Pecobians.com :: MAC vs piracy

smitz · 03 Feb 2005

Since i have never used a MAC more than half an hour at a stretch in my very few stints with it, i am always fascinated by the theories associated with it, most of which i think are "myths", i am sorry for being so ignorant, i really am.
And of all the MAC users here, i seek the answers to my queries here:
These are statements i have heard/read/known otherwise... which of these are myths/facts/incomplete facts?

1. MAC is always shipped in with an OS, so OS piracy is zero.
2. Apple provides free upgrades for lifetime to its users, including OS upgrades
3. Whenever you connect to the internet, the apple site opens in the background and checks every single piece of software for ingenuity
4. You can get jail if you connect to the internet running someone else's copy of the OS.
5. All MAC emulators are crap, since they are very slow and there is no point buying a MAC OS for running through emulators on an x86 architecture.
6. You cannot run pirated software on a MAC machine since every software generates hardware and software keys that have to be registered before you can use it (And they do not allow phone registrations Wink

)
7. No OS looks better than OS X.

nmadnani · 14 Feb 2005

I am a relatively experienced Apple user and I can try and answer these.

smitz wrote:

MAC is always shipped in with an OS, so OS piracy is zero.

This is relatively true but also because of technical reasons than just this one. Since, Mac OS X works *only* with Apple hardware, there is really no concept of large scale piracy. Of course, this doesn't stop people who have older version of Mac OS X to get pirated versions of the latest version. (See next point for more on this), although I don't think this is a big enough problem for Apple, as much as it is for Microsoft but that's because Windows still has about more than 90% markset share. Of course, expect this to change when the latest version of Mac OS X compatible with the x86 microarchitecture starts shipping. Developer versions have been available on bittorrents for a while and there is a full project website devoted to this - http://osx86project.org/. People have reported some success with being able to run this operating system on regular PCs but Apple is said to be experimenting with a TPM module which will force the OS to only run with Apple manufactured machines.

Apple provides free upgrades for lifetime to its users, including OS upgrades

This is false. You get all minor upgrades and point versions free but every major upgrade is about $129. So, version 10.4 was $129 ($99 for students) but 10.4.1 through 10.4.3 have been free.

Whenever you connect to the internet, the apple site opens in the background and checks every single piece of software for ingenuity

Absolutely false. You can check this easily using nmap.

You can get jail if you connect to the internet running someone else's copy of the OS.

What ? Ummm ... I don't even want to comment on this.

All MAC emulators are crap, since they are very slow and there is no point buying a MAC OS for running through emulators on an x86 architecture.

Well, very soon you won't need emulators since Mac OS X will natively support x86. But you have heard right - PowerPC emulators don't work mainly because it is *very* hard, and hence slow, to emulate a RISC architecture on a CISC machine.

You cannot run pirated software on a MAC machine since every software generates hardware and software keys that have to be registered before you can use it (And they do not allow phone registrations Wink

)

I don't think I should be saying this but I have pirated software installed on my machine right now Smile

No OS looks better than OS X.

Absolutely positively true. Not only works better but also provides a better user experience. Of course, this is a biased opinion of an Apple user Smile

For a comprehensive and objective comparison of Mac OS X and Windows XP, see http://www.xvsxp.com/

Sauron · 21 May 2005

@ smitz

One thing I love abt the Mac is that there are no registry keys.. so, to uninstall a program, all u gotta do is delete it.. Applause

smitz · 03 Feb 2005

So does that mean when you format a MAC disc, if ever you need to do it, i really feel you would never, but anyways, if you do it, we can save something like a program files folder and paste it again on the new drive, as easy as that! Or does it go only for uninstalling stuff and not for installing it.????

nmadnani · 14 Feb 2005

There is an 'Applications' folder. Every Mac OS X 'application' is a self-contained package. So, installation is as simple as a drag and drop into the Applications folder and uninstallation is as simple as deleting it from the folder.

Sauron · 21 May 2005

nmadnani wrote:

There is an 'Applications' folder. Every Mac OS X 'application' is a self-contained package. So, installation is as simple as a drag and drop into the Applications folder and uninstallation is as simple as deleting it from the folder.

Well.. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I have installed applications that need to be "unpacked" instead of just drag-n-drop

nmadnani · 14 Feb 2005

Knight Rider wrote:

Well.. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I have installed applications that need to be "unpacked" instead of just drag-n-drop

Most applications come in compressed disk images (with the extension .dmg). You download the .dmg file, double click on it, it automatically gets mounted as a disk and opens in a window, you drag the application package from that window to your applications folder. Done.