Microsoft's Windows 7, as viewed by the Mac faithful
What is it about operating system launches that get computer geeks so riled up? Judging from the early reviews, at least, Microsoft's Windows 7 appears headed for a successful debut -- promising to erase from our collective memory all those problems we had just getting our printers to work with Vista.
But rather than waiting for Oct. 22 to try Windows 7 and judge for themselves, some of the popular Apple enthusiast blogs are taking a hard line and looking for every opportunity to declare Microsoft's new OS a disaster even before it hits store shelves.
Last week Mac Daily News picked apart a favorable but evenhanded Windows 7 review by the Wall Street Journal's Walt Mossberg. And today Mac Observer is spotlighting a Microsoft video tutorial that explains how to upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7.
"We'll be honest, it could take a couple hours," concedes Kellie Eickmeyer, a Windows senior program manager, at the outset of the video.
The problem, as we've documented in the past,
is that the upgrade from Windows XP requires a clean install, backing
up data and applications and then reinstalling them after Windows 7 is
on the machine. The shift from the newer Windows Vista to Windows 7 can
be done "in place," sidestepping that hassle.
As Mossberg pointed out in his WSJ review last week, "It’s tedious and painful to upgrade an existing computer from XP to 7, and the variety of editions in which Windows 7 is offered is confusing."
But at least Microsoft is being up front about it. And don't forget that Windows XP is almost 8 years old. Given the underlying changes in computers since then, some level of difficulty is to be expected.
Yes, it's Microsoft's fault that so many people are still using the ancient operating system. Many of them are terrified about upgrading to Vista, given all the problems the OS has experienced with device and application compatibility. Apple, in contrast, deserves credit for steady advances and regular releases of Mac OS X.
But we'd challenge even the most expert Mac user to make the upgrade to Snow Leopard from Mac OS X 10.1 "Puma" -- released around the same time as Windows XP -- in less than two hours.
Oh wait, that's right, Puma ran on PowerPC machines, and Snow Leopard requires Intel processors. In other words, we'd challenge the most expert Mac user to make that upgrade at all.
Read more of Todd Bishop's posts at TechFlash.com, and follow him on Twitter @toddbishop
Louis Wheeler on October 13, 2009 at 12:26 PM
Doug said:
"More than 10 times as many people prefer PCs to Macs. Obviously, despite incessant Mac fanboy whining, most people get it."
Popularity does not equate to quality. There are many historical reasons for why Wintel PC's are more numerous which has nothing to do with them being better. Nor does this imply that more people chose to buy a PC, since Windows came on the PC they bought or was given by their boss and they haven't converted to Linux yet. Most PC users are ignorant of the alternatives, but that is changing. This is why Apple sales have been growing at 30+ percent a year.
Nor does the PC's greater numbers have much to do with future popularity. There are trends at work which could upset Microsoft's market share.
"Macs do have their place though. They are perfect for computer illiterates who just want to (unreliably) surf the net and that don't need to get any real work done."
Spoken like a Windows fanboy who has no idea what we use our computers for. The majority of Mac users converted from Windows. A recent poll said that 70% of Mac users still have an old Windows system around to use in necessity. We Mac users also make more money than Wintel users and hold higher positions of responsibility. That only makes sense, we are smart enough to stop using Windows.
The hardware requirements to run Graphics, Design and Music development systems are often above what most PC users need. This is why they could get away with using cheap and shoddy equipment. The hardware requirements to run full Vista Areo, to compete with Apple's Aqua, were expensive.
Small to Medium sized Business owners report that when they converted their businesses to Macs, their employees became 20 percent more efficient. Also, their IT demands became much smaller.
Besides, we Mac users have good taste. We like computers which also look good.
Sigivald on October 13, 2009 at 12:57 PM
"Yes, it's Microsoft's fault that so many people are still using the ancient operating system. Many of them are terrified about upgrading to Vista, given all the problems the OS has experienced with device and application compatibility."
Not quite Microsoft's fault. Microsoft didn't prevent application developers and device manufacturers from making Vista drivers and updates well ahead of Vista's release date.
Vista Beta 1 was available to developers of hardware and software for... what, well over a year before Vista shipped?
I'm calling driver issues with Vista when it shipped pretty much purely the fault of the developers, who couldn't be bothered to write drivers for the new (and vastly superior) driver architecture, despite knowing that MS would be using it for every future OS release.
(That's Microsoft's huge hardware disadvantage compared to Apple; MS can't possibly ship drivers for all hardware, because there's far too much variety.
Apple controls the hardware (apart from USB addons and PCIE cards in the Mac Pro, at least... and somehow nobody really blames Apple if some manufacturer doesn't update a driver for a new release of OSX!), and thus the OSX DVDs can ship with correct, fully-tested, fully-feature-enabled drivers for every Apple machine the OS can run on.)
(Full disclosure - Long-time MacOS and OSX user, Windows user and developer, Unix user. All three, every day. Thus, no partisanship here.)
