A Switcher Talks : Is OS X all it claims?

On June 5th, 2007 this long-time Windows user and technician bought a MacBook Pro. My plan was simple, I wanted to become a bi-lingual computer user and be comfortable in either environment. I also looked to take a critical look at the OS X, the Mac community, and how it stands to the Windows world.

Some things I've noticed so far is how, while things are different, the two operating systems are not alien worlds to each other. I had no trouble adjusting to the Finder from Explorer, and moving things such as my music, photos, and general data was as simple as transferring from one computer to another. OS X has integrated some things like Expose and Dashboard into the desktop a lot better than Windows though, Vista's 3d Flip and SideBar just aren't as well done. However, I still prefer Linux' Beryl but lets not get into that.

Packaged software is a total different ballpark though. The Mac comes with the lovely iLife suite, and I must say its great sometimes. iTunes, iMovie HD, iWeb, iCal, GarageBand, Mail, all I have used in my endeavor to experience the Mac, and you can't go wrong with their integration and use. One I am unhappy with is iChat though, which just feels over simplified. You don't get this out of the box all-ready feel from any PC I've ever seen, though, so that is a big plus.

The freeware is abundant on the Mac, but a little harder to find. This is highly to blame at the number of Mac's being outweighed , but I managed to find lots of great freeware to replace my slew of apps from the windows world. I did also find lots and lots of cheap-ware on the Mac, some of which I even forked over the cash for in order to try out. I felt somewhat startled by this, seeing as I'm used to never paying for software on my Windows box.

The virus/spyware debate is interesting though. I went out and, well, intentionally tried to infect my machine (I won't dare say how) and yes, its true, the Mac is less susceptible to it, but its not because of security I believe. Its the popularity game working to Apple's advantage. A smart computer user won't have any trouble on a Windows machine, but I suppose for the unknowing and unaware web surfer its a big plus in the Mac column.

My Mac has crashed! Yes it true, if your doing too much and attempt to unhook all your peripherals without turning it off it will lock up. Luckily, I had to try to make it happen, and only once has it occurred. Windows can be kept to a state where its unlikely to crash, but I feel that requires a lot more work than OS X. Where in Windows I kept a clean slate, constantly removing things I didn't use anymore, and maintaining a strict list of startup apps, I feel I don't have to do that anymore.

In closing, the Mac OS X is great. Its well built, very stable, and fun. Its not better than Windows. There, I said it. If your a Windows pro, the OS X is NOT going to make your life better or worse. It however WILL offer something new. Something different. An opportunity to learn again, and do things a little differently.


One's not better than the other. There's a place for both in the computer world.

 

^^^^ COMPLETELY AGREE, well put Sir, great comments, and great to see more people thinking this way.

 

I rate OS X and XP about equal in terms of overall stability. I can crash either OS or an application will sometimes crash pretty hard. I just crashed my finder today. The explorer vanishing is nothing new.

Vista lags both in stability, but somehow seems to have the promise of improving dramatically over time. It was clearly released a little early, even after 5 years in development.

OS X definitely seems to require less overall maintenance.

I also totally understand the thinking that OS X is a little more elegant, has a little more style.

Win95 and Win98 definitely sucked and earned M$ a bad reputation, but XP is solid.

The one main difference between the two, and it's something that has always bugged me about OS X... the overall OS X UI just seems a little more sluggish.

Overall though, I'm pretty much like you, after I start using one or the other, I'm perfectly fine with it.

 

thanks for the insightful post . I get tired of all the fanboys feeling they have to defend "their OS" and bring down the others. I wish everyone had your open mindset

 

"I went out and, well, intentionally tried to infect my machine (I won't dare say how)..."

PoRn!....heh...

 

i don't think you should consider yourself a switcher, just a user of computers that knows what he is doing, if you are that, they you won't have issues with either OS.

go Neutrality!!!

 

What?! Win95 rocked for the time it was released. It was leaps and bounds better than Windows for Workgroups 3.11 and Win95 also offered features not available on Mac OS at the time such as protected memory and preemptive multitasking. I also loved the Win95 explorer and how you could right-click almost anything and get a context menu. I actually think Win95 was the most worthwhile Windows upgrade (compared with the previous version) that Microsoft ever offered.

I'd say that Win95 was when Windows pulled ahead of Mac OS from a technical standpoint... and Mac OS didn't regain the lead until OS X.

I agree though that XP is more stable than any of these OSes except maybe OS X.

