Tag Archives: Leopard

Apple/Mac, Computers/Technology

Vista vs Apple – The Comeback

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Last month I commented on the PC Pro Vista vs Apple comparison article, highlighting the fact it compared a Vista beta with a soon-to-be replaced version of MacOS X. I also mentioned the fact that they down-marked MacOS X for having a poor selection of included software by ignoring the iLife suite.

Anyway, this month they have published two, of the apparently many e-mails and letters they received criticising the article and accusing it of bias. Needless to say they aren’t giving any ground, they again justify the comparison by blaming Apple for not releasing Leopard beta code to them for review – bear in mind that they haven’t shown Leopard to Mac magazines, so they’re hardly likely to let a PC magazine see it. With regards to iLife they make the comment ‘and some people may have received bonus software such as iLife with their iMac‘ – lets just make this clear, whatever PC Pro may think, iLife ships with every Mac that Apple sell, just go through all the machines on their web site and it is listed. Microsoft maintained to the EU that software such as Windows Media Player and the like was no part of their operating system – it has to be said that they weren’t believed – but the only real difference is that Apple charge separately for the upgrade versions of iLife whereas upgrades to Windows Media Player and Windows Movie Maker are free upgrades, or come along with the OS upgrades.

The final point they address is the accusation of bias, which is effectively an agreement, but justified by saying that everybody else would be biased anyway.

To the credit of the magazine, despite their acknowledged bias, they have reviewed all the new Apple hardware in recent months, and although they review it from the point of view of putting on Windows – something Howard thinks is a bit of a waste of time – all the hardware has got pretty good reviews, with this month them conceding that the MacBook is a better compact laptop than many of the PC’s in their group test elsewhere in the magazine. So whilst they admit to being biased, even they are starting to succumb to the nice new Apple hardware!

Apple/Mac, Computers/Technology

The Predictable Windows V MacOS X Comparison Article?

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Every so often, editors of PC and Mac magazines seem to feel the need to do a comparison article, where they compare Windows XP with MacOS X. To some extent this tends to be a fairly pointless exercise, and entirely predictable – the PC magazines always put Windows on top, the Mac magazines always ensure that MacOS X wins.

The article in the July 2006 issue of PC Pro is no exception. The cover splashes with ‘Vista vs Apple – The essential guide to choosing your next operating system’, before spending ten pages going through all the aspects of the two systems proving that Windows is the best choice, indeed they put Vista ahead in every category.

However some interesting observations about the comparison. Firstly, the playing field is not exactly level as they compare Windows Vista – the next generation Windows that is still in beta – with the current generation of MacOS X. Now to be a fair comparison, either they need to compare Vista with Leopard, the version of MacOS X that is expected to come out about the same time as Vista, or compare current Windows XP with Tiger. They also are slightly odd over iLife. They heavily down-mark the Mac for not including iLife – which is true if you are buying a boxed copy of Tiger for an existing Mac – however all new Macs include iLife for free. If you are a PC owner, the only way you’re going to get MacOS X, is to buy a Mac. Indeed the article even concedes later on that a lot of PC owners will need to buy a new PC to run Vista anyway.

What is more interesting though is some of the comments in the text. Firstly, they highlight at one point in the article that, as with most magazines, the whole article has been written and put together on a Mac. In the conclusion, despite the scores at the bottom, there is a fairly startling admission for a PC magazine, that there is little to separate the next generation Windows from the current MacOS X, and more than that that 80% of users will find that Tiger meets all of their needs. The article even dares to suggest that with the current prices of Macs, and the industry standard software that is available on the platform that a Mac would make a good choice for a business machine, and it is largely down to the fact that Windows is the de-facto standard that most business purchasers would go for a Windows machine. Indeed even the editor seems to be falling for the Mac somewhat by highlighting that they have yet to find a PC manufacturer who can compete with the Mac Mini. Strange times indeed…

General

Scoble Goes Off On One

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Usually Robert Scobles blog is a pretty good read, however I’m not quite sure what he was on yesterday, but he seemed to throw a massive mud slinging session over a MacDailyNews article about the recent Microsoft announcement that when released Longhorn will be called Windows Vista. The general gist of the article is that many of the features that will be included in Windows Vista, MacOS X has already in Tiger, or are fixing problems introduced in previous versions of Windows. To some extent it’s the kind of post, and on a site that I wouldn’t really have registered had it not been for Scoble’s reaction.

However, it seems I’m not alone. Later on Scoble printed a summary of some of the responses, perhaps the one that best sums up my opinion being the one from John Wulff called “When Cheerleaders Sneer“:

I really enjoy Scoble’s blog, but sometimes he crosses the line from entertaining evangelist to petty mudslinger.

The key point from my point of view is that looking just at the two operating systems, Tiger is already out there and shipping. However some of the earlier announced features of Windows Vista, for example WinFS are being dropped out to ensure a timely release. Indeed there is speculation that the next major release of MacOS X, Leopard will ship by the time Windows Vista finally gets released, so there is really no point in comparing either two future products, or an existing product with a competitors potential product. You can only compare two existing, shipping products.

Really all these school playground style mud slinging sessions don’t get anybody anywhere, and it was somewhat of a surprise to find Scoble having a go.