I Want a Mac for the Software
There are those who know more about technology than I who are appalled by Apple’s high prices and monopoly in the tech world. There are also those who don’t know much about tech but still don’t see any real reason to get an Apple computer. When some of my tech friends ask me why I want a Mac or start to go into preaching mode about how you can get a PC with better specs for less money, I have to bring up the software.
I want Mac OS X. I am in love with the simplistic design, libraries for documents and photos, the menu bar, and the built-in software. Macs don’t come with bloatware, in my opinion, because the software that’s pre-installed will be of use to me. I have tried to find comparable products in Windows and Linux to the iLife suite and have yet to have any luck. I really want to get my You Tube channel going and am usually deemed the media person at family gatherings so having iMovie and iPhoto will be fantastic. I never thought I would use Garage Band until I learned that some people started podcasting with Garage Band and that is something else I would like to get started. The next big thing for me is the iWork suite. The suite (consisting of Pages, Keynote, and Numbers) is less expensive than buying the full version of Microsoft Office and, though this amazes some people, I prefer the use and feel of iWork over MS Office. Another perk is with Mountain Lion, to be released in July 2012, in which you can stream your desktop to your Apple TV, not to mention having iCloud integrated.
To be fair, Picasa from Google is a great piece of software for organizing, editing, sharing, etc. photos but the newest version is only available on Windows and not Linux. There are some great video editing programs for Linux such as Avidemux (also available on Windows) and Open Shot Video Editor but there are slim pickings for Windows in this category, especially if you count the pathetic Windows Movie Maker. The only thing that isn’t worth comparing is the dock on OS X because you can download a great dock like Rocket Dock for Windows and there are all sorts of customizations for Linux.
Since Linux and OS X both run off the UNIX kernel, there are similarities in use. I have Ubuntu 12.04 running alongside Windows 7 Home Premium and prefer Ubuntu over Windows any day because of the more Mac-like experience (menu bar, unity/dock, simplistic, better customization) but there are obvious downsides if you’re more Apple-minded like not having iTunes or iCloud integration and not having a good photo program like iPhoto.
I’m sure there are loads of people who would disagree with me but I like the software, I like that the track pad on all the Macs work really well including gestures, and I like the design. One day, I’ll get my 13-inch MacBook Air (256 GB SSD, 2.0 Ghz processor, and 8 GB RAM, if anyone’s interested) and I’ll stop griping about my software woes. Until then, I just wanted to defend my position on the matter.
