OS Wars Page
Macintosh vs. PC Running Windows-Quotes Direct from the Experts
Because Windows imitates the appearance of the Macintosh, some people initially have problems telling the difference between the two. If your boss is one of them, here are some personal testimonials that may do the trick. As you can see from the following quotes, many industry analysts who have used and compared both know that just because Windows looks like a Macintosh, it doesn't work like a Macintosh.
Below are 30 quotes from third party publications. The quotes have been grouped into four categories: Power, Ease of use, Compatibility, and Overall value.
DISCLAIMER-The following quotes have not been approved for use in advertisements, but you can use them in presentations, or pass them around in informal documents. They're all a matter of public record.
"The 601 is faster because its RISC (reduced instruction set computer) architecture processes instructions more quickly than the old chips based on a CISC (complex instruction set computer) architecture. Whereas CISC processors-Intel's Pentium chip, for example-contain a vast number of instructions to handle nearly every task that a computer carries out, RISC processors contain only the instructions that are used most often. The result: RISC processors execute basic instructions very quickly...
"According to a slew of independent tests, including those done by InfoWorld
(see 'New Mac hits the performance mark,' March 14, page 1), top-of-the-line
Power Macs running native mode applications run twice as fast as Pentium."
InfoWorld magazine, May 9, 1994
"'The 604 will put Apple well ahead of anything Intel [Corp.] will have this
year, and I don't believe Intel will ever catch up,' said Michael Slater,
publisher of The Microprocessor Report in Sebastopol, Calif."
PC Week magazine, April 11, 1994
"Industry experts and analysts agree: In the microprocessor war, Intel has
lost the price/performance battle to RISC."
Byte magazine, April 1994
"As hundreds of thousands of computer owners who bought 'multimedia upgrade kits' for Christmas have discovered, adding equipment to a Windows PC is almost always far more difficult than for a Mac. The physical installation in a PC isn't terribly difficult if you can handle a screwdriver. It requires plugging in a sound card, which doubles as an interface for the CD-ROM drive, slipping the drive into the computer, and hooking up some cables.
"DELAYED CRASH. The configuration programs, on the other hand, are baffling. But unless your setup is complicated by the presence of a network or a scanner (a problem I'll address in a future column), accepting the answers the program suggests for its own incomprehensible questions usually works.
"The real trouble often starts once the hardware is connected. Maybe the software crashes halfway through the setup process. Or it installs, but the program crashes later. Or the video clips don't work. Or the colors look weird. Even buying a computer with a CD-ROM drive and sound card installed-and according to Compaq Computer Corp., 75% of the machines sold to the home market are so equipped-will not ensure multimedia success." Business Week, February 6, 1995
"It's been called 'multimedia's dirty little secret,' but it isn't a secret anymore. Word is out that Windows PC owners are having trouble running CD-ROMs and multimedia software. If you haven't experienced problems first-hand, you've probably read newspaper and magazine stories on the subject, or maybe you've seen the Apple ads that don't even both to show a Macintosh computer-only a chagrined DOS user, desperately editing his CONFIG.SYS file in the middle of the night.
"It isn't hard to see why there are problems. Like the Internet, the DOS an
Windows world is a functioning anarchy. The average machine uses parts from a
dozen different makers, and the interfaces between them are governed more by
folklore and de facto standards than by written specifications."
CD-ROM Today, February 1995
"So, why is my next computer probably going to be a Macintosh instead of one of the more popular Windows-Intel (Wintel_) machines_ The answer is simple. I hate reading manuals and resent the time I have to spend configuring dip switches, loading device drivers, mediating IRQ conflicts and suffering other non-productive distractions.
"Strange occurrences and snags are inevitable with any product designed by people who think in abstract code, measure distances in submicrons and feed on Jolt Cola and Twinkies. But a decade of experience suggests that such technical anomalies occur less frequently with Macs than with PCs....
"The Mac permits me to be oblivious to the plumbing and wiring nightmares associated with multimedia, networking and cross-platform operations. It gives me the ability to work with Windows and Macintosh programs and files on the same machine. I can add a printer, a big monitor-two, even-a backup drive, a modem, a scanner, a video camera and other peripherals without needing an advanced degree from the Univ. of Saturn. Typically I never need to crack a manual....
"The Mac is the computer I recommend most often to friend and family. It is
the computer I see most often at gathering of technical wizards and industry
potentates. It is what a Windows machine dreams of when it goes into sleep
mode."
New York Times, December 25, 1994
"'The claim that DOS isn't there just isn't true,' said Andrew Schulman,
author of the recently released book, Unauthorized Windows 95. 'Windows 95
isn't a single, integrated operating system, like Mac OS.'"
