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crash..?

"people run Windows-only software because lazy developers haven't bothered to create Mac versions"

Darn lazy developers, put off by that miniscule market share problem................

No one could file patents...


OH! and MSNBC videos won't play on a mac.
...and we all know how important it is to get your 2 minute video feed from MSNBC

you cant watch anything on mtv.com...

on a mac that is..

Damn those lazy software developers that don't want to make money writing software for a tiny market!

Where's altruism when you need it most!

I'm sure these "lazy" software developers feel compelled to write software for OS X after than gentle cajole.

I would sure hate to make my software for a market of 16 million plus users.

how exactly is this thing looking on this guy's monitor? Is the windows screen "minimized" or does he scroll off the screen and suddenly there is another OS next to the first one or what? This is very interesting to me. I have never considered this kind of setup.

I usually really like your Takes, but this one is just ridiculous.

Those aren't external factors, those are the core factors for using Windows over OS X. It is the network effect that MS has worked so hard to create, and something that Apple has, frankly, always sucked at with their OSes. Apple got it right with the iPod and the accesory market, it is a positive feedback loop. Apple has allowed others to get rich on their platform (iPod) just like MS did with Windows. MS sold nearly EVERYONE on the ability to do anything with your PC based on the network effect, and its obvious now to some that what MS was selling is either extremely hard or impossible to achieve. There are just to many combinations for anyone, including MS, to verify works with Windows.

What fans are you going to win by criticizing software devs as lazy because the idea of 90+% of the market would allow them to make all the money they could ever need?

I am a huge Apple fan and have dropped a ton of cash on recent systems because they are great for my needs, but anyone realistically analyzing the situation knows those reasons are deal-breakers for the majority of people getting off of Windows onto OS X. And I am considering adding a Windows machine back into the environment to play games that will NEVER make it to OS X. MacTel can't get here fast enough, and it better be able to run Windows.

Yahoo's music and video sites don't work on Mac either... even though they say you need to use Netscape x.x it's not available for Mac either, so they're S.O.L for attracting the Mac users that enjoy and purchase mass quantities of music and related merch...

Joe, I was wondering this morning when you were going to grace us with your sage wisdom.

My bank only accepts online transactions from Windoze/IE.
That's the reason why I still need this piece of @#%&! around me.

But when the Macintel will launch, I'll be able to run IE on a Windows partition/WINE and it will be Goodbye Microshaft.

The truth of the matter is MDN is correct. Software developers are lazy. That is the ONLY reason they don't develop for the +25 million Mac users. It might also be because software developers hate GUI guidelines or that they discriminate against Mac users. One can never know

Sweet when one can dualboot to windows xp sp3 for games and run everything else on a real OS

Here's a few reasons I haven't thrown away my Dell now that I have a Mac Mini:

It can still access the internet, so it backs up the backup, so to speak. It is essentially impossible to troubleshoot a computer issue that happens to affect your internet access without a second computer to get on the internet. A second Mac would be preferable, of course.

I still play a few games on it. Next year, I hope that games will port over to Mac faster when Intel is inside.

I need it to back up my Windows PDA. Mr. Jobs, I would drop that in a yoctosecond if you would introduce a Newton/iPod PDA.

With some forms of CD copy-protection, it's easier to rip the CD on a Windows machine (just hold down the ALT key as it loads). Any suggestions for doing same on my Mac would be greatly appreciated.

Want to get on my mailing list MacDoctor?

I was stating the obvious, and wondering how MDN can call an entire group "lazy". The 16 million number Jago mentioned sounds like a lot. (And actually isn't it more? We have had that discussion several times). It apparently isn't enough for anyone to "bother" writing mac versions of the programs I use every day. No biggee.

@ Joe:

As opposed to developing software for an audience that thinks its OK to a) share software with friends and b) thinks its OK to get software from friends.

You mustn't forget that most Macintosh users are user/choosers - they select the machine they want and the software they want - whereas most Windows users use it because that's what they got given by the IT department, and likewise the software.

So, if you're prepared to work to develop a market for software that is designed to appeal to higher income, better qualified computer users, develop for Macintosh. Whereas if you just want to wack out some poorly designed, quarter-assed rubbish for people who don't know or care about consistent interface design and 90% of whom will land up stealing your software, develop for Windows.

Looking for some evidence: how about Delicious Monster - software designed for people who enjoy a little flair, as opposed to all of the Windows systems that do the same job, but in a messy way that gives no thought to the needs of the user. Or OmniGraffle (arguably better than Visio). Or Merlin (nearly as functional as MS Project, for a fraction of the cost). Or Corriente's Elektron WPA server.

autocad? there are a lot of mac compatible cad software in the market. what a lazy head. I use one of them. it's much better, easier, can share autocad files, too.

