What is Leopard Up Against in Vista?
Before too long, Vista will be released upon the world. Will it be a match for Leopard which will follow a few months later? What will Leopard be up against? What will it take for Apple to convince people a Mac running Leopard is better than a PC running Windows? Can Apple do that?
Let me present an email I got from a techie friend in the Windows world:
Well, I can actually say, I really like Vista.
Really fast, prompts with security crap all over the place which I like too.
Hmm, MS have released some good software finally
Of course, Mac users will be gagging on the coffee and it’ll be spluttering out their nose all over their pristine white/black/silver (or white & black) Macs. Especially that line about liking all those security prompts.
I wonder what those prompts say? Maybe:
Hi. Whoops. Hang on, don’t panic. I’m not a virus, this is Vista talking to you. Just a friendly reminder that I might look pretty hot but I’ve actually got more holes in me than Albert Hall. So I’ll pop up every now and again just to reassure you that installing every security program on the planet is a good thing. See you soon!
A few minutes later:
Hi, me again. Am I still running? Huh!! That’s pretty good! You must know something about computers. Anyway, just popped up to say I’ll leave you alone for a bit.
Another few minutes later:
Hi! Guess who? I hope you don’t get sick of me, coz it’s really important I keep popping up and reminding you about all the risks of using me. Next time I’ll tell you a few. Bye-ee!
Just when you’re taking a sip of coffee:
Panic! Panic! Abandon ship! BWARRP! BWARRP! BWARRP! Hey I hope I didn’t scare you. Just testing the ol’ warning system. All part of the security. I am here to serve.
And much too soon:
Hey dude. Can I call you dude? We are old friends now. What you need to know is, basically, I’m totally crap. Looks can be deceiving. But hey - you’re the one using me. Chortle, chortle. Oops, back soon, gotta give some resources to Aero - he needs all the resources he can get. Between you and me, he’s a . . .
Not much later at all:
Smart alec Aero cutting me off before. Anyway, what’s he know? Security’s what’s important. And the best prevention is lots of messages. Me popping up. Lot’s of reminders. That’s the way to go. Coz you gotta be really careful. There’s lots of viruses, infections, spyware, trojans & adware out there - let’s just call it VISTA for short, eh? I kinda like that name. Catchy, eh? Well, better go. See ya soon.
And so on.
It’s funny you know, after installing Windows on my Mac, the thing that struck me most was the pop ups. The little bubbles reminding me to do stuff. They started to drive me nuts. And it seems Vista is going to have more because Windows users like them - and even need them.
I use Growl on the Mac and it’s wonderful. Apple should buy it and integrate it. Growl tells me something has happened that I want to know about.
Windows just nags. The messages in Windows all seem to be reminders. “Don’t forget to get a virus checker” “Don’t forget to activate” “Did you put the cat out?” “Have you got that huge pimple between your shoulders checked out yet?”
So what is Leopard up against?
So okay, we had a bit of fun, but now to the main question.
The other part of that email is that he likes Vista and is impressed. Sorry Leopard. Game over. This scenario is going to be repeated all over the place. Every magazine that reviews Vista, every IT manager that sees it, everywhere you are going to hear how great Vista is. Why? Because it is better and looks much better. (Ironically, it’s better because MS cut so much out of it.)
That’ll be enough for them. I tried telling him it was all copied from OS X but it was as if I hadn’t spoken. No acknowledgment of all. To Windows users, the copying OS X issue is irrelevant. Vista users aren’t going to give a rat’s brass monkey (no I don’t know what that is but it sounds good). They don’t care who invented things first. All that matters is that their system, Windows, does it now.
It’s a good thing that Leopard is coming out after Vista, after the gushing has abated. Otherwise Leopard will be lost in Vista’s adulation.
Lastly, I got an email from him a few days later that simply said:
First bug found. Hard disk corruption for no apparent reason.
The casual acceptance is what strikes me about that. No cursing, no name calling, just an acceptance. Hey, it’s only a hard disk corruption.
