If you read the paper yesterday, you know that Ball State University students can download the full top-of-the-line version of Vista, Microsoft's new OS, for free. I'm going to download it. Why? Because I'll be getting a $400 OS and software suite for free. I think it's a great deal.
Insert howls of derision from Mac users here.
Follow this with me blowing raspberries at the Mac users.
I've used both Macs and PCs for lots of things since I've been at college. In fact, as long as I've been computer literate, I've been able and willing to use both systems. I use Macs in my journalism classes and when I'm at work. They're excellent machines for graphics, movies and audio work (as the commercials remind us daily).
But aside from that...there's not much else they can do.
I've never liked that I can hardly do anything on a Mac without using the mouse. I'm a touch typist, so my hands prefer to stay on the keyboard as much as possible. On a Mac (like the one I'm using to write this column), I can use the keyboard to perform about twenty different functions, most of which still involve the mouse in some capacity.
On my trusty little Toshiba (which runs Windows), the number of keyboard functions is limited only by the number of menu options in each program. I simply press Alt to highlight the toolbar, then navigate through with the arrow keys until I find what I want. Easy-peasy.
Granted, most Mac programs have keyboard shortcuts for most of their menu options. But do they really expect me to remember every single combination? When I'm on a roll and I want to change my font, I don't want to have to stop what I'm doing and look up the "shortcut." I might as well just do everything with the mouse.
Of course, there's always the question of reliability. Windows 95 and 98 made the "blue screen of death" famous, and PCs are notorious for crashing, eating files, deleting data, etc. Macs, on the other hand, have the reputation of an armored car.
Except in five years, I've lost more files to Macs than to PCs. I've owned two Windows machines since I came to college, and in all that time I have yet to see a single blue screen of death. Sure, I get a few security problems every now and then, but that's why God made Norton AntiVirus. PCs get spyware because the world runs on Windows. The only reason Macs don't get viruses is because no one's bothered to port the viruses over. The ratio of time spent vs. computers infected is just too lousy. It's hard to deny hackers are a practical bunch.
Macs sell themselves as the computer for cool, sophisticated hipsters. PC users, if the commercials are accurate, are a bunch of dumpy businessmen in plain suits. But what the commercials don't show is that when the Mac guy's trust fund runs out in a few years, he's going to be flipping burgers because you can't base a career on the strength of your iLife portfolio. Meanwhile, the PC guy will be sitting pretty in his condo in the Bahamas, sipping a daiquiri and watching his stocks mature. Turns out those boring spreadsheets were useful for something after all, huh?
Macs may be pretty, but like I said: The world runs on Windows.
Write to Joanna at jllees@bsu.edu
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