Take the No Windows-Booting Pledge
Mac users have a lot of strange habits. We are known to have rituals when we unpack our latest machines. We will argue passionatelyabout the virtue of one menu bar item (over whether even using menu bar items is mac like) over another for hours on end. And yes, we will even create websites dedicated to discussing the minutia of the Apple experience.
But perhaps the biggest way that we define ourselves is in what we are not (Beeblebrox, affectionally, is not included in this generalization). We are not Windows users. Adamantly NOT. Everything that Windows represents, bloat-ware, an inconsistent user experience, an unrefined UI is what we Mac users are not.
Which is why the latest obsession to hit the Mac community is one that I find so odd. That being booting Windows natively. I am writing this from a brand new MacBook Pro (just got it today, in fact). It, so far, appears to be a beautiful machine. The screen is bright as heck, the processor is zippy. OS X runs beautifully within its dual core Intel framework.
And yet so many people out there want to boot Windows on this machine? Why oh why, I ask. I can understand, even respect the hackers who want to do it out there to see if it can be done. But the fact that this seems to be so popular (there are sites, wikis, forums dedicated to just this one task) seems to me to bode ill for the Mac experience.
If OS X is so darn freakin’ good why do people want Windows on their Mac. Buy a Dell, at least its ugliness will match the ugliness of Windows. Virtual PC was already enough of a weird thing, but booting Windows on a Mac? Sacrilege, I say.
Sure, I can hear already all the good responses. Like there is the real estate program I want to be able to run that is Windows only, or, look at all the cool games on Windows. But these arguments will lead to a further undermining of the Mac platform. Developers will just think, hey, if a Mac person wants it they can just dual-boot so screw the Mac platform. Not good.
So, everyone out there who is reading this I want you to take the Apple Matters pledge of allegiance to the Mac platform. Pledge that you won’t even think about trying to dual-boot your mac, now and forever. Amen.
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Dumped Microsoft Windows since I do not know when. I will not dual-boot since it is such as pain in the you-know-what - been doing that with Linux and Windows before.
Anyway, a Mac and Linux user here so I pledge that I will not dual-boot Windows XP on any Mac hardware. However, if virtualization allows it, I will still NOT install Windows but instead install Solaris 10 and/or Linux. :D
Beeblebrox, the market is not smart enough to separate the Mac users who run Mac OS X and the Windows users who run Windows on their Mac hardware.
Marketshare is determined by sales, and as long as OEM Windows purchases are included, then Boot Camp helps Microsoft. For one thing, Microsoft makes more money from OEM sales than they do pre-installs. And for another, it benefits their marketshare.
Pledge my butt! The experiences I’ve been having lately, the only pledge I’d be making is to shove my iPod up Apple’s collective butt.
Anyone else had the prob where iTunes wipes their photo library from their iPod when they connect it to a different Mac?
Oh and that’s just the beginning…
Half a day ago, I was ready to switch back!
Anyone else had the prob where iTunes wipes their photo library from their iPod when they connect it to a different Mac?
I thought it did that with songs too.
Every Intel-owning Mac user should pledge to INSTALL Boot Camp, so that when the next Windows dweeb comes up to them and say, “Well, the Mac can’t run….” you just hit Restart, hold down the option key, and sit back.
Btw, this kind of inane stupidity is why I do not feel the least bit bad about calling out brainless regurgitating robotic Macdroids for what they are.
Had to squeeze that in there somewhere.
Stupid reasoning. Dual Boot increases margin share far faster. As market share increases so will demand/appeal that programs be made natively for the Mac. People will want to use OS X if at all possible. Duh.
Mac users usually switch as a result of the frustration of the faulty Windows OS. Just because Windows is now on an Apple doesn’t mean your not going to have the same issues that caused you to switch before. Bootcamp is not an emulator…I forsee frustration and regret! I’ll take the pledge.
I’ll go you one better. I spent part of a recent lump sum on a PowerMac Dual G5 and 23” Cinema display—close enough to my “dream machine” I’ve always wanted. I’ve been using a vastly-upgraded original Sawtooth all this time (it won’t support the Dual-G4 kits, only single G4 upgrades, that’s how old it is).
It looks like it’ll be my last Apple machines period.
