I don't have time to read the entire thread
Here's my take on both
Both are good. Both have problems, both require that the user has a f'n clue how to use them which is 90% of the problem with people bitching about either crashing. But both require different ways of thinking as they have different approaches as to how an OS should operate.
Many know I work at a university in the IT dept. We support a variety of OS's and MAC/PC being two of them.
Anyone that even considers MAC to be so much more stable then PC's is living in LA LA land and needs to pull their heads out of their asses. They can crash, they do crash, they do have issues like PC's, they do have Virus's and they can be just as frustrating to use( acually more at times). Mac's do have a leg up on one area and that is quality control. But if something dies in them...throw them out, it's gone.
Most PC's are clones. MAC's are designed and built from the bottom up both hardware and software by APPLE to some degree. Any company that does this will have better quality control. Each G5 Imac etc will have an OS designed around it to insure certain drivers issues or other issues aren't well.....an issue. Problem is, this is talking in a "ideal world" and MAC's still do have "issues". I see it all the time.
Now Windows/PC have a leg up on MAC's too. Windows has been from day one to be designed with as much compatibility with as much hardware as possible.
This is where MAC is about to get b**** slapped. First, they are moving to INTEL PC's because it has been known for years now that Intel based chips are just as good and sometimes better then RISC based chips for most situations. MAC has been riding on an old way of thinking from the 80's that they were better for graphic applications. While this was indeed true 20 years ago, times have changed. What MAC has had though are programs like photoshop and final cut that are quite good at what they do.
MAC is also about to move into Clones as well. Now, Windows has...well....I don't know... a 20+ year head start on OSX with hardware? This is where things will get very difficult for APPLE. All of a sudden, quality control is gone. Honestly, i think you are about to see a major change in Apple and MAC, and it's not going to be for the good, at least not for the apple heads of the world.
Of course it'll always be more safer to use as long as it's only selling 4 million computers a year vs 150 million Windows based machines. Who would you write a virus for?
Windows XP is one of the most stable OS's for the desktop I have ever used and I've been at this now for +25 ears. Windows VISTA is about to come out, and I what I have seen of it so far it looks very promising. Out of all of the OS's we have had on our network over the years, Windows XP gives us the least trouble. Again, it requires that the user has a f'n clue You go to a lot of porn sites, expect spyware. You open jokes daily via email without using your brain...expect a virus. All it takes is a little common sense, and you can have a reliable PC
My XP machine has been running now since I built it a little over a year ago, no crashes, no freezes, no need to reformat, no virus's etc. The one before that was the same way. I have a Windows server in my house that been going for years trouble free. Buy quality components, use common sense, that is all it takes.
the problem is us. It is much easier for us to b**** and complain about windows this, MAC that then it is to accept the fact that WE **** things up. That WE dont' know what WE are doing. Lets blame the machine, because god forbid WE did anything wrong to cause either os to crash.
