Kloofvreter
Honorary Master
Windows works just fine for me.
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Dolby
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I have no experience with Macs ... but I've been curious about a few things :
Can they read .xls or .doc files? What about other extentions? Are there Windows only extentions? WMA/WMA?
I don't have a single friend with a Mac, and if they send video's or attachments to my (hyperthetical) Mac - will I have issues?
Can they read .xls or .doc files? What about other extentions? Are there Windows only extentions? WMA/WMA?
I don't have a single friend with a Mac, and if they send video's or attachments to my (hyperthetical) Mac - will I have issues?
YES. You can edit and read .xls files in OpenOffice, ?iWork and MS Office for Mac. You can view .xls files in the operating system I think like you can view .DOC files. Yes you can play WMA in 3rd party programs like VLC or Media Player and you can also view them with plugins. Free programs like MPEGStreamClip are able to convert these files too. There is also FlipforMac which allows you to play WMA/WMV natively in OSX.
A Mac can output AVI, MKV, QT MOV (native), MP4, etc either natively or with 3rd party apps. You can view these on the PC with VLC, QuickTime, QuickTime Alternative, MediaPlayer Classic, Windows Media Player etc.
I can watch every type of file on my Mac that I can on my PC, but I can do more on the Mac because I have FCS 3 installed and that supports dozens of formats. There isn't a single format around which a Mac can't play or record unless it's DRM'ed MS video - some can be played however.
Knowing a few people with macs and working on them personally. Honestly there is not much "Great" about the mac. Nothing bad about it, but its just a Trendy PC IMO. But I have seen just as many weird issues on a Mac as an up to date Windows XP system. And yes Vista hurt MS. W7 is fixing that rep very quickly.
Ya whatever I have a different opinion, so sue me.
Open office isn't bad, but its not Office that's a fact. I have 10 computers in my office that run it and 10 that run Office. And I can without a doubt say Microsoft wins hands down. Just Outlook makes the Office price worth it in corporate/business environment; and no Thunderbird and all the other 100's of free Email systems don't compare.
MS "Writing on the wall" comment is unwarranted and uninformed. All companies have to re-think their policies in these times. I would've been shocked if they haven't been retrenching people...that would've proven something was wrong.
Ya whatever I have a different opinion, so sue me.
Open office isn't bad, but its not Office that's a fact. I have 10 computers in my office that run it and 10 that run Office. And I can without a doubt say Microsoft wins hands down. Just Outlook makes the Office price worth it in corporate/business environment; and no Thunderbird and all the other 100's of free Email systems don't compare.
MS "Writing on the wall" comment is unwarranted and uninformed. All companies have to re-think their policies in these times. I would've been shocked if they haven't been retrenching people...that would've proven something was wrong.
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For advanced users both are OK but for beginners Macs win hands down. Windows is just garbage compared to OSX, having worked on Windows from Win 3.1 days in 1993 and on both platforms since 2006 I can only say that overall Macs are easier to use, less bothersome and more stable. Booting OSX from a USB drive (try that with Windoze), copy the entire partition including the system files while the system is running off that partition with a free program (try that with Windows), not being bothered by stupid MS pop-ups and balloons which steal your focus of attention while you type - all that makes Macs just easier for advanced users too.
Outlook is pretty junk too, it crashes as well, sometimes you lose your inbox and stored email and you don't even know why...... in the past just previewing emails in Outlook would infect you with viruses.
Just the lack of having to learn stupid DOS conventions like "drive C:" and no risk of viruses and malware make Macs so much easier for less experienced people - many of the people I know are like this.
In SA – aside from the cost, closed architecture and other Apple disadvantages - Apple pulled-out during sanctions against SA. Without going into the rights and wrongs of their stance, a company which allows politics to influence its commercial posture is not going to be popular with someone who has invested major bux in a machine and who is not responsible for the sanction elements. Spares? Expertise? Software? Support? SA is IBM clone territory through legacy and apprehension about Apple’s future PC postures. Apple shot itself in the foot.
