What advantages does Mac OS have over Windows and vice versa?

Mac OS -- easier to use, nicer to look at, safer (less people looking for holes in the OS).

Windows -- cheaper (when combined with a computer purchase), huge user support network, easy to customize and repair, support for a gazillion hardware and software extensions.

My worst gripes about Mac -- limits your choice -- for example, want to play music??? you have to use iTunes and an iPod. As hot as the new intel platform is, I think it's taking many software vendors too long to keep up.

My worst gripe about Windows -- the people who need the anti-virus and anti-spy the most, don't use it, consequently making the platform more dangerous for everyone. I use free security software, and I've never had a problem with security.

Glenn Blaylock: Yes, perhaps MAC software costs less, but when combined with hardware, a windows/intel platform is about 20% less on average, for a full blown computer. Also -- most users don't need the advanced features of XP/pro or the stuff you can find under the hood of OS X. It's true OS X is a great OS -- being a UNIX head myself -- but I have no interest in getting under the hood of a computer I use for email and web browsing.

Gets a better laugh than a Windows machine.

Is named after animals you don't want to see in your bedroom.

Very good advertising for going to Linux instead.

"But think about what this means. Your web browser--the very same one you probably use to visit most other web sites--has the authority to download and install changes to the very operating system itself."

As a person who uses both Windows and Mac OS X, I can tell you that is simply not a correct statement. The Internet Explorer web browser never had the authority to "automatically" make changes to the system. Not to go into details but you always had to manually initiate this process and it only works with Windows 2000 and Windows XP. (A special ActiveX control was required to be installed in Internet Explorer to use the Windows Update website.)

There was a point when Microsoft really began to phase out use of the Windows Update website, and configure their operating systems to automatically download the updates in the background and then prompt the user if they want to install them or not. The two other options are to either decline the updates or install them when the system is shutdown.

Windows Vista and Windows 7 no longer uses the Windows Update website to install updates. They now automatically download the Windows updates in the background, initiated by a service running on the PC which is similar in some ways to how Mac OS X gets its updates from Apple.

I'd say the biggest problem with Windows users is that it seems almost all of them run their computers with a user account that has full administrative rights to the system. I suspect this is a carryover from the old MS-DOS and Windows 3.x days where the operating system was really just a "single user" system and there was no concept of access control. In contrast, at least on the UNIX and later Linux side of the house, there was always the correct notion that you should never run your computer as a full administrator or have "root access" to the system when surfing the web.

To elaborate a bit on my brother's point about the security advantages that MacOS X has over Windows...

It's not really so much that Apple did anything right, and is in any way exceptional for having done so; but rather it is that Microsoft did some amazingly stupid things.

Let me give you a couple of examples.

First of all, how many remember a chain letter that used to make the rounds, warning about a "virus" that was being spread in an email bearing the subject "Pen pal" or "Join the Crew"? According to the chain letter, if you received one of these emails, you needed to delete it at once without even reading it, as by the act of merely reading it, you would activate the virus contained therein.

That was a hoax. At the time this was going around, there was no way for a virus to be activated merely by reading an email that contained it. A virus consists of executable code, which must be run in order to activate it. A virus could indeed be attached to a message as a file attachment, and if the person were to run that attachment (an entirely separate step from merely reading the email) then the virus could be activated. But executable code could not be embedded in an email message and run merely by reading the message.

Not long after this hoax had started to fade, guess what sort of feature Microsoft brought out in its popular Outlook and Outlook Express programs? That's right. A feature by which executable code could be embedded in a message, so that it would be run when someone read that message using Outlook or Outlook Express. And very shortly thereafter, we saw the Melissa virus and the ILoveYou virus and a whole new generation of viruses based on this gaping hole in Outlook and Outlook Express. In a manner of speaking, thanks to Microsoft, the Pen Pal/Join the Crew hoax had turned to reality.

Here's another example: http:// windowsupdate (dot) microsoft (dot) com http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com

I don't know if this still works under Windows XP, but I know that it still does under Windows 2000. If you use Internet Explorer to visit that site, under Windows 2000, it will allow you to determine what updates are available, and to download and install them right from the browser. It's very slick, actually.

But think about what this means. Your web browser--the very same one you probably use to visit most other web sites--has the authority to download and install changes to the very operating system itself. If it can download and install updates from Microsoft, it can just as easily download and install "updates" from just about any other web site--however disreputable--that purports to offer them. A lot of malware gets into Windows this way.

MacOS X also offers a way to download and install system updates, but doing so involves a special program, created just for this purpose, which runs at a privelege level not usually available to web browsers, which will only download updates from Apple's site, which requires that the person running it have Administrator privelege, and that the user explicitly acknowledge that he knows what he is doing. Unless someone has done some very strange things to the configuation and the priveleges (one would have to have Root access to make such changes), a web browser running under MacOS X would not ever have the authority to make changes to the operating system, as IE can do under Windows.

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I suppose this is a good place to talk about user account privelege levels.

