that’s one way to put it
a conversation between an engineer and an alumnus of KZSU while having a problem printing from a laptop:
alumnus: why won’t this work?
engineer: it’d be simple on a mac
alumnus: but 2/3 of the world uses windows
engineer: 2/3 of the world also shits in bushes and eats bugs
that’s one argument for macs, yes.
January 8th, 2007 at 7:36 am
In my research group we have some Windows machines, some Linux machines and some Macs. By far, we have had the most problems with the Macs – not only in terms of hardware problems (eg. a G5’s liquid cooling system leaking and frying the computer, an X-Serve Cluster Node requiring a logic board replacement), but also in terms of software-related issues, like perpetual printing problems from our Macs. This may well be related to our printer, but if Apple claims that everything should just work, this type of problem shouldn’t happen.
As a disclaimer, I am not rabidly anti-Mac. However, I am also not blindly pro-Mac. I am willing to call a problem a problem regardless of the OS. There are lots of great features in OS X and when I replace my desktop computer, I would consider getting a Mac. However, if I do so, I won’t expect it to be without any flaws – Mac developers are human, too.
January 8th, 2007 at 8:03 am
Colin–it’s good to hear that Mac developers are human–most folks I know that have Macs think Macs were created on the 7th day by God. It’s a computer!! Anyways, thank you!
January 9th, 2007 at 11:32 am
On this specific problem, printing to a network printer, the Mac is simple (print->select the bonjour printer with the name you want) whereas these two engineers spent a long time trying to figure out how to do this on the PC.
I won’t say Macs are perfect, but I used PCs for most of my life and I still use one at work and after buying my powerbook I said I’d probably never buy a PC again. Mac OS X is simply leaps and bounds better and easier to use. If I need to change something, I can find what I need to change 95% of the time, first try. On a PC, it’s much lower, like 50%. I’m frustrated far far less often.