<OPINION>

Why Your Next Computer Will Be A Macintosh

Let's first start out by indicating that this is an opinion piece written by someone who does commercial development for Windows systems and has a strong place in his heart and desktop for Linux.

While this article is now obsolete, much of it has come to pass.

As predicted, minor hardware changes deactivate Vista, driver problems abound, security woes exist, and major sized updates are plaguing. (Just like all the prior Windows releases - honestly, did you really expect things to be any different? Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, 95, 98, ME, CE, NT, XP, ....)

Meanwhile, OS X announces 300+ new features and even Ubuntu has a major release comping out with eye candy that blows away anything Vista has done.

The point is, while Vista got more cranky, costly, bloated, and superficial, these other operating systems also got prettier, but added speed and features. Their costs didn't go up.

23-Oct-2007

A number of interesting nuggets of information and rumors have made it my way the last few weeks. Taken in the aggregate and within the context of various events that have recently conspired, a startling conclusion looms on the forefront of your, and my, next computer purchase. And, that purchase may happen sooner than you think.

 

Looking Back

Historically, Microsoft has owned the desktop. Apple users were perceived as artsy computer illiterates that appreciate only eye candy, require a lot of hand holding, and buy expensive machines based on the color of plastic injection molding. Apple was happy to comply with outrageously priced systems that used proprietary hardware and protocols.

Meanwhile, Linux, and others operating systems, are trying drastically to fit in and get people's attention, but the complexity, application migration void, and lack of a decent desktop environment prevented the adoption of next generation systems. Even noteworthy accomplishments were being lost in the marketing noise.

The Long Wait To Longhorn Vista

Microsoft is a long way away from releasing their next operating system, code named Longhorn.
[ 18208&tid=109&tid=201&tid=218">Longhorn preview. ] / [ 64-Bit Rollout. ] / [ 64-bit editions of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 - drivers not up to snuff. ]
[ Palladium will not be fully available in Longhorn. ]
[ Apparently, those that got a look claim it's disappointing. Someone posted pictures, and Microsoft wants the removed. ]
[ Longhorn gets a scathing and detailed review - May 8, 2005. (Read This!) ]
[ UPDATE 11-May-06: Now called Vista, we see it won't be ready into second quarter 2007. ]

Meanwhile, Apple has released many OS updates and has a huge one planned, called Leopard with tons of new features... well before Microsoft gets out of the gate. And, on television, there's a whole slew of clever ads showing how and why to switch to a Mac. New Mac use the Intel chip, can boot directly to Windows, or, even better, run it, and other operating systems, concurrently, using Parallels. If Apple had any sense, and I believe they do, they'd buy up this company and integrate it directly into the OS.

Longhorn Vista is a 64-bit operating system. And you're supposed to think that, for Microsoft, 64-bits means faster, better, and backwards compatible.

UPDATE: Following historic mantra, Vista is supposed to be more secure. Guess what happened at a security conferece, Vista was broken. Easily. Multiple ways. And with publishes APIs.

In order to force (yes, force) you to purchase it, they are employing a number of clever technological and marketing methodologies that they hope you don't learn the consequences of until you have no other option at your disposal than to buy a new machine and all new software. UPDATE: Microsoft has announced that businesses wanting enterprise applications must upgrade to new 64-bit hardware. (That stuff you just bought? Can't use it!)

The cost impact of this to you personally is going to be far greater than you may have imagined.

Where Is The Real Value? I Mean, Ever.
If you use XP Pro, compare it to XP Home - why did Microsoft make a brain dead version? To hike the price. If Linux can do networking....
If you switched to XP from Windows 2003 or Windows 2000, ask yourself what features and speed you gained out of it?
Compare Windows 2000 to NT 4.0; again, what was the big difference?
Put NT 4.0 side-by-side to NT 3.51... notice a trend yet?
Windows ME? Windows 98 Second Edition? Windows 98? Windows 95? ...I bet you have now.

The point: you still do the same old word processing and spreadsheets you always did, the same way you always used to.

Sure, one might argue stability increased, but when you shelled out the cash the first time, wasn't that supposed to be part of the deal?