 

I guess I was doing multimedia stuff on Win95, authoring CDs. It was def cutting edge stuff at the time and it really seemed like Win95 crashed about once an hour.

Of course, the Mac OS 7.5.3 era was pretty much as bad.

Win95 was obviously a great leap over Win3.1 but the Mac had better printing capabilities with postscript and when pr0n first hit the internet I remember all my friends freaking out over how much better the pics looked on my Mac with its 24 bit graphics which were a long time coming to the average Win user.

Of course, at the time, Macs were positively crazy priced with their SCSI drives, networking and so forth.

If Win95 had a period of greatness, it was def short lived.

 

Thanks guys. I try. One interesting thing to note is right now Apple doesn't sell a single desktop I would consider buying. I prefer budget power boxes (800-1100 range) that support dual monitors.


Oh well, here's hopes for sometime before christmas for that.

 

Yep, it's an area they've never gotten right.

The G4 cube and now the mini. Both were severely compromised from the get go. The cube with its great expense, and the mini with its notebook underpinnings.

They seem to think desktops need to start at $2500.

 

Well the iMac's are great spec'd, and will be even better with a refresh, but I just hate the design.

Bring back the cube with a desktop Core 2, Nvidia 8600gt, and the usual fittings for around a grand and i'll take it. Till then i'll keep building linux boxes.

 

I know! WTF!!?!?!!!

 

Nicholie I really appreate your comments. I have been following your threads as I am in the same boat as you. Long time windows user. At this point I want a notebook again to repalace my desktop for the next few years. It was mainly built for gamming and I just don't do much of that any more, and the entry level MBP looks very nice indeed. Light, fast, and with boot camp, I am really ready to try.

 

yeah, the built in screen kills it for me.

 

I really like the iMac design, I am kind of excited to see what they do next with the latest iMac.

iMac's are such a great option for so many people it is hard for me not to like it.

but I do agree, it would be great if Apple would realize a Mac Pro Jr. or something, haha, just a normal single slot motherboard, Intel has many available they could use, with a single Core 2 Duo, or Quad Processor, and a few decent choices for a video card, and you have a machine a lot of people would buy.

but they want to keep their lineup simple and really straightforward so I can understand that as well.

 

I like how the iMac is all-in-one, but I wouldn't mind a Mac mini-tower to show up soon...especially one that is aimed more for prosumers and consumers rather than the professionals.

Lots of people hate the chin of the iMac. I don't dislike it that much, although it is rather big.

 

One issue I have with apple is having to pay for service packs. why?
The delete button doesn't work on the macs, try for yourself: click on a file in finder, then press delete, wtf it doesn't work! I've found XP more stable, macs I've used have trouble with running several programs at once - you overload the RAM and the mac gets very sluggish. In XP the whole OS crashes if a driver is fishy though, macs crash the app

 

Front row is just a pretty face for iTunes, harsh but true. OSX is a lot sleeker than Windows, I like the fixed menubar, its great for having multiple docs open in word.

 

I like both operating systems. I've used Windows forever and now I'm learning OS X which has been very easy so far. I definitely will get an IMac in the future - I love the look of it. In fact, working for a couple of hours on my brother's new IMac sold me on Apple.

I would like to see Apple make an ultraportable - small and thin, like the Sony TX or maybe just slightly larger than the TX - something I can easily travel with and take with me to meetings and just open up and type on or go to the internet for important info or news. I was going to go for the TX cause I travel a lot but I'd rather wait and see if Apple will do something. I am going to probably try the IPhone but it's still not something I can write on and use the way I can use a computer.

For me, I'll always have at least one Windows laptop. But I'll also always have a Mac.

 

no, no it isn't, Front Row will actually play back basically any video file that Quicktime will play, or iTunes will play, so if you have lots of Divx "movies" which obviously aren't of the copyrighted nature. . . you can play them back with front row. not to mention how pretty they made the interface.

 

What Divx movies are copyrighted? Are you referring to some sort of DRM protection? Or a Divx (.avi) movie downloaded as a torrent? How does Front Row handle these things?

If you dual-boot with Vista or XP using Boot Camp, and you set a folder as your main download location in Windows, can you access the same folder through OS X? How does dual-booting like this affect the file system on your hard drive and where things are saved? Sorry if I'm over thinking this, but I have no experience with it.

 

i think that we can all agree that xp pro and os x are very polished at this point.

vista can go dig a hole somewhere and crawl into it.

