| Installation
and Troubleshooting Installation
The Mac OS is easier to install than Windows. Fewer steps are needed to install
the Mac OS. In the case of Windows, particularly Windows NT, the installation
process includes several steps involving dialog boxes that require you to make
installation decisions. Furthermore uninstalling applications on Windows doesn't
remove all the files form the hard disk (which can cause clutter in small HD's);
removing applications on a Mac removes all traces of all the relevant files. See
also under simplicity of setup. Apparently it is easier
to install Windows XP on a Mac than it is to install it on a PC!
see
Virtual
PC Is Virtually Perfect By Dave Horrigan http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,48964,00.htm Want
to install printer drivers for your Epson printer? (thanks to James Jaeger)
There is an eight page installation "ReadMe" on the Epson site that covers both
Mac and Windows 95/98 systems (July 2000). Three-quarters of the first page are
system requirements. The bottom seven lines of the first page are the Mac installation
instructions. The remaining seven pages are Windows installation instructions.
These are the statistics:
Mac Installation Number
of steps 6 Word count 105 Lines
of text 7 Number of illustrations 0
Windows
Installation Number of steps19 Word count
707 Lines of text 80
Number of illustrations1
Troubleshooting
Troubleshooting on a Mac is much easier than in Windows. Mac users have available
to them a number of options to keep their machines running smoothly: desktop rebuilds
(both HD and removable disks), trashing preferences, zapping PRAM and turning
extensions on and off. The novice Mac user can do these tasks. There are no equivalent
functions that a novice PC user can perform to keep a PC running smoothly (However
PCs usually come with bundled defragmentation software, which is not the case
with Macs. Defragmenting a hard disk keeps it running smoothly and reduces the
number of crashes and freezes).
Read this interesting
article
(archived at
http://web.archive.org/web/20010618152033/http://www.latimes.com/business/columns/techqa/20001109/t000107488.html
) from the LA Times about installing/uninstalling software on a PC. When
you've read it note that to change the owner's name on a Mac all you have to do
is go to Apple menu/Control Panels/File Sharing and retype the name. Email identity
changes are also as easy to make! Indeed the LA
Times Tech Q&A site (http://www.latimes.com/business/columns/techqa/)is
a good place to go to read about the difficulties ordinary people have with Windows.
A Mac user can fix low level problems by performing a "clean reinstall"
- which replaces the system folder (in about 15-20 minutes) - leaving all other
files untouched (the old system folder is left there in case the user needs anything
from it). This is not the case with Windows where a complete reinstall is often
necessary requiring the user to back up all files and reinstall applications:
“If it’s at all possible, have a professional reinstall your
system” warns Computer Choice 10
about reinstalling Windows. Australian PC, December 1999 devotes
a whole page of detailed instruction for reinstalling Windows. For the Mac reinstalling
OS software, requires only two simple steps: insert CD-ROM and click on
“perform system restore". "One of the best things about
the Mac is the ease of reinstalling the operating system. Your OS disk is
your boot disk. Simple huh?"
Computer Choice, Jan/Feb 2000,
page 31.
Apple System Profiler. The Apple System Profiler (From
the Apple Menu) allows Mac OS users to completely and easily gather information
about their computers. The profiler provides a great deal of information such
as the type of processor, amount of memory installed, devices connected, the place
and date of manufacture etc. Windows, on the other hand, has no comprehensive
single source of such information. To find all of the above, a Windows user would
have to search through many different sources in the Control panels. By
creating a disk image a user can fix standard problem situations with AppleÕs
free DiskCopy program. You create an image of the hard drive (including software),
and then burn it into a single "Repair CD". Using this CD, a Mac can
be reformatted and have everything properly reinstalled within15 minutes. Windows
doesn't have the concept of a disk image and takes much longer to reinstall! Reference:
the printed manual for the game Diablo II lists 13 different troubleshooting
areas for the PC (most linked to DirectX which provides sound and video for
the game) but only 3 for the Mac.
(Blizzard Entertainment 2000, pages
7 and 9)
| There is a poll at WinDrivers.com.
The question is, "How many times in the past year have you had to reinstall
Windows?" The breakdown (out of 5900 votes) is:
| None | 9.05% |
| 1 | 8.49% |
| 2 | 13.02% |
| 3 | 11.98% |
| 4 | 8.97% |
| 5 | 7.71% |
| 6-10 | 11.05% |
| 10+ | 24.95% |
| Only to upgrade my OS | 4.78% |
Nearly one out of four people who responded to
this poll have had to reinstall Windows almost every month! And ONE THIRD of them
have had to reinstall Windows at least every other month! supplied by Steve
Godun (29 September 2001) | Praise
for Apple's out of the box experience
http://it.mycareer.com.au/news/2001/09/25/FFXJEZT5ZRC.html
from the IT section of the Sydney Morning Herald
Makers put customers
to work Tuesday 25 September, 2001
By CHARLES WRIGHT "For years the
industry has been flinging around the expression 'out of the box experience' that
is, what the consumer actually goes through as he or she attempts to employ their
new purchase. We think there should be an entire study devoted to the 'getting
it out of the box experience', based on the difficulties we've had trying to extract
various pieces of technology from the cardboard and polystyrene vaults they've
been packed into. "We were reminded about that this week when we took delivery
of the latest iMac from Apple. We weren't threatened with a hernia unpacking the
computer. You didn't have to grip the box with your knees while you wrestled with
the contents. We brought in someone who'd never seen a Macintosh to set it up.
There were clear instructions on how to do that, but he didn't have to look at
them. It took only minutes to plug everything in, and it booted up easily. ...We
ought to enshrine the Apple standard in consumer legislation." |
- Annoyances.org!
"is the most complete collection of information assembled for and by actual
users of Microsoft Windows".
10
Computer Choice magazine (March/April 2000) p.31, published by the Australian
Consumers Association. This article devotes over 20 paragraphs to reinstalling
the Windows OS - including some strong warnings - and 4 paragraphs for reinstalling
the Mac OS. |