MikePro said:
rant if you will, but Apple still rules.
It only rules in the same vain as a Bud Light drinker saying Coors Light is horse urine. It's brand worship hyperbole.
MikePro said:
I only bring up the fact that students learn on Apple because its true, and still a point to consider despite your disgust with my use of the term "professionally trained".
"Professionally trained" only applies to a graphics student when he is properly learning actual subjects in design rather than merely figuring out how to click around in Photoshop. The computing hardware is nothing more than a tool. It isn't some sort of magic cape that delivers super creative powers. The student must possess some natural talent. The teacher must have a command on the topic. It's not enough to merely teach applications. But that's what most places offering what passes for "design training" do.
It makes no difference what hardware a so-called design school chooses to run. If anything, the choice of putting Mac hardware on the desks is more of a marketing ploy to attract students. It subscribes to the stereotype that all professional graphics work is created on Macs. The kids get all the warm and fuzzy feelings of seeing Macs on the desks. They're less inclined to ask themselves if the person doing the "teaching" is even qualified to be there.
MikePro said:
Apple still handles graphics and fonts better than any PC, unless you put some serious $$$ into it.
More hyperbole. The applications and periphreals are doing far more in producing the work than the operating system. A Mac based install of Adobe InDesign isn't going to do anything more or anything better than a PC running the same program and using the same fonts.
The Mac platform hasn't been superior to Windows in graphics production since the mid 1990s. Back then the Mac platform had superior versions of Adobe Illustrator and exclusive applications like LivePicture. Windows 3.1/NT/95 didn't have much in terms of color calibration tools. Back then graphics work was all print oriented. Then the web took off in popularity. So did 3D gaming and visual effects. Apple nearly went out of business before Steve Jobs swooped in and saved the company.
I think the Mac platform is in trouble again, and deliberately so by Apple's own doing. The company is making a lot more money selling iPods, iPhones and iPads to consumers than it is from catering to a niche base of creative professional workers. One of my friends who does professional video work is
very angry over what Apple did to his beloved Final Cut Studio with the update from FCP 7 to FCP X. Apple doesn't care because dominating the personal computing market doesn't fit with their grand plan. Apple thinks it can get its rivals to chase them 100% into the consumer gadget market space, effectively kill off the personal computer workstation as we know it and have everyone using portable tablets instead. So far, I think their plan is working.
MikePro said:
I also forgot to mention... how many virus/spyware attacks have Mac users encountered lately? Owait, none.
The user demographics aren't there for the virus writers to bother with making Mac-oriented viruses.
As of August 2011 the worldwide share of computers running versions of the MacOS was 7.31%; versions of MS Windows were on 82.5% of computer systems. Other operating systems like Linux, Sun Solaris, etc. have the remaining balance.
Most writers of computer malware are in it for the money. Windows systems are the biggest target. The vast majority of businesses worldwide run Windows-based clients. The Mac user base is a niche with a lot less money to steal. Students, young people and workers in certain fields (like newspaper publishing or video editing) represent the bulk of the OSX market. A computer thief isn't going to find much to steal by breaking into any of those machines. I guarantee if most computer users were using Macs there absolutely would be a lot of Mac-based computer viruses spreading in the wild.
OSX being UNIX-based is no guarantee either. Other UNIX-based things have been targeted by viruses, such as the Apache server under Linux. The folks at Apple aren't stupid enough to think their product is completely immune either. Proof of concept viruses have been made for OSX and the classic Mac OS. And Apple has indeed patched OSX with security updates on numerous occaisions.
Mac OSX was not engineered by some god or superhero. It was made by fallible human beings, just like all other operating systems and computing applications. Lots of computer software engineers and scientists have migrated between Microsoft, Apple, Oracle, Sun, IBM and various other companies over the decades.