Date: 02/06/08 (Computer Geeks)    Keywords: technology, security, web, microsoft, google

The most common question that I get in my inbox is...

Why don't you use Mac OS X?

Some of you are under the impression that I don't use Apple products, or anything that's not Microsoft. That's not true. I am, in all honesty, a company agnostic. I use an iPod, I use many of the Google products, I use a Playstation instead of an Xbox...I use tons of things that aren't made by Microsoft. And, I'll say it, Windows is the only thing that Mircrosoft has produced that I like.

I'm not being ignorant, I'm very open-minded about technology. I'm not a die-hard anything. If Microsoft put out an absolute stinker that didn't even work, you'd bet I'd switch over to Ubuntu or Mac OS in a heartbeat (or maybe I would just downgrade to the previous version of Windows).

Some of you are also under the impression that I've never even tried Mac OS X or any operating system besides Windows. Far from true. Just two weeks ago, I was running Ubuntu. I liked it, but I couldn't lose my Windows apps. I've got connections with people that run Macs, and they've let me work on their computers, and I'm a fairly experienced Mac OS X user (though that's not saying much).

I get this question at least once a day by IM, email, LJ-message, whatever, and I decided to post the answer here in a new weekly feature to this journal.

Before I begin, I want to make it clear that Mac OS X is a fantastic alternative to the world of Windows. If you're just using it for photos, web browsing, stuff like that, Mac OS X is great. If you're a power-user, though, you need an OS like Windows. Now, I bring you the reasons why I don't use Mac OS X.

User interface
The Menu Bar is too far away from your focus. When you have an application open, your focus is on the middle of the screen (I don't see why you would have a window maximized since the dock (I'll get to that later) is in the way, and the monitor is huge). The Menu Bar is all the way at the top, hundreds of yards away from your focus. I didn't even notice it the first few times I was using it.

The dock is just terrible. Icons for the same file type are exactly the same, so you can't tell what is what. It gets in the way. Didn't they learn to avoid things like this in GUI Design 101? The dock, while it looks great and is a great marketing strategy, doesn't do much for productivity. Windows' quick launch bar is way better.

Usability
When using Mac OS X, I found my productivity was cut by a fraction. It wasn't a big difference, but it was a significant one. Like I said, if you're a general user, Mac OS X is fine, but for me, I've got to have something where I can actually do important things. There are also articles on the web that put Windows and Mac OS X running on the exact same hardware (a Mac computer!), and found that Mac OS X was slower than Windows. On a Mac computer. Hey, it surprised me, too.

Security
I know, I know. Mac OS X has this big reputation about being the most secure OS on the planet. Even though it's not true, think about the users. Mac OS X has about 20% of the market share, the rest goes to Windows. That's over 250 million users, ladies and gentlemen.But, nonetheless, Mac OS X does have some security issues.

Time Machine, which is praised by Mac OS users, does it's job just a little too well. Let's say you downloaded a Trojan, and let's just say it deleted some of your data. You restore your data from Time Machine, but guess what? It restores that Trojan as well. My idea: when you remove something from your computer, a Trojan, it should ask you if you want it archived in the Time Machine. Just a little suggestion

Cost
Jesus Christ! $1,200 for an iMac with only 250GB of storage? $1,700 for a MacBook Air? This is ridiculous. I can buy a brand new HP computer with Windows installed, with 600GB of storage, for only about $800. Maybe the iMac should cost a little more, because it can run Windows, and it's the only machine that you can run Mac OS X on legally, and it doesn't have a tower, but not that much more. Maybe $900, maybe a little more. I'll be honest, though, I don't mind having a computer tower. Building a desktop computer using notebook computer parts just doesn't seem safe to me.

So, those are my main concerns about Mac OS X, and I why I won't use it. When Mac OS XI comes around, I might check it out, to see if there is any improvement, but until then, I'm a Windows user.

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computergeeks/1149394.html