Windows vs OS X

[Hedi]

It's an old fashioned discussion, but I wanted once again to start this one especially since I fell in love with Office 2007 for PC and my new Dell Latitude E5500.

So, now again a new version is coming from both sides: Snow Leopard and Windows 7.

Are really Mac made for designers and PC for people in the business world.

PS: iWork is really a toy compared to Office 2007, while Office 2008 for Mac is worst than 2003 for PC...

[CoffeeDaze]

I don't think there is any real definable difference between the two platforms anymore and that will become even truer with Snow Leopard and Windows 7. Both OS look to be fantastic in their own rights. I haven't used Snow Leopard yet but Windows 7 is slim, fast, and truly great. It's exactly what Vista should have been. I get tired of most Mac vs PC discussions anymore as most of the arguments from both sides no longer apply. I use both daily, and love them equally for different reasons.

MS Office 2007 is an awesome suite. True, it blows away iWork for most functions, but it also costs many times more. Outlook is still the industry standard for good reason. I think Office 08 for Mac is a vast improvement over 04, but still lags behind the Windows version quite a bit. When asked whether it is a useful purchase I actually recommend buying iWork for casual work as it has some of the same features and can now work in compatible media for a fraction of the cost.

[Hedi]

Tell me Coffee, is there a final version of Windows 7? or are they still in the Release Candidate level?
And I'm wondering if Vista is upgradable to RC1 or does it need a format...

Thanks

[CoffeeDaze]

The public release of RC1 will be on May 5th. It's supposed to be final in October.

It will be upgradable, but I would definitely do a fresh install as there are some significant changes and W7 is a lot slimmer than Vista (3GB versus 16GB).

[Hedi]

Excellent!!!
Vista is impressively slow, and worst, I'm using the Windows classic theme... what would it be if it was the Aero one that I'm using :P

[CoffeeDaze]

I never had a problem with Vista being slow on either my older desktop or my MacBook. Windows 7 is definitely lighter and faster, though it will still require a bit to use the full Aero experience, much like OS X requires newer Macs to use the Core Animations

[Eugen, Mihalache]

I use Mac OS X because I fell quite better on it, I can understand, I can create on my own way.
I do not use Windows because I can not understand the architecture of it, I find it too stress able.
But everyone should use what he want and what can, and do not blame it the others.

[Hedi]

Yes but like you I'm a Windows fanatic, but it makes me feel sad that the Mac is not a pure business machine like the PC is...

[Eugen, Mihalache]

What do you mean with the "Mac is not a pure business machine like the PC is..."
I do not get it...

- I mean, if you want to do business on a Mac, you can.
- By the way , I am not a business man, so I can not talk about business on Mac's.
- But I am sure the you can do very good business on Mac's.

[CoffeeDaze]

The software choices for business application is limited on the Mac. Microsoft Office is hands down the standard for business collaboration and the Mac version is severely lacking in comparison to Windows. Yes, you can do some business on a Mac, but if you're needing to do heavy collaboration in a corporate environment, PC is likely going to be your, and more importantly, your companies choice. That being said though, Windows run wonderfully on a Mac these days, so you can have the best of both worlds on one machine. I guess the limitation lies with OS X, not the Mac

[m8trix]

That is pretty much the defacto standard in business is Windows. It would cost a small fortune to switch platforms and in these times you are not going to see that. Even if Apple OS X was geared for business it would not really be somethign you would see happen to often in these times.
CD I have not run MS Office in many years now and I was wondering what are the major differences in MS office and let say Neo or Open Office. Being ignorant and only using Open Office it kind of is hard to judge why one is chosen over the other considering OO is build as a MS Office substitute with the same features. Figured you played with both and can give a good answer on that one.

[CoffeeDaze]

They are somewhat similar in function, but OO is missing many of the more advanced tools in Office as well as the collaboration software like Groove and OneNote. MS Office (on Windows) is just the complete package and is easy for companies to use as most projects can be contained in the one suite. It also has support from MS for it's online downloads, which include an extensive library of templates, clipart, addons, and more. OO is a good alternative for doing most things solo, but it has nothing on MS when it comes to group business application.

The other major difference, which is becoming more prevalent and important is MS Office's ability to work with their Live suite and tie directly into Windows and the cloud environment. This is the direction most developers are now taking these days and Office is superb at keeping with the times.

[Hedi]

The best is example is Excel, which is the application I use minimum 8 hours a day.
ERP's, many many accounting softwares, some of them are available for Mac too, but while the PC version is 15, the Mac's is (if not discontinued) on v 7 or v 8..

CoffeeDaze and M8trix answers are even more exhaustive than mine of course.