If somebody asked my why I thought Mac's were good, I would sum it up in one word - engineered. Sure OSX is a sweet operating system on the Mac's. Sure everything runs smooth.
But why?
Apple doesn't just sell an operating system. They don't just sell sexy looking computers like the Macbook, they sell computers (including iPods, iPhones, and so on) that are designed for their operating system. (Hence why you can't buy it by itself or easily put it on another computer.)
In previous blog about Dell and Ubuntu, I mentioned that on Dell's site, you can now buy a machine that comes preloaded with my personal favorite operating system. The preloaded PC's ship with the latest version of Ubuntu on the machine, ready to fire away.
Dell PC's with Ubuntu is like an Apple. It's smart. It's engineered.
I have nothing against Windows - it's a great operating system and will continue to be for a long time. Windows is serving businesses worldwide and always will be, but it Windows is on a huge hardware market. New types of processors, new hardware, and even the no-name branded hardware is always being released everyday. Microsoft has a huge race that only Microsoft could run. It's doing well to accommodate for the hardware it can be put on.
Instead, Apple went a different route. They went for specific hardware that only Apple decides can be used, and now Dell makes PC's tailored to best run Ubuntu, with room to tweak some hardware peripherals.
Ubuntu has been evolving like a baby, and over the past couple years, I have witnessed it firsthand growing and becoming more user-friendly and more compatible with certain hardware (like the Dell Inspiron 6000 I'm using right now). Now, I can pop the Ubuntu install CD in my computer and in 15 or so minutes, everything is working as it should, with no drivers to install or anything. It just works.
Engineered for greatness, tailored for speed.