 

I do not want any of the software that comes with a Mac computer. When will Microsoft and Apple realize what software a business user wants. I do not want iTunes, iMovie HD, iWeb, iCal, GarageBand or any of that junk. Well it is junk for what I need my laptop for. I want Power Point, Excel, Word, Zone Alarm (Windows use only), Fire Fox, Thunderbird and maybe Access. I would trade all of that free Mac software for just Microsoft Word or Excel.

 

Well Homer, the Macs aren't really aimed at the business user, such as you, they're aimed more towards consumers and graphics/entertainment professionals. It will take time for Apple to add in a more "business" lineup with business software. They're working on expanding their iWork suite, and with all the connections to Google they might push Google Docs & Spreadsheets.

 

The majority of computer buyers are not "business users". A computer would be hum drum if all it came with in features and software catered to the business user. Even Microsoft wised up and added Media Center ,photo, dvd and movie editing software in Vista. OS X's media suite of apps is really sweet and they produce very professional quality results. Most people love the iLife suite and wish it were on Windows.

BTW, iCal is a very professional calendar program that's very useful for the business user.

 

I completely agree - I don't think one is better than the other. I think people need to have an open mind, like the original poster.

 

now dont get carried away now lmaoo

there is nothing special about ilife and all its lil programs within it.

in fact windows has a very capable program that will play all videos (avi, mpg, divx) ans well as mp3s and more as an ALL IN 1 program.... WMP
Unlike mac where u need to open a diff program to play a vid, or then play a mp3 or a movie etc

WMP is much more versitile

And the majority of 'retail buyers "DO" or are motivated to buying a laptop for business use. Maybe not on the professional level but it is on a personal level.
Take a trip downtown in ur area and witness it urself.
Also, im aware of info that advises me that the Dell laptops sold for business on a fleet level vs consumer level is 2 to 1
95% of all used laptop resellers are selling off lease laps that were leased for business.

Have you ever thought where were the refurbished Mac laps were before they were listed on the mac site?

 

Dude, don't post if you don't know what the hell you are talking about. The iLife suite of apps (outside of iTunes) have nothing to do with MP3's and just playing videos. I'm talking about DVD authoring and Movie editing and Photo editing. See based on your post I know you use Windows and it's your ignorance that causes a lot of irritation. This is what the OP was talking about, people like you who just say biased things about their OS without knowing anything about alternatives.
I'm sure you can do a search and find a lot of satisfied Mac users and aspiring Windows switchers that actually like the iLife suite.

 

Hrm, well besides that they're not really the same type of program...WMP really really...sucks.

It has almost no codec support, and can't view the majority of the better compression standards out there, and is limited only to those few rather rather inferior Microsoft containers. Yes you can install additional codecs and whatnot that with a bit of tweaking will work, but the end result is still less than decent. Granted, QuickTime isn't much better in that respect

In any event, no one serious about watching quality movies or videos on a PC would use WMP . That's what MPC, VLC, mplayer and whatnot are for.

The only thing WMP has going for it is that Microsoft manages to shove it down everyone's throats in Windows, and so a ton of proprietary software use it (I had to create multimedia specifically to work with WMP embedded in one such program for a whole year!...the scars of that torture still linger in my nightmares today).

Anyway, not sure how my post turned into a rant against WMP...but uh..mplayer and mpc is the way to go!

 

I absolutely challenge that statement. iLife is an excellent suite that offers very useful applications without the need to find individual software for each, and not to mention the cost. GarageBand is excellent even if you don't do much music...I just created a 1 minute song without having to play a single instrument. And it sounds pretty good . iMovie is fantastic. Sure, it ain't not Sony Vegas, but Vegas costs $90 itself...that's the cost of the whole iLife suite. iPhoto is excellent for basic photo manipulation as well as organizing photos. iWeb just sucks . But really, iLife is very special. There is no other suite for Windows that has all these useful applications bundled altogether in one suite, for just $90.

Challenged as well. Business laptops aren't the major sellers of the entire laptop industry. Its now more in the media/entertainment field for consumers. Toshiba's laptops aren't really business machines, HP's Pavilion line are the best-sellers, and Apple's laptops are obviously for consumers. They're the ones selling big right now. And yes, you're right, everyone does some type of "office" work, such as word processing or maybe tax software. Well, those are available for Mac. Microsoft Office for Mac is good. And if you want an OpenOffice style app, NeoOffice has it.

I ride through downtown quite often, for taking pictures and stuff. I see tons of Dell Inspirons, HP Pavilions and Apple MacBooks. Thinkpads I rarely see.

Someone's desk? Really, I don't get this statement.

