Comments on: Professionals do NOT use Windows http://mac.lowetechlabs.com/2008/03/10/professionals-do-not-use-windows/ Apple and Macintosh from Lowe Tech Labs Sun, 20 May 2012 09:27:07 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.1 By: Alex http://mac.lowetechlabs.com/2008/03/10/professionals-do-not-use-windows/#comment-104 Alex Tue, 11 Mar 2008 09:15:34 +0000 http://mac.lowetechlabs.com/2008/03/10/professionals-do-not-use-windows/#comment-104 Well, since you basically asked for a rant, a rant ye shall get. As a software developer, entrepreneur, and technology enthusiast I beg to differ. This is from a guy with a Windows Vista desktop, an Ubuntu desktop, a Windows XP laptop, an Ubuntu laptop, and a MacBook. I've written software on all three platforms and use all regularly. The primary reason why professionals use Windows over anything else... Microsoft Office... talk about iWork or OpenOffice or AbiWord or StarOffice or anything else, nothing has the featureset, the integration, or the quality of Microsoft Office.... especially as you connect it to the backend (SBS, Exchange, AD, SharePoint, OSE, etc.). Then, of course, is the ubiquity of MS Office. Then, take professional software. On the desktop, it's all Windows driven. Quickbooks (only 1 SKU is available on OSX), the de facto accounting program in small business (there are 5.9 million small businesses in the US compared to those 381 Linux super computers). Search the Web for medical software, POS software, HR software, and you'll find the majority are written for Windows. Why? The short answer is MS has a great business sales channel, their software and solutions cater towards professionals, and they have a great development community so a lot of software gets written for the Windows platform. Look at niche applications such as CAD and drafting tools... nothing in the open source community is close to SolidWorks, the de facto standard (I've looked long and hard, and don't even say BRLCAD or I'll kick something). I bet most of the components of those supercomputers, that iPhone, and those Solaris machines were designed in SolidWorks on a Windows machine. On a more personal note, since this is a Mac blog, why do I think OS X match up for professionals? It's not built for power users; despite the fact that it's built on top of BSD. My main gripe, the lack of hotkey support in the OS generally, there are times you *have* to go to the mouse. Think dialog boxes, modal windows, and other UI. No tabbing through items, no underlined hotkey, etc. Heck, in Safari and Firefox for OSX you can't tab into combo boxes in web forms! The UI guidelines are for aesthetics not efficiency. Windows still retains a critical feature for professionals, speed via keyboard input. If you look at a lot of professional software (and Windows in general), every function is accessible via the keyboard. A throwback to the terminal days where all entry was via keyboard and function keys weren't overridden with brightness, volume, etc controls. Keyboard > mouse when it comes to speed. Cost, businesses are concerned with cost. Windows is cheaper. What? Huh? If you're a small business buying MS Software you can get 10 licenses of Windows Pro, Office Pro, Windows Server, SQL Server, Exchange, and everything else you'd need to run your business for just $300/year through the Microsoft Action Pack Subscription... (remember those 5.9 million small businesses in the US). Linux free? Compare the support costs for expensive IT support. OS X? Last time I checked (yesterday), Apple hardware wasn't the cheapest on the block. And, from personal experience with a coffee incident, their support plans don't work out so well if you're a business. Anywhoo... I know you were trying to get a rise. That's my long rant. The cartoon is very true and funny. At the end of the day I like them all, I use my MacBook for professional work now... but only because of VMWare Fusion. :) And, because it is a good conversation piece when I pull out the remote. I do like that it's pretty and all the software has nice icons and funny names. Well, since you basically asked for a rant, a rant ye shall get. As a software developer, entrepreneur, and technology enthusiast I beg to differ. This is from a guy with a Windows Vista desktop, an Ubuntu desktop, a Windows XP laptop, an Ubuntu laptop, and a MacBook. I’ve written software on all three platforms and use all regularly.

The primary reason why professionals use Windows over anything else… Microsoft Office… talk about iWork or OpenOffice or AbiWord or StarOffice or anything else, nothing has the featureset, the integration, or the quality of Microsoft Office…. especially as you connect it to the backend (SBS, Exchange, AD, SharePoint, OSE, etc.). Then, of course, is the ubiquity of MS Office.

Then, take professional software. On the desktop, it’s all Windows driven. Quickbooks (only 1 SKU is available on OSX), the de facto accounting program in small business (there are 5.9 million small businesses in the US compared to those 381 Linux super computers). Search the Web for medical software, POS software, HR software, and you’ll find the majority are written for Windows. Why? The short answer is MS has a great business sales channel, their software and solutions cater towards professionals, and they have a great development community so a lot of software gets written for the Windows platform. Look at niche applications such as CAD and drafting tools… nothing in the open source community is close to SolidWorks, the de facto standard (I’ve looked long and hard, and don’t even say BRLCAD or I’ll kick something). I bet most of the components of those supercomputers, that iPhone, and those Solaris machines were designed in SolidWorks on a Windows machine.

On a more personal note, since this is a Mac blog, why do I think OS X match up for professionals? It’s not built for power users; despite the fact that it’s built on top of BSD. My main gripe, the lack of hotkey support in the OS generally, there are times you *have* to go to the mouse. Think dialog boxes, modal windows, and other UI. No tabbing through items, no underlined hotkey, etc. Heck, in Safari and Firefox for OSX you can’t tab into combo boxes in web forms! The UI guidelines are for aesthetics not efficiency. Windows still retains a critical feature for professionals, speed via keyboard input. If you look at a lot of professional software (and Windows in general), every function is accessible via the keyboard. A throwback to the terminal days where all entry was via keyboard and function keys weren’t overridden with brightness, volume, etc controls. Keyboard > mouse when it comes to speed.

Cost, businesses are concerned with cost. Windows is cheaper. What? Huh? If you’re a small business buying MS Software you can get 10 licenses of Windows Pro, Office Pro, Windows Server, SQL Server, Exchange, and everything else you’d need to run your business for just $300/year through the Microsoft Action Pack Subscription… (remember those 5.9 million small businesses in the US). Linux free? Compare the support costs for expensive IT support. OS X? Last time I checked (yesterday), Apple hardware wasn’t the cheapest on the block. And, from personal experience with a coffee incident, their support plans don’t work out so well if you’re a business.

Anywhoo… I know you were trying to get a rise. That’s my long rant. The cartoon is very true and funny. At the end of the day I like them all, I use my MacBook for professional work now… but only because of VMWare Fusion. :) And, because it is a good conversation piece when I pull out the remote. I do like that it’s pretty and all the software has nice icons and funny names.

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