I've been using personal computers since the early 1980s, and as far back as I can remember, there's been a widespread belief that Apple Macs are superior to other computers. They were considered better than 1980s systems like the Commodore Amiga and IBM PC, with an operating system supposedly superior to Microsoft Windows, Linux, and every other operating system ever made.
Why?
In the beginning (1984), it was because it was one of the first computers with an operating system with a graphical user interface (GUI). There was one other computer that offered more than what CP/M and MS-DOS did at the time, which was command prompts and basic, keyboard driven applications, but it wasn't meant for consumers. It was the Xerox Alto, developed at Xerox PARC (Palo Alto Research Center) in the 1970s.
Steve Jobs took one look at the Alto and knew immediately what he wanted in a computer operating system. Other GUI-based operating systems began to appear almost immediately after the Mac, because everyone knew about the Alto and wanted to release computers with GUIs as fast as they could.
But Apple had a head start and became the darling of the desktop publishing world. And the original Mac was cool, too, with its neat all-in-one design and sharp, black and white display. Even when Apple struggled financially in the 1990s, people still loved the Mac. And once Steve Jobs came back to Apple and released even more cool products like the iMac and iPod, they really hit their stride.
But does that make the Mac better than other computers, such as those running Windows 11? There's no way to honestly answer that question.
Apple certainly has a sense of style that they bring to their computer hardware, but for Windows, there is no one hardware manufacturer, which means there's an almost endless variety to choose from. The market spans from budget laptops and desktops of questionable quality to premium models that fully justify their higher price tags.
And as far as the two operating systems are concerned, each has its pluses and minuses.
Windows, for example, has amazing backwards compatibility with software and games going back more than twenty-odd years. It's also capable of running tens of thousands of video games. The Mac, meanwhile, is used extensively by creatives, and has a software library that lends itself to artists, musicians, film makers and more.
But is one better than the other? At this point they are both good enough, and it's down to preference or whether you believe Apple is the epitome of style while Microsoft is tasteless.
Personally, Apple's products have always fascinated me, and while I've owned iPods, iPhones, iPads, and Mac's, I always come back to Windows for my main computer operating system. I find Windows flexible, reliable, easy to use and program, and it has all the apps I need. Having said that, I do dip back into the Apple ecosystem from time to time to see if it can tempt me away from Windows.
How about you? What do you think about the Windows vs Mac debate?
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