toggle

AAPL Stock: 433.26 ( 0 )

MacNN News

http://www.macnn.com/articles/01/11/02/c|net.chooses/

c|net chooses OS X over Windows XP

updated 03:30 pm EST, Fri November 2, 2001

", 0, 0);

c|net has posted an in-depth comparison of OS X 10.1 and Windows XP, naming OS X as the better operating system overall. Authors John Rizzo and Matt Lake say "Windows XP boasts a rounded, cartoonish interface that looks an awful lot like the liquid stylings of OS X, and its driver-free compatibility and ultraclean desktop smack of the Mac." The duo adds "While Mac OS X's Internet support is designed for the convenience of you, the user, Windows XP's Internet support is designed for the convenience of Microsoft or its assorted partner vendors."

by MacNN Staff

Post tools:

TAGS :

toggle

Comments

dannyloshak@hotmail.com

Joined:

0

11/02, 03:51pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
At last

I've only read a few paragraphs, but this is the sort of thing Apple needs.
The article sums itself up in the first few paras of the installation chapter.
Product activation bollocks

"And once the OS X setup program is complete, that's it. No CD key, no product activation; plus, OS X includes everything you need, from MP3 encoding software to full Java support. This OS gives you everything in minutes. And once you have OS X, it's yours. You won't be trapped under a license restriction that keeps you from installing your operating system on more than one computer.

geezer
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Sep 2001

0

11/02, 03:54pm | report spam | close Reply |
and, finally...

yes, finally... MacOS 10.1 is quite good, but that "official release" blew huge chunks...

\0

Joined:

0

11/02, 04:05pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
Well...

...yeah, I think it's great to see c|net award OSX with this (and I hope Apple links this from their web site), but the "Interface" section is just ridiculous. A landslide victory to XP in the interface department? Against a Mac for crying out loud? Give me a break.

kinggroupad
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: May 2001

0

11/02, 04:18pm | report spam | close Reply |
sucking up

I'm sure OSX would have won outright if CNET didn't need to suck up to M$. Check this out for another look at Xpee:

http://www.infoworld.com/articles/tc/xml/01/10/29/011029tcwinxp.xml

zkatz007
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: May 1999

0

11/02, 04:26pm | report spam | close Reply |
Nope!

It's actually a tie! They changed it. OSX had won, until some XP a-hole realized although with Mac OSX you can install on more than one machine, it was illegal, so they couldn't call it a feature.
So, basically, we still won. But it still stinks.

\0

Joined:

0

11/02, 04:26pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
EJECT

" It is not intuitive to drag a picture that represents the disc over to a picture that represents a trash can. "

The trash can changes to an eject icon when you select a removable media.

Elektrix
Dedicated MacNNer

Joined: Sep 2001

0

11/02, 04:27pm | report spam | close Reply |
Matt's Interface Comment

Did this Matt guy actually look at OS X 10.1, or is he just pulling old Mac arguements out of his butt?

Matt's comments:

You hit the nail on the head with this phrase about OS X's learning curve: "...for users who know the Mac." Here's the intuitive way to remove a removable disc from a computer: hit an eject button. It is not intuitive to drag a picture that represents the disc over to a picture that represents a trash can. For files, that action means destruction, but for media, in Apple-land, it means either release or CD/DVD burning. That convention may be familiar Mac territory, but it's not "easy."

====

My reply: When you touch a disc in the Finder, the trash icon turns to an eject Icon....it's very clear. And you can always use the eject button on the keyboard if you want.

=====

Matt's comments:

As for your digital-camera support and CD-R/RW burning...well, yep, XP has that, too. And when we stick a blank CD-R/RW into an XP machine, we don't get a picture of it lying lamely on the desktop; XP kicks up an autostart wizard that asks us what we want to do with it. Now that's interactivity.

====

My reply:

Again, did this guy actually use 10.1? When I insert a CD-R or CD-RW disc, it acts me how I want to format it, and then I can drag files to it directly and then when I grab the disc the Trash turns to a burn icon and I can burn it.

I think it was ridiculous awarding the interface point to XP, especially based on arguements that AREN'T EVEN TRUE.

\0

Joined:

0

11/02, 04:27pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
Harware Compatibility?

They award hardware compatibility to XP? What the heck is wrong here? One of the single largest reasons to use a Mac is because of hardare compatibility. Apple controls the hardware AND the software - they automatically have better hardware compatibility because they know about every possible hardware configuration?
Cnet screwed up on this one.

