World's Most Overrated Gadgets and Technologies 14
Mac OS
The promise: It's smoother, safer, and faster than competing operating systems (OS) such as Windows XP and Vista.
The reality: Okay, we know we're going to get a lot of flack for this, but the operating system (OS) that powers the Mac -- while certainly way better than the competing Windows XP or Vista -- is simply not all that. Now, by Mac OS, we're throwing in basically everything that happens on our Mac desktops that isn't hardware related. First of all, the peripherals and downloadable programs that work with it -- from chat and anti-virus to games-- are a fraction of what's available for PC.
But we've also just had a lot of problems with our Macs that no one seems to have been able to put back together, for some reason -- from iTunes not synching properly with our iPods and iPhones to our outgoing Mac Mail not working to the sudden mysterious disappearance of our Bluetooth modem. We're not alone in this. This was BEFORE we installed the Leopard upgrade, which has delivered its share of problems to an even wider bunch of folks. If you've had any other inexplicable problems, please list them in the comments below.
And sorry, the Mac OS is really no more secure than Windows for a couple of reasons. Part of it is security through obscurity -- people just don't go after the Mac OS the way they go after the Windows OS because fewer people still own Macs (and people seem to like Apple). But the other reason is that so many of today's Internet threats are platform/OS-agnostic, meaning it doesn't matter whether you have Windows or Mac if someone decides to phish your bank passwords and other personal information from you using classic flim-flam methods.
Bottom line: We still prefer our Macs and Mac OS because, frankly, they act up a lot less than our Windows-based PCs and are way faster.
_thumbnail.jpg "Vintage Keyboards")
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
ImNotAMoron said 7:31PM on 10-07-2008
Apparently anyone can write their thoughts about anything, post it in a blog, and it becomes fact. Whoever wrote this is just not very informed. Bluetooths that don't work? Yes, there are many of them, and most of them are given to you with your phone when it's "purchased". The writer is correct in stating that they don't work, but that does not mean the technology doesn't work. He's just too tight to fork over the money necessary to find stuff that's made well enough to work properly. As for his knock on digital camera LCD screens, there are plenty of SLR cameras out there that still have the viewfinder. Again, these are not the digital cameras that you can pick up for $49.95 at your local supermarket. Yes, there is good and bad in everything around us. But just because the writer of this "article" is lazy and doesn't want to do the research necessary to write an informed article doesn't mean the technology is bad. Last time I checked, Walgreens still sold and developed film for film cameras, and there are no laws requiring anyone to use a cell phone, let alone one that's 3G capable or has a touch screen. The joker probably works for Microsoft or Apple! Don't continue to waste our time with your opinions! Either get out there and test the technologies that you're denouncing, or go about your business and refrain from using the technologies. There are cavemen that have more informed ideas about the technologies you're calling overrated, just ask Geico.
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Yesyouare said 11:46PM on 10-07-2008
To the guy above me. You seem to forget your reading a "List" based blog-post and blog posts are opinions, not facts! Before you go about slandering someone for stating opinions that others may or may not enjoy reading or hearing try to remember your not watching Fox News or CNN where they are journalists expected to only provide the NEWS but are bloggers who are providing information packaged in their opinions!
Your also forgetting that the list is that of over-rated technologies; and as far as I am concerned everything listed is OVERRATED; does this mean it sucks? NO but it does mean that the I-Phone 3G should not be considered the god of all small-sized techno-gadgets where D&D nerds and business wannabes want to go out and blow a load all over its screen.
I do agree though that I am not entirely sure how correct this writer is on the blue-tooth technology; my friend and I both use blue-tooth for a variety of daily tasks (including headsets, earphones and of course our wireless PS controllers)- and none of these very versatile applications go wrong hardly ever.. IF ever, the primary problem we face is our PS controllers dieing in the middle of a game! I don't know why anyone would ever want to use blue-tooth to power wireless printers and other computer-based add-ons but I've always been pretty keen on placing computer related equipment near the computer (and then I just use my cords).
As for the Mac OS I completely agree with the poster's statements, it is not more secure than the Windows OS it is just less likely to be targeted for virus's; especially those small pesky ones most everyone picks up (porno surfers) which are usually designed to embed themselves into a specific OS (namely the windows OS) and while Apple may now control nearly 10% of the computer-market that still puts the Windows computers at an approximate 9 to 1 advantage over other OS' making it the logical choice for computer hackers or people who just feel like pissing others off.
Other than that; most everything on this list can be bypassed with a little bit of cash and/or knowledge of technology- Too bad for the Baby Boomers.
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RFman said 7:42PM on 10-09-2008
we constantly have dropouts and loss of sync here. i wonder if it is specific to the city or the service?
we only recently (past few years) learned that they actually customize phones for the cell companies if they can, and that those customizations are like getting a prototype -- never know how well they are going to work (but we're the guinea pigs). and if not customized, that there are incompatibilities that will cause problems because they aren't 'talking' to our system correctly.
we were quite surprised to see that you all didn't have problems, since we have problems every day (one of us has a sony/ericsson and the other a motorola razor -- both using the top quality motorola bluetooth).
so, the author wasn't exaggerating -- some of us do have constant problems. yet, we wouldn't part with them unless something truly better came out.
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Snoboardr11211 said 3:25PM on 11-11-2008
I have had a 17" MacBook Pro since May, and I have had MANY more problems with it in the past 5 months than I had with my bought-in-2006 Dell Dimension that I still use all the time. I have had one problem with the Dell, and have had to get my MBP checked out by the Apple Genius people 6 times. None of the problems on either machine where hardware based. Except for that time when my Mac's Firewire card quit working for a week.
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Caterina Pryde said 8:55AM on 11-13-2008
Love my mac. It works like a dream, I've never had any of the problems you describe, the system reliability is amazing compared to my old Win machine. I've got iantivirus for free to take care of any bugs. Lumping things like phishing (which is idiot driven) is seems unfair, there's no real protection for that anywhere other than NOT clicking on the link that everyone tells you not to click on!!
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X said 6:01PM on 11-13-2008
Computers in general suck.
Macs are incredibly expensive and IMPOSSIBLE to upgrade. (Well not impossible they just have no cost-efficiency whatsoever).
Windows has so many viruses and other problems.
Linux is okay but it normally isn't worth the time to get drivers installed and all the other junk set up.
The only reliable operating systems are DOS and UNIX which both have not GUI and along with such have no problems
With the rising use of macs there is also a rise in multi-operating system viruses. While there aren't many they do exist.
Software is never perfect and neither is hardware.
I would like to install OS X Tiger on non-apple hardware (legally)
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Htos1 said 7:15AM on 11-16-2008
Care to bet on that?My 64bit pc,running 64bit XP will assrape any Mac,oh and Mac,played any games today! :)
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