It all comes down to being to cheap,lazy to learn something new that is actually easier to use, or just plain ignorance.

To our Windows-only software developer friends: You're a bunch of lazy bastids for wanting to actually make money developing software. Why can't you be like the rest of us and have mommy and daddy pay your way?! Huh?!

Hey, where'd you go?.. Come back! Really, I didn't mean to insult your intelligence... Hello? Hello? Anybody there?....

good grief MDN, your attitude is just over the top.

Windows & MAC machines will have to co-exist for many years to come no matter how you slice it.

Your brand of 'holier than thou', is precisely the reason MAC fans are made fun of the way they are. MAC supporters can feel great about their platform - they should, it's awesome - but until they get over themselves and become less antagonistic, they will continue to rub people the wrong way.

We have 3 windows 2000/2003 PC's at the office.
One runs the Label printer.
The other two are servers - one runs a "Hot folder" and the other runs the "RIP" that goes with it.

The software is windows only. Why we can't run everything off one single PC? Because they won't give us "support" if we do.

One program forces me into the Windows world regularly: Satellite Tool Kit (STK) by Analytical Graphics (http://www.stk.com). In the satellite world there is nothing else quite like it.

It runs MUCH, MUCH too slowly (unusable really) under VPC.

I know the president/CEO of the company and a few of the top programmers. They've never had enough call to port it over to the Mac to even come close to making it a break even effort for them.

Thus I'm stuck with the realities of the world: not enough Mac users want to use STK consequently there is no reason for AGI to port it. Thus it will probably never show up on Macintosh.

There are other Windows only programs which I need to use, but STK is by far the biggest. Consequently I am routinely subjected to the pain of Windows.

Upload a file to an ftp site via a GUI. Right out of the box, no third-party software. Sure you can connect, sure you can download. But try bringing up the remote site in one window and the local site in another and drag the file from local to remote. Can't do it. Not without third-party software.

"Not without third-party software."

Windows built in IE ftp is pretty lame feature poor ftp client.

OK, now compare WS_ftp to Transmit?

Now compare FTP servers, sftp via ssl is a secure nice little UNIX standard FTP. Windows NT/2000 based ftp servers have always been sub-par in my book.

Jeff: Running IE on a Windows partition doesn't exactly sound like "Goodbye Microshaft".

"Windows built in IE ftp is pretty lame feature poor ftp client."

Perhaps, but it does what I need, while Finder does not.

I don't need server capabilities, just a simple drag and drop. But they refuse to include it.

I was able to dump WS_ftp at work with the capabilities in Windows. But with Tiger I still need to add something else. It's inexcusable.

Well, as we all know PCs are *so* much better when it comes to games. Also great for creating bloat ware. Just look at any Microsoft product. Perhaps they are best suited for being admitted to the ER since they pick up every virus known to man kind and a few we don't know about. The best thing is, though, you can do a half-ass job of programming and Microsoft will ship it. Slacking hass never been so much fun.

I usually enjoy the MDN take, but this time it is just silly and over the top. The decision on whether to invest time developing for the Mac is a BUSINESS decision; one could argue it's a mistake for developers not to do it, but it is not based on "laziness." Facts are relevant to such decisions, not ethics.

And Yahoo Messenger with Voice doesn't work either. Yet, Yahoo does not make any distinction between OSes when enticing people to download their messaging software.

I've been duped a few times already (partly out of blind hope that I might have just made a mistake), only to end up with the same result...no voice capability in Yahoo Messenger for OS X, period. Unless someone can prove me wrong, I'd say it's a lousy treatment of the Mac users by Yahoo.

Anyone wants to correct this?

Just a few that spring to mind:

- access to various websites that break with Safari, et al
- Internet banking (Mac not supported)
- Firmware updating on cell phone, modem, GPS unit, etc which don't support Mac
- File tax return (not supported on Mac)
- Microsoft Project (the industry standard)
- Decent games
- Educational software for the children
- Home Theatre use (7.1 sound, TV playback, TIVO functionality)
- Remotely access and fix relative's computer problems
- Driver support for various bits of modern hardware I own
- Better choice of hardware
- Video conferencing with MSN Messenger users (ie. most of the world)
- Decent performance with Mathematica (sucks on G4/G5 as not Altivec optimised)
- *affordable* performance (maybe this will change with Mactel)

I use my Mac for pretty much everything else. But there's absolutely no room for complacency on the part of Apple or their customers.

This item lends itself to a kind of "People who know about computers choose Mac" advertising line...

ie only dumb terminals and dumb idiots choose Windows....