Although this is just one guy, it’s a reasonably safe generalization to say it’s fairly reflective of Windows users. We know Mac users stick to Mac because of a sometimes blind devotion, but Windows users are just plain apathetic. Whether it’s a plethora of messages or a behind the times OS or bugs that crash the system or even all the possible infections, it just doesn’t bother them enough. They’ll switch when it hurts enough. And Vista is not going to hurt enough.
And that’s what Leopard is up against.
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Comments
I work for a company that is a Microsoft Gold Partner, and for many of us, Vista is the best reason to switch to Linux or OS X. Vista looks good, like my grandmother in a miniskirt.
The last straw for me was in the beta. It took me a month to set up the web server, because many features that were in XP no longer exist, and everything is much more complex. Then I discovered that making a virtual directory didn’t set the permissions correctly; I had to do it manually. I filed it as a bug report. After all, if I am creating a virtual directory, I want it to work, right? The bug report was closed with the reason “by design.” That makes no sense unless they are rushing to get it out the door.
The Vista RC went public, and that was a smart move. It’s snap to upgrade the RC to the final product, and very difficult to go back to XP, so there are a lot of guaranteed upgrades right there.
My advice to Windows users is sit out Vista by sticking with XP, switch to Ubuntu, or switch to Mac. Best of all, switch to Mac. I say, Yes, the zealots are a real turn off, but that isn’t Apple’s fault. The products are great, KB articles are comprehensible, and you can actually talk to a technician face-to-face for free.
Two things amazed me back when I worked in the tech support world. First, most Windows users were so clueless their first thought when something was wrong was to place a TS call. They almost never tried anything on their own. I cannot begin to tell you how many service calls I made that were fixed by simply plugging in the power cord or surge protector. Second, they were like cows at the slaughter house in their dumb acceptance of bugs, disaster, and inconvenience.
Vista looks good, like my grandmother in a miniskirt.
LOL.
First, most Windows users were so clueless their first thought when something was wrong was to place a TS call. They almost never tried anything on their own.
Oh, and I’ll bet you were a fun one to get on the line too. This is why IT guys have such warm and fuzzy reputations.
When my car breaks down, I don’t “try things on my own” because I’ll probably do more damage than good. I don’t even change my own oil. I got to a mechanic. Because that’s the mechanic’s JOB.
It’s not that people are “dumb;” it’s that most people care about other things besides computers and would rather spend their free time doing something else, just like it’s more worth it for me to pay someone $20 to change my oil than for me to do it myself.
Vista looks good, like my grandmother in a miniskirt.
LMAO, hugmup
viperteq (on comments on another article) is right. We do need to start a funniest comment competition.
Well, hello, I’m that windows techie mentioned in this article.
I must say I didn’t expect what I said to be posted and examined by everyone..
Now, in my defence.
>Well, I can actually say, I really like Vista.
>Really fast, prompts with security crap all over >the place which I like too.
>Hmm, MS have released some good software finally
Yes, I said that, like 5 minutes after first installing it, and the security warnings drove me insane after another 2 so I disabled them completely.
>First bug found. Hard disk corruption for no >apparent reason.
>The casual acceptance is what strikes me about >that. No cursing, no name calling, just an >acceptance. Hey, it’s only a hard disk >corruption.
Does anyone know what the word BETA means? Hello !
Beta means it’s test software, test software has bugs, and that bug is actually an incompatibility with acronis disk director suite!
It didn’t destroy my hard drive so I don’t care, a reformat fixed it, YES BETA SOFTWARE! YES YOU SHOULDN’T HAVE TO REFORMAT!! BETA SOFTWARE!!
And yes, MS copied from Mac, who cares, sounds like something from primary school, you copied, I’m dobbing on you!
Who made the first car? was it ford? so we should only drive fords because all the other manufacturers copied!
The day that OSX can be installed on a homemade PC and runs all the games and programs I like aswell as supporting all my hardware I may switch, I don’t see this happening anytime soon.
Likewise, I would prefer to run Linux and did exclusively, until I bought a TV tuner card, oh, Card not supported.