Have you noticed the increasing number of bugs and viruses, making a firewall, virus checker, and spam filter virtually mandatory? You never needed that before. Hmm.

Yes, other things changed did under the hood, but you saw it as changed themes and backgrounds, added complexity, the familiar things renamed or moved, the need for professional recertification, and let's not forget browser integration, which has caused more security problems than one can shake a stick at. [ Stop using Internet Explorer, as Firefox is nearing 50 million downloads and Opera releases version 8. ]

From the end user perspective how you work hasn't changed, only how much crap you're willing to put up with as being "normal" has.
[ Quality of software spirals down. ] / [ MS: Beta is good enough for production use. ]

The Psychology "They" Count On

The majority of people are sheep, believing spoon fed lies and staying with what's comfortable, even if something better is out there and only requires a little bit of learning to reap great benefits. People are fooled by shallow window dressings. Microsoft isn't going to open the door to interoperability any wider.

Let's face it: people are lazy and don't like change. As long as the pain, frustration, and suffering of your daily computing experience is just shy of the cost you're willing to pay to change, one is hopelessly trapped.

The good news is that cost of change just dropped through the floor, while at the same time the frustration levels are reaching all time highs - and all this happened quickly, and silently under Microsoft's nose.

Apple, meanwhile, is making a very compelling and cost effective case that computing doesn't have to suck.
[ Apple's OS X Tiger far exceeds expectations and hype. ] UPDATE: Microsoft slowly trying to steal Tiger's features; Apple promises another major release before Microsoft ships, and it's holding the feature set a secret to prevent Innovation-By-Theft!

Check out this assortment of observations and see if you see it too.

Things That Make Your Blood Boil

  • Aside from the fact that that Microsoft engages in anti-competitive, monopolistic behaviors...
    Examples range anywhere from deliberate screwing with the Windows source code so superior products like DR-DOS, QEMM, Stacker, and Wine wouldn't work anymore, down to not allowing MS software to be uninstalled.
    Other activities: [ MSN Search engine favors IIS sites, providing bias rankings on marketing rather than content. ] / [ Microsoft trying to usurp PDF format with Metro format. ]

  • Microsoft has tried 64-bit Windows before, and the attempt was so bad that they actually abandoned their paying Compaq customers.
    When things don't go Microsoft's way, they abandon their customer base! There is no security in going with Microsoft as a vendor.

  • It takes a good while and great development cost for hardware manufactures to produce drivers for Windows products. This is evidenced by the fact that many of today's existing video, sound, drives, tablets, and game devices currently have no support for some version of 98, ME, 2000, or XP.
    64-bit Windows means a lot of older, but perfectly working hardware will not be supported. You'll need new hardware.

  • When Intel went to 16 bit processors, they stopped massive production of 8-bit processors. When Intel went to 32-bit processors, they stopped massive production on the 16-bit machines.
    It is reasonable to assume that when they start shipping 64-bit processors, they will stop production on 32-bit processors.
    [ Dell sticks with Intel. ] / [ Intel starts shipping dual cores. ] / [ Intel to sell 64-bit CPUs . ]
    [ Intel starts shipping 64-bit processors! - April 12, 2005]
    [ Intel has 64-bit performance problems, AMD winning benchmarks. ]
  • Linux, FreeBSD, and Mac OS X are already running 64-bits.
    Furthermore, because of the Unix underpinnings deep within their core, they are ready to make the jump to 128-bits.

    Microsoft is clearly not positioned to go to 128-bits.

    Moore's Law and those operating system's architectures make them win the race before it even arrived. Unix itself has run and proven itself on 128-bit processors already.
    [ New features for Linux 2.6.12 announced. ]

  • While 64-bit XP can, at least in theory, run 32-bit applications it will not have 16-bit compatibility.
    All historical operating systems from Microsoft had compatibility issues.

  • Many 32-bit applications are installed with 16-bit installers.
    That means stuff you own right now cannot be installed - meaning you will have to buy new versions, compelling you to needlessly upgrade to 64-bit applications when the 32-bit ones are perfectly acceptable and would only perform quicker on a faster box.

On the Apple, you don't have need for installers. You just drag your application to the disk and you're done.

