Daily Reading: Five reasons why Vista is Better than OS X.

Yes, I really am reading this article. And no, not because I really believe that Vista is a better operating system.

I just wanted, you know, to mess it up a little, and you have to read what I am responding to before I can respond.

Finished? Good. Here are the arguments and counter-arguments.

Reason #1: Vista runs more software
But quantity does not equal quality. I'd rather run one piece of software that did what I want than have the option of running 1000 that don't. Yes, many of my favourite apps (Adobe) are cross platform, but the fact that they run on both is not a compelling argument. Sure, they run on vista, but they also run on Mac, and I much prefer the interface over here, thank you very much.

Just don't talk to me about games....

Reason #2: Vista is safer
Um. Okay. You're right. No, really. Just because one mac got hacked in a contest by someone who has made it his life's goal to discredit mac security, suddenly Vista is safer.

Yes, all operating systems are vulnerable. And this one gets kicked around a lot. Okay, so maybe macs are safer simply because they aren't targets. But is it safer to be in a mostly secure tank in the middle of no-man's land getting shot at from all sides, or safer to be back home in the land of the free, surrounded by your white picket fence and nary a rocket propelled virus in sight?

That's not a call to inaction by any means, and the folks at webkit have already patched the exploit (or so we can assume; AFAIK, the details of the exploit aren't public yet). But all the vulnerability reports I've read have been "this could be exploited", but strangely, never are.

Reason #3: It's the money, stupid
Hello? We're talking OSes here, not hardware. And last I checked, here were the prices:

Mac OS X 10.5: $129 (apple.ca)
Vista Home Premium: $299 (cdw.ca)

Yup. Sure looks cheaper to me. Here's the business version:

Leopard: $129 (apple.ca)
Vista Ultimate: $505 (cdw.ca)

Heck. I'm sold. Where do I sign up?

Reason #4: The Mac is closed; Vista is open
Anyone can cobble together a Vista Machine from whatever parts. Sure. And if those parts are crap? I'd rather pay a little more for quality. Sure, you can get a quality Vista Machine, but then your hardware is about the same price as the Mac. So you're saying I can spend less and get crap, or spend the same amount and get...Vista? Again, thanks, but no thanks.

Reason #5: Two words -- Steve Jobs
Two words back at you. Steve Balmer.

Just a note: I didn't read [URL="http://www.tuaw.com/2008/04/09/vista-beats-os-x-really/"]this[/URL] until after I posted. It's much more lucid and well thought out, but basically follows the same arguments as I, including the same punchline. Great minds and all that rot, though I think he set himself up for that one. I bet there are as-yet-undiscovered tribes of pygmies in South America who would say the same thing if they read the article...assuming they could read English...

We're going back in time.

I was, I freely admit, a latecomer to the whole OSX thing. I had built my life around OS9, and upgrading the operating system would mean also having to upgrade all the software Lots and lots of software. Most of it, at the time, not...um, how to put this delicately. Most not eligible for software upgrade. And even if it was, I didn't have a whole lot of cash to throw at buying new versions of old apps. So I stuck with old apps for as long as I could.

In fact, it was only when 10.2 was getting long in the tooth that I finally decided to break out the OSX 10.0 disk that came with my G4 and put it on the computer. I could always launch system 9 to get back at those old apps, if I really needed them.

I quickly upgraded to 10.2, then dotthree when it came out, then dotfour, and now dotfive. Which I love.

The trouble is, while I now have updated (and legit, thank you very much) versions of Creative Suite and Lightroom and Dreamweaver and all those other apps, there are a couple that never made the leap from 9. They hit end of life, and if I want to use them, I have to go back to my old computer, and fire up system 9.

Which I haven't needed to do in...years, probably. But one of the programs stuck in 9 is a cookbook program called MasterCook. My wife, you see, used to do food services for a retreat centre, and had a fairly complete stack of recipes inputted.

She hasn't needed access to these recipes for the last few years, as she is not currently working, choosing instead to raise our two kids (and let me work three jobs to make ends meet...), but tonight, we were going out for supper at my sister's, and my wife wanted to bring along a special salad.

She could not find the recipe in her files, so sent me down to print up a copy. I sat down at the old G4 (which has currently been relegated to functioning as a file server), and clicked on MasterCook.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited for classic to start up. I never would have called booting into classic snappy, but I don't think it used to be this slow. Must be the fact that I'm running 10.4 on the computer, and 10.4s support for classic is fairly thin (and went missing completely with 10.5).

Finally it started up and I was greeted with that cheery rainbow apple logo in the top left, and all that Geneva text...

A couple weeks ago, OS X turned seven years old, but it didn't dawn on me just how far we've come until I had to go back and relive system nine in all its glory. I poked around in the software for a while, but finally had to stop. I stuck with Apple through the bad old days, but it's a bit embarrassing to look back on those days. Kinda like looking through the old high school year books. They're nice to have around for nostalgia sake, but I don't really want anyone else looking at them. I mean, were my glasses really that big? My haircut really that...bad?

I like to pretend that the mac has always been this cool, but opening up classic, I was reminded, quite acutely, how far we've come in the last few years.

Since classic is no longer supported, I finally exported the recipe files as text files. That should be the last time I need to open up classic. Now to find a suitable replacement....I'm open to suggestions.

There's a side of me that's a bit sad. It's a bit like thinking about your lost youth. But then I look at how...I'm sorry, but how ugly it, and I don't think I'll miss it. The G4 will probably not get updated to 10.5 unless I find a compelling need to use back to my mac to access files on it. Even so, I think that's it for Classic.

Farewell, I shall remember you fondly, so long as I never need to look on your face again.