Erik on October 13, 2009 at 01:24 PM
actually, i upgraded on friday to windows 7 64 bit (got one of the free copies from the windows 7 release party promotion), and going from the windows 7 RC to the final version took about 30 minutes. this required a clean install. reinstalling programs and games took make an additional 20-30 minutes. i'm running a pretty solid computer that's only a little over a year old, which may have something to do with it. i never really had any problems with vista, but 7 seems to run faster and smoother, and has a cleaner and sharper look to it. so far it has all been positive.
dennymack on October 13, 2009 at 02:05 PM
The passions on display here are hilarious.
I use both Mac and PC, and I see the utility of both. My PC runs far better than my Mac, because it is far newer. I would have a new Mac PC if I could afford one, but for me a fully functional $400 dollar HP laptop was in reach, a $1000 Mac laptop was not.
I realize this does not address the issue of which method of packet co-location runs better on ARSE tabulation chipsets, but I just want to do my work, and I need a computer that works.
Where Microsoft should watch it is when they p*ss off their customers with the obvious stuff: ie, anything you can make a joke about in a Mac add, and folks laugh 'cause they know what you are mocking. Or when they do stuff that displays a concern with selling you more package, but no concern for how functional their basic product is. In this category I would include using your customer base as beta testers (Vista?) and making it so you basic WP program, Works, will not open your other WP programs files (Word). Either sell stuff that works, or I will have to save up for that nice BMW of a computer. ( I still ride my 91 Honda with 50K miles. No problems, not obsolete. When will Honda make a laptop?)
Dennymack
just a drone on October 13, 2009 at 05:54 PM
I don't really care about Apple OS or such, I just would like Microsoft to give me a free copy of Windows 7 as a just payment for the cr*ptastic Vista I now have crippling my computer.
roz on October 13, 2009 at 08:47 PM
Hey if a clean install is what you need to do then that is probably the way to go. At least they are telling people that upfront. I don't think Mac people should waste energy on Win7. Focus on the cool things on the mac side which are many. Mac's still lead in innovation.
I think it would be nicer for Windows users if included in the OS were migration tools that let you transfer to an external drive, do the install and migrate back. Maybe they do this already but it does not sound like it. I am sure there will be some kind of utilities to help you migrate over time, if they don't already exist.
What is the big deal about a clean install? Don't PC people tend to do that anyway on an annual month basis just to keep it running well?
As for your point about Mac 10.1. Of course that is silly. First, the whole problem for MSFT is that people are still asking to use XP. So there are still a lot of XP seats out there. There are very few if any 10.1 seats out there and none of them can even install 10.6 because it is a different process architecture. Second, if, however, you did want to migrate from a 10.1 machine to a 10.6 that would be very easy. You'd just start with your new 10.6 system, put your old machine in target disk mode and use Migration Assistant to move all your files and etc into the new machine. Very easy and much less than 2 hours for most older machines.
Sofa King on October 16, 2009 at 12:39 PM
"Windows has hidden technical flaws, carried on by System Seven, which make it unwise to use on the Internet. Its foundations are about as bad as the original Mac OS was back in 1996."
Oh, baloney. You're just making that up. Perhaps you'd care to offer some specifics? What are these "hidden technical flaws?"
"Snow Leopard's purpose is to prepare for future developments. Its most important attribute is that it allows a rapid migration to 64 bit applications which use Grand Central Dispatch and OpenCL. There will be many benefits arising from this."
Windows 7 is also 64-bit. It works well. Vista too, for that matter. There is no difference here.
"The developers will be leaving behind old procedural code based on the Carbon API's. They will be forced to migrate to Object Oriented programing. This is no panacea, but it is the wave of the future. Object Oriented programing means a more flexible program which is smaller and is usually faster. Also, upgrades are easier."
You're just tossing around buzzwords without any comprehension of what they mean! "Object-oriented programming" is what C++ is for. "Objective-C" is not more "object oriented." It is managed, so it has that advantage over C++. But on the other hand, C# is also managed and widely recognized as an excellent technology.
Stan25 on October 16, 2009 at 01:01 PM
Macs do have their place though. They are perfect for computer illiterates who just want to (unreliably) surf the net and that don't need to get any real work done.
Then tell me why the major movie productions companies use Macs to do all of the post-production work on a major film, instead of of a PC. I will tell you why. Mac has better graphics cards and Final Cut Pro beats out any video editing software out for the PC.
Itunes was made for the Mac and so was Ipod. People bought the Ipod and then had no way to put their music files on it, because Windows Media Player did not support that. So Apple had to port iTunes to Windows. So the assertion that Macs are only good for surfing the web is false.
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Sylvia on May 02, 2010 at 08:43 AM
Actually, inasmuch as I've found it impossible to edit photos and video at the same time I surf and write emails with a Mac, but can do the same with Windows, with no freezes, crashes, etc., I find it to be disappointing that Apple have the gall to lie so much in their advertising, about reliability...and fuel the fanboyism with their targeting of windows in each and EVERY ad they put out in recent years.
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