“As a Mac shop, most of our exposure to the pain of the Windows world has been through support emails we receive. But recently we installed Windows Vista in a Parallels virtual machine for IE 7 testing,” Richard writes for 37Signals.
Richard writes, “Parallels is an indispensable tool that lets us test our applications in all the browsers we support on a single computer. We can even test IE 6 and 7 side-by-side by running Windows XP in one VM and Vista in another. As a web developer, Parallels is easily the single best reason to own an Intel Mac. But starting with Vista’s release, Microsoft wants us to pay for the privilege: you’ll legally only be able to install the most expensive versions (Ultimate and Business) in a VM, even if all you’re doing is clicking on things in IE.”
“And even testing things in IE isn’t easy,” Richard writes. “But the most painful experience yet has been installing Microsoft Script Debugger, an ancient artifact used to debug JavaScript in IE. After finding the link on Microsoft’s web site, it takes a stunning 35 clicks through nearly as many dialog boxes just to get the thing installed.”
“Now, let’s compare this to the installation procedure for Apple’s JavaScript debugger: Four clicks and a drag after finding the download link, I have the debugger installed and running,” Richard writes. “f you’re a web developer, it’s pretty obvious Microsoft isn’t interested in making things any easier for you, despite the recently gung ho attitude of the IE team. I think Ryan summed it up best in Campfire yesterday: Windows in general has been like a confused and slow person. Vista is like a person who lost their meds and is trying their best to ignore the voices. – Ryan S.”
Full article with QuickTime videos of “Installing Microsoft Script Debugger in Windows Vista” vs. “Installing Apple’s debugger in Mac OS X” here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Matt” for the heads up.]
MacDailyNews Take: Only 35 clicks? He ought to be happy. Now extrapolate the little example above throughout the OS workflow and you can clearly see why Mac users are more productive than Windows users.
Related MacDailyNews article:
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Infoworld: Microsoft’s WIndows Vista not so revolutionary after all – September 11, 2006
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Analyst: Apple’s new Mac OS X Leopard sets new bar, leaves Microsoft’s Vista in the dust – August 08, 2006
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Computerworld: Apple’s Mac OS X Leopard’s ‘Time Machine’ is truly remarkable – October 05, 2006
InfoWorld’s Yager: Apple will take computing to the next level with Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard – September 06, 2006
Apple’s Mac OS X Leopard is 64-bit done right, unlike Microsoft’s Windows Vista kludge – August 14, 2006
Mac OS X Leopard sneak peek highlights – August 09, 2006
Analyst: Apple’s new Mac OS X Leopard sets new bar, leaves Microsoft’s Vista in the dust – August 08, 2006
Inside Apple Mac OS X Leopard’s ‘Spaces’ – August 07, 2006
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Apple previews Mac OS X Leopard featuring Time Machine, Spaces, enhanced Mail & iChat, and more – August 07, 2006
Apple previews Mac OS X Server Leopard; to ship in spring 2007 – August 07, 2006
