What is better Mac or Microsoft because I don't know?

It depends on what the context of your question is...

Is it with respect to usability, security, availability of applications, stability, speed, price, or numerous other ways of comparing operating systems?

Fundamentally, it comes down to what you want to do with it. Each operating system has its own specific advantages and disadvantages.

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Mark Tickner CEng MIET

Edited: 13 December 2004 at 04:02 PM by tickner

I mean in general what is better and more realiable

In general, I find that Mac is much better in terms of Graphics, generation and manipulation, and microsoft is good for the office type facilities. But both formats are 'bleeding' onto each other so the defining good points are becoming blurred!

If i have to choose, i choose Intel based due to being able to mess with the hardware and software!

Barry

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Barry Kirby BEng (Hons) CEng MIET(MIEE)

"There is no engineering problem that can't be fixed with an appropriate sized hammer"

"At the end of the day.....It gets Dark"

Systems Engineering TPN

The Mac OS X operating system is supposed to have a more usable user interface (I haven't used it myself). Windows is improving in this regard and the Linux window managers are not that far behind, although to me the standard XP interface is bit too dumbed down.

From a reliability point of view, the Apple platform tends to be highly integrated. If one bit goes wrong you may have to replace the entire unit. the PowerPC based hardware have a lower volume (compared with Intel and AMD hardware) and as such the replacement parts can be costly.

However this is true of the PC as well. The PC market is highly competitive. One method of gaining competitive advantage is to differentiate your product. Many manufacturers do this by adding extra features. But this comes at a cost reliability wise particularly if low cost components are being used to keep the cost down.

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Mark Tickner CEng MIET

Another downside I've recently encountered to Macs is that even the most commonplace software tends to be licensed and costly, whereas you can do most things on a Win/Lin PC without paying a red cent, if you shop around for decent freeware.

Having now tried a few of these operating systems I have a strong preference for Linux. The only thing against Linux is the difficulty of getting started with it. This argument was put forward by Mark Tickner when someone asked why IEE did not change to Linux. It is the problem of training people in a large organization.
It does depend upon what you want to do though. If for instance your main interest is in computer games it might not be the best choice for you.




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John Walton
Branch Chairman Sweden

Edited: 29 December 2004 at 02:33 PM by jowa

I think you may be referring to Damiano Bola who wrote:

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believe that once there is a Monopoly in place it is not possible to invoke the normal "competition" scheme and prouve that another product is superior.
Compatibility issues will block you.
Economy of scale will block you.
Startup costs will block you.

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And this is quite correct from an organisational point of view. The IEE needed to standardise on something, so it chose the most cost effective solution for its own situation. There is no easy answer despite all the conflicting Windows/Linux TCO (are there any Windows/Apple TCO studies?) studies floating around the Internet, you can't just use a broad brush and state that one is cheaper or better, the answer can be different for each individual situation.

Another relevant quote from the same thread is from Kenny Sharp:

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I used to use Apple Macs and I'd almost say Apple are on the intuitive side of Windows and Linux is on the techie side of Windows. My limited understanding is that Linux gives experts much more control and flexibility than Windows.

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Having just moved my parents from a MS Windows 98SE-MS IE-MS Office to Mandrake GNU/Linux-Firefox-Open Office combination I have to agree.

This combination was much more complicated to set up than windows - however the amount of configurability I had was also much higher. An example is that my parents have the habit of moving the mouse slightly while double-clicking (you would be amazed how much intolerance most GUI's have to this). The KDE window manager in Linux offered me the option to allow a limited amount of movement yet still recognise a valid double-click.

I run a Windows XP/Linux dual-boot system.

Mark

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Mark Tickner CEng MIET

If the setup-hassle of Linux is an issue, it's worth trying Knoppix.

This will run straight from bootable CD, or will install to the hard-disk with far fewer questions than most of the other installers.

I run both in paralell.

My engineering tools (AutoCAD Visio etc) live on the PC along with the data aquisition from meters and scopes etc. The PC also hosts the Internet by Satellite to the network. The Macs get used for all the othrt communications, internet browsing and day to day data and info management. My wife uses the Mac for database (4D/ Filemaker) building etc.

I'd love to have the time to write some interfaces to get the scopes & electrical test kit working on the Mac, as the user interface is much more managable & reliable than the XP Pro on the PC.

That's my experience so far.

If you used Windows before, you will find difficulity in using Mac, but if you need more programming experience, games, completely office application and hardware utilization chose Microsoft Windows.

If you a lazy for knowing the technology behind it, i mean programming and enjoy people, just choose Mac.

From my opinion Microsoft is better tha Mac. Most of people on the planet are using Microsoft. Mac is good for entertainment and Microsoft is good for documentation and entertainment. I read from The Chip, and it says that Mac is not worthy to use and also it increase your pocket to have one Mac system. I myself has been using Microsoft for about 10 years and I am goin to use it. I also using Linux and found more stable than Microsoft.

Macs have quicker math processors than PC's, if you want to use high end Rendering (Graphic or Engineering) Apps, go for the Mac.
Plus the new Tiger OS offers the new higher performance over winxp; the lothar edition will be its rival.
RGDS
Steve Lamb MIEE

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Steven Michael Lamb BEng(Hons) MSc AIEMA MIET

Macs have quicker math processors than PC's, if you want to use high end Rendering (Graphic or Engineering) Apps, go for the Mac.
Plus the new Tiger OS offers the new higher performance over winxp; the lothar edition will be its rival.
RGDS
Steve Lamb MIEE

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Steven Michael Lamb BEng(Hons) MSc AIEMA MIET

Everything has higher performance over WinXP

Although it is the Dual G5's rather than the Mac OS which have the quick maths processors (borrowed from the POWER processors I believe). It would be interesting to see how the G5 stacks up against one of the new Dual Athlon 64's.

And yes you can get Linux for G5 class processors...

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Mark Tickner CEng MIET

Both Windows and Mac are powerful operating systems. However, in general you have to go with Windows. This is because of it's mere monopoly of the computer market. It's easy to use and cheaper.

It also depends if you want a one button mouse (Mac) or 3 button mouse (MS/Linux), although Apple have just announced they will produce a three button mouse (20 years late)

Well this is interesting now. Recent rumours suggest that Apple (MAC) are moving towards Intel architecture machines and away from Motorola. Even more interesting, I have heard that a version of MAC OS X is being ported (re-coded) to run on standard PC's.

This could all mean, that whilst Apple continue to make specialised hardware such as the iMAC (despite a swap to iA), they will now be able to compete directly with Microsoft's Windows operating system on the PC platform.

I think that the next 12 months will reveal much more.

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Andrew

My understanding is that the Mac OS will still not run on a standard PC platform. Apple is still primarily a hardware vendor.

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Mark Tickner CEng MIET

As long as i know, this Mac platform designed not for IBM PC, so it will work in certain architecture that made by Apple.