Mac vs. Windows...

[Michel Rabe]

Apple are such dicks that I don't care how good their products get (currently, they're years behind the curve technically but in a prettier and arguably more user-friendly package, which may be enough for some people).

First they tell us they can't afford to build iPhones in the US instead of China even though they make a 47% profit margin on each one (for reference, second highest profit on phonemaking is Samsung at 15%, everybody else is lucky to break even) and account for about 1/3 of worldwide phone sales but about 2/3 of worldwide phone sale profits.

Now, they've finally agreed to distribute some of their obscene cash hoard to shareholders like they should've been doing since 2005. But to do that they'd have to bring their obscene cash hoard in from their inexplicably-legal offshore accounts, at which point it'd be subject to US taxes. So instead, they're doing it by issuing bonds (borrowing money) at special-favors-low interest rates because paying that interest is cheaper than paying the taxes on the money they already have. That's right, the richest company in the world pays less taxes than you and I.

But they totally invented rounded corners, so it's cool, amirite?

A companie's ethics is indeed a factor and I agree Apple are not doing too good there in several areas.

 

[David Rasberry]

We have both in the house. A 2011 iMac 27" loaded, a PC desktop system about to be replaced, a G4 Macbook Pro (useless) and my own Toshiba Win 64bit technical laptop. Most of the apps I need to run are PC only.
Personally I am platform agnostic, but this recent article gave me pause to question Apple's commitment to serious professional grade workstations going forward.
Suzy uses the iMac for artwork photography and archiving mostly, some editing of demonstration videos. But she has been bitten by some of the core OSX backup and file error bugs mentioned in the article. Despite following all the software instructions to the T, we have dedicated external backup drives that the iMac can't read after it writes them. NAS backup is a joke. ( I can mount and read the drives on my laptop so I know they are good).
Forewarned is forearmed.
http://macperformanceguide.com/AppleCoreRot-intro.html

 

[Andrew Walker]

Building a hackintosh.

 

[Jack Stenner]

Well, that was like 10 years ago, try to get an updated impression of Win (Win7) and you'll probably change your mind. At this point Mac vs PC is really no matter of performance or stability anymore, mostly just personal preferences but the same old arguments keep popping up on both sides.

I have Win7 on Bootcamp, but hardly use it (mostly compiling with Visual C++). I know you're right, though. In comparison to NT and XP it's been stable, so that's the only reason it's an option at this point.

http://www.lwks.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=57&Itemid=182

Wow, thanks for the link. Linux, multi-cam, full range of codecs. Looks like I have a testing project for the summer! I'd soooo much rather go that direction if I have to move from OSX.