 

Enough bickering, the point of the thread was to state that the two are equally great, and there is no way to discern a winner as is clearly personal preferences that derivate the choice.

I'm typing this from a Mac, while listening to music coming from a desktop dual booting Vista (yay for my free upgrade finally) and Ubuntu 7.04.

 

yup, ill say it again. Theres nothing special about ilife and its progs.
and theres nothing to challenge cause i think most of it is on the edge of just being bloatware.
And yup, ive seen all of it, tried it and have better pc programs that work better and best yet it was free. So much better than having apple charge you for everything.

And Sam, 'business laptops' as per labelled by its manufacturers is not what im talking about. And i stand by my claim that notebooks of today are purchased with a 2 to 1 margin for professional business over personal use as hldan claims. He should take his own advice on the 'don't post.. blah blah blah' because i have friends in the wholesale fleet industry with both dell and sony so i know their numbers and margins.
And the mac statement i made is referring to refurbished leased mac's. Thats where they were prior to being sold as refurbished units.
Yes, ive experienced headaches with apples AFS from the company from within i worked so i have the know.
If it wasnt for business fleet and wholesale leasing brand names like Dell and Lenovo wouldnt have the sales numbers that they do

 

I actually love the chin..seperates it and makes it look different from just normal LCD screen.

 

i dont know exactly which programs are part of ilife.

but ical is AMAZING for its integration with isync and cell phones. having my cell calendar sync with my laptop calendar in both directions is amazing. i know there are windows programs that can do this, but ical is really useful just for being integrated. i stand by that. garageband is also really useful (i am a musician among other things, 12 years running) - and it is much more useful than audacity, almost as good as the logic series, without the price tag. iphoto is a great organizational tool, but no so much for editing.

even imovie and idvd have quality purpose. make a dvd that you can play in any dvd player that has some hint of polish. and imovie is a good tool to cut and crop video and do a little playing around with editing.

anything they advertise above those functions is likely a bit of a reach, but the suite of apps is really good for what i described.

and i swear by garageband. it is awesome.

 

It's just cmd-delete. Kind of annoying how it sends it to the trash instead of just deleting it though, unlike Shift-Delete in Windows.

 

I'm not going to make this a rude debate Mike because your friends in the wholesale fleet industry are the only ones that will agree with you. So far I have read replies to you from others on this forum and nobody agrees with you that the iLife Suite is nothing special. One person literally laughed at how much you like WMP.

Wake up guy, we live in the digital age and what we do on our computers now is totally different from yesteryear. Back in the day owning a computer was a luxury and laptops were only bought by business power users. Kids use laptops now for simple instant messaging and music with their iPods. Computers rather laptop or desktop have become our entertainment devices and not a business paperweight. You should take off the pinstripe suit and tie and become a human being. Your trying to become a troll and people are seeing that.

 

Its not about agreeing with my friends or vise versa. Its the facts that you have no clue about or knowing. You made two comments that are far fetched way out in left field and i chose to rebut them ( The majority of computer buyers are not "business users". + Most people love the iLife suite and wish it were on Windows.)

So the number of computer buyers 'are' business users. Thou it may not be by personal choice by some but thats the way it especially when a laptop is supplied and is replaced every 6mths to 2yrs. Why would anyone buy themselves a laptop if their company gave them one and renewed it every 2nd quarter.
Out of the top 5 computer brands its 'the business' end of their sales force that produces the growth.
If you had access to Gartner Research papers then i guess you'd probably figure it out.
The biggest refurbished laptop reseller in Canada is laptopcloseout.ca. Why dont you give them a call and tell them what you think. Dont be surprised if you find them 'literally' laughing on the other end.

And i still stand buy my views that theres nothing special about iLife. Its only you who seems to take it as an insult on a personal level but i guess those are your issues you have to deal with.
And please show me where i said "how much i liked the WMP"
If you read carefully i was referring to how the WMP could do a number of tasks with its one program where mac required seperate programs to do each.

Lastly, your comment "Most people love the iLife suite and wish it were on Windows" is the most confusing. If someone would 'love' the iLife as you state it then why would they want it on windows?? If they love it so much wouldnt they already be on a mac???
I realize youre a die hard mac dood who thinks window users should envy iLife but i think you may want to 'wake up' as you say it and realize thats probably not the case.
In fact i have yet to see windows 'legally commissioning' mac to have any of its exclusive softwear to be made accessible on the pc platform. Guess you cant say the same for mac eh!