Joined:

0

11/02, 04:33pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
um, no

It was a tie.. mac os X didn't win...

\0

Joined:

0

11/02, 04:58pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
Idiots!

cnet changed the end result... because you're not supposed to install OS X on multiple macs? Pure BS. The lead was given to OS X before because of the price of ONE copy of OS X was considerably cheaper than ONE copy of XP.

This has really made me lose faith in cnet. AtAt reader may I be, but changing the result because of something that was not even the real reason...

Elektrix
Dedicated MacNNer

Joined: Sep 2001

0

11/02, 05:01pm | report spam | close Reply |
CNet Ties

I can't quite remember, but it seems like every time I read one of these goofy CNet head to head matchups, they ALWAYS seem to end in ties. I think c|net just lacks the guts to pick a winner and risk offending anyone.

\0

Joined:

0

11/02, 05:03pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
re: CNet Ties

No, other OS 'deathmatches' have resulted in one or the other winning.

\0

Joined:

0

11/02, 05:27pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
Who cares?

OS X is the winner in my book, and that's all that matters. I like XP -- it's infinitely superior to 9x and adds upon 2k, but I don't like it nearly as much as OS X 10.1. In the coming years, I somehow foresee OS X to improve by leaps and bounds...its roots are deep and its headroom is high -- wonderful growth potential, so long as Jobs and company work their magic.

As for XP, if it doesn't alter course, it teeters on becoming the big brother IBM never really transpired into becoming. Perhaps there will be a revolution...a revolt to come when the plebs awake to find that they live in a Microsoft world. Of course, I could be wrong; perhaps it won't be that bad. In any case, many Americans don't seem to care about and/or are oblivious to MS's actions as we apparently are oblivious to international affairs...until "it happens to us." We just want it cheap and fast and "good enough." This is the American way.

testudo
Forum Regular

Joined: Aug 2001

0

11/02, 06:07pm | report spam | close Reply |
Re: Eject

Matt's comments:

You hit the nail on the head with this phrase about OS X's learning curve: "...for users who know the Mac." Here's the intuitive way to remove a removable disc from a computer: hit an eject button. It is not intuitive to drag a picture that represents the disc over to a picture that represents a trash can.

Well, first off, I believe you can click on your disk, go up to the menu bar and choose "eject", or even command-E. Have been able to do this for years (I think it was in 8.5 they changed eject to eject and remove the image).

Secondly, how many idiotic PC users have ruined a CD, or a CD drive, or screwed up an install, or crashed windows, due to hitting the eject button while it was working? (going along on that, how many PC users have screwed up copying files to zip disks or floppies because the data wasn't finished writing to the disk before they rushed their way through). Even when apple had eject buttons on CD-ROMs, they were always smart enough not to eject anything in use or even mounted. By letting the OS control the ejection process, you prevent these kind of human errors.

testudo
Forum Regular

Joined: Aug 2001

0

11/02, 06:15pm | report spam | close Reply |
iTools/iDisk

I love how Matt tries to compare MS's incessant advertising for its own services with Apples. Apple offers up an iTools account when you boot up, which comes with an email and disk access. That's it. No offers to download digital pictures, or go to MS web sites (MS changed IE so it goes to an MS Search page if you type in an invalid address - how special). Although people argue it back and forth, its well known that hotmail accounts get tons of spam, even without ever giving out the email to anyone (of course, MS offers you the advantages of filtering it, but maybe they can explain how people get the address in the first place). The only ads I remember seeing in all of Apple's internet stuff was using Sherlock (hey, did you notice that XP has a similar service? Although no mention by Matt whether it was upgradeable with other plug-ins like sherlock).

And even though it is illegal to install the OS on more than one machine, doesn't Apple get any credit for not having product activation, so if you decide to MOVE it to another machine in your house, you don't have to call the support office and convince them that you're not trying to steal MS property.

Jokton
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Nov 1999

0

11/02, 06:17pm | report spam | close Reply |
Reeks

This reeks of behind the scenes manipulation. Why else would they change a story after its released? Obviously they are not unbiased journalists. I'm sure Bill gates or one of his lackeys flipped when seeing this review, and promptly called up CNET or Intel and grilled them a new one. I wish The Register or some other respectable organization would call CNET to the matt on this one,

Reeks

Reeks!

testudo
Forum Regular

Joined: Aug 2001

0

11/02, 06:21pm | report spam | close Reply |
iTunes vs. WMP

One other thing I'd like to know is who does MS use for its CD recognition service. It certainly isn't CDDB (maybe its the freeDB, or their own). All I know is earlier in the year I was ripping some CDs onto a PC laptop, and several CDs were horribly incorrect (OK, let me ask you this. If a CD has the phrase "16 songs" in the title, wouldn't you think that you'd get 16 track names. Nope, only 15. And the missing one was in the middle, not at the end, so half the tracks were wrongly named). Bad CD names, artists, track names, etc, etc, etc.