Under Windows, every user account, by default, has "Administrator" privelege, which is the equivalent to "Root" privelege under MacOS X or under any Unix derivative. This means that that user, and any program which that user runs, has the unchallenged authority to change anything anywhere on the system; to install new software, to change configurations at will, and even to install "updates" that alter the operating system itself.

It's possible, under Windows, to create user accounts with more limited power, but doing so requires that you know what you are doing. Further, many applications written for Windows take this Administrative power for granted, and will break if run under a lesser account.

Under MacOS X, the first account created has "Administrator" privelege. This is not the same as full "Root" access. An "Administrator" can make changes comparable to those allowed under Root access, but he is warned when he is about to do something risky and required to enter his Administrator password in order to proceed. Unlike Windows, a person running under an Admistrator account in MacOS X is not going to be making changes to the underlying operating system without being given plenty of notice that he's doing something risky, and required to acknowledge in an explicit way that he knows what he is doing.

And of course, any other accounts created under MacOS X, by default, are plain user accounts, without any access to Administrator or Root priveleges.

There are a number of advantages that the Mac OS has over Windows. First of all, I find the Mac OS more intuitive. Once you get used to it, it is easier to find the functions that you want.

Second, the Mac OS is more secure. There are no where near the number of malicious programs out there for the Mac OS. You are constantly hearing about this virus or that virus that affects Windows. None of them work under the Mac OS. OS X has been out for over 5 years now and it was just earlier this year that the first virus was reported for it.

There are two reasons why the Mac OS is more secure. First of all, Apple does a better job of closing security holes in its OS than Microsoft does. The second reason is because, Macs constituting a much smaller part of the computer market, make a much smaller target for malwear developers and hackers. These types of people are usually looking to get the biggest return on the investment. They want to cause as much damage as they can. Windows, being the much more popular OS, give the more spectacular results when one is interested in disrupting large numbers of computers.

The third advantage that the Mac OS has over windows is all of the elegant little touches that Apple has added to it. For example, suppose you want to open multiple folders that are in the same window and you want them to be open at the same time. In windows, you have to open each one individually. Depending on how you have set up the OS, this could mean having to navigate to the folder with the desired folders multiple times and having to start from the home directory each time. In the Mac OS, all you have to do is select all of the desired folders and either double-click on one of them or do command-O to open them all at the same time. Another nice feature is the system-wide spelling check function. This is a feature that is available to all programs. All the software developers have to do is activate it. If I were writing this response on my Mac, then I could tell my browser to check the spelling as I type it. Since I am currently writing it on my Windows laptop, I have to compose it in MS Word to make sure that I get the spelling correct. Then there is Exposé which allows you to see all open windows, all open windows in the front program, or move all open windows out of the way with a single keystroke each. These are just a few of the touches. I could go on, but this post is already going rather long.

The only significant advantage that I see with Windows it that it is the more common OS. Therefore, there are more programs available for it. Now, I can usually find software to do what I want on my Mac, but there are some more specialized applications that are not available for the Mac. The most significant of these being AutoCAD (the standard for computer aided drafting). For most home users, this isn't a problem, but in professional environments it could be. It is also a factor if you want to play games on your computer. There just aren't as many games for the Mac. This leads to and interesting change. When Macs first came out, there was the attitude that, you wanted to play games, then you got a Mac. However, if you wanted to get work done, then you got a PC. Now the situation has been reversed. Macs are for getting work done and Windows is for playing games.

Well, that is all that I can think of for now. I will leave it up to the Windows lovers out there to sing the praises of that OS.

As many people have stated, Macs don't get as many viruses, and people talk about "appearance" and such. But nobody would get viruses regardless of their operating system if they were smart about internet use and had anti-virus software. As for appearance, well that's an opinion thing (in my opinion, I liked the LOOK of win 98se best, the new operating systems are too frilly).

The main advantages for either side really depend on what you're going to use the computer for. However, I will say that Windows does have better support and a wider range of comatible hardware/software. Also, as I read somewhere else, normal PCs are more customizeable because you can choose which operating system the run (and come with), and set up the hardware the way you want it, wheareas Macs are pretty much pre-assembled and can't be changed (nearly as much).

Honestly though, I never liked Macs, and after win98 my opinion of Windows has been declining. Perhaps the best solution would be for people to make their own operating systems. I know it's not feasible, but at least then everyone would get what they wanted.

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The thing about apple is, that they make great stuff, and great software too, it just costs more. Unlike Microsoft, Apple make their money through the software, not through actually selling the computer its self.

But Microsoft, their hardware may not be as good, but it is far more open. I myself am an Ubuntu fan, so would prefer Microsoft over Apple greatly, as it is far, far more open.

Hope this helps,
JoelLaptop

Go stick your finger up your ass and jerk off to it

Mac: Great OS-- annoying as hell fanbase.
Windows: Great OS-- annoying as hell exploited vulnerabilities.

For the same reason you use both Firefox and IE, you can/will/might use both operating systems. With the advent of virtualization, its just a loyalty war. You can use both on the same hardware without much of a problem.

If the Mac fanboys quit yipping and Windows admins properly hardened thier OS, then we could have some sort of harmony.

But people are arrogant and lazy, so meh, pick whatever makes you happy.

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