[luvduchovny]

I have to agree with most folks here. The writer of this piece has obviously never messed with a Windows machine longer than five minutes. Many of the things they tout either does exist already or you can find a nice shareware to do what this person wants. Webserver = IIS which is on Windows you only have to install in add/remove programs and activate it. Screensharing? Hello Remote Desktop. And obviously this person has never tried to completely delete an application on a mac. Just dragging the application file into the trash ISN'T enough... there are other files ghosting in Library, (User->Library), and a few other places. Just because you trash the main application doesn't mean you won't get an error file if you click something and there's enough hidden files of that app to throw an error message up.
Stickies? I hate those, but on Vista it is a gadget ready to be used. Or you can just get the 3m software.
Seriously, how did the editing staff at PCWorld let this gem slip you by?

[deviousoverdose]

Im gonna go ahead and post the obvious reason Microsoft has slowed down incorporating features that third parties like to develope; anti-trust, uncompetetive practices, and being sued or fined hundreds of millions of dollars. Somehow Apple is able to steer clear of the doing the same things Microsoft did.

[OlsonBW]

1) UNIX should be under the list of Desktop OSs that are POSIX compliant. Yes some people use UNIX as a desktop OS. The version I use happens to be build into a Mac but I have friends that use Solaris as their main desktop OS.
2) Mac applications are NOT one file. They are a package with a collection of "resource" files inside of that. Apple just shows it to you as one file. Also, there are "preference files" that are stored in ~usernamelibrary and library depending on the program and the information being stored within.
I FULLY, FULLY, FULLY agree that Microsoft's way of install applications is a piece of ###, especially the Registry which REALLY needs to go as of 50 years ago. That's the worst piece of bleep* on Windows computers.
3) I agree, the Taskbar is Windows is also horrible (1 out of 10 and I'm being kind) and the Dock in Mac OS X is absolutely fantastic (a 15 of out 10).

[canman77]

It seems like snAPPLE gave in a few macs and now now they HAVE to talk Windows down!!
The hole story is just for kids and there MAcs!! Most of the software listed is just junk in my eyes!!

Congrats PCwolrd to your most idiotic articel i have seen this year!!

[JMPieper]

I think I lol'd half dozen times reading this article.

Just goes to show once again, Mac's are computers for people who don't like computers

[OlsonBW]

No. It's for people that don't put up with bad operating systems like Windows that are insecure and have LOTS of work arounds that we don't have to put up with Macs and Mac programs.

[JMPieper]

lulz?

what happens when someone decides he wants to use your neat little chat feature to control someone's computer and delete valuable files or steal valuable info, like tax records that more and more ppl keep on their computer. Do Mac's have little pop-up messages that say "Congratulations you part of a lucky group that got hacked because Mac OS is so obssessed with putting down Windows we didn't bother to think about your computer security."

That would be a neat little "feature"

[SomeGuy1]

This article is horrible. Most of these arguments are just opinion and are debatable. I will however state elements of the article that are clearly incorrect:
- #4. Screen Sharing - This feature is included in Windows Messenger as "Remote Assistance" and also in XP's NetMeeting.
- #12. Automated Screen Shots - This feature is included in Vista and in XP Tablet Edition as the Snipping Tool.
- #18. Single file applications. Macs do not have single file applications. In fact, all of those .app's you see are actually directories that contain many files. The only thing special about them is that when you double click them in Finder, it executes one of the binaries in the directory.
- One last thing to mention is that none of those features are included with Linux. The KDE and Gnome desktop environments which are included in some Linux distributions do have some of those features. However, KDE and Gnome are not Linux. KDE and Gnome do not have to run on a Linux system.

[OlsonBW]

{quote}lulz?
what happens when someone decides he wants to use your neat little chat feature to control someone's computer and delete valuable files or steal valuable info, like tax records that more and more ppl keep on their computer. Do Mac's have little pop-up messages that say "Congratulations you part of a lucky group that got hacked because Mac OS is so obssessed with putting down Windows we didn't bother to think about your computer security."
That would be a neat little "feature"{quote}

What planet are you coming from? Someone has to click on YES to let someone control your computer. Anyone on ANY system that clicks on Yes to someone they don't know or trust deserves to have their data wiped out.

[JMPieper]

You know, you're right and I apologize. I obviously did not know what I was talking about.

I guess next time I'll have to do some research before I got spouting off statements that are not true.

Wow, I'm sure glad I didn't make that kind of mistake at my job, that would be terrible.

[Funny]

This is absolutely the most ignorant article that I have read on PCWorld.

"The very existence of add/remove programs means apps are bloated"? Are you a complete idiot?

"The apps on Mac are single file" Yes you are an idiot.

You are listing "missing features" that are mostly not needed or in fact overshadowed by a much better solution.



