I say ditch them both and switch to linux. Its the best OS out there. It has the good looks of a mac and the functionality of a pc, especially now KDE4 is out. It, like a mac is immune to spyware and viruses and unlike mac, has a friendly community:)

im a mac, and im pc. oh yeah? well im linux!! :)

[Scott replies: Actually I reckon Vista looks better than either OSX or Linux. Am I alone in thinking this way? ]

i am sick and tired of ignorant media refusing to be comppatibel. i dont know why u bought apple because they shouldnt sell to you in the first place windows-looser

[Compatible? Not sure what you mean there. You're obviously so blinded by rage you're not thinking straight. Way I see it I'm more compatible than ever since I own both PC's and a Mac. - Scott]

I thought briefly about buying a Macbook, but then I saw the adverts.

What I like about the PC world is when things go wrong (which isn't as often as Mac users like to claim), other users try to help out.

I get the sense that when someone posts about a problem with the Mac, what they get back is mostly an analysis of how they must have done something wrong.

Funny how defensive Mac fans can be.

Well I'd like to thank you all for your balanced and not-at-all hysterical comments. But it seems many of you simply missed the point -- that point being there's zero difference between starting up a brand new Windows XP notebook for the first time and starting up a Mac notebook for the first time. The routines are almost identical.

And please, this was NOT A REVIEW. I thought that fact was blatantly obvious since to me the structure of the thing bore no relation to that of your typical tech review.

This was a tongue in cheek jibe at Apple's marketing. Surely if Apple is grown up enough to base an entire advertising campaign around poking fun at Windows then they're also grown up enough to cop a little friendly banter in return?

And finally, to all those Mac owners that were so quick to take offense at my light-hearted words -- thanks for the warm welcome to the wonderful Mac community. You guys rock.

It should also be pointed out that the number of updates will go down once those changes get rolled into the updated shipping versions of the various software. If Apple or any software company releases an update of any nature after a particular disc is pressed and shipped then you're gonna have to update.

Perhaps you should go back to a boring windows machine as your review lacks the creative writing flair expected from a mac user.

Wow.. I expected a real review. Not nitpicking on downloaded improvements.

BTW, you only needed to type in your password once for ALL of the updates and only one window opened to tell you of the list. Then maybe, what, three "I agree to abide by the rules" dialogs?

I just installed Vista. There's an exercise in futility. And after it's installed, it asks you to OK it's own software's use?

Yes... The Mac Ads are hysterical after having actually used Vista.

I guess you article proves "geeks" aren't necessarily columnists.

Well, you are doing it the hard way!

Did you check out the "Switch" info page on the Mac website? http://www.apple.com/macosx/switch/

you could have used Move2Mac to save a lot of manual work. it costs US $50.

but then you will have to load and set up all your new Mac applications. there has to be a first time for everything ...

it will be far easier for your next Mac. then you just connect the two computers with an ethernet cable and transfer everything - all apps, settings, passwords, files - automaticaly to the new machine. and then it "just works."

Apple-Q will bypass registration during setup.

One difference between the Mac and Windows is that if you choose NOT to download the updates right away, you will not be exposed to viruses and spyware. Despite what some think, there are really NO viruses or spyware to worry about with OS X. (Yes, I know about Opener, Oompa Loompa, Itunes Concept. They're not in the wild.)

Also, you don't have to type in network info. It should configure DHCP or wireless automatically unless you have to set proxies.

Now, as for OS X being different from Windows, it is. Many people enjoy not being constantly nagged by the machine ("A network cable is unplugged" "Add your .NET password to . . " "There are unused icons on your desktop . . ." "Here are your twenty quadrillion control panels with a gazillion tabs. Have at it!")

Typing in your password at Software Update and installations is not that bad. Not having to wade through seemingly endless wizards and haphazard control panels is a relief to many people. Not to everyone.

Macs also come with lots of high quality software.

It'd probably be best to keep an open mind. :)

Bot

that's it??????......you can surely do better than that...

"Untold pages"? C' mon. It's about 5 pages 10 minutes max of work. Updates a problem? I guess you missed out on the last 20 years of home computing.

Funny you didn't talk about the lack of viruses, or the need to buy anti virus, the ease of use of the integrated iLife suite, or cool technologies like Spotight and Expose. Or that it took MS five years to come up with a knock off of a OS that already two years old.

But hey whaddya , a PC columnist buying a Mac is just another "PC" columnist.

Yes.. you're not a fan of Apple products, and you may never be one. But looking at the steady growth over the past few years of people umoving towards Apple products, and away from Windows PCs, you should ask "why?".

I was incorrect in my earlir comment about the system only asking for the password once when updating software. It asks multiple times, because multiple bits of software is being over written. That is what you want it to do. Its saying, I am updating Quicktime now and now I am updating Apache or ichat.

But its not bugging you when you when iChat opens a connection to a buddy, or when quicktime forms a connection when downloading a media file.

The system should prompt you for a password when you update software, because its dangerous, but it should not bug you for day to day activities. The reason you have a lot when you first get a Mac is that it has a lot of software to update.

I think you fail to see the distinction and there show how poor your review is, in fact in terms of understanding security, your lack of understanding is quite clear. I also think you went into the review biased, in the sense that your review is being done in light of a marketing advertisment. Marketing is meant to puff up a product and its purpose is different from a technical review. I think if you really understand the issues you will see that Apple is not incorrect in its marketing either.

I recall it asking me once for the admin account username and password, then it applied all the update.

Possibly you did something wrong in your set up.

In fact it never asked me for a DNS entry it just automatically detected my network, so I am guessing your network did not share or provide all the information it needed.

I think a more in depth analysis by reviewers and understanding of how technologies work is needed before writing a review.

