"less money absolutely, better components - maybe, more reliable and stable -no chance, unless you run Os X on your PC box"
Well, if you are saying less money "absolutely" than obviously I can spend more money for better components!
"The claim that any Windows OS is more reliable and stable than OS X seems pretty unlikely - you dont really sound free of OS bias"
I don't know who has made the claim that Windows OS is more reliable and or stable than the Mac OS, but I haven't. What I have said is that Windows and Mac OS are so close as to consider them equal.
"I will admit i am not , i just wont trust microsoft for releasing crap time and time again....no time for it....what i do now works and its Os X"
I appreciate your honesty, people don't usually buy from companies that they don't trust, but maybe next time try a nicely configured PC using the Windows OS, you probably will be pleasantly surprised.
"- I have repeatedly stated that everyones' experience is their own, and that peoples' experience is not easily transferable to others if it is not similar.
- there is no operating system "war"
- my main focus is both software and hardware working together"
This simply is not true. If you sell 10,000 computers to 10,000 separate users you have 10,000 unique experiences, INDIVIDUALLY their experiences don't tell much, OBVIOUSLY, it's a collection of the individual experiences that tells what does and what doesn't work. IOW, if you have 10,000 machines out there and 5000 are PCs and 5000 Macs and your rate of hard drive failure is 5% each that will tell a story, especially if all the hard drives are the same make and model. The 5% of INDIVIDUALS who received the defective hard drives experience will be dissatisfaction and the users who didn't have a failure will be satisfied.
"- my issues [with your opinions] have always been about your claim to better reliability and stability compared to any other operating system.
- lowest cost is not the main, or only, consideration for many of my clients"
Pascalf, this proves you are not comprehending what I am writing, I've never said that Windows was more reliable or stable, I said they are close enough to call equal. As far as hardware, I don't build low cost machines, quite the contrary. I can use higher quality components as can any PC manufacturer and it will cost less than a comparable Mac, though I say comparable, the Mac isn't available with the very best hardware.
"- my experience forms my opinion
- your experience forms your opinion
- there are many similarities, and many differences
- on the point above, we agree"
That's just silly. Again, it's NOT MY INDIVIDUAL experiences!
So are you saying you disagree with my statement
I know that Macs break down and the OS crashes as do PCs and Windows? Are you saying that you have never had a Mac break down or the Mac OS crash?
"- my issue [with your opinion] is NOT COST
- it is reliability, stability
- your experience with Apple products is very different than my experience with Apple products"
What is my experience with Apple products? I have found them to be overall very stable and reliable. I have had several hard drives die, a defective video chip as well as other issues and the OS has crashed, you mean you have NEVER seen that nice colorful spinning wheel?
OK, let's look at how this doesn't make any sense!
I stated
But isn't that idiotic (no offense) If in 2005 I had stated "Windows based PCs are much more stable, reliable and better built than Macs" wouldn't that be an idiotic statement if I had no experience with Macs? You have said in a couple sentences and I'll post them again,
From Pascalf
"I almost exclusively use Apple as the core of the workstation"
"seeing that I have always based my workstations on OS X based hardware."
I said
So how does one claim how much more stable a Mac is than a Windows machine?
Pascalf
- most of my clients are former Windows users
- you do not assemble many Apple computers, so this logic also applies to you
So you formed your opinion regarding Windows and or PCs based upon most of your clients past experiences? Why? And what does that tell you about today's PCs using Windows? So the truth is you have NO experience with Windows PCs, you don't actually sell any and you don't build Windows PCs? Yet you claim that Macs are more reliable and stable, don't you see the problem here?
I had wondered what you meant when you stated you use Macs as the core of your workstations, originally I thought you had assembled your own Macs, but you don't, you do what I do, you buy them for your clients and upgrade them as needed? I service a lot of Macs and you would be correct to say many more PCs and what I have found is that the PCs from the larger manufacturers have a lot more problems than machines from smaller companies and I believe Apple is the best of the larger computer makers! I have more issues with Mac failures than I do my own machines, I attribute that to the fact I do use higher quality components. I get as many calls regarding Mac OS as I do with Windows as a percentage of the installed base.
"- according to "Gemmtech", everyones' opinion which does not match the Gemmtech opinion cannot be accurate, and is based on things other that their user experience.
- you do not have a monopoly on user experience. Do you?"
But what is your opinion? And what is it based on? You now come clean and state (as you originally said) that you don't assemble Windows PCs, you have no user base, you have no experience with them. What I had said many times, if your experience is based upon using a Dell, you'd be in trouble. I don't have a monopoly on user experience, but I do have the experience that you don't, yet you argue with me as though you do!!! Amazing, everything positive I have to say about the Macs you agree with and I have enough experience to say this is how it is most of the time. I have had Macs that took over a minute to boot and 45 seconds to shut down, hard drive failures, etc. But that is not my or my clients typical experience. The fact is Apple generally supplies (I'd say make, except they don't actually make anything) quality, reliable, stable well made products and the Mac OS works very well. I'd also say that if you were deciding between a Dell and a Mac, buy the Mac.
Now, if you are claiming that you have never had a Mac fail or Mac OS crash, I'd say I don't believe you. It is possible that one or two machines don't crash because like me on some machines I have one or two apps and that's all the PC runs. For instance my email machine never crashes, but I don't use that as an example because it would be silly. If you use a Mac or PC and load software on it and install various hardware or peripherals it will crash at times. It's just impossible to have enough of a user base to never have a failure or crash, there's not a product in the world that can claim 100%.
"- you should not be insulted if anyone thinks Apple products work well for them."
I'm not insulted since I have many Apple products that work well for me!
Pascalf, you are really hung up on this entire "personal experience" issue, but I am not discussing personal experience, had I done that I would never have purchased another Apple product after my first. I'm discussing my total collection of my clients whose individual user experiences tell me that Windows and Mac OS are very similar, equally stable and reliable. My user base tells me that my or other small company custom built PCs are of a higher quality and more reliable than Macs, I attribute that to the higher quality components. And it's not too difficult to figure out which components are better, for instance IDE hard drives fail at a much higher rate, that's why banks always used SCSI. I have had lower end video cards fail, but never one of the more expensive units. If the sampling size is large enough the numbers will match. If there is no user base, then you can't form any kind of opinion, good or bad. You with PCs is like me with Macs prior to 2006, so it's silly for you to give an opinion about the reliability and stability of a PC utilizing Windows.