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Technology Stocks : Apple Tankwatch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lahcim Leinad who wrote (247)	2/25/2011 2:16:54 AM
From: i-node	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 32680

>> Um, nope. One free Microsoft Office compatible download: Um, Open Office is NOT Microsoft Office. Before MSFT started providing the "starter edition" free we would often preload openoffice on systems before delivery. Users consistently insisted on Office to the point we had to eliminate that strategy and have them purchase Office at the outset. Open Office is a great free alternative but it is NOT Office. By a substantial measure. I'm not a fan of the new version of Office, but the products you listed do not approach the quality or functionality of the current release. Certainly, they can read and write reasonably compatible files and perform basic functions, but not with the kind of results that are needed. We still use Open Office for workstations that have minimal requirements. I guess some probably do but I doubt the enterprise adoption of these products is substantial. >> But you really should try a Mac before driving your mouth off the cliff like that. As previously indicated I've owned Macs and find the UI to be weak compared with W7 (or even XP). The last one sat on my desk for a year getting very little use before I handed it over to a relative for use as a home computer. From a usability angle, the UI is clunky and basically weak, but easy to use for a neophyte. I may get another if I decide to do some development targeting Macs, but the reality is that the development tools suck, really, really badly, when compared with what it is available under Windows. The end result is that development of commercial systems on the Mac is a far more time-consuming prospect for that reason alone. And I must say, Objective C is a lousy language from a technical standpoint (not a fan of weakly typed languages). In particular, the UI controls available are not well-suited for commercial applications. Of course, anyone can develop their own controls, but it is an unfortunate side-effect of the so-called "ecosystem" that Mac developers just don't seem to "get" what works well (and doesn't) in an office environment where time is money. A computer is only as good as the software it runs. Contrast the reporting and database functionality available on the Mac with that on Windows. There really is no comparison; I've got access to well supported, lightweight, royalty-free local SQL servers, MySQL, MS SQL, or just about any other product in existence. I've got so many reporting packages available I can choose whatever I want for a given application. And I don't have to worry about end users saying, "Oh, crap, this is for Windows and I've got Macs" -- because there aren't enough of them in businesses at this point to make a difference. Sorry, that's just life in the real world.