Your kidding right? Have you used vista? That dialogue box pops up for everything!!! The Mac does it only for installs, which are critical anyway.

I have purchased two macs in the last 3 years and experienced none of what you describe. Yes there were updates that I had to do but I was asked ONCE for my id and password.

Are you sure your not commenting on your VISTA experience.

C’mon Scott, you’re stretching it a bit there, though your article does make for a fun read as a result. However, in the interests of balance, here are a few pertinent points.

One username and password and an optional warranty registration screen hardly classes as ”untold pages of user names, addresses, phone numbers„. As far as a ”potentially confusing screen asking me to enter a DNS server address„ is concerned, you have to admit it was pretty cool that the Mac was on the internet so quickly with a very minimum of info or settings. It takes 23 steps on 4 pages of instructions to connect Windows PCs to our campus wifi network. A Mac takes 1 click, a username, password and return.

With the updates, yes, there may be new versions of Apple’s sweet bundled iLife apps and system software and the odd security update to download on a new Mac, but none of those ridiculous multiple re-boots and yet more updates that XP forces on us. You also have to admit Apple’s virus ad is quite correct that the 140,000 Windows viruses, worms, trojans and 84,000 spyware & adware apps and other nasties don’t affect the Mac. With less than half a dozen pieces of OS X software than could mostly only at a stretch be classed as possibly nasty in comparison, the ad seems pretty accurate? Heck, Vista has only been out a few months and already has a very critical cursor flaw being exploited by nasties.

On the topic of the Mac OS X authentication model, have you actually used Vista’s user access controls and noticed exactly how damn many of them there are compared to the minimal number of essential authorisations in OS X? I think that ad is pretty truthful as well.

Just start using the Mac a bit more than the odd loan from your wife and I think you’ll come to the same conclusion ComputerWorld’s Windows expert Scot Finnie came to when he decided to switch to the Mac after years of reviewing Vista’s progress
http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;1095411303

The Mac is definitely not ”just another PC„

-Mart

"The next seven or eight minutes are taken up by me having to fill out untold pages of user names, addresses, phone numbers"
..erm? you can't fit 'untold' numbers of pages into 7 or 8 minutes or did you expect the MacBook to read your mind maybe?
"When I finally get to the desktop I’m presented with an automatic update screen telling me I have a good 300MB or so of operating system and application updates to download."..well you don't have to download them there and then and you can also do it in the background whilst doing something else.
"I tell the thing to go ahead and download and install this list of patches only to be greeted by a dialog box asking for me to enter my user account password before it’ll proceed with the install. It does this for each update." So you would like any old stuff to magically 'know' when to ask for permission to install? This is just a standard Admin Account practice. To equate this with Vista's User Account Controls is just silly.
"...turns out a Mac is just another PC."
- well sort of, until you use the thing and then it's obvious why the ads are so funny ;D
Lucky wife.

Quote "greeted by a dialog box asking for me to enter my user account password before it’ll proceed with the install. It does this for each update."

No. It asks once. Then you click agree for each user agreement for each program. Yes I know XP just lets EVERYTHING in without passwords to make all its almost daily updates. Vista is still relatively new and has few updates. If I buy a brand new Vista PC a year from now, I'm sure I'll have just as many updates to "Accept or Decline".

My wife and I were in NZ last December, driving/travelling from the Northern Tip to the Southern Trip of the two large islands. A set of picture postcards from one end to another end. Macintosh Computers are like NZ. A very smooth and wonderful experience.

After a while you will notice that you are not dealing with firewalls, anti-spyware etc. Also no Windows Genuine Advantage.
Use the Apple software instead of Microsoft software as much as you can. ie iCal instead of Entourge. Pages instead of Word. It will take about 3 months to really get in the groove.
I will never go back to Windows.

Scott writes: "It does this for each update."

No it doesn't. It asks for your password once only.

And that's called security. When the operating system can telepathically extract your password from your mind, then you won't have to type anything. Until then you will.

Don't exhagerate in order to get your ulterior point across--writing a pro-Windows article in disguise as a switcher's story.

give it a month and write this article again - i bet money you will not be saying mac is another pc.. If you do - please write why and if you dont please write why.. The startup of any operating systems is not fully up to date. basing your article on this is a bit odd. Anyway.. im a mac user since -95 and i have been using both worlds since then but mac is my prefered choice and as long as i get more work done better and faster on my mac it will still be my computer plattform of choice. However, if OSX could be made stable and run on more hardware such as dell HP or any brand PC i would of course consider them next time i bought Hardware. But the mac soul is the operating system, at least that's how i see it. Give it a month you owe it to your work and your creative side :)

If you were buying a new Mac to replace an older Mac you could have just connected the two units via Firewire and had all of your passwords, files, e-mail archives and programs automatically transfered across in no time. Well, it took a while for my 100 GB of music and movies. After that, the new Mac would have worked without all of the XP wizard nightmare.

All the OS and software updates just means that Apple is actually working on improvements and security.

Your article seems like a bit of nonsense to me. The "untold" number of pages is ONE, where you enter confusing information such as your own name and address to register the computer. You do need to choose a password, and you are completely guided through network configuration with most folks not needing to do anything and not presented with confusing questions about DNS. Your most misleading comment was about authenticating when you install updates. You only enter a password ONCE for all the updates it downloads and installs. It doesn't do it for each update, that's nonsense. I think just about anyone who has used Vista and OS X would prefer the OS X account controls. Not you, I guess.

Dumb question -- was your machine owned while you were down-loading those 300MB? That would seem to be a significant differentiator right there...

Don't worry about a thing. As soon as the OS updates install, you'll be fine.