The last two months have been quite interesting in Windows-land. A quick perusal of PCWorld.com for the past two months turns up the following:
– 28-May-2003: Microsoft Pulls XP Security Update – Software glitch caused some Internet connections to fail.
– 29-May-2003: Microsoft Patches Two Software Flaws – Security holes found in IIS, Windows Media Services.
– 29-May-2003: Microsoft Tries to Clean Its Code – New team hopes to create software with fewer flaws.
– 04-Jun-2003: Microsoft Vows to Fix Patch Problems – A simpler system for fixing security flaws is coming, company says.
– 25-Jun-2003: A Big Microsoft Mess–Patches Gone Bad – The company now says that XP performance issues don’t warrant a remedy.
– 25-Jun-2003: Microsoft Warns of Windows Media Flaws – New security threats affect Windows Media Services, Media Player 9.
– 09-Jul-2003: Microsoft Patches ‘Critical’ Windows Hole – Flaw leaves all versions of Windows open to Web-based attack.
– 16-Jul-2003: Three New Windows Flaws Reported – Microsoft urges users to patch new vulnerabilities in all versions of OS.
– 24-Jul-2003: Microsoft Warns of Critical Windows Flaw – DirectX bugs could allow attacker to take over your PC.
And the latest PC World article, 29-Jul-2003: “Exploit Code Posted for Windows Hole – Hackers could use the code to create mass-mailing worms” can be found here.
More information and links for each of the articles listed above are here.
I’m sure Mac OSX has as many or more problems. Microsoft is the largest software company in the world! People choose Windows 97-3 over Apple for a reason. Every operating system has issues – it’s a very complicated code. This article is FUD!
Nice try, Georgy Porgy Pudding Pie – Windows Sucks and the ONLY reason why it’s so prevalent is because Steve Jobs was not around to fight Microsoft all those years ago for mass acceptance of the Mac platform. He’s doing an amazing job now, though, and it’s only a matter of time before Microsoft self-destructs completely.
Funny how you Wintel nerds keep trying to take jabs at the Mac in these Mac-only forums. You guys really are an insecure bunch.
Face facts dufus, Windows blows big time.
97% of the population ARE morons.
Now go away from these forums and play with Bill…
Nobody, but a handful use Macs. People are happy with Windows. All of these issues are patched. Just apply the patches when they come out. It’s simpler than using a niche OS like Mac.
If you prefer Windows and don’t mind applying multiple patches virtually every week then be my guest. No one is holding a gun to anyone’s head forcing them to switch from Windows to OS X. Quite frankly though, I have much better things to do with my time than having to regularly patch my system and constantly scan for viruses and spyware all the time.
Please explain to me how using Windows is “simpler” when you’re constantly having to maintain it all of time? Would you also prefer driving a car that you had to spend time working on to keep it running all of the time too? “Simple” definitely wouldn’t be the term I’d use for that…
Hey George,
explain why beta versions of OSX (full OS) was more stable than any released or patched version of Windows.
Win2000 was released with over 60,000 known bugs. Each patch handles about 500 bugs and major issues.
Yes, MS is bigger company.
So shouldn’t they have more people looking for bugs?
Win XP does not do more than OS X…
what do all those people do?
George,
If you are so happy with XP or whatever version of Windoze you’re on…why are you posting here?
BTW the number is more like 90 – 10 if you count USER BASE, and not just QUARTERLY SALES.
“People choose Windows 97-3 over Apple for a reason”
Go on then, tell us the reason.
BTW, I do think the article borders on FUD and I also think a Windows user should come to these mac-only forums if these mac-only forums are reporting on windows issues.
So I may be in a minority, but I’d welcome meaningful balanced opinion from windows users here. For windows users there’s a lot of FUD regarding the mac and for mac users there’s a lot of RDF. MDN can suffer from the RDF a little too much I think. Personally I think Macs rock and PCs suck but not as much as others around here do.
George wrote: “People are happy with Windows.”
Ignorance is bliss, as they say. People are happy with Windows because they don’t have any other frame of reference. A buggy, unsecure crash-prone OS is all they know and expect.
“People are happy with Windows.”
You don’t really believe that, do you? Most people don’t even realize they have a choice. Most people think that Windows’ problems are synonymous with computer problems, and that they’re par for the course and part of using a computer. Mac users know better.
“All of these issues are patched. Just apply the patches when they come out. “
If your car broke all the time but your mechanic simply told you, “All these problems have been documented in service bulletins. Just bring your car in every time it breaks and we’ll fix it”, would you really think your car wasn’t a POS?
“It’s simpler than using a niche OS like Mac.”
Nothing about Windows is simpler than the Mac, except maybe finding software in Office Depot.