And then I didn't realize the stuff was ripping into WMF format until I was done. And then found out I couldn't transfer the files to my normal work PC (needed some rights file which I couldn't seem to get off the other machine). And when I finally figured out how to change it MP3, I was warned that it would make my music insecure (oh, the horrors!, someone might steal my music off my laptop!). And now XP doesn't even rip into MP3 format (Matt glossed over that one, huh).

testudo
Forum Regular

Joined: Aug 2001

0

11/02, 06:26pm | report spam | close Reply |
Where's the multitasking

Here's a good one. Programming on a Win 2000 machine, trying to get MS word to open a file, it refused (bad file format - that was my fault). But then Word started cycling like mad, and ended up chewing up over 1GB of memory (incl virtual) until I had none left, causing huge problems. Thing was, I couldn't even get the task manager to come up, other programs wouldn't respond. Had to shut it off to get it working again.

And for all those people complaining about the finder being slow. I don't know what the h*** 2000 is doing with the recycle bin, but throwing out a file or folder (small or large, one or many, it don't matter), takes at least 15 seconds for it to happen, and windows explorer is locked up for that whole time.

JH
Junior Member

Joined: Apr 2001

0

11/02, 06:56pm | report spam | close Reply |
Read the users ratings:

The last page urges people to read the seperate reviews of OS 10.1 and Win XP before making up your own mind - and the user ratings for each are very interesting;
10.1 gets a whopping great 97% approval rating, while XP has a 51% disapproval rating.
Nuff said....

berserkintosh
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jul 2003

0

11/02, 07:01pm | report spam | close Reply |
well

i like the fact that at least we get ties which everyone knows we won hands down, i dont have a problem with them saying wew tied, h*** theyve come this far from mac suks etc im happy with the result even if its for all the rong reasons.

also i noticed that peecee people really pride themselves on options and customization which they think the mac doesnt have because its so "easy" and must be "unintuitive". when the mac INTEGRATES options and doesnt lay them out for lemmings but i guess the cnet guy cant take a whole 5 minutes to see that but hey, "we know who won" at least its not the bullsh!t from years ago where windoze would win by 3 or 5 points. theyve come along way and i think future versions of X might make some see the "light".

b e r s e r k

\0

Joined:

0

11/02, 07:02pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
re: Users Ratings

Interesting. ;)

Joined:

0

11/02, 08:27pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
Cnet Reversal

Well this is just typical Cnet biased posturing. They can't even stick to their own guns. What a crock. I'm sure they would say " you are a Macuser. Of course you're upset about the reversal. Well the fact remains they made their decision once and that's on record ( just like MS was found guilty once and that's on record ). But, this reversal bussiness is not only childish ( kind of like something they would do in a grade school contest ) it's unprofessional! Geez Cnet, you guys are so transparent.

Thendar
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jun 2001

0

11/02, 08:49pm | report spam | close Reply |
re:Harware Compatibility?

"They award hardware compatibility to XP? What the heck is wrong here? One of the single largest reasons to use a Mac is because of hardare compatibility. Apple controls the hardware AND the software - they automatically have better hardware compatibility because they know about every possible hardware configuration?
Cnet screwed up on this one."

Apple may control the hardware inside. But what about third party hardware like my HP Scanjet 6300cse that worked fine in OS9 but not in OSX? Or how about my Formac Studio that also won't work in OSX?

Joined:

0

11/05, 02:05am | report spam | close Reply | delete
CNet chickened out

First they give OS X the win, then they say it was a tie.

Who else thinks that scores of Windows fanboys howled in outrage and sent thousands of hate emails to CNet, who then promptly buckled?

Sad.

schlacht

Joined:

0

11/05, 02:31pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
c|net == typical media

that is the way of media, you cannot expect a non-bias presentation of the truth from mainstream media. i say take their advice and check out the OS yourself.

problem is, the mac dept at compUSA and Frys is about as organized as a trailer trash yard sale. and sales reps are all win32 whores.

Joined:

0

11/27, 04:32pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
a thought...

