Why Should You Use Windows?
The other day when Cindy's mom was visiting, she mentioned that she was getting a new computer. I tried to convince her to get a Mac. Cindy and her mom just looked at me like I was crazy. Am I off-base thinking that most people really need a Mac for their home computer instead of a Windows machine?
So I thought I would write up some pro/con lists. Why would you want a Mac, and why would you want Windows?
First, lets define our target user as the average home user. Sure you can run Windows on a Mac now, but that's just for power users. Average home users have to choose one or the other.
Pro Windows: That one Windows App you can't live without.
This is actually very rare for average home users. If you can think of any apps that home users would need that are Windows-only, please post them in the comments. I can't think of any.
Pro Windows: Familiarity
This is probably the best argument for Windows for the non-power-user. In the long run it's really bad though. This is the "I don't want to move to a better place because I am already in this bad place" argument. Also, how much different is the Mac interface from the Windows interface? Not much. The real differences are deep down where the home user won't notice them anyway.
Pro Windows: Price
There's no getting around it - if you're looking for the cheapest computer today, it's not a Mac.
Pro Mac: Less Malware
I think this is huge. Malware is a big problem on Windows and practically non-existent on Macs. This is only half Microsoft's fault (the other half being their 90% market share). It doesn't matter that much who's fault it is though.
What percentage of Windows home computers would you say are infected with malware? I would say more than half. Today they are mostly used as zombies for spamming and DoS attacks. Increasingly they are also using keyloggers and web form watchers to capture user names, passwords and credit card numbers. If you're a malicious hacker and have thousands of Windows PCs zombified, why not log their personal information too? The answer is: they are starting to. It is really bad now, but you haven't seen anything yet. (Just for the record, I think that Macs will start to see more malware in the future, but I guarantee that they will never get as bad as Windows.)
Pro Mac: Better Hardware
Mac hardware is better, in general. You can buy really good hardware to run Windows on it, but usually you would be better off buying a Mac and making it boot Windows if that's what you really want. Maybe people could argue with me on this point, but in my experience the "keeper rate" with Macs is much better.
I recommend Dell if you want a Windows computer, though. They're pretty good, but don't get their bleeding edge consumer equipment if you want maximum reliability - get their "boring" business machines.
Update: spartan_mc pointed out a good argument for Windows that I had forgotten:
Pro Windows: Games
There are games for the Mac, but if one of your big computer uses is gaming, you pretty much have to use Windows.