George, you are “sure” that OS X has as many or more bugs? Sounds to me in the way you phrased your statement that you haven’t even tried it. I have, and switched from years of headaches and bul**** from Redmond to a powerful and stable OS that beats every Microsoft OS that I have ever uses (right up to XP).
The only thing that Windows has over OS X is it’s legion of geek hobbyists that actually LIKE IT when the system goes funky… then they get to screw around with patches and DLL’s and all of the other crap that goes along with the OS. If you switched to a mac your hobby times could be made productive by poking around in UNIX and CREATING something instead of legacy DOS and constantly FIXING something. But therein lies a great difference, the DOS-heads want to fix and tweak, the UNIX and OS X users want to create.
Lets see, the Windows OS supports a lot of legacy code, and a lot of third party drivers exist to mix things up even more. Luckily, Mac OS X is new from the ground up – unfortunate for older softz that havent made the transition. You would think the richest man in America (if not in top 3 for sure) could find a way to assemble a team of flawless programmers. The best money can buy isnt enough? I have an AMD 1800 and a g4 867, xp and osx respectively, the XP machine is slow to the point you have to restart just to work sometimes and is full of spyware and adware. The os x machine takes 3x as long to boot, but then its fine and shuts down 5x as fast. And sleep mode has never been more than a blessing.
I am a Windows user and i have to tell you that Windows Xp is a better system then my prior Windows Me, but it is still a POS!! i mean the other day i had to completely re-format my hard drive because of a problem that i didn’t cause, out of nowhere my system crashed and couldn’t be recovered!! for NO reason at all!! I mean give me a break Microsoft, for a company that has the majority of users in the world, make a better system! and Microsoft didn’t even help me, they just told me it was useless and i had to loose my data on my computer! that was after a 5 hour wait on the tech support phone!
If anyone says that Windows is better then a mac they are morons! I am saving up for my first Mac and all my friends with Mac’s have never had problems like i have had with my PC!! (PC stands for Piece of Crap)
If only people realized that there was something better out there, the problem is too many people are scared of the unknown and are afraid of what they don’t know! that is the reason so many people have windows, and to be part of the crowd, i mean if everone else does it, why not right!!! stupid people!
i for one don’t want to be one of those moronic Windows users anymore and i am getting out as soon as huminly possible!
Just a modest Windows User’s opinion
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80-10 (more accurate numbers, installed base another 10% in all the linux distros) choose the PC out of either ignorance or software selection. I work for a company that has to produce Windows software for our client. Only two people in the company have ever owned a mac. They all hate windows, they yell and scream as they keep buying Windows systems. The problem is simple, the system may be buggy, but they have tens of thousands of dollars worth of PC software, they chose in ignorance and are trapped as a result.
How often have you seen a Windows user talking about how wonderful their computer is? Not often. The vast majority of Mac users do. Windows users replace and upgrade their systems 3 or 4 times as often (usually complaining that they arn’t fast enough) – I still know people happily using the old 68000 Mac’s with no desire to upgrade.
There is certianly no denying that Mac users love apple – how many people do you know that even care to know what longhorn is. Microsoft has convinced them all that what will make thier computer is faster hardware. Each new version of windows gets slower, so you need newer hardware just to stay even. Each version of OS X I have gotten has run better and faster than the last.
I have to use windows. A couple of years ago i started up my old 16MHz 68020 Mac and ran it beside my PIII 867Mhz – The Mac felt faster. It was an eyeopener. Windows thrives because of the rapid hardware improvments. The Mac survives in spite of a stagnant processor line … but IBM may have changed that. Do not be surprised to see market share start to creep up for Apple. More and more of my friends tell me how they wish their next computer could be a Mac – many may soon make the jump.
If only there were more games – that seems to hold more people back than any other. Truthfully for the last two years, I have kept my PC alive as a game system. I do my real work on the Mac – except for at work where we still have to use windows.
Security is just the top of the iceberg, Windows users are very unhappy and the king od security problems is trying to sell them on “trusted computing.” The tide may be turning…
windows rules.
long live bill gates.
long live the psychotic sweaty baldman.
As a long-time Mac user who is also Microsoft Certified (MCP Win2k) I am fully aware of the pros/cons of each OS. My main complaint with most pro Windows people is that they almost always know next-to-nothing about Mac, and have never owned a Mac, yet would leave you to believe they are very educated about the platform. Until they do as I have done and educate themselves about Mac, their opinion is completely irrelevant. I have made a choice of Mac over PC based on hands-on experience and documented education. Too bad the average user doesn’t know this when their pro PC friend is telling them Macs suck.
