14 DAY TRIAL // People will always write articles about which operating system is better. While making comparisons, let’s say, between Windows and OS X, will surely make you a target of fans of either the former or the latter (depending on your approach), I think that stating the obvious pros in regard to OS X will only make its fans give a "yes, he’s right" kind of nod and the Windows fans just stop for a moment and think it over.
Would OS X actually be a viable alternative to Windows? Well let’s just see what its pros are and if they overcome those that Windows users will put on the table.
Stability
The first thing one has to talk about (and I think the most important one) is the stability of OS X. While most of you know what a blue screen is, I’m sure that there are a lot of people wondering how a kernel panic screen looks like on a Mac (if you have never experienced one, HERE is what you should expect to see).
I saw one on my Mac after using it for more than six months and, when it crashed on me, it actually happened because I installed an open source application that was in an Alpha state and was known to make OS X prone to such events. To tell you the truth, the first time I saw one was when it happened on the Mac of one of my colleagues, who had never seen one before either.
This makes it as elusive for Mac users as the elusive 6-gill shark, and some people are actually not upset at all when it happens. Why? Because it occurs once in a year maybe.
The user interface
The one thing that will make you stick with OS X and get back to it if you ever decide to switch to another OS for a period of time is its user interface. The GUI has two features that make it the best choice for a user when it comes to interacting with an OS: it is highly intuitive and will give an intense feeling of consistency.
Why intuitive? Just think of the way one installs apps on OS X: by drag and drop. Uninstall? Drag and drop again, but this time into the trash. Even more, once you start using its GUI you’ll get the hang of it very easily and you’ll be able to find everything you want as quickly as possible.
Why is the interface of OS X consistent? Because Apple published a list of user interface design guidelines. What this means for the user? It means that most of the available OS X apps (the ones that follow Apple’s user interface design guidelines) will offer users a very similar experience, which will lead to an increased overall usability.
Content creation platform
The Mac platform is the one chosen by the top music producers or graphic designers. Why is that? Because OS X comes with a whole pack of software apps and features built in, which will allow you to create content easier than on any other OS. For people who choose OS X for its content creation capabilities, the fact that they will not be able to play the same or more games than on Windows will not present itself as a problem.
An (almost) virus/spyware free OS
OS X is a virtually virus/spyware free OS. Why virtually free and not just free? Because, as seen HERE, there still are threats that will try to make an OS X user’s life a nightmare. The upside of this problem is that users will have to cooperate so that this type of malware can install on the Mac host and that there are very few such threats out there (which automatically means that a smaller number of Mac systems will be affected).
The UNIX core
Yes, if you didn’t know already, Mac OS X has a UNIX core (it uses a Mach kernel that has been derived from BSD). Actually, contrary to general belief, since Leopard’s release OS X is a fully POSIX (Portable Operating System Interface) compliant operating system. As it is said on the Apple Developer Connection website, "full POSIX compliance and UNIX03 certification means you can move all your critical UNIX applications to Mac OS X quickly and easily."
What does all that gibberish mean? It means that you will be able to choose any POSIX-compatible open source application and run it on OS X. Why is this important? It is important because now you will be able to run not only the apps created for OS X but also any other app that uses POSIX-compliant code. All you have to do is get its source code and build it on your Mac.
These are the things that might make you decide to go for OS X as your default operating system. I think that most of you will definitely say that I've left the security of OS X out. Well, just in case this happens, I haven’t completely forgotten about the security side of the problem and HERE you can find the reason why I've decided to not mention it in this article.
Do you know of any other feature present in OS X that could convince other people to switch to the Mac side? Do you think you have more to say on the ones I presented here? Share your opinion with the rest of us in the comments.