That means no Windows crashing, application flaking registry problems, either!

  • You can't return Microsoft licenses back to the pool for application migration. Once you register and authenticate you application, it is locked to that computer. You can't transfer the license to another system. Not for live backups. Not for system upgrades.

    Computer updates are painful. Migrations nearly impossible without repurchasing your software.

At work, we lease machines. My machine's lease is coming up very, very soon and it will need to be returned. However, another desktop is available with a lease much further out.

It used to be that you could install the software on the new computer and blow away the disk on the old one. If the software is installed on the new machine, Microsoft won't let you activate it, even if you legally own it and are moving it between systems.

Even moving the physical drives from one system to a vendor-identical once failed. The operating system recognizes it was in a new box and refused to run, perpetually rebooting. When the drives were moved back, things ran just fine.

This poses a problem for backups. This poses a problem for hardware recovery. This poses a problem for upgrades. This forces us to have to buy the software again.

Guess what. You're using the same software. At some point in the future your machine will have a hardware problem or you'll want to upgrade. I'll be waiting in the boat for you. Thus begins the problems associated with leasing software, compounded with not knowing for how long.

  • Microsoft is dropping support for Internet activation, instead requiring users to phone in to activate.

    This will create a new burden on small and mid-sized companies whom can't afford the expensive corporate licenses. I guess Microsoft thinks other people's time has no value.

  • Microsoft is now making it so that you can't download software patches unless you have your box "phone home" and prove it's genuine Microsoft.

    [ UPDATE: Even worse, the new end user license agreement (EULA) lets Microsoft install software without your permission, read anything on your disks, report perceived pirated software to anyone they want, and delete anything they want ...all without asking.]

    While this is supposedly to target pirated copies, it goes further, killing Windows emulation and leaving more unprotected systems on the Internet. Plus, there's now a whole host of software you can't have.
    [ And your privacy is going away too, check out the black box in Windows. ]

I've got legal copies of Windows installed by Dell and a handful of hologram certificates to go with them. Even so, this kind of data collection ticks me off so much I refuse to participate. Even to register for a Microsoft class at work required a .NET Passport, and I canceled that — plainly put, I will never trust Microsoft because they repeatedly demonstrate they are inept at security.

Wait... wasn't the media reporting that the Windows source code itself that was stolen. Is my personal information more important?
 
UPDATE: After the WGA update, our OEM Dell that was less than a year old blue screened at login; it was running virus checkers, spyware checkers, malware checkers, registry cleaning software, and had numerous system restore points back to the creation of the machine. Two Windows experts beyond my capabilities, which aren't that shabby, could not recover the system. If it wasn't for Linux, our data would be lost.

    UPDATE: A rash number of WGA and Activiation failures have happened, resulting in in honest-to-God OEM legal copies from major vendors stop working. Blue screens of death popped up almost everywhere when the first roll out happened. And now the problem has extended to corporations. According to reports, Microsoft doesn't care, and is assuming these are all pirated copies; despite users have receipts, original discs, and holograms from Microsoft. As such, the more technically savvy users are switching to Mac OS X and Linux in drones, meanwhile Windows users are losing data and rebuilding machines to no avail.
  • Microsoft has been killing support for older OS versions, older applications, and requiring mandatory updates.
    It is reasonable to conclude the marketing forced upgrade path will be to 64-bit XP.
    UPDATE: They've started doing this. Bad time to be a small business. End consumers next.
    UPDATE: Estimates in, you need 2 gigabytes to run Vista.

Windows 2000, which is finally working perfectly and has all my applications running the way I want, will no longer be supported by the end of June 2005. That means if any more vulnerabilities are discovered, and you know there will be, Microsoft's answer will be to tell me to upgrade.

By not providing support or updates, Microsoft holds users hostage to the insecure environment they created, forcing you no other option than to open your wallet and perpetuate the cycle.

  • Software vendors will profit by the move to 64-bit XP.
    They can "legitimately" discontinue support for the older versions, slap on new licensing terms and mechanisms, and use Microsoft's momentum as a way to pressure you into a purchase you hadn't planned on making - just so you can keep using the software you already paid for.