PC Week magazine, December 5, 1994
"Apple got its users into multimedia long before Microsoft did, and the Mac
is probably a couple of years ahead...The bottom line is the same as in
publishing: The PC can't duplicate the Mac's toolkit, and Windows multimedia
apps don't work together as smoothly as their Mac counterparts."
Windows Magazine, December 1994
"While we all want a plug-and-play world, getting the PC platform there is not going to be a fast or easy process....
"The problem, according to Tom R. Halfill, a BYTE senior news editor and author of our cover story, is that moving to Plug and Play 'won't be painless, won't come cheap, and will likely take years.'"
"It's a move in the right direction, and there isn't anything particularly
wrong with the Plug and Play standard-it's probably the best it can be, given
the archaic PC architecture it must support. The problem is that if the
transition will take years, perhaps moving to another platform altogether
might make more sense."
Byte magazine, September 1994
"Finally, a couple of weeks ago, I got my hands on a new Macintosh-the Power Macintosh 7100/66AV-and I'm impressed....
"Best of all, there were no CONFIG.SYS files, AUTOEXEC.BAT files or WIN.INI files to worry about. The system software-which comes pre-installed-simply worked, as did all of the programs I installed.
"None of this comes as news to Mac users, and even most PC users acknowledge that the Mac is, in general, an easier machine to configure. What did come as a surprise to me is how easy it was to use the CD-ROM drive.
"Running a multimedia CD title on the Mac, in most cases, involves inserting
the disk and clicking on an icon. Compare this to Windows, where you
typically first have to run an install program and wait while (in some cases)
several megabytes of files are loaded onto the hard disk. Multiply this by
several titles, and you can quickly fill up a 200-megabyte drive. Then you
have to worry about what that install program might have done to your
CONFIG.SYS, AUTOEXEC.BAT, SYSTEM.INI and WIN.INI files. Some even copy files
to your Windows system directory. Most CDs don't come with an un-install
program, so if you can later decide to get rid of the program, you have no
idea which files are safe to delete."
San Jose Mercury News, July 3, 1994
"My next computer will be a PowerPC....a machine that's more tightly
integrated than anything from the Intel camp. I'm tired of conflicting
drivers, hardware interrupts, and programs that fall down and go boom just
because I loaded a new app or a new piece of hardware."
PC Week magazine, March 1, 1994
"By the end of 1994, you'll see PowerPC systems for less than $2,500 running
Macintosh, Windows, DOS, and native applications that make Pentium look like
a draft horse."
PC Computing magazine, February 1994
"The machine is also cheaper to own. Gartner Group, Inc. found in its recent annual survey that the five-year cost of owning Macintosh is $6,000 less than that of owning a comparable Windows-based machine. Those savings stem from Macintosh's short learning curve, which translates into lower training costs. People use this machine.
"From an IS viewpoint, the Macintosh is easy to install and maintain. Because
the Macintosh comes with high-speed networking and can be connected to
existing networks with ease, it takes my IS staff less than 20 minutes to
configure a new Mac and load all the software. We support 850 Macintoshes in
three offices with only seven end-user support personnel."
ComputerWorld, December 12, 1994
"By sticking with proven components and slashing costs, Apple has made present-day Macs price-competitive with most PCs. In fact, in some cases Macs actually cost less than comparably equipped PCs. Today's Macs aimed at the business market ship with built-in Ethernet, built-in SCSI, 16-bit color, stereo sound, and integral plug and play. Several independent studies show that Macs are less expensive to set up and maintain in the long run....
"Indeed, it would not be an exaggeration to describe the history of the
computer industry for the past decade as a massive effort to keep up with
Apple."
Byte magazine, December 1994
"It easily costs two-thirds more over a five-year period to install and
maintain an IBM PC-based site than it does an identical Mac installation.
This is based on a super, double-secret analysis done by the Walt Disney Co.
They ,are tight with a dollar, and they are now about 75% Mac."
New Media magazine, December 1994
"PowerPC-based Macs are a more cost-effective alternative to purchasing 486- or Pentium-based Windows machines....
"The Power Macs have many features built-in that are currently add-ons in the x86 world. Sound input and output, Fast SCSI-2 disk interface, fax/data modem, Ethernet, and video support are all on the motherboard....
"Networking is much easier because it's built into the OS. The Mac also has
built-in peer-to-peer networking. Setting this up is trivial compared to
Windows because it's all point and click."
InfoWorld magazine, June 27, 1994
"RISC chips are also just plain cheaper to build. They deliver better
performance on a per-transistor basis than CISC microprocessors. The internal
structure of RISC chips can be less complicated than a CISC design.
First-generation PowerPC chips, on average, cost half as much as Pentium.."
Digital Media, April 25, 1994
"The Power Macintosh gives Apple, for the first time in memory, clear
price/performance leadership over IBM-compatible machines-the most bang for
the buck."
Wall Street Journal, March 17, 1994