I agree. Yes, Mac OS is different than Windows. Yes, it will take a little getting used to. Guess what -- going from Windows 98 to Windows XP is not a seamless transition, either. The time and aggravation saved by having an overall much more user-friendly and vastly more secure system are worth it. IMHO the Mac Mini is the best home computer on the market if you're not a gamer or need to run apps that are Windows-only. MS Office and Quicken are available for Mac OS if you need them, BTW.
FWIW, I've been using an Apple iBook G4 as my main 'puter since 12/04 and love both it and the software. Prior to that, my main desktop operating system was SUSE Linux, so I made "the switch" from a different perspective than most Apple switchers.
Get a Mac.
Unless Mrs. Scout is ready to relearn a computer, don't get the Apple. No slight on their products, but making the transitions from one platform to another can be...challenging.
So, the Missus learned Windows 98 and Microsoft Office in kindergarten, has used it all her life, is set in her ways and can't learn anything new? You know that's not true. This stuff's changing all the time, better get used to it.
Apple puts a lot of effort into making their stuff friendly and easy to use.
You know that's not true. This stuff's changing all the time, better get used to it.
I know stuff is changing all the time, and I have no problem with it. I have however watched and assisted others moving from Mac to Windows and from Windows to Mac get extremely lost and confused about how stuff is done on the new platform. These were very smart, very well educated people to boot. But then, perhaps THAT was the problem...
I think the crucial thing for scout26 to think about with the next computer purchase is how adept Mrs. Scout is at accepting change, learning different ways of doing things and even basic problem solving from minimal information. If she has no problem RtFM though, the switch should not be an issue in the end.
As I said, I have no bias against Macs. The are great machines with a very well developed interface that MS products STILL lag behind despite 15 years of development and competition. Of course, MS products still can't do stuff that OS/2 pulled off with ease 10 years ago. I observed exactly three fatal stops on OS/2 sytems over a run of eight years and four generations of computer hardware. I've had Macs do similar about 5 times to me since I started playing w/ em in the early 90s. I've lost count of the number of BSODs I've seen with Windows.
Although you Mac folks are deceiving yourselves if you think you don't have to worry about viri and security risks. The number of exploits running loose in the wild is not as great, but they ARE there. And with Apple moving to Intel CPUs, its only gonna get worse.
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1915923,00.asp
Although you Mac folks are deceiving yourselves if you think you don't have to worry about viri and security risks. The number of exploits running loose in the wild is not as great, but they ARE there. And with Apple moving to Intel CPUs, its only gonna get worse.
About sums up my feelings.
My reccomendation? Unles you have your heart set on a Mac, get whatever deal Dell or Gateway or HP or whatever big maker is offering. It'll do everything you need it to do, and can be had quite cheap for an entire new setup.
I still haven't heard of an actual, successful implementation of a self-propagating virus. I know lots of long-time Mac users, and don't know of any machine which has ever been affected by malicious software, even once.
All I've had to worry about so far are years of warnings that danger is around the corner.
I still haven't heard of an actual, successful implementation of a self-propagating virus. I know lots of long-time Mac users, and don't know of any machine which has ever been affected by malicious software, even once.
How can there be self-replicating virii when there aren't enough Mac systems for a virus to replicate to.
Chris
I know stuff is changing all the time, and I have no problem with it. I have however watched and assisted others moving from Mac to Windows and from Windows to Mac get extremely lost and confused about how stuff is done on the new platform. These were very smart, very well educated people to boot. But then, perhaps THAT was the problem... wink
These people are tinkerers, right? I hate lUsers that know just enough to get me into a foul mood. If they want to learn about computers, great. Do it at home and keep it there or ask IT for an additional, old POS computer that they can play around with since they have no time in their day to do actual work, just bugger up their computer.
Greg
More on Macs/OS X: Apple Safari Browser Automatically Executes Shell Scripts
Shortly after reports of the first virus for Mac OS X, a new security flaw has surfaced. The culprit is the option "Open 'safe' files after downloading" in Apple's Safari web browser. This feature is activated by default. Its function is to automatically display images and movies after they are transmitted to the user's computer, using the application assigned to that particular document format. Safari will also unpack ZIP archives and display the documents within if they are considered "safe". If active content such as an application or shell script is found within the archiParanoia ompt requests user confirmation. So far, so good.
Problems ensue if a shell script is stored into a ZIP archive without the so-called shebang line. If this line is omitted, Safari no longer recognizes the content as potentially dangerous and executes shell commands without a confirmation prompt. This behavior has been discovered by Michael Lehn, who has documented it on a web site.
Continues at:
http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/news/69862 Paranioa is not a mental illness. Its a survival trait. These people are tinkerers, right? I hate lUsers that know just enough to get me into a foul mood. If they want to learn about computers, great. Do it at home and keep it there or ask IT for an additional, old POS computer that they can play around with since they have no time in their day to do actual work, just bugger up their computer.
No, those making the transitions were doing it at home, on their own time.