iMac vs. PC

[hotatlboi]

Umm, I just logged onto both of those websites from Fedora Core 6 and had no problems whatsoever navigating and viewing all the free "preview" stuff. I suppose it's possible that some member feature would require Windows somehow, but I'm not sure why. It's possible to obtain codecs even for Windows media formats for other OSs.

They use Windows Media DRM for their videos. That won't work on OS X or Linux since neither has a version of WMP that supports DRM. The previews work because they are not DRMd.

I think there may be a program that can strip the drm and re-encode it in another format, but that's probably beyond most users.

 

[_AJ_]

ok 1 thing i would like to say is that OSX is not perfect and is vulnerable and while it is more secure than XP i wouldent make a leap just yet that it is better than Vista yet

also to say that marketshare has no influence is absurd to me

if apple had 95% of the market then all the hackers would try to break it and since it isnt perfect they would create viruses

do you disagree with this?

The user account controls don't protect Vista as thoroughly as they could, because they are not strict enough in locking down permissions.

the problem is more the user than anything else if you lock it down to much then you get heaps of messages which most users after a while will ignore and just press ok

its really a balancing act

 

[_AJ_]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/03/quicktime_vuln/
http://www.macnn.com/articles/07/01/31/moab.exploits.safari/
http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=9

 

[_AJ_]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/03/quicktime_vuln/



"Vulnerable" meaning, of course, Windows systems with Quicktime.


http://www.macnn.com/articles/07/01/31/moab.exploits.safari/



This is hardly a security vulenerability. Some users will experience a "hang" and have to close Safari?


http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=9



They worked for a month to develop attacks on OS X, and all they could come up with was the above-described Quick-Time vulnerability for Windows? (Denial of Service attacks have nothing to do with the OS, BTW).

they dident try to make attacks they merely exploited flaws and the quicktime vulnerability WAS for OSX and Windows not just windows

also did you read this part of the above quote

researchers warn against downplaying the MOAB findings.

 

[_AJ_]

^ The reason reasearchers warn against downplaying the MOAB findings is that Mac users tend to be very self-satisfied and overly complacent about security. That is always a dangerous attitude, no matter how well-defended you may be.

that is sort of the point i have been trying to get across

also the fact that i have never had a problem with windows if OSX was avaliable on PC's i would buy it but its not and i cant justify spending about $A800-1000 more on a computer so i can use it when i have had no problems with windows

also linux really isnt a viable option for me

its just the attitude here seems to be trash MS and Windows which is really annoying when people continually talk about shit that has NEVER happend on my pc

 

[hotatlboi]

its just the attitude here seems to be trash MS and Windows which is really annoying when people continually talk about shit that has NEVER happend on my pc

I made the point that Windows can certainly be configured in a secure manner, and you won't likely experience many problems if it's done right. However, joe average home user does not usually do this, that's why the widespread security flaws are such an issue.

 

[number2]

Hands down, Mac OS is more intuitive than Windows, (set up and is used more logically-) and automatically runs and backgrounds maintenance, rather than popping up every five minutes asking you to schedule your own defrag and what have you... all while you are using the computer.

 

[icefan]

So I went and checked out the iMac at the Apple store today...what impressed me about it was the garageband software...I like that I can buy a new iMac + garageband (including instruments) for the same price as a new piano/keyboard. Is there some program like this for the PC, where I can buy a whole slew of new keyboard sounds/instruments and just plug in a midi keyboard?

 

[_AJ_]

the biggest thing for me is the price like i said before laptops are similarly priced with apple and others but desktop PC's are much cheaper

and since i am a competent user of windows quite secure and problem free

is the a program like windows blinds for MAC because i dont really like brushed aluminium that is on OSX

 

[Leidian]

is there a program like windows blinds for MAC because i dont really like brushed aluminium that is on OSX

Haha...I love WindowsBlinds. I make my PC look like a Mac...

 

[trawler69]

So I went and checked out the iMac at the Apple store today...what impressed me about it was the garageband software...I like that I can buy a new iMac + garageband (including instruments) for the same price as a new piano/keyboard. Is there some program like this for the PC, where I can buy a whole slew of new keyboard sounds/instruments and just plug in a midi keyboard?

The Evolution keyboards are good, the software they come with is not bad. I have Reason by Propellor Head which is superb and integrates with the keyboard. I am looking forward to trying out Garage Band, it sounds as if it may be good.

 

[Matt1809]

Apache (not Microsoft's IIS) is the dominant software in web servers, and yet it is not the victim of thousands of viruses and remote exploits.

Well thats a nice statistic to throw around but it doesnt hold much water. Mainly because most of the sites that are hosted on apache are crap sites that no one gives a shit about, like Geocities sites. The numbers are much dfferent if you look at...say...Fotrune 500 companies. Oh, and IIS 6 had no unpatched security issues acording to secunia, which is more then can be said for apache.

For example, one of the most common ways to infect a Windows PC is via some malware included in an email attachment. To acquire an infection via an email attachment in Linux, the user would have to open the email, then open the attachment. Then he would have to save the attachment under a different name and grant that file permission to run as an executable.

Not in vista, thanks to UAC.

I am no Mac fanboi, but *nix architectures (including OS X) are massively more secure than Vista, simply because their architectures were designed from the ground up with securty in mind. Vista was not, as it is a modification of the Win 2003 Server kernel.

