mac vs pc

Teddy

1. seems much harder to get hold of (arghhmmm) software for the mac.

Really? www.versiontracker.com ? I've had not problem at all, except when trying to use a PC again.

3. hah... no right click! well there is if you have a mighty mouse but i've never used one so don't know if they do the same thing..

Right click is a right click, exactly as you're used to.

4. very very very small chance of ever getting a virus or spyware on a mac. this is a huge plus point, having just spent 4 hours this morning trying to remove spyware off my pc laptop.

No chance at all actually

I switched to a mac at the first of August cause they asked me at work if I wanted a new PC or a new Mac. I took the opertunity and now I can't even look at a PC anymore except when I want to play games

3stripe

teddy, by "(arghhmmm) software" i was talking about, well, using p2p to argmmmmm borrow software from other people. when i look at what i can find using Emule on PC compared to Acquisition on a Mac, it's quite limited. then again anyone who chooses their os based on what software they can get for free is clearly a chump and should shut the f up. so i will.

enderateros

if you wanted to borrow software from other people, wouldn't bt be better?

Kosmo

Well, I have downloaded some software that I have bought for my Winnie PC and didn't come with a hybrid disc, so I didn't feel like buying it again, so far I have got Maya, Zbrush, Photoshop Illustrator and Painter (this should have been a hybrid, but it didn't work on my Mac) lousy companies, try to hog me off my money just because I'm a multiplatform user. But I found these softwares for Mac quite easily, even if they were a pro quality software and I was looking for them near the release.

Nathan_A

I disagree Mark. Protection through obscurity only get's you so far. If it were the case, then immediately you'd think that number of viruses would be proportionate to market share. 5% market share is currently equating to 0% of viruses. Also, one would have thought that with all the gloating of Mac users for the past 5 years about having no viruses that that would be reason enough for a virus writer to direct his/her efforts towards the Mac, not to mention the amount of press a successful virus would get. Ultimately, the main defense is OS X's administration system. Absolutely nothing can make system changes without an admin name and password. And absolutely critical things can't even be changed by an admin (you have to be logged in as Root, which is well well hidden). Kosmo, some companies don't do cross-platform licenses of their programs, however many do offer cross-platform "upgrades".

Kosmo

I remember reading about a pretty succesfull Mac virus year or two back, it was a real threat, but crushed in a week, by Apple's update. There are some crossplatform licences, and I think all licences should be so, it's just stupid to buy a software twice just because I have a Mac and a PC a home. And usually I work with both of them, even if the Mac is mainly my workhorse, I tend to take better care of my PC -updating memory and cpu much ofhten - so it's more suitable for certain tasks like very large painter files.

Nathan_A

Sucessful Mac virus? oh, you mean this? http://daringfireball.net/2004/04/crying_wolf (summary of it was - it wasn't a virus. it was just a program with had an icon and filename to make it look like an mp3. And even then if you did launch it, OS X always prompts you if you're sure the first time you run any app)

Kosmo

Nope, it was pretty hazardous, was running around usa, japan and india or something like that. (I didn't even know that they had Macs in Japan and India before that)

Shaf

If you are gamer either stick with a PC, or you can switch to Mac and do your gaming on a Xbox or PS other than that the software is almost the same. Jeremy

davatron5000

(arghhmmm) software is easy to get on a mac. if i were to have (arghhmmm) software -and i'm not saying i do- i'd just download the actual software and get a cracked key. which is easier, probably faster, and safer than p2p'ing something some guy cooked up in his basement. it's the difference between illegally acquiring perscription drugs vs. street drugs.

dan39

I really don't think it was hazardous by any means. I believe it was a prood-of-concept Trojan Horse. You can read more about it on Wired: OS X Trojan Horse Is a Nag

Also, I'm sure Vista will be a huge improvement over XP, but a whole lot of Vista's major features were stolen adapted from Tiger in an attempt to play catch-up. Apple is still keeping some of Leopard's features secret for obvious reasons.

Crazyotaku

one thing i'd like to add about the whole "macs don't get viruses and spyware as much as pc's"

In my operating systems class we studied a few mac OS's and in each they do have a pretty basic firewall or anti-spyware tool in them, BUT, it does not alert you if you have a virus or spyware and it does not protect against outbound only inbound. So if you got some sort of trojan or worm you would have no clue if it's sending out of your mac unless you catch it somehow coming in. I'll stick with PC's becuase I know how to protect mine, I don't htink I'd want to start over with another type of OS because it would be very insecure for awhile until I learned how to protect it better lol.

Shaf

If you're worried about losing software if you switch most companies will let you get the new version for the new OS at little or no cost as long as it was a legit copy and you have the proof of purchase, you just have to contact them. Jeremy