at the time of the PPC Macs, I'd never have thought of switching, but I did eventually switch two years ago and never regretted it. I've started using PCs in the time right before Windows 95, so I got to live through the autoexec.bat/config.sys hell when every game more or less needed more or less editing of those. Got to install WfW a hundred times and then went through Windows 95, 98, 98SE, ME, 2k, XP, (skipped Vista) and eventually ran W7 not too long before getting a Mac. Best computer decision ever 😀 (even better than switching from Windows ME to W2k 😀).

It is actually shocking in retrospect that the world sort of ran on Windows 2/3 for years. System 6/7 were definitely better than DOS/Win2/3.

Now that you mention it... yes, it is shocking 😀

swaaye wrote:

OSX is just a super refined but now proprietary BSD.

The serious bits of the OS are open source, such as XNU and Grand Central Dispatch.

http://opensource.apple.com/

User interface stuff like Aqua, Finder, iTunes, etc are closed source, but Apple spend millions on R&D to create that "experience", so they're right to protect that IP I reckon. The interesting bits of their OS are open to the world, which is more than one can say for Windows! 😉

That said, my whole home network is Windows based, save for my Linux based firewall router machine. I don't think I could use a Mac as my main machine right now, simply due to the software I use.

swaaye wrote:

It is actually shocking in retrospect that the world sort of ran on Windows 2/3 for years. System 6/7 were definitely better than DOS/Win2/3.

They were more into mutliplayer then as well. Netrek and Bolo anyone?

SquallStrife wrote:

The interesting bits of their OS are open to the world, which is more than one can say for Windows! 😉

It's an interesting question as to whether proprietary OSX is safer for Apple than wide open source. Android is very open even though Google is pumping big money into it but will that stay? It's very cool how I can go out and pick from various customized Android distributions for my Nook Color or original Droid phone. 😀

I think there's definite potential for Google to benefit from this because you never know if some group will come up with an amazingly innovative idea with that open code.

swaaye wrote:

They were innovative certainly. But I think it gets a little out of hand at some of the fanboy sites... 😉 I think they were most interesting when they had unique hardware but now they are just Intel boxes. OSX is just a super refined but now proprietary BSD.

I would go Linux PC before Mac. I just don't dig the Mac aesthetic and I know that's a big part of the appeal for the fans. But there's no denying that they are quality computers and they get the job done.

That's what bothers me most (aside from the fanboy wars) about Mac I think. At least back then they were unique,(almost) completely seperate from PC compatibility. You can't really directly compare a vintage Mac with a vintage IBM compatible PC... apples to oranges (no pun intended). But yeah, if I suddenly decided to get a machine that isn't compatible with most of my software and hardware (and yes I have tried various compatibility devices with several different OSs and found most of them couldn't hold a candle to their own claims), then I'd go with a free OS that can be run on anything from a TI 83 on up to a supercomputer (Linux, unless you didn't already figure it out). Well, I guess I could complain about a lot of different things about a lot of different computers, but we're here to enjoy what we can from them and improve where possible IMHO.

nice thread i kinda like to have a top of the line ibook g4 those are at least better than my current laptop. Really i'd like dual core a dedicated gfx card or chipset and windows 7 then i could just vm win 98.