Windows has been getting it done for quite a while
Contents
- Customization, Upgrade & Repair
- More Users, More Producers
- Windows 7
- Wrap up
I was reading over my article about reasons to buy a Mac, and realized I may have worded it a bit callously. I mentioned the "real" reasons for buying a Mac. In truth, a real reason is anything that is good enough for you and your own thought process. What I should have said are "verifiable and unbiased" reasons for purchase. There are a large segment of the tech world that will buy a Mac because it's an Apple product. There are others that will buy an Android because it's Android. And those are perfectly valid reasons.
But for me to feel comfortable recommending something to you guys, I have to find more than allegiance or opinion. Having said that, I thought today that we would cover some of the empirical reasons for buying a Windows PC. Luckily for us all, I've been using Windows all of my life; so I've had some time to do research. I'm not going to tell you that Windows 7 is as solid as OS X or anything like that; though I've not had a single issue with it. This isn't a comparison between the two at all. This is about why you should buy a Windows machine based on it's own merits. Having said that, let's get started.
Customization, Upgrade & Repair
Everybody loves customizing their belongings. That's why you can find cell phones with rhinestones and key chain looking things on them and 9,000,000 different cases. With your Windows computer, you're free to customize it to your liking. Do you want to add a sweet case with neon lights and industrial fans? Go for it. Maybe you just want a new, basic case. Or what if you want to start using your 50" television instead of your monitor? Windows not only allows, but welcomes any of these scenarios and more.
My personal favorite reason for getting a Windows PC is the fact that you can make upgrades and repairs yourself. I've mentioned a couple of times that I've owned my same desktop since early 2004. The innards of that desktop are only vaguely similar to the setup when I bought it. I've added a massive hard drive, DVD burner, added much more RAM, a new graphics card, a TV tuner, a wireless network card and a few more random upgrades. The beauty of Windows is that you're free to get in there, get your hands dirty, and really extend the life of your PC by performing some "elective surgery". If you're wondering, all of these upgrades are needed because I'm turning my computer into a media center/dvr; I'll post a video of that project later if you're interested.
Obsolescence is more than a fact of life; it's a production mantra. Products are made to become obsolete. If they weren't, people would go out of business after their first product launch. So whenever your hard drive starts showing it's age, or the dust on your motherboard starts to amass, you can go ahead and fix that yourself with a Windows PC. I had my computer plugged directly into the wall, foregoing a surge protector, and had certain components fail during an electrical storm. My network card stopped working after that storm. But did I panic? Of course not. I just cracked open the case, removed the old network card and bought a new one. Total time, including store run and removing the old part, was an hour. I know a lot of people are apprehensive about working on their own computers; but you have the possibility if you decide you want to try. I mentioned dust earlier; believe it or not dust will build up in your computer over time. It's nice being able to open your case and run some compressed air through it.
More Users, More Producers
I will admit being able to upgrade and repair your computer isn't probably a huge draw to everyone. And that's fine, you don't have to play PC plastic surgeon to get the most out of your Windows experience. One of the things people tend to overlook is the sheer volume of Windows units in use today. Schools, offices, libraries and homes worldwide have been using Windows computers for many years. Windows is by far the most popular, in terms of units in the population, operating system around. This popularity carries certain benefits. Chief amongst them are the larger user community and the larger producer base.
It's only natural that a product with such a large market share would have a ton of users. This, in and of itself, may not seem like a huge perk; but believe me it is. If you ever have a problem with your system, just try searching it online. Odds are hundreds of people have had the same problem and will be willing to help you through it. Also, due to the amount of people using Windows, problems tend to be weeded out rather quickly. I know people will disagree with me about that. But it is fact that problems are found quickly; whether they are fixed quickly is another matter. With a user base so large, you're bound to have friends or family that can help you with anything you need.
Another effect of such a widely used operating system is the amount of support and products for it. There are an unreal number of companies out there that produce software for Windows computers. It is very common practice for software companies to release their product for Windows first and then other OSes based on performance. If you ever find yourself needing a program, there are good odds that you can find it on Windows, usually for free. As we've said before here, a rising tide lifts all ships. So with the number of producers comes competition for your business. This causes companies to need to produce quality software.
Windows 7
One of the overwhelming positives of a Mac is OS X. For a while, it looked like Windows was content to try and rest on it's laurels and not put too much stock into their OS. This all changed with Windows 7. Windows 7 is the newest iteration of the Windows OS and it is awesome. Microsoft took a page from Apple and tried to make the user experience simpler. I had a good discussion with my friends about Mac the other day and they boiled down their reason Apple was so successful to the fact that they make an effort to bring a level of simplicity and intuition to computing. From it's beginnings, computing was not an easy experience. It used to require working at a black screen with white text and long, sometimes confusing phrases to make simple things happen. Windows upped the ante by adding a graphical interface to this, and then Apple raised the bar by making the windowed system easier to use. Microsoft took a while to realize people wanted their computers to be easy to use.
First of all, and much to the delight of many users, Windows 7 is much more stable than prior versions of Windows. Windows 7 is also significantly faster than prior versions. Microsoft also took the time to add "little things" that add to the overall experience. The snap feature, where you can drag a window to the side of the screen and it will re-size the window to occupy half of the screen, and simplified networking are a couple of examples of Microsoft making computing easier. The navigation through menus is much easier and the menus themselves have been grouped more logically. Windows 7 delivers the smoothest experience on a Windows PC to date, it is more stable and much faster.
