You are using a slightly spurious argument about businesses putting Windows XP on all their computers. Nobody can buy a new computer with Windows XP. What those companies do is utilise a Windows XP site license which permits them a specific number of Windows XP machines. If they remain legal, they do not load Windows XP on to any more machines than their site license allows. And, it is not possible to increase a Windows XP site license. That said, many companies automatically wipe the newly purchased computers and load Windows XP even though their license doesn't cover it. I've heard the claim that if they buy a computer with Windows on it, they have every right to change the version of Windows to a previous version, even if Microsoft no longer sells or supports it. I am unaware of any case law clarifying this one way or the other.
Macs are the same. When you purchase a new mac, just like a new Windows PC, it is loaded with the latest version of OSX (within a version if close to the release date). Just as with Windows PCs, you can reformat and load an earlier version of Mac's OSX. This can go back as far as OSX Leopard, and possibly even OSX Tiger. Before that point, Mac OS 9 was a completely different operating system and does not support Pentium chip architecture. It would be akin to trying to run Windows 9 on a modern Windows PC. The drivers do not exist for many, if not most, modern components. Companies which use Macs tend to upgrade much more quickly than companies running Windows. The main reasons I have heard for this are: the upgrade cost is minimal, the new OS better supports the high-end graphics the company works with, and training staff to use the new OS is not very complicated because Apple tends to maintain underlying OS consistency whilst adding new features (since OSX, which was a complete change from OS 9). Windows, on the other hand, apparently requires significant retraining of staff whenever there is an OS upgrade. Many companies find the expense and loss of productivity to be too onerous to be worthwhile. David Chittenden, MSc, MRCAA Email: dchitten...@gmail.com Mobile: +64 21 2288 288 Sent from my iPhone On 25/10/2012, at 8:48, Sieghard Weitzel <siegh...@live.ca> wrote: > Hi David, > > You can find a thousand people who have a thousand good and bad stories to > tell about Windows, PC's and Macs. Yes, I have met plenty of people who > bought a Mac and hated it. You can also buy any laptop and sometimes end up > getting a lemon just like with any product. Just as you have your story with > your Sony and your MackBook Pro, I am super impressed with my Acer TimeLineX > Windows 7 laptop which I bought for $700 and I spend an extra just under > $200 back last January to replace the 640 Gig hard drive with a 120 Gig > Intel SSD. This is a 15.4 inch laptop, it's not as slim and light as a 15 > inch MacBook Pro, but I also get close to 8 hours of battery life and it has > a beautiful keyboard with numeric pad. Due to the SSD it boots Windows 7 in > about 25 seconds, that's until Jaws is speaking in the log-on screen. I have > no problems having iTunes open, my Sonos Controller, Outlook, several IE > Windows, Skype in the background as well as 2 or 3 other of my business > related applications like my point of sale, accounting software and Excel. > > Yes, I do pay $100 a y ear to be up-to-date with Jaws, but let's face it, I > used Windows XP for 8 years and never paid a penny to get any updates, > service 2 or service pack 3. More good news is that Microsoft seems to be > adopting a completely new pricing structure for Windows 8 which I understand > will cost something like $50, maybe a bit more for the Pro version. In any > case, I will definitely put Windows 8 on one of my PC's to check it out, but > as many businesses I have no reason to upgrade my Windows 7 business > desktops probably for at least another 3 to 5 years, in fact, many larger > companies still happily run Windows XP which recently celebrated its 10 year > anniversary. Tell me if you can buy a new Mac now and install their OS from > 10 years ago, it's my understanding that there is no way it will work and of > course there is no reason to do so if you are buying a new Mac. But then > again you won't find many large corporations and by that I mean really big > where fifty thousand computers are deployed which all need to run some sort > of legacy software and have to be backwards compatible. > > Don't get me wrong, I don't argue this way because I want to say Windows and > PC's are better than OSX and Macs, but the fact is that if you compare > Windows 7 and OSX both running on good hardware, both are excellent > solutions and everybody has to decide what is best for him/her in their > situation. Ron made a very good point and that is that if you are working > for an employer whose IT infrastructure is all based on Windows and PC then > that is what your reality is. Whether you prefer to stick with that on a > personal level or use a Mac for personal use and deal with 2 very different > systems that is up to everybody to decide. > > > Regards, > Sieghard > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the "VIPhone" Google > Group. > To search the VIPhone public archive, visit > http://www.mail-archive.com/viphone@googlegroups.com/. > To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/viphone?hl=en. > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the "VIPhone" Google Group. To search the VIPhone public archive, visit http://www.mail-archive.com/viphone@googlegroups.com/. To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. 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