Well I hate to break this to you, but Vista was designed with security in mind, because 2003 was designed with security in mind. Hence why 2003 has had so few security holes. In vista they have taken that security to a whole new level, and much of the code was rewritten for even more security.

As for the main question of this topic. I would go with Windows. Your going to get a diversity of software on the Windows platform you wont get on a mac without installing windows anyways. If you are looking for sound programs, I would suggest Acid Pro. And for video, the only thig Macs have that Windows dont is Final Cut Pro, which really isnt used professionally (it is sometimes), but not nearly as much as advanced tools from companies like Avid, Softimage, Discreet and so on.

 

[Lucas07]

Yes, get a mac. Trust me, you'll never look back.

 

[Matt1809]

Vista still uses a monolithic kernel in which data and programs cannot be isolated from each other.

Actually its a modified microkernel or hybrid kernel, and there is a difference. Processes are isolated from eachother, go and make a C++ program that tires to access memory outside its address space and it will fail.

Programs installed by non-Administrators are still permitted to modify the same registry and dlls which are shared by all users!

No they are not. In fact microsoft included a new technology that virtualizes registry and system files so users can use older programs without compatability issues are running them as administrators. The changes arnt actually commited to the actual files/registey, but are saved as seperate files for use only by that specific progam, thus preventing any issues.

Malware in Unix cannot damage the OS.

That is not true at all. There have been plenty of privilege escalation issues with Unix/Linux and any program that can use that can due significant damage to the OS.

But it remains one of the most vulnerable OSs to infection in common use today

This is completely inaccurate, its security is on par with ANY modern OS. And you posting those web clips mean nothing. Half of them were from competing security vendors and NONE described the testing scenario. What privilege were they running at? Did they disable or allow all UAC requests? Were they using IE in its default restricted user mode? When IE notified them that the site was not safe did they continue anyways or ingnore other warnings? Did they just install the software and see if it could be removed later? Those studies are bs and I think anyone who has a good understanding of windows and vista knows that.

And for the record I have been using windows since 3.1 and have NEVER gotten a virus or adware, and I never installed a virus scanner. I am actually using Vista right now without any virus scanner (windows defender is activated in the background by default which I left on, but thats for spyware).

 

[lonestar]

I would absolutely buy an iMac. You can use Mac OS X with the whole iLife Stuff for photos, videos and music, or you can install Bootcamp (or Paralles) and run Windows XP or Vista. As you prefer. It is like you get the best of both worlds.

And yes, AERO works perfectly on macs

 

[lonestar]

Try Windows Media Player for Mac from MS' site. It might work.

Believe me, Macs do crash! On my last PC Xp crashed like 5 times in 2 years. OS X crashed on my last iBook 15 times in the first week. Great, isn't it?

 

[hotatlboi]

Well thats a nice statistic to throw around but it doesnt hold much water. Mainly because most of the sites that are hosted on apache are crap sites that no one gives a shit about, like Geocities sites. The numbers are much dfferent if you look at...say...Fotrune 500 companies.

um.... no.

Apache is widely used on a great many enterprise systems hosting very mission critical websites.

Its market share is less than IIS among the fortune 500, but that's only in the US. It's global market share exceeds IIS in enterprise systems and in general.

some stats here: http://www.biznix.org/surveys/

 

[HoRNS-triGSnkeY]

I would go with Macs 100%. It comes with the best pre-installed software, and a rock solid OS that I have never had crash on me, and Ive used OSX for at least 5 years. It is a seemless computing experience and even if you must use one or two windows apps the install windows through parallels or bootcamp. If you want a computer that just works go with the Mac.

 

[Davelandia]

Once ya go Mac, you'll never go back.

 

[mattyboi_aus]

And for the record I have been using windows since 3.1 and have NEVER gotten a virus or adware, and I never installed a virus scanner. I am actually using Vista right now without any virus scanner (windows defender is activated in the background by default which I left on, but thats for spyware).

I have been a computer technician and network engineer for several years before joining the Australian Army, and you are one of the incredibly lucky ones. The amount of crap I have seen on people's computers, because they didn't update their anti virus software, OR not having one installed at all, I was amazed that Windows would still run.

The amount of viruses that I saw on machines that had the latest and up-to-date virus scanners, was enough to impair normal windows/system operations about 90% of the time. I'm not just talking spyware, I'm talking about real viruses.

Don't get me wrong, once it's setup properly, a Windows XP/2003 machine can be practically invincible. However, these invincible machines are seldomly set up correctly, and can usually only be found in large corporate data networks.

Vista is great, it has a lot of built in security features as well as a practically re-written kernel, it is incredibly strong. But in reality, this is nothing. Windows has so many vulnerable points, not just at the kernel level. The registry, the amount of services Windows calls to operate, Dynamic Link Library files - with the way Windows is put together, it is just asking for manipulation.

MacOS, based on its Unix core, is far more secure and stable than what Windows will ever be, until the Client Services Division (the guys that make Windows at Microsoft) decide to completely re-write the base system.

Pretty much, if you cut away all the NERD-ish stuff that I just said; Windows by itself is crap when compared to systems like MacOS X, Unix and a lot of Linux distributions (not all distro's are as secure and stable as others)

Just so you know, I've used Windows all my life of course until I bought my beautiful Apple MacBook Pro. I still use Windows and I will probably always continue too, but it is only for gaming and working on other peoples machines. I now use MacOS X for all of my own personal stuff.