Macs: better ease-of-use, security, bundled apps

Technology guru Walter Mossberg says that security issues are plagueing Windows-Based PCs, impairing their ease-of-use, but Macs may offer a viable alternative: "To be fair, Microsoft has made some contributions to ease of use in the past couple of years. ...But the company's dominant Internet Explorer Web browser has fallen way behind smaller rivals in features and functionality. Its free Outlook Express e-mail program hasn't had a major upgrade in years. And it won't have an all-new version of Windows until 2006. Meanwhile, the company's historic rival, Apple Computer, has been making giant strides in ease of use. The Macintosh, with its OS X operating system, is rock solid. It is elegant, and -- when you do a feature-by-feature price comparison with Windows competitors -- it's surprisingly affordable."

The article continues: "The Mac is also packed with extras that Windows lacks. It has a suite of easy, free, multimedia programs that can't be matched on Windows at any price. It has a better free browser and e-mail program than Windows. It can read and create PDF files without requiring the purchase of any extra software."

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