Finally, Some Good News

  • Apple is released it's latest version of it's OS X operating system, Tiger, Friday, April 29th.
    Apple doesn't putz around with version numbers for the sake of marketing.

  • For those who don't know, OS X is based on the FreeBSD implementation of BSD, an ultra-fast and amazing stable Unix system.
    Apple hides the fact it's Unix to the desktop windowing user, but provides complete exposure and control to the console user.
    You get the best of both worlds.

  • Apple doesn't bulk up the operating system with licensing or "phone home" checks. They figure if they make a good product at an affordable price, you'll be legal. In fact, there's no difference in the CDs between Single User and Family Pack.
    They're right! Additional seat for licenses, if you do the math, are less than $18 each. Holy cow!!!

  • Apple is selling G4 machines, called Mac mini, for $500; this is competitive with Intel boxes.
    New Apple systems are now affordable and priced competitively.
    [ Apparently, they just upgraded their hardware line. - Apr 27, 2005 ]

  • A two non-discounted OS X major upgrade costs less than one copy of XP Pro.
    OS X is more affordable.

  • While Apple showcases 7 to 10 new features on their web site, they historically add about 200 major new features to any given major operating system upgrade; in addition to speeding it up, and making it take less memory, breathing new life into older hardware.
    [ Over 200 features. ]

    Microsoft typically does a face lift, fixes some bugs, ignores other, introduces new ones, shuffles the user interface making it is no longer familiar, complicates things that should be simple, hides things that are important, and aims the user interface at the lower common denominator of users, ignoring the eventual learning curve and the existing experience user base. Historically, Microsoft upgrades run slower and require more powerful hardware.

Take Windows 98... it was a fix for 95. Windows 98 SE was a fix for 98. Windows XP is really a new face on Window 2000. Can we really expect Longhorn to be anything more than a facelift of XP from the end user's perspective?

Remember the media covered of all the software that broken when Service Pack 2 was adopted? Were you aware you can't get updates anymore unless you install it? [ Survey shows admins avoiding SP2. ]

Try saving a web page and then deleting the unless subdirectory that is created along with it, it deletes your file. Try finding for your word processing file called Normal.dot; did you remember to include searching in hidden and system directories? Quickly access and configure your network settings like you did in Windows 2000; can't, eh? What's with all the balloons and animated characters, especially if you're a guru. Windows assumes you're dumb to start with, need patronizing hand holding, and will never learn.

And how long is it, after you upgrade, that you realized "I need a new computer"? And the software you bought with your last computer, can't be installed on your new computer. Even though you paid for it already, your OEM Windows software has you screwed, even if your old computer is dead as a doornail.

  • The Macintosh runs concurrently OS X, OS 9, Unix console applications, X-Windows, and a virtual PC environment capable of any existing Windows environment (DOS, 98SE, 2000), in addition to Linux.

In my own case, the virtual PC running on the Macintosh out paced the physical, real environment - booting faster, running faster.

It is possible to build custom images for specific purposes, getting rid of the blue screen of death and optimizing performance. Whole machines can be check pointed in time, so that if something goes really wrong, one can go back to a recovery point and take a different path, as if nothing had happened. Plus, I can now cut'n'paste between operating systems.

  • Apple provides free support at the Apple store. You can even avoid standing in line by reserving a time slot via the web.
    They also give free presentations and classes.

    Microsoft technical support costs money and is nowhere near as helpful, primarily suggesting rebooting and reinstallation as a catch-all for any non-trivial problem.

You don't even have to own a Macintosh to get free support from Apple. This is the same kind of support that you'd get if you called and paid for it.

A friend of mine walked in with an iPod for an HP system that was having problems. The Apple store quickly determined it was the charging cable, and replaced her cheap cable with the top of the line cable and accessories at no cost

Apple understand the customer experience is what makes people loyal.

  • Apple includes with the operating system, at no additional cost, all of the same development tools and documentation used to create the operating system.
    [ OS X Tiger Technical Specifications. ]

    Development tools from Microsoft are expensive, and Microsoft still holds its tools close to its chest.
    UPDATE: Microsoft RAISES its price on developer platforms, cuts functionality, and current users reporting bugs and crashes.


