Microsoft says "fuck it, we're going Mac"

[Righ]

Mac zealots can't be swayed, but the people adept at more than burning through company funds on overpriced and underperforming hardware has seen the light.

Marginally less money on hardware, hurrah! More money on certified Windows experts, retraining, support, software, restaffing, etc. BTDT. IT in most companies tends to be the corporate equivalent of onanism, and is entirely self serving. If you're already supporting a host of expensive Windows systems, moving DTP systems to Windows is probably not a critical failure.

If you are using Windows systems in a recording studio, you're throwing good money after bad and compromising your ability to attract the best creative talent. However, these decisions often come down to who the most empowered people in a company are - the IT bigots, or the content creators.

You are expected to be Windows zealots.

[Hanzii]

I was just responding to this elitist beret-wearing Mac zealot crap:

This is a games site full of youthful people who steal software. You are expected to be Windows zealots.

I work in publishing. InDesign is superior to Quark. Winboxes run InDesign better than Macs and are cheaper to buy and upgrade. The switch is good business sense - I'm sure there's still plenty of places were the Mac is superior (like what Lum uses his for), but your patronizing generalization was just stupid and needed to be called that.

And to use the obligatory anecdotal evidence. I don't know whether it's the hardware, the company or just the morons drawn towards it - but I've never met so many unflexible people downright bad at their job as the (socalled) support people working the 2 It departments in the companies running Macs, I've worked. Just getting rid of them is good business sense.
I cannot help thee with that... I'm sure there a job for these assholes in the mmog industry.

[Llava]

BTW, my girlfriend's into graphic design.  She uses both quite frequently.  And daily I hear her saying how pretty the Mac is, but what a piece of shit it is.  There are trained professionals without bias who prefer Windows.  Quite a few, in fact.

[Merusk]

And now from a 3rd perspective.   Cad programs on Linux?  Never heard of 'em, but if their output files aren't compatable with the one program that holds a 90% marketshare in the drafting world, AutoCAD, then you're fucked.  (In fact, a quick google shows me that the few programs that are out there are so underfeatured and underdeveloped that they are comparable -at best- to programs I used 11 years ago.)

Oh, 3d design/ drafting in the building industry?  Again, never heard of a single one for Linux.  There's a few for both Mac and Windows and the version that was written for Macs runs a LOT better in the Windows version.  Two-or-more-button drafting & keyboard is far and away a better option than single button & keyboard. 

Then again, among techhies zealotry is 3-flavored, so you've hung your flag quite prominently, Righ.  There's no one 'best overall' OS for "serious business" or otherwise.  (Oh right.. the 1.1 trillion the Construction industry did in 2000 is 'small time').  Those who loudly shout that there is are jsut narrow-minded twats of a different color.

[Sairon]

I've never had a reason to switch from windows to anything else. I installed red hat a couple of years ago and played around with it then asked my self. Right, so what can I do now that I couldn't do before? Answer was nothing, I only lost options + a truckload of time. There's a good saying which I'm sure a lot of you have heard, linux is only free if your time is free. Also I know that a large portion of the users who bash windows in favor for something else are jerk offs who wants to feel a little bit special. I can give *nix they're powerful sollutions for servers, but for anything else windows is better. Call me narrow-minded but prove me wrong first.

[Pococurante]

I was just responding to this elitist beret-wearing Mac zealot crap:

A good friend of mine is an engineer with NASA responsible in no small part of the programming of the escape pod simulators and now currently involved in the next generation of "shuttle".  He's a Mac bigot to a tee.  It's amusing to hear him rave about Windows' shortcomings and why Macs/Linux are superior.  His last tantrum was because his division shut down their Mac support much as you're describing.  If you can actually get him to specifics he'll admit much the same issues you and other folks cite with Mac techies and the product itself.

But it matters not since Microsoft is evi and the world are sheep eating from its hand (these are his words - I'm not exagerating them).  Nothing I love more than a government employee sucking off the tit of the taxpayer who complains about Big Evil Corporations.  He's also a very conservative Republican - who says genius is consistent.  He's a brilliant guy and I really enjoy his company - as long as we avoid certain issues... ;)

[Sky]

Oh fuck.