Here's a thought: M$-whores C|Net state in the opening that OS X BEAT winblows 2k in a previous article. And everyone I know (and I would bet C|Net as well - I'm pretty sure I saw at least one article to this effect) would say that 2k is BETTER than XP. So my question is this - if OS X is better than 2k, and 2k is better than XP, isn't it simple deduction to conclude that OS X is better than XP?

I'm with the rest of you guys - we know we won this one, and its funny to watch C|Net squirm so as not to offend M$.

Xodus

Joined:

0

12/05, 12:01am | report spam | close Reply | delete
heh

What did you expect? I'm sure John is the only mac user there. And I know u guys know how it feels 1 mac user vs 10+ PC users. they ALWAYS win, because if it comes down to it, they can make s*** up and back eachother up! (which is what I'm sure they did)

Personally, I think the first results made Matt cry, so C|Net changed the results just so he'd stop with the temper tantrum.

You know how emotional thoes poor lil PieceofCrap users get when they get smacked up the side of the head by reality.

-Xidius

punkshox

Joined:

0

01/03, 10:05pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
Ejecting CD's in 10.1

From my personal experience, with 10.1 and later OS X ejects any removable media present with the Eject key or the F12 key on all others. Just a comment...

dsias

Joined:

0

01/29, 01:21am | report spam | close Reply | delete
MacOS X is the shindig!!!

Apple also released source code for the base system (Darwin - http://www.apple.com/darwin/) for both the PowerPC and Intel Platforms. It is only a matter of time before the aqua interface is ported for the intel platform (by Apple or others). Many end users may not ever use the source code, but to any business owner, or IT department this brings many advantages to basing all software development on the open MacOS X (Darwin). The stability of MacOSX (see note below (1)) with the release of Microsoft Office open source replacements (www.staroffice.com) from Sun.com ported to MacOSX (http://porting.openoffice.org), and all the unix code that can be used in the BSD layer many times with no modifications. For Servers Darwin is free and can run on any old windows box. Software update is user selectable on MacOSX. Windows interrupts any application with an install reminder box that can only be dismissed for 24 hours. I would like to patent the never ever for any reason, ever, I mean ever show me this dialog again - button:) and give it to Microsoft.

MacOSX is hands down a 'NO BRAINER'.

----
(1) Windows Internet Explore has memory problems after openning just 8 windows. After the 8th window even parts of the ie interface won't draw. (System Configuration: Sony RX490 P4-1.7 512 MB RDRAM 120 MB HD, $2800.00. With MacOSX there are no problems with even several hundred ie windows open. System Configuration: G4-450 512 MB SDRAM, 80 GB HD, $1400.00
- The point being if you are basing software development on a web interface MacOSX is far more stable. I have to restart windows at least once a week. I have not restarted MacOS X 10.1.2 since I installed it.

dsias

Joined:

0

01/29, 01:54am | report spam | close Reply | delete
Open Force

Windows has bigger problems comming. With open source project replacements for many of Microsoft's products. Many of these projects work on several platforms including MacOSX. In many cases the end user receives a better product, features, support and can save hundreds of $$$ per application. I'm almost sure Windows users like to save money too.

---
Use the open force, Luke

Show More Comments

Login Here

toggle

Network Headlines

05/17	Mozilla delays plans to block third...
05/17	Yahoo schedules press event for May...
05/17	MacBook Air stock beginning to evaporate...
05/17	'iRadio' announcement may miss WWDC...
05/17	Apple devices officially OK'd for secure...

Show All

05/19	Mini review: Samsung Galaxy S4 with...
05/17	Mozilla delays plans to block third...
05/17	Yahoo schedules press event for May...
05/17	'iRadio' announcement may miss WWDC...
05/17	Apple devices officially OK'd for secure...

Show All

toggle

c|net chooses OS X over Windows XP

updated 03:30 pm EST, Fri November 2, 2001

Related Articles

Recent Articles

At last

and, finally...

Well...

sucking up

Nope!

EJECT

Matt's Interface Comment

Harware Compatibility?

um, no

Idiots!

CNet Ties

re: CNet Ties

Who cares?

Re: Eject

iTools/iDisk

Reeks

iTunes vs. WMP

Where's the multitasking

Read the users ratings:

well

re: Users Ratings

Cnet Reversal

re:Harware Compatibility?

CNet chickened out

c|net == typical media

a thought...

heh

Ejecting CD's in 10.1

MacOS X is the shindig!!!

Open Force

Login Here

Register for our weekly email newsletter:

Connect tools:

Subscribe

to our RSS

Follow us

on Twitter

Most Read

10 Most Discussed

MacNN Marketplace