Honestly, if Macs are truly aimed at New guys, then hell why make it so expensive, very few newbs will want to spend all that much on a first time computer.
Outlook might have been bad in the past, but I'm comparing current day pc's with current day Macs. I get an average of 700 mails a {edit}week, I store up to 3000 in one of my email boxes on a regular basis and my .pst file is averaging at about 5gb's. I have not had a single .pst failure ever, and emails deleting is 99.9% user errors.
Try running that kind of emails through Thunderbird or another similar Free Mail program, its virtually impossible, I know cause I've done it. My Directors didn't want to fork out the money for office, so I had to struggle on Open Office and Thunderbird for 6 months.
Look its not bad for personal use but business MS has their **** down.
Outlook might have been bad in the past, but I'm comparing current day pc's with current day Macs. I get an average of 700 mails a {edit}week, I store up to 3000 in one of my email boxes on a regular basis and my .pst file is averaging at about 5gb's. I have not had a single .pst failure ever, and emails deleting is 99.9% user errors.
Try running that kind of emails through Thunderbird or another similar Free Mail program, its virtually impossible, I know cause I've done it. My Directors didn't want to fork out the money for office, so I had to struggle on Open Office and Thunderbird for 6 months.
Look its not bad for personal use but business MS has their **** down.
Well IBM pulled out of SA too..... SA has Core however. Core really suck. For example sending emails to their info@ address gives you an automatic reply from some woman working there that she's away on maternity leave. I mean if their only email support person goes on maternity leave, is that good enough?
Apple does suck because they let Core get away with rubbish customer care and prices.
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Well a Macbook starting at R10K is arguably not the most expensive piece of kit, for that price Sony Vaio won't be cheaper. Apple don't see a market in cheaper PCs, although a Mini is R6K but you also need a screen and keyboard.
I've had Outlook just lose emails. It happens.
I believe you. Many OSS apps are poor.
Pixual
Expert Member
That's the biggest lot of bull I have read on this forum in the past three years.
Yeah, but IBM doesn’t have the closed architecture of Apple. IBM clone machines were easily sourced from other manufacturers. They [IBM] weren’t even missed (besides, a genuine IBM was excessively costly for what you got).
Closed architecture?
IBM was selling mainframes and workstations not personal computers by that time, the clones had already taken over with IBM-compatibles.
As for Apple's closed architecture - please explain what you mean because I don't follow. Do you mean that once Apple pulls out or goes defunct my data will be lost? My .DOC or .RTF documents? My .JPG or .BMP pictures? My .MOV contained H264, DV and MPEG2 videos? Perhaps the .PDF files my Acrobat produces? Or maybe the .MP3 or .AAC files from iTunes? .TXT files? .VOB files? .M2V? .MKV?
Will I not be able to open these on any other platform such as Windows or any flavour of Linux?
I don't follow.
Perhaps you're saying I won't be able to read Mac's journaled HFS system on so formatted drives on Windoze? Ever heard of MacDrive for PC?
http://www.mediafour.com/products/macdrive/
BTW Apple does not have a presence in SA - there is only CORE - an authorised reseller/importer.
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Closed architecture = “No user serviceable parts inside. Contact your nearest Apple dealer”. There are also spares issues here.
Your ‘data’ is classed as software and many PC clones have an Apple emulator mode. Things won’t run as fast as on an Apple but you would be able to retrieve data if you cannot convert it directly with a PC.
Closed architecture = concealed hardware (like Apple). Open architecture (like PC).
Closed source code = concealed origins of software code (like Microsoft). Open source code (like Linux).
Pixual
Expert Member
So if Apple is "closed architecture" how come I was able to upgrade the RAM on my MacBook myself (with non-Apple branded hardware)? And how come I was able to change the hard drive with a non-Apple drive?
Come to think of it, how come it's possible to put OSX on a PC using OSx86 and give birth to a Hackintosh?
Come to think of it, how come it's possible to put OSX on a PC using OSx86 and give birth to a Hackintosh?