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Comparing Windows and Macintosh Applications
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Posted by Chris Thompson
Jan 8, 2008 at 04:38 PM
I’ve got to say, I’m a little skeptical of Microsoft conspiracy theories. I don’t think they add anything valuable.
Macs stand on their own now, on the comparative merits of the platform, without having to resort to allegations of improprieties.
Posted by Manfred
Jan 8, 2008 at 05:46 PM
I took myself mainly as reporting facts.
It is a fact that I cannot access certain MS sites with FireFox, and that you MUST use Internet Explorer.
And it is a fact that Vista crashes daily because of a know issue with nVidia drivers.
It is also a fact that the European Univion successessfully sued them for monopolistic practices (largely having to do with the Browser issue).
Manfred
Posted by Stephen R. Diamond
Jan 8, 2008 at 06:50 PM
Applications that have successfully migrated to Windows, after originating on the Mac:
Inspiration
Life Balance
Excel (I think, under a different name. Not sure of this one.)
Sciral Consistency
NovaMind
This list is just off the top of my head. Inspiration introduced graphical outlining to the computer and it now fluorishes in the education market on both Mac and PC. LifeBalance introduced a powerful hierarchical method fo assigning task priorities, which is now used by leading task management programs with todo management functionality such as My Life Organized and Achieve Planner. NovaMind introduced hand-drawn-resembling mind mapping to the Mac and recently to Windows. (Excel, if I’m right about it, is too easy to comment on; Sciral is too hard.)
So I think there’s good evidence that some excellent Windows programs or concepts have originated on the Mac and were able to prosper on Windows.
What about programs that don’t migrate? The hypothesis is that they could not compete with Windows programs. I excluded niche programs, which somewhat overlap David’s small developers. A good case in point is OmniOutliner. When I tried the empirical method at an Apple store, I was unimpressed with its performance, which I thought might be attributed to its excessive emphasis on interface appearance. Its features seemed unremarkable, as it lacked—as I think I recall—true mark and gather functionality. I thought NoteMap and Inspiration were both substantially superior, although I didn’t spend much time with Omni. My impression was that Omni could not compete with NoteMap, which as I’ve said, is hardly dead, as Lexis is increasingly integrating it with the other programs in its Litigator Suite.
An aside. Since Omni and Inspiration each are Mac programs, there might be a side-by-side comparison somewhere among Mac program reviews.
Posted by Stephen Zeoli
Jan 8, 2008 at 08:07 PM
To the list of programs that exist on both Mac and PC, you can add Super Note Card, which is Java-based.
On the other hand, you have Tinderbox, which has been promising a PC version for at least five years.
I owned a Mac II about 18 years ago. Since then, I’ve had virtually no experience with Mac computers or software. However, when I look at the screen shots and features lists of programs like Scrivener, DevonThink and OmniOutliner I get the impression that they are richer in features and more powerful. The closest thing to Scrivener on the PC might be Liquid Story Binder, a program full of functions. However LSB does not integrate these functions as Scrivener appears to. Sometimes I think the switch to a MacBook would be worth it just to get my hands on Scrivener.
But on the negative (at least to me) is the fact that most Mac software has a depressingly similar appearance. Contrast that to Zoot, MyInfo, LSB, EverNote, or even OneNote. I like that software can have its own personality on the PC—something that seems to be lacking on the Mac (the impression I get just from looking at screen shots online).
Steve Z.
Posted by Cassius
Jan 9, 2008 at 12:48 AM
Chris Thompson wrote:
>I’ve got to say, I’m a little skeptical of Microsoft conspiracy theories. I don’t think they add anything valuable.
>
>Macs stand on their own now, on the comparative merits of the platform, without having to resort to allegations of improprieties.
Well, maybe not conspiracy, but what about ethics? Here’s an example I didn’t mention:
Microsoft, in Win XP, gives the user a choice of downloading and installing updates in the background, or automatically downloading updates and chosing to install them manually or not, or downloading updates only when one wants to. A couple/few months ago, “PC World” reported that MS did a stealth download and install of some updates, even to computers that had been set to the manual install option. At first MS denied doing this, but then confessed. It pretty much had to, as one of the updates played havoc with the operation of some corporate systems.
So, at a minimum, MS can, at will, override some (possibly all?) of the settings you make on your PC. At maximum, MS may have included a “back door” in WinXP. Wanna bet hackers are busy finding MS’s stealth entrances to your PC?
Also, MS often has bugs in its updates, causing other programs to cease working. It’s happened to me. I no longer download MS updates. A major laptop company also told me not to install MS updates because some play havoc with special software the laptop company installs.
-c