> It's not that they're smarter than everyone else, they just have more
> time to do actual work instead of dealing with security problems,
> assorted malware, plugging and praying, registry corruption...
Chris, let me start by saying that I'm hardly antipathetic toward the
Mac. I bought one of the very first PowerMacs back in '94, and used it
avidly for a couple of years. Anyone who enjoys using the Mac has, in my
opinion, plenty of reasons for it.
However, I frequently run into this comment from Mac enthusisiasts about
"malware" and "security problems" and "registry corruption," etc., and I
have to tell you that the vast majority - I'd go as far as to estimate
above 99% - of Windows users never experience these problems at all.
As far as security is concerned, that is and should be a worry of anyone
who uses a computer and exposes it to the online world. I have been a
"Linux hobbyist" for many years, and I can say for sure that it
continues to be a concern in that world. But the concerns are nearly
always "theoretical" in nature. In other words, they don't stem from
something that has happened, but from a discovery of the POTENTIAL for
bad stuff to happen.
To me, the advantage of a Mac over a PC is ease of use and elegant
design, not because "it works and the PC doesn't." The latter is
obviously untrue.
I will say that I have spent a couple of hours now looking at Vista, and
so far I think very little of it. If it weren't for the fact that MS
forces licensees to install Vista instead of XP in the default
configuration, I have a feeling no one would use it. But a lot of that
has to do with absence of any "gotta have it" functionality. They just
didn't really add any compelling new features to force me, and many
others, to WANT to upgrade.
In fact, I have to tell you that it has been years since most
Office-type applications have added anything that I find to be
compelling enough to force me to upgrade. I just got a copy of MS Office
2007, because the school system where my wife teaches makes MS software
available for next to nothing, but I haven't even bothered to try to
install it, even on an XP machine. From what I'm reading, there simply
isn't much there that is new, and a lot of things that have seemingly
been changed arbitrarily.
Bottom line: If you wan to evangelize the Mac, I'd stick to the things
that are more nearly true, and forget about the things that have very
little impact on the vast majority of users.
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