Great take MDN: "Isn't it always some external factor that forces people to Windows, not some magic offered by Windows itself?"

That has to be the best summary I've heard yet as to why people use Windows. So simplistic and truthful. I know it applies to me (one of those "crappy" dot Not developers at work).

PCs are faster than Macs - we have both using Photoshop primarily. PCs faster.

More power for the buck with a PC.

Not a gamer, but Macs can´t compete in the huge game market.

- MS Access - yes I know, I try to use Filemaker Pro and MySQL as much as possible but MS Access is soooo useful for data manipulation and merging.
- Spotfire - scientific graphing app.
- MS Office - just prefer the PC version.

That's it though, will run one at work alongside my Mac because I work in a PC centric company but at home? You have got to be kidding. Using IE is like pulling teeth....

- Start Menu is exceptionally handy compared to the Apple menu
- I can do all kinds of things from the right-click menu though Mac is starting to get there.
- Task Bar is better than the dock: smaller icons means I can put more on it and the program dock is more intuitive on the pc
- managing network connections is better on pc

to name a few

The Mac does some things better than a PC but to suggest that the Mac is better at everything is ridiculous.

> ie only dumb terminals and dumb idiots choose Windows....

and only ignorant bigotd use Macs

.... what a stupid statement

Owned 5 PCs for over 5 years. Never, repeat, never had a virus.
Also own Macs. Can say the same for them.

We do video work - pc is faster.

Always get a chuckle from the mac-only, chest thumping people with heads up their "hard drives" on this subject.
Apple OS is cool, but PC´s are our work horses.

What exactly do Windows PCs do better than Apple Macs?

I'm jealous of the Windows PC's ability to run all of the latest and greatest viruses and spyware. Here are a few reasons why: Random Russian porn pop-ups, non-stop rebooting, empty bank accounts, system access denied, infecting your company, relatives, and friends, wasting system resouces, fake error messages, network shutdowns, remote takeovers, hidden keystroke recorders, downtime, billions of dollars in damage, patch after patch after patch after patch after patch after . . . . . . . . .

The majority CAN'T be that stupid, can they? : P

The writer of the article didn't say 'what PCs have better inherent advantages for' he simply said 'what PCs do best'. If what they do best is run PC-only software run by 'lazy developers' then that's a perfectly legitimate reason to use them, plus all the other reasons you listed sarcastically. Nothing wrong with the article quoted, this is just another MDN hyper-attack of reactivity.

Um, Mac’s are incapable of running the most talked about, the most popular, the most often-ran software of the Windoze world: Viruses.

Get a clue MDN! Viruses are all over the news almost weekly; you can’t miss ’em. Sheesh! What a stupid question!

MDN's take may be "silly and over the top", but it's dead on. There is NOTHING that a PC inherently "does better" than a Mac. It's all just software availability and website compatibility.

Joe: I usually credit you as being one of the more thoughtful of the "opposition", but that first post of yours was little more than a troll. Time after time, it has been proven that Mac users *are* a profitable market. Developers that don't make their software cross-platform *are* lazy. It's so much easier to pump out Windows (or Mac!) -only software using proprietary development tools than to write code that is easily portable.

One more thing: Some of these web services that aren't available for Mac don't work so well for the PC, either. CNN's new free video, for one. It just crashed IE on my XP machine at work. And this after me being bitter at home about it not working on my Mac. I had to laugh.

- access to various websites that break with Safari, et al
- Internet banking (Mac not supported)
- File tax return (not supported on Mac)
For all, user agent spoofing is your friend.

- Decent games
I agree Windows supports more games and the support itself is better (DirectX vs OpenGL), but there are plenty of entertaining Mac games out there. Maybe not your pet faves, but I have no trouble gaming on a mac.

- Remotely access and fix relative's computer problems
I use APple Remote Desktop for just this and it works like a charm.

- Video conferencing with MSN Messenger users (ie. most of the world)
I use iChat+iSight for this and it works like a charm.

Bob Windsdale: "We do video work - pc is faster."

What software do you use?

For example, put Final Cut Pro on a PowerMac G5 and it screams. Put Adobe Premiere on a PowerMac G5 and it crawls. Since you have both, I assume you use Premiere and you're 100% correct--PCs are faster.

And, of course, why do you use Premiere over Final Cut Pro? Because you have PCs. And why do you use PCs? Because of Premiere. It's what we like to call a "vicious cycle."

slike: "Start Menu is exceptionally handy compared to the Apple menu"

The start menu is exceptionally handy when you have two or three applications. The start menu is exceptionally unwieldy when you have ten or eleven applications. Windows, in general, is unwieldy when you are trying to multitask.

slike: "I can do all kinds of things from the right-click menu though Mac is starting to get there."