I’ve said on other fora (yes I’m the same SciFi dude) that Apple has become simply another clone-maker now. The motherboards and chipsets etc. are made by/for/at Intel the company. Nothing is solely Apple-designed—parts that actually matter—nothing “special”—anymore.
Once a software or hardware exploit is invented for Intel’s EFI / BIOS / CPU chips etc., there will be nothing native to keep it from infecting the MacTels. Apple is now swimming in the same pool that other companies are in, in this regard.
Some ppl talk about a “wall” between XP/NTFS partitions and OSX. Bull—it is still the same physical drive and set of cables and wires and chips. An exploit is designed to get around such meagre hurdles.
OSX/x86 is common enough code with XP that an exploit will know how to patch OSX modules and start spreading like wildfire no matter which system is booted-up.
Apple lost a wonderful partner with IBM. They should’ve worked together better.
I’m so down with this “switch” that I will try writing a snail-mailed letter to Apple’s Board of Directors to convince them to continue making and supporting PPC-based machines. It is more than just the worries about viruses etc.—it is about technical issues, too, such as Endianness (I *need* a big-endian platform for what I do). Supporting two platforms that are designed in-house can be done, if they really want to listen to some of their paying customers and not lose the still-majority out there. Other companies support more than one platform like this; Apple can do it if they really care about these worries some of us have.
Apple should be concentrating on their own pledge and promise to make OSX run Linux apps better—n.b. run Linux apps *in* OSX. That means supporting the open / free projects going on everywhere. This BootCamp stuff is like stabs in the backs of all such projects. Soon enough, developers everywhere will tell you to run their app under XP and forget OSX altogether, and especially forget us PPC ppl.
I’m the one who coined the term “PPC Marginalisation” many months ago, btw. There won’t be such a thing as “Mac Marginalisation” when MacTels can run XP apps. Do you see what I’m trying to say here?
I’m not going to sway from my educated opinion—I’ve worked on so many different computers over the last 35 years, yes even “before PCs” (guess what I’m talking about)—this is a deep-down gut feeling of the kind I’ve learned to trust. Go ahead, be my guest to run infective code on your MacTels, see if I care, you’ve been warned.
I pledge as above.
I will never ever, ever (ever) boot Windows on my Mac. I will never ever even use Windows on someone else’s Mac. Or PC. Now and forever. Amen.
Don’t do it kids - it makes you dirty.
Beeb said: I thought it did that with songs too.
With songs it warns you and gives you the chance to abort. With photos it just does it.
I boot Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 on my MacBook Pro every now and again. Why?
* Media Center brutally owns Front Row
* Because I can.
* Because I play MMOs that won’t run in OS X
Probably 85% of my time is spent in OS X, but I boot into Windows when I have to.
Oh yeah, and a friendly tip - if you want to stop PC users from bashing Mac users, stop bashing them yourselves. PC/Mac is a choice - just because they choose to use a PC over a Mac doesn’t make them in any way inferior - I use both OSes daily and if you’re sensible with what you click OK to in Windows, it’s fine - I like both, I’m a fanboy of neither. OS X has its flaws and so does Windows.
/CaptObvious
Sorry for the double post, but there is no edit function - if you hate Windows so much, why do you use the smileys from MSN Messenger on this site?
:D
/CaptObvious
... Apple has become simply another clone-maker now. The motherboards and chipsets etc. are made by/for/at Intel the company. Nothing is solely Apple-designed—parts that actually matter—nothing “special”—anymore.
I disagree.
One of Apples major advantages is that they control the hardware and software. I’d call them more of a computing experience provider than a hardware manufacturer. Apple’s switch to Intel won’t change that.
While I still think that the PPC architecture is in some ways superior to Intel, IBM doesn’t have a mobile roadmap PPC and laptops are a substantial part of Apple’s market. Intel’s’ Merom based mobile CPUs will outperform anything mobile from IBM & AMD by a significant margin. This is a damn good reason to switch, IMHO.
And, regardless of which CPU is under the hood, Apple still has plenty of room for hardware innovation. Examples? The MagSafe power connection, backlit keyboards and excellent industrial design, just to name a few.
As for Apple’s market share, as long as they remain financially strong enough to sell Macs and I can Interop with the rest of the computing world, I could care less. Sure, I’d like to see more users running Mac OS, but you can only lead a horse to water. You can’t make him drink.
And even less so if it’s kool-aid.
(Beeblebrox approved.)