And oh, im wide awake...
Are you suggesting those who wear suits are not human??? Where do you come up with these things?
In fact i wear many suits besides a pinstripe one. These days its more like khaki's and designer shirts hob-knobbing with creative designers and photographers like myself.
Based on the 2 comments you made i think the waking up may be needed elsewhere.
And predicated on your definition of 'kids' they probably make up an extremely small percentage of total consumer laptop sales. Most of them will take mths if not years to save up to buy a laptop. Especially if its a mac based on its pricing.
So, if rebutting your generalizing comments is considered trolling then be prepared to probably have a few more hang around.

...ohhh the humanity!!!!
gawd save us...


now isnt this more fun than debating laptop width and weight?
yet you can always go back to that....

 

To get back to the OP's comments I too believe that each OS has unique characteristics. To totally ignore one is a bit short sited (at least to those of us that like this kind of stuff). To lay people they just want something that works.

My wife loved the iBook I bought her a couple of years ago. I'll admit that it was selfishness on my part that got her that Mac to begin with. I was tired of all the spyware, viruses, and general looks of dismay and frustration coming from her side of the bed (she was using a Dell I had bought her). I just wanted something that I didn't have to mess with. Power it up and go was my motto. I bought her the iBook for her birthday and it took her a few weeks to get comfortable with it. Fast forward a couple of years and she has our lives neatly integrated into iLife. After an unfortunate event (envision an iBook taking a tumble off the top of a car at about 30 MPH..I'll never hear the end of that) it was time to replace her Mac. I offered her a brand new Dell D420, but she stood her ground. She loved her Mac and we wound up buying a new Macbook a couple of months ago. Over the past couple of years she had grown to appreciate a reliable machine that just worked. She could care less if it ran Windows, Mac OS, or Captain Crunch.

I on the other hand like to enjoy both sides of the fence. I have a work supplied T60 that enjoy immensely. It gets me thru the work day and is very reliable (mostly). Windows XP works very well on the machine. Overall XP is a very good OS and has matured very well over the past few years. Vista on the other hand has a long ways to go, but that is for discussion some other day.

My home machine varies from day to day. Currently I am enjoying a MBP I picked up a couple of weeks ago. I have to say it is the best portable Mac I've ever owned, and I've owned every generation since Lombard. OS X is as stable as ever, and I look forward to features Leopard has to offer. I think the greatest feature that Mac OS has to offer is that 99% of the time it just works. I like firing up an app I have never/rarely used and be proficient at it in a few minutes.

Maybe it's just me but I think Apple has done a bit of disservice to users for the past few years. Ever since OS X has been on the market it's been a hodge podge of different looks and has generally been inconsistent in appearance and function. Just take a peek at Safari, iTunes, and Mail for example. The inconsistency doesn't do a lot for new users who can get confused easily. Leopard promises to finally tie up the loose ends and I hope that is the case.

I really see computers becoming more and more like appliances. We aren't there yet but it's quickly approaching. Who cares what you use at work vs. home and vise versa? As long as what you are trying to accomplish is not hindered by the OS in any way. The key is that the OS and apps have to be transparent. At this stage of the game OS X and iLife/iWork is far ahead of the curve. Not necessarily because they offer the best features or neatest whiz-bangs, but because Grandma can sit down and put together a DVD with videos, photos, music, without getting frustrated. Computers are tools to enrich our lives and make our short stay here as painless as possible.

So to each his/her own. Just enjoy it while you can. I on the other hand have to figure out how I'm going to snag an iPhone this weekend. ;P

 

I think you have his second comment confused. I'm pretty sure he meant "Most Windows users wished they had an iLife equivalent in their PC".

A MacBook starts at $1099, is very powerful and full of extra features like Front Row and iSight camera. OS X, iLife integrated. Macs aren't as overpriced as they used to be. While I do agree the MacBook Pro is expensive, it ain't the same story for the MacBooks.

And most kids don't take years to save up to buy a laptop. They beg their parents, who decide its time to go from desktop to laptop, and they look around, see a nice laptop without the power to game. Yes, that sometimes is a feature for a parent .

 

Thank you Sam, I knew someone understood what I was saying. Just read a couple more recent comments and more positive replies in regards to iLife without any influence from me.

 

The whole delete button is just a weird quirk lol...
But I remember that jobs said MS was lazy cuz it took so long to make Vista, consider this:
MS has made 3 service packs (sp1, sp2 and XP media centre) and one OS (Vista).
Apple has made 4 service packs you have to pay for (tiger, panther, puma, jaguar)

 

I'd say it's different. The Windows service packs are for bug fixes and maybe security features, but not features that are useful or add to your user experience. Tiger added actual things you can use like spotlight, dashboard,... and I'm sure plenty of other stuff I can't remember right now.