I can do all kinds of things from the menu bar. I have never figured this one out.

slike: "Task Bar is better than the dock: smaller icons means I can put more on it"

You are aware, aren't you, that you can resize the dock?

slike: "managing network connections is better on pc"

This one I chuckled over. I actually agree--it is much easier to "manage" things on Windows. But part of the reason for this is that you have to manage things on Windows. Mac OS X manages these sorts of things for you.

It sort of reminds me of one of those Windows users claims that Windows has far more utility software than the Mac. It's true, but it's because Windows needs more utility software. It's like saying that Macs suck because there's no programs to manage Spyware.

Thats an easy answer:

Keep IT people employed.

Naming convention pet peeves:

It's not MacTel. We dont call it MacBM or Macoroloa now do we?

Why call it a vPod? It's not MusicPod now, or TunesPod, it's iPod and it was given a function agnostic name for a reason folks.

I really don't have a problem with the fact that there are specialized applications that run only on the PC/Windows. But the question was what does the PC do BETTER than a Mac? There are plenty of examples of Mac software that far exceeds the capabilities of the PC counterpart (i.e. iMovie vs. Movie Maker). So what are the Windows applications that are so much better than the Mac counterparts that comparison is embarrassing for Apple? Again, this is not a question of Software A is not available on the Mac therefore it is better. Show me Software A that is so much better than the Mac equivalent that people hate using the Mac version. Are these mass marketed products or are they for niche users? Seriously guys, I'd really like to know.

Oh, and BTW, Photoshop on a PC may be slightly faster, but as a Prepress Technician specializing in color correction I can tell you that I wouldn't dare use a PC in our workflow. PC's are much too fragile and unreliable to use in a production environment. And there is no way I'd risk a million dollar press run on a PC. Been burned too many times.

Thank you, Hammer! That was funny!

I wonder how many billions or trillions of dollars have actually been lost due to Windows computer viruses? Enough to pay off the national debt?

Developers are stupid. They confuse monthly sales volume with installed base. Macs are actually 15%-20% of the computers out there, since they last three or four times as long as PeeCees because of higher quality.

Just *try* explaining this to a Windroid. It is damned impossible. The market share number makes them feel good about their own personal, stupid choices. The installed base number is confusing, it requires multiplication, and it does not make Windroids feel good about themselves.

I have personally seen Macintosh software ready to ship which was cancelled because a Windroid salesdroid didn't want to change the box to say "PC/Mac."

Never mind that multi-platform software is much, much more reliable than single target junk. You shake out bugs you'd never catch running on a single OS. You write better, more portable and therefore more future-compatible code.

So the article is dead-on accurate in its assesment of developers as lazy and short-sighted.

It's so bad, and so uniform, that I am beginning to think that ***windows causes stupidity***! It actually damages the brains of its users, turning them into drooling fanboys of Bill's buttmonkeys.

It's hard for me to even think of single-platform developers as "programmers." They are narrow-minded fools with skill sets tailored to match the shortcomings of their platform.

They are merely computer operators. They are neither developers, nor are they programmers. And if they dare call themselves "software engineers" in my presence I have to ask, "Would any real engineer use tools that break five times a day?" Then I will strangle them.

access to various websites that break with Safari, et al
- Internet banking (Mac not supported)
- File tax return (not supported on Mac)

> For all, user agent spoofing is your friend.

Tried that - doesn't help in many cases, including my Internet banking. The bank's obviously smarter than that. Tax return software is Windows only - not a web page. Thinking different shouldn't involve changing my bank or submitting a paper tax return.

>I agree Windows supports more games and the support itself is better (DirectX vs OpenGL), but there are plenty of entertaining Mac games out there. Maybe not your pet faves, but I have no trouble gaming on a mac.

Sure there are games for the Mac, but the variety or availability is not there. The question was what can a PC do that a Mac can't: play all the latest games is one of them. Thinking different shouldn't involve restricting one's activities.

> I use APple Remote Desktop for just this and it works like a charm.

Not with family members using Windows XP Home. Again, it's another small reason why I still need a PC. Thinking different shouldn't involve getting my family to buy new computers.

>I use iChat+iSight for this and it works like a charm.

I very much doubt it. iChat does not support video conference with MSN Messenger. Thinking different should not mean having to get all your friends and family to start using AOL messenger to video chat with them.

A friend of mine told me that he will never buy another Mac because it can't transcode from Real Media to other file formats. So I asked him how many programs are available to do that on the PC, he said quite a few. I told him that most people aren't trying to transcode f**king real media files.