Mac is a good system once you get all of the "Ease of Use" stuff out of the way. Windows is a good system if you are not a complete idiot.

Comparing the "Ease of Use" on a mac, with windows is like comparing McDonalds Big Macs with a home grilled Hamburger. One comes in a shiney box, the other required some love to create. Guess which one tastes better? The Ease of Use side of Mac simply assumes that you are an idiot.

[deviousoverdose]

If Microsoft did have all of those features we would be reading an article about how Microsoft stifles the competition and creates an environment suitable to their dominance.

[smethead]

tuneslover said:

windows has alternatives plus a lots of 'supported software!' actually u tried to compare windows with mac. if i do the same for mac, i can find out 180 features MAC or linux should have.

Actually, why don't you? I mean, I'd like to know what great features you can think of that Windows has that an other OS should have.
I also think many people didn't read the article quite good. It's about built-in features. Yeah, most of the features in the article can be added to Windows using third-party software, but that isn't BUILT-IN.
What's with supported software? I can do everything I want on my Mac that I could on Windows. I can even open/edit Access databases while there isn't even an Access version for Mac. There is a lot of alternative software for Mac for every piece of software made for Windows.
I use both Windows and Mac for school and at home, so don't start calling me fanboy or whatever. I hate the stupid flamewars about that.
11 of the 18 things described for being on Mac are things I really use. + when I am working on Windows I really miss the Expose, Dock and Spaces features. So you can't say that the general public won't use them. They're very handy once you get used to them.

[Runningflame570]

If you had taken a few minutes to check you would have seen that your bit about screenshots is available on Linux and easier to use as well. just press PrntScreen and save it where you want, at least thats the case with Gnome, though KDE has it's own utility I haven't tried it out to see how it compares.

[tuneslover]

Ya. i can

DirectX

Internet Explorer

Windows Media technology etc



Lolz lets make a joke.

Mac needs(PCworld compared in this way)

Start Menu

My Computer

QuickLaunch Bar



hahahahahhah

[Runningflame570]

SomeGuy1: One last thing to
mention is that none of those features are included with Linux. The KDE
and Gnome desktop environments which are included in some Linux
distributions do have some of those features. However, KDE and Gnome
are not Linux. KDE and Gnome do not have to run on a Linux system.
-----
Every single major distribution is using Gnome or KDE at this point,
you can use XFCE, Fluxbox, Enlightenment, or whatever but guess what?
That is up to you, there are some distrobutions that use each of those
but virtually none of them are particularly well-known much less widely
used. To say that none of these are included in Linux is technically
correct but intellectually dishonest, Linux is the kernel none of the
userspace stuff is Linux thats GNU, X11 and everything else. Essentially you are arguing that Mach or the NT Kernel can't do any of that stuff, really freaking brilliant there.

[smurfman]

This is a good basic list showing users a general ideal of the benefits of other OS's. I especially like the last, "Single File Applications" since I have mentioned this to Window's-only users (or Mac newbies) on numerous accounts to their reply of "That's how Mac programs really work?", or "I don't understand how that's possible!" or "you mean I don't run an install/uninstall program?!? How am I sure it's uninstalled if I just drag the application to the trash??".
Great article... To all those showing links to this and that freebie software... you're proving the argument of this article. Who the heck wants to have all these hacked capabilities from multiple developers?!? Time wasted and seamless integration and efficiencies of Mac OS X (and Linux to some degree) just can't be reproduced on Windows (which is already a fairly hacked application in and of itself)! LOL!

[Pooch]

Olson: Opinion, opinion and more opinion. By the way, why do you have to get so nasty?

[alterego0101]

For all of the posters screaming poor ms going to get sued if they shiped the os with extra features. You do not understand. ms did not get sued because they shiped their os with ie, They got sued for tieing ie with the os in a way that it does not respect the end user choice of the default interned browser. Any os maker are pretty much free to ship the os with user applications that they had developed or impleminting what ever features they want to add in.


And what is wrong with you people you are almost blaming apple for making high quality software!


And please do not forget that the article is about what features that windows missing not who got the feature set. Mac, Linux or both it doesn't matter.

[smurfman]

Do you use both Windows AND Mac on a regular basis?!? Sounds as though you do not. I use both regularly in an enterprise environment as well as at home and have a very good grasp of the strengths and weaknesses of both.

This article is a synopsis of the bigger picture. Windows is a "hacked" system, with 20+ year legacy code, inconsistent interface design and general inefficiencies and degrading issues. If you have not used the Mac on a regular basis (at home or at work) you have no right to make the comments you're making. I hated the Mac at first until about 2 weeks into using the machine. Around the 2 week timeframe a light clicked on and I've been amazed at the intuitiveness and attention to detail of the Mac OS ever since. Give it a chance and I think you may agree.