A P P L I C A T I O N S

 

 

A frequent complaint of Windows users regarding the Mac was that "the Mac didn’t have as many programs as Windows.

And I’d agree with them. However, I’d ask them, "what can you do with a Windows PC that you can’t do with a Mac, though?" And I’d always win. Here’s why.

Rarely would they have an answer for my question. That’s because most major applications have a Windows version and a Mac version. Microsoft Office, Adobe Photoshop and Macromedia Dreamweaver all have dual (sometimes triple) versions of their software for all platforms. Sure, Windows may have 23 different applications to edit HTML, but most of them can’t hold a candle to Dreamweaver or GoLive, both of which are available for both platforms.

Invariably, the Windows evangelist will say that you can’t play (insert obscure game here) on a Mac. But, again, they’d be mistaken. Even if the software doesn’t have a Mac version, you can still run the Windows version of the program with appropriate Windows emulation software. The Mac emulation software for PCs is severely lacking (primarily because of Apple’s refusal to license Mac OS to third parties) and can run a few Mac programs, but not something as complex as Kaleidoscope or AppleWorks.

Both PCs and Power PC-based Macs can run Linux, BeOS and OpenStep, so there’s really no loss there. I suppose if one wanted to standardize on an operating system for all hardware platforms, then one of those three would work. However, in many cases, a Mac can run an operating system better than a computer the OS was designed for. (Thanks to Mike Vogt for a friendly reminder about that.)