Mac Versus Windows - Ground Rules by David Pogue
David Pogue of the New York times published a fantastic article (free membership required) a couple days ago regarding the timeless debate of Windows vs. Mac.
David Pogue lays down five ground rules to the debate. Most people already know which side I’m on, but I’ll try to refrain from injecting my own opinion. Instead I’ll examine my willingness to abide by the new rules:
1. Hate something for its failings, not for its success.
Okay, I might be a little guilty here. I’m seemingly against a log of “big things” that sometimes appear monopolistic…. Like Wal*Mart. I tend to root for the underdog. I’m guilty.
2. No condemning something until you’ve tried it.
I can certainly adhere to this rule. I know both systems intimately well. One because I had to and the other because I wanted to. I worked in a large I.T. department for a few years in an all Windows environment. I completely agree with this rule.
3. Execution matters.
Certainly! Those that know me well know that I can criticize both platforms well. You can only make something better my pointing out the flaws. Your real fans will point out your flaws to make you stronger, not to bring you down. I can live with this rule.
4. Don’t make grandiose purchasing plans by guessing on technology’s future.
You bet! Just look at how volatile the browser market is. Who here remembers Mosaic which for many years was the only web browser anybody knew. Now I get excited when I find someone else who has even heard of that browser. And here is another piece of browser history. Name Apple’s first web browser? If you said Safari, ding, wrong answer, thank you for playing. The correct answer is CyberDog.
5. Consider that they may have a point.
Sure. There are things Windows does better…. I’m having a hard time thinking of any right now but give me a sec… Oh. I like the fact that when you close an application’s primary window the application itself quits. Although the reason I like it is because it makes people trying to switch to macs look silly when they close all windows but still unknowingly have several applications running. Now if we expand the discussion to Apple vs. Microsoft rather than Mac vs. Windows then I can have more; my two favorite Microsoft apps are Access and Project… neither of which are available for the Mac.
Tim Flight
I can live by David Pogue’s Rules
March 13th, 2006 at 7:42 am
Windows does the Trash / Recycle Bin better, it isn’t just a dumb folder (.Trash) that can’t hold multiple files with the same name, if Finder had half of it’s functionality that’d be one thing.
But then the Windows Recycle Bin can restore files! Okay, so I haven’t needed this functionality much since switching, but it’d be a Real Good Thing to have. Then add in some extra management, allocating maximum disk space, whether files go to the bin or are just deleted and you have something that stomps all over the Mac implementation.
One other niggle that has recently surfaced, iPhoto, what’s up with it having a separate Trash? Don’t know if other iApps do this, I know iTunes works with the system Trash - shouldn’t they all be like that?!
March 13th, 2006 at 10:33 am
I agree, there are some parts of the Mac trash concept that could be improved. Actually, back in OS 9 you could drag items to the trash, then some time later select them and click ‘Put Away’ which would essentially restore them back to where they were. I miss that feature.
I also agree the way iPhoto, iMovie, and iTunes handle the trash needs to be more consistent. For iPhoto and iMovie I can see why they handle it that way. Users don’t really manage their photos and movie clips within the file system, they are strictly handled within the application. Therefore why move them to the file system’s trash since (to most users) they don’t recognize individual photos or clips as elements of the file system.
But then why have iTunes be different? I suspect that goes back to the beginnings of iTunes when people did manage their MP3 files more within the file system. However this has changed over the years and now most people probably don’t know where their actual MP3 files are stored just like most people don’t know where their actual photos are stored in the file system. Advanced users do know this though.
Good comments, Chris!