 

No, i dont have it confused at all.
He said "Most people love the iLife suite and wish it were on Windows" and im not about to second guess or place words in his quotes where they arent. Guess maybe he should re-think before writing ...hey didnt he earlier say... "Dude, don't post...blah blah"

Anyways, there are lots of 'equivalents' to iLife as you mention
In fact, i just found this: http://www.samspublishing.com/articles/article.asp?p=405510&rl=1

But to get back on topic the title of this thread is "Is OS X all it claims" and as the author has posted some reservations with ifs and buts as well as reporting computer crashes its nice to see someone post honest experiences within ownership.
I wont get into the mentality and psyche of the mac owner but its good to know that some things like the iLife isnt the best thing since slided bread was invented as its made out to be.
As well this also goes for a lot of windows progs too. Theyre just not stttt... well... wont bother saying it.

 

Media Centre is experience based lol...
The thing is that Apple advertises 150+(using panther as example) breakthrough new features when there's like 3 that make an impact (a new Finder, a way to see all your open windows at once and bundled video msging software - wth are the other 147 breakthroughs?) in england you pay £100 per pack, thats £500 total, almost US$1000

 

I'm not trying to say that each OS X upgrade is really worth $129 (or worse, 100 GBP), but it's more than a Windows service pack.

 

Haha, I was just disputing what Jobs said about MS about the release of Vista and what MS has done over the past 5 years... Its true that paying for Tiger would have been worth it - spotlight, dashboard... but Google Desktop is free and DesktopX is US$24.99 from Stardock

 

going from 10.3 to 10.4 was not a "service pack". I think the "service pack" is much more akin to the regular software updates. Tiger is to Panther what Vista is to XP, more like.

 

No, Tiger is to Panther as XP home is to XP media centre , Vista is to XP as 95 is to Win3, and OSX Cheetah to OS9. Vista was made from scratch its not an upgrade of XP, I might even just call Leopard a patch if it wasn't for the transparent toolbar and the dock system they stole from Stardocks' ObjectDock.

 

I'm beggining to think some of you either didn't read, or entirely missed the point of the thread.

No one cares. Your not cooler because you think its not worth your money for this or that. Spend it on something that matters if you have such an issue with it. I propose you buy each other drinks. I'll have a scotch.

 

That article is bogus. I'm sorry, but the programs that article states is no way an equivalent of iLife. How can you even think that was an equivalent??? Its either not as powerful or way more expensive.

First of all, that article states that Windows Movie Maker is the equivalent of iMovie. Hahahahaha! That makes me laugh. Windows Movie Maker is absolutely incompetent compared to the power of iMovie.

iTunes' equivalent in Windows? Guess what? That article states - iTunes! For Windows, that is.

iPhoto's equivalent in Windows is Google's Picasa. I don't doubt this too much, Picasa is a very nice photo organizer. But iPhoto organizes very well, looks great, and has editing tools that are pretty good without the need to use Photoshop.

iDVD's equivalent is Adobe Premiere Elements, according to that article. Wow...so you spend $99 to get Adobe Premiere Elements, and that's the equivalent of a single app of iLife, and the entire iLife suite only costs $79. Wow...

GarageBand's equivalent? Nopes, no equivalent. Except maybe Audacity. While I respect Audacity, it is in no way an equivalent to GarageBand. GarageBand is an awesome app, I use quite often, I don't have to play a single instrument and I can create my own songs with the built-in sound effects and melodies.

Y'know, this is the article you recommended yourself to fight your point. Those applications are in no way an equivalent to iLife - except for iTunes for Windows, which is Apple's anyways. Adobe Premiere Elements is more powerful than iDVD, but what good is that? That single program costs more than the entire iLife suite. Its like saying "Sure, Photoshop is way better than Paint. Paint looks like nothing compared to Photoshop." Well, duh! Its way more expensive!!

Previously, you made a comment that why open a bunch of apps when you can do it all in Windows Media Player? Well, guess what? In this so-called "iLife Equivalent", you're opening applications from four different companies altogether. Not even a single company. Each has its own interface.

Nicholie, I absolutely apologize. I did not mean to run off topic on your thread. Unfortunately, I found the need to reply to mikeymike's post. Once again, I apologize to you, Nicholie.