Get this to the Den, stat!

Unless you want to argue Ford vs Chevy next?

[Lum]

I can't see messages in the Den, so where would I get support questions about my new iBook answered?  :-D

And yeah.  I'm platform agnostic. I learned programming on a Macintosh using Pascal and those huge System books (I think it was System 5 back then, if you want to carbon-date me.) I game on Windows. I wouldn't install a server on anything but Unix. I think my new Mac word processor is spiffy. I love Japanese RPGs on consoles.

I think the term for this is "sleeping around".

[HaemishM]

Some people call that having an "Open Mind." I realize in the US today, that's the same as being a 'dirty red pinko Commie bastard' but hey, whatever burns your country down in a flaming pile of shit, right?

Every platform has a use, every platform has its benefits and drawbacks. It's a goddam tool, not a fucking holy tablet from the heavens. Use it for what it does, leave the rest of the shit to ragheads with dynamite strapped to their chests screaming obscenties at followers of the other invisible fucker in the sky.

Or be a platform fag and go hang out with the useless beret wearing pigfuckers who refuse to do their job on anything but a particular set of hardware and claim its shit don't stink despite all evidence to the contrary.

[Surlyboi]

Dirty red pinko Commie bastards for the muthafuckin' win.

[Soukyan]

I learned programming on a Macintosh using Pascal and those huge System books (I think it was System 5 back then, if you want to carbon-date me.)

Small world. Same here. Just not the same area of the world though. Not only that, but I too bought a Powerbook this year and use it for most of the day-to-day tasks. Quite the handy little toy and I really enjoy the feel of the keyboard so I use it for all of my writing. All of my unpublished, non-royalty earning writings. ;)

[Sky]

To me, the more platforms, the better. I started on some ancient mainframe, not even sure the OS (because I was 5 years old in 1975). Learned to program on a TRS-80, then C64. In music school, we used macs, not even sure the OS version (1990-1). Played lots of games on pcs, still have an XP machine for gaming. Love my OSX machines at work, the xserve is great. Don't really have time to mess around with Linux, but not against it in any way.

Yeah, open mind is the only path to walk.

One of my greatest achievements here has been dissolving my supervisor's mac zealotry. We still love macs, but he isn't the ignorant windows hater he used to be. He now sees all pcs as pcs, including macs. His mac usage is now a preference, not a crusade. That's all I ask.

Of course, it was easier to be a hater when we were dealing with the earlier OS versions, which all sucked imo. Win95? OS7? Garbage. WinXP and OSX are both damned fine OSes imo, especially as they work great together, so now people can just use whatever they are most comfortable with, which is the most important thing.

As I said earlier, my next 'pc' at home will most likely be a powerbook, because I'm gaming less and doing music more. And they're sweet.

[OcellotJenkins]

Give me an XML based scriptable UI for cripes sake so I can customize it to my liking.  I'd wager Microsoft has kicked that idea around for years but stears clear of implementing it because they want their desktop to have a standard, recognizable feel to it...with the start button and logos and all.  It really is ridiculous that in 2005 we have to resort to craptastic 3rd party theme engines that make Windows run slow as shit just to change colors.  I, too, feel that Windows XP is a good operating system, at least relative to what else is available...but geez the UI is stale.  I'm sure Vista will change significantly over the next year, but the beta version I'm testing right now does not bring any significant new customization features to the table, sadly.

[Alkiera]

Give me an XML based scriptable UI for cripes sake so I can customize it to my liking.  I'd wager Microsoft has kicked that idea around for years but stears clear of implementing it because they want their desktop to have a standard, recognizable feel to it...with the start button and logos and all.  It really is ridiculous that in 2005 we have to resort to craptastic 3rd party theme engines that make Windows run slow as shit just to change colors.  I, too, feel that Windows XP is a good operating system, at least relative to what else is available...but geez the UI is stale.  I'm sure Vista will change significantly over the next year, but the beta version I'm testing right now does not bring any significant new customization features to the table, sadly.

I've only Very recently started running XP... but doesn't Chrome let you change the UI somewhat?  At least, the PlaySkool interface and the normal one are rather different looking.  And Chrome should be editable, color-wise, and ideally position-wise.

Alkiera