

http://ctrlaltdel-online.com/comic.php?d=20060513
WARNING: Some Foul langauge

[Selena Aninikkou]

Garath brought to my attention something I have to counter...

And them bragging about not having viruses? That's not a programming feat, it just means that the majority of people who hack/make viruses prefer to use a PC.

That's not entirely true. In fact, the Mac's base is a variant of BSD, which (like Linux) is frequently used as a server OS. Because they both have historical ties to UNIX (BSD and Linux), they are naturally more secure than the Windows line, simply because of historical reasons.

UNIX (and it's descendants and inspirational offshoots) was designed from day one to be a network OS, and as a result has security built right into the design. Windows is still tied majorly to the DOS concept of one user, which is why Windows computers are often run as Administrator (and in fact, frequently HAVE to be run that way to work). It is much, much harder to get a virus on a UNIX-based system, because it requires making it through the kernel's built-in checks, getting to one of the bin directories (most of which are owned by root and cannot be written to by anyone else), giving itself execution rights, and even then it can't run as root unless it has the root password (or some idiot set it up to allow passwordless root, which is utterly stupid).

The point? The historical differences in the systems have led to differing security models (well, if you want to call what Windows has a security model...).

Glad to see another Fedora supporter.

I'm actually a member of the Fedora KDE group, and help out with making packages for the main repository (though I don't have many at this point, mainly because I was just approved last week).

[Rowan]

I would like to get an MP3 player, just so I could get one of those things that let's me hook it up to the car stereo.

[Tiaiel]

I don't have a Mac, but I got an IPod Nano from my parents for my birthday. It has it advanteges compared to other MP3-players, but the greatest disadvantege is the lack of changeable batteries, there is only this one stupid rechargeble one, which is built in. I use my MP3 players when I travel long distances and then this system just doesn't work.
Anyway, the display broke once and I got a new one, becouse it seemed like all early Nanos had stupid displays which brake quickly. But that time they had no new ones, so the `new´ one is still one with a brakeable display, hoooray.
A few weeks later the lining cable between the IPod and my computer broke down, so I can't recharge the IPod and I haven't foud a new one yet. Anyway I'll buy a non-IPod-MP3 Player when I have a bit of money. The Nano can stay in the cornern.

[Mitera Nikkou]

I'm so glad that these things aren't issues for me. My PC works to my satisfaction (some programs crash every once in a while for some reason, but they work fine otherise) and I don't need no silly MP3 player. Being a hermit has its perks.