  • Apple has made their core operating system open source - you can see the source code and what goes on inside (or more importantly, what doesn't), make changes, and if you want build a super customized version just for yourself.

  • Apple has made significant contributions to the compiler suite and developer tools as well, again all open source.

Apple understands what it means to be a member of a contributing community. Their changes have advanced software overall, and as people provide additional enhancements of their own, Apple benefits in turn.

Apple's visual development tools interoperate with the most advanced versions of open source compilers, this means better applications of higher quality for Apple and Unix variants. Meanwhile, advances in compiler technology have produces ways of generating code that's 40% smaller and far faster.

As such Apple's new operating systems screams faster than it's predecessor, even on older hardware!

At the moment, it seems the only major exception is the advanced form design features of MS-Access and a number of commercial games.

Curiously, many games that are coming out these days are made with the same compiler Apple supports and are initially designed, developed, and tested on Unix systems.

  • Software vendors are catching on that the way to retain users using their suites is to provide cross-platform upgrades.
    This means, if you own Adobe Creative Suite for the PC, you can pay the incremental upgrade cost and get a Macintosh version.
    [ See the bottom message over here, saying you just have to call Adobe directly. ]

  • Macintosh applications usually have extensive feature sets and integration well beyond their Microsoft versions.
    This is because the operating system itself supports the capability to provide extendable services.

  • Open Source solutions exist to solve real-world problems, and they typically stop adding features when the software is "done."
    [ Why Open Source works. ]

    Commercial off-the-shelf applications are driven by marketing and continue to have unnecessary features added to them to get you to buy the next version. This makes them bigger, slower, and raises the costs.

Look at your copy of Microsoft Word. It was done a long time ago. How many of the new features do you actively use?

Do the features work flawlessly? Or, were more features added before existing problems were addressed?

If you corrupt your document, can you recover it or edit it with a different application?

Can you easily collaborate by sharing edited files with someone who doesn't have the same version as you?

How many options moved, defaults behaviors changed, and interfaces became needlessly bloated? Styles went from being very easy to taking up nearly 20% of the screen and requiring far more clicks to accomplish the same goals. Application help isn't any better, and now it's remote. I'd say that makes it worse.

[ It's time to try Open Office - it's good. It's real good. Check out the screen shots.]
[ Could Google be be making their own OS or Office Suite? Bill Gates think so! Check out the recent Google innovations. ]

  • Open Source development environments, tools, and compilers have finally reached a commercial grade level and have been producing commercial grade applications. Additionally, Open Source developers have finally heard the message — usability is just as important as feature sets, if not more so to new users.

  • Apple has an Open Source installer, so there's no need to compile anything in the Open Source ports collection.
    Read this as: you get a lot of really cool commercial grade software!

  • Major developers of software – for all OS platforms – have made the workstation switch to build software.

  • There now exists development environments that are cross platform, meaning you can be on OS X, write one version of your source code that compiles to static executables: OS X, Linux, and even Windows.
    So, just because you write for Windows doesn't mean you have to be on Windows. [Here's an example of one.]

The Bottom Line

At some point in the future, you will be forced to by a 64-bit machine. In order to work with the new machine, you'll need to buy a new operating system and new applications, because what you have won't work with what's out there. Call this total outlay 'N' dollars. Microsoft hopes you don't have the foresight to see this coming.
It's very likely that your existing machine will eventually fail, there won't be necessary software or service patches for your existing platform, you'll just want to upgrade, or the only available operating system around will require it. That date is not far away.

For less than 'N' dollars, you can (today!) get an affordable machine that is stable, reliable, fast, and feature rich that isn't confusing that will run all your existing software, including the historical stuff you had to put in the closet because XP won't.
It doesn't have compatibility problems, it is cheap to upgrade, and isn't burdened with licensing overhead. It even works with your existing hardware, multi-platform emulation, and a lot of naive software for all your application needs.

So... if you were going to have to purchase this stuff anyhow, and Microsoft is making the future bleak, and there are now better alternatives out there for both hardware and software, it makes sense to consider a move to a platform where you can retain your existing investment of hardware and software.

</OPINION>