I Left My Mac for Windows 8

As a lifetime Apple user and Windows naysayer, I decided it was time to put down my blind rage and take up Windows 8 for 12 months and write about my experiences. I expected my blog to be riddled with frustrations, but it hasn't been.

Take a look at my experience, if you're interested:

12 Month Windows

This might be useful for anybody else making the switch and I'm happy to help anybody who might want to buck the trend and move from Mac to Windows, instead of the other way around.

I read the first post. I know it's just an opinion, but I can't agree that there is a better range of quality software on OS X compared to Windows. In fact, I know Mac users who dual boot Windows just because they need to run certain software that isn't on OS X.

As for the Windows Store, I totally agree that it is awful in Windows 8. The initial front page looks clean, but doesn't give you a great deal of info, but as soon as you click on a category you'll witness some of the worst interface design ever created. Thankfully, that's one thing they have addressed in a big way in 8.1 as the store has been given a complete refresh and now looks like this when you launch it (open these pics in a new tab to see them full screen): -



You can right click (or swipe down) to view this menu bar at the top: -



Then when you actually enter a particular category, you get this view rather than those thin rectangular stripes from the Windows 8 store that show you pretty much no info: -



It's vastly improved overall IMO.

As for this: -

Well, one thing might just be that study after study has shown that Apple users are more likely to pay for their apps, unlike Android users who hate paying for apps and will find any way around paying when they can.

Click to expand...

Bit of a generalisation isn't it? lol. The "problem" with Android in terms of apps is its openness. Without modifying the phone in any way, you can download a tiny APK from the web, pop it on your phone - which again is easier on Android because you just hook it to your PC with a USB cable and drag and drop, so no software is required - and that's all that's required for piracy to occur. Google did attempt to address this in JellyBean using app encryption, so a downloaded APK is tied to the device that downloaded it and the user account, much like how XBLA games work on the Xbox 360, but it was problematic so they had to disable it.

I think that if you could do the same thing on an iPhone, piracy would be just as big an issue. Also, there are a lot of ad-supported, free apps on Android that do a particular task perfectly well, so people will often choose those instead of paying for an app that does the same thing, but doesn't have ads.

micah002 said:

As a lifetime Apple user and Windows naysayer, I decided it was time to put down my blind rage and take up Windows 8 for 12 months and write about my experiences. I expected my blog to be riddled with frustrations, but it hasn't been.

Take a look at my experience, if you're interested:

12 Month Windows

This might be useful for anybody else making the switch and I'm happy to help anybody who might want to buck the trend and move from Mac to Windows, instead of the other way around.

Click to expand...

GREAT BLOG.

I think you concentrated on the Start Screen section of Windows 8 instead of the Desktop. It's true, Windows 8 offers crap for tile apps. Apple iOS has the greatest selection of apps in all of mankind. But as far as Desktop, the reverse is true for Desktop Programs. The availability of Desktop Programs for windows greatly outmatches what is available for Apple, especially for me, cos I have a G5 Titanium Tower. It;'s a great OS and a great system, but none of the programs I want to install are available for PowerPC.

I am a lifetime Windows USER, but I am a big fan of MACOS, even the old ones like 7,8, and 9.

I think Apples biggest mistake was changing from the rock solid Motorola RISC Processors to the unstable Intel CISC processors.

I had never seen an Apple computer completely White-Out like a Windows machine does on an Intel Processor (I use AMDs which don't white out)* UNTIL they started using Intel. The G5's don't do it and none of my G4's either. I've got one G4 macbook, two G4 Grey Towers and one G5 titanium tower with 3 GB of Ram. It's actually the fastest machine in my house, but unlike an old Windows XP machine, I simply can't install what apps I want.

Do you know of any places where I can buy PowerPC programs? I need Office and some other things and it's all Intel now. I can't even install the newest VLC.



*- I have two Intel Windows machines as well, and they both White-Out constantly, especially the Celeron. The other one is a Dual Core Pentium. I also have one unbuilt Core Duo, no power supply for the board.

djsigma said:

I think that if you could do the same thing on an iPhone, piracy would be just as big an issue. Also, there are a lot of ad-supported, free apps on Android that do a particular task perfectly well, so people will often choose those instead of paying for an app that does the same thing, but doesn't have ads.

Click to expand...

You can do that with iPhones, and it's just as big of an issue.

Most of the ad supported free apps on Droid were originally made only for iOS, like VLC Remote and Mobile Mouse for example. I run an ab blocking Hosts file in my phone, and it blots out the ads. It has to be updated frequently, because they figure out the domains that are blocked and just make new ones.