Lastly, yes, I despise and hate Microsoft, but I also despise and hate Telstra, oops, they own all the phones lines so I have to use them!
If Apple want more market share why don’t they let x86 users run OSX instead of keeping it on proprietary hardware!?
If Apple want more market share why don’t they let x86 users run OSX instead of keeping it on proprietary hardware!?
Groan. Please don’t start everyone on that old dog.
Well, hello, I’m that windows techie mentioned in this article. -RW
sounds more like Cdr. Data with the unfortunate RavMonE.exe infection. Need to be more comprehensible next post Dude!
As for Vista, well…Looks can be deceiving. I won’t be declaring at this point that it is better than XP - in what sense? XP has matured over the last 5 years with two service packs in its honor and its UI is not that lame.
OK so Vista took the Server 2003 codebase vice XP and ran with it. Then fumbled and tripped along losing WinFS and NextGen Security frameworks. What else is left? Bread crumbs…
So, besides Aero and Gadgets, is it really worth spending $395 for the full ultimate version? After all, this is the bread-n-butter edition for the salivating PC users in the land, right?
Compare that to the (assumed) $120 Leopard edition. Most of us can only imagine what else is brewing in Cupertino besides those introduced by The Steve at WWDC.
If those features (Time Machine, Core Animation, Spaces, etc.) were appetizers, I can’t imagine what the entrees will be. Gotta be awesome for me to f’get about Vista.
Does anyone know what the word BETA means? Hello !
Sorry, dude. This excuse only works for Apple products up to and including versions 1.0 of everything from software to hardware. If you complain at that point, then you’re stupid for not realizing that beta software isn’t the final version or for getting in too early. If you complain after that, then you’re doing something wrong or you’re a whiny vocal minority and should just shut up already.
For Microsoft, however, you may commence declaration of sucklitude upon mere announcement of the product, as they’ve been doing with the Zune, or with Vista ever since it was called Longhorn.
And yes, MS copied from Mac, who cares
Again, MS copies from Mac, not the other way around. Apple never never rips anyone off. Any similarities between Apple products and previous third-party products of exactly the same feature or look-and-feel will prompt an immediate link to some article on Daring Fireball explaining why you’re stupid.
As so often happens.
Actually, they tripped before that. Honestly, what set Microsoft back in 2003 was the continuous virus and worm onslaught. That is when they pretty much pulled all development on everything and sat down to fix Windows XP and make it more secure. Because of that, and discovering how hard it would to bolt security on to the builds of Longhorn they were building (from a codebase earlier than Windows Server 2003), they threw all of that away, and started from scratch with the Server ‘03 base. In effect, the two years they lost there is the very reason Vista is two years late.
Again, MS copies from Mac, not the other way around. Apple never never rips anyone off.
I love the way Beeblebrox has finally accused a windows user of being a MacTard. Where can he go from here? Vote now!
The day that OSX can be installed on a homemade PC and runs all the games and programs I like aswell as supporting all my hardware I may switch, I don’t see this happening anytime soon.
I find this a really interesting comment. Perhaps the fundamental difference between an (educated) Mac user and an (educated) PC user is that the PC user thinks it’s a good idea to build your own computer.
I used to think so. I used for instance to build the computer for my family from bits off ebay and ebuyer. But since owning a Mac I’ve decided that to waste time building your own sub-par computer when a company with millions to spend on engineering, is just not sensible. (My opinion.)
Right there with ya Ben. Do you know how many hours are wasted assembling, forgetting that screw or jumper, installing the OS, setting things up, downloading patches, downloading updated drivers, Fix setting issues… Then to do it all over again in a year when XP bloats to 30gigs. Buy an Apple product, get high end stuff, turn it on, answer some questions and your good to go. No 3rd part security products, no mismatched drivers, IT JUST WORKS.
BTW: I’ve only had to re-install OS X once, was writting a plug in for Safari and botched it somehow and decided to just re-set everything since I couldn’t figure out the problem in the system.