To all mac users, could someone explain these 3 things to me…
If the reason why people don’t switch from Intel/AMD machines to Macs is because fear of the unknown, why is the traditional Macintosh user base in business switching to Intel/AMD machines in such large numbers? They would seem to know that there is a “better” solution out there, but they are choosing to move away from it to Linux or Windows. (and please don’t be paranoid and think that Microsoft is offering these businesses huge financial incentives to switch; I’m not referring the the German govenment)
Also, if all the “creative” and “productive” work is generated on Macs (and by some statements around here, Windows-Intel users are just stuck fixing their buggy systems) explain to me businesses such as Pixar, Disney (they recently exited out), DreamWorks or practically any architectural firm which don’t use Macs.
Here in Los Angeles, I’m watching studio after studio move away from Apple as fast as they can (including audio post, film post, and special effects groups.) I’ve also seen 2 major publishing houses moving away from Macs in NY. It’s so bad I actually sat in on a meeting where Steve Jobs offered free equipment to 2 studio heads and was declined (about 4 months ago); and the studios already possessed Macs, they just didn’t want to continue with it.
My best guess as to why this is happening is one that was proposed by some other poster: OSs don’t mean as much these days because the productive software packages run reasonably the same on either platforms (eg, Adobe’s software, etc..) No one is “hindered” by their operating system any longer.
(end Part I, see Part II)
(see Part I, continued in Part II:)
In addition, why is it necessary to have a legion of Apple sales people in electronic stores in order to move merchandise. If the OS is so great and intuitive, the hardware of such high quality and attractively packaged, and the belief that “once you go Mac you never go back” is true, shouldn’t it sell itself by people just using it (and the packaging should hook the user to come try it out)? It just reminds me of some of the commentary surrounding the Mac CreativePro NY where it was noted that there was an excessive amount of technical support staff (from Apple and other companies) present for a system that is supposed to be user-friendly.
And finally, am I the only one here who thinks it a bit contradictory for Mac users/posters to espouse the virtues of Macs for the populace and speak of how many preconceived notions of Macs are erroneous (“Macs are expensive”, “Macs are for artsy people”, etc…) and then later on swing to the side of “well if you want to be creative and productive use a Mac” or “you’re just a poor whiner.” It all seems self-defeating. You can’t be elitist AND try to appeal to the general population at once unless you’re planning on using the concept of elitism as the bait to attract more users (which could also fall back onto why Porsche in the ’80s became associated with the short-man’s complex.)
BTW, if any of this seems like flame/troll bait, it isn’t intended to be. I use five OS/hardware platforms and question the intentions and uses of each–consider me a poster of the Sophist school of thought.
-legion
Legion I will try to respond to your questions as logical and concise as possible. For the first part I don’t buy into the concept that the longest line is the best line to be in, and the concept of “Think Different” really has meaning to mac users. If it is true that the OS is not as important why is M$ spending 6.5b in RD? Like a lot of Mac users I am forced to use Windows on my job and for that reason alone I have a great appreciation of a simple,easy to use, and stable OS(Mac OS X).
I have no proof one way or the other that Studios are leaving mac’s and migrating to pc’s. I only know that the friends that I have in the Recording industry in Nashville only use pc’s for bookkeeping. The ones who have pc’s for their recording studio’s have a substantial amount of down time, and are constantly have to repair and update. Which in my book is counter productive.
As for the legion of Apple sales person I could not agree more. Personally I try to avoid all sales people, because they are a waste of my time. I usually do my own research on the product I am interested in. Apple has it’s work cut out to convince people to use Mac’s, but in every case that I am familiar with if they try a mac for more that 10 minutes. most people I know say one thing “I wish I had one”.
I hope I respond in a satisfactory manner. And as for as I am concerned if you prefer PC’s more power to you.
Microsoft itself has said that Windows was not created for security, and it’s well-known that it wasn’t built for stability either. Linux: secure, stable, but not AS usable.
(though, that is a matter of opinion and viewpoint). To Mac users, we fell Mac OS is the best of all those worlds. Secure enough, stable enough, usable enough. Now, why do people use PCs, or switch from Mac to PC? Many different reasons. Commonality has always been a good thing in technology. Why did Betamax die? VHS “won”. Why are Sony minidiscs not as common? Because CD’s ARE. Not because CD’s are better, but because they are more common.
After reading the comments below, I decided to write what is in this comment, and the following:
The most common thing, isn’t the best. It’s just the most commmon.
Don’t you remember your parents telling you..
If your friends jumped off a bridge, would you do it too?
That’s how I see Windows. I used it, it worked. But I just like Mac more. I have my reasons, they are valid, and I’m sure PC/Windows users have theirs.
Dudes, SteveJack said it best already, “By its very nature Wintel cannot be the best” here: http://www.macdailynews.com/opinion_comments.php?id=P627_0_2_0_C
George is FUD
I don’t think this is a news at all! Everybody knows that it is Windows nature to be full of holes and flaws. If Windows works, or has finished patching their holes then it is a really big news, kind of a fish that can talk or something like that.