Differences between Mac and PC

What are the differences between Mac and PC?

Contrary to popular belief, there are more than two operating system on the market. At first glance it appears that Mac and Windows are the only option, but in reality there are four major competitors. They are the following:

• Windows
• Mac OS X
• Linux
• BSD

But, what are the differences between Mac and PC?

The biggest difference is that PCs run Windows, and Macs run OS X. The question remains though, as to which one is better.

PC versus Mac

Let's take a look at Windows. This operating system was created by Bill Gates. With the creation of Windows, he revolutionized the way computers work for the masses. People were finally able to break away from that restrictive command line and start using a point and click graphical user interface (GUI) system that actually made sense. The pioneering GUI technology was actually developed at Xerox PARC. Windows 1.0 was born, and eventually became Windows 3.1 which is the most memorable of the DOS based Windows iterations.

Initially, Windows was somewhat solid, but soon enough Microsoft moved on to Windows 95/98. These both had their share of problems. One could almost think that Microsoft had programmed these later operating systems to crash when they ran into problems. Rather than attempting to sort themselves out or allow you to close the offending program. These problems persist even today. Many would say that stability is one of the main differences between Mac and PC.

Mac vs PC

The Mac however, has not had these issues. In fact, they were the first computer company to create an entirely point and click operating system, using concepts from the Xerox Alto. Apple created many elements of the GUI, including the menubar, pop-up menus as well as the concepts of drag and drop and direct manipulation.

Unlike the early IBM PC's, which used 8 kB of system ROM for power-on self-test (POST) and basic input/output system (BIOS), at 64kB, the Mac ROM was much larger. It also contained key OS code. Mac ROM space was conserved by interleaving portions of the assembly code.

While many loved Apple Mac computers and the stable operating system, the computer was often seen as a tad too expensive.

Apple later sued Microsoft for copyright infringement, but the Supreme Court determined that certain elements simply could not be copyrighted. Apple lost the case, but still had an edge in creating one of the most advanced and stable operating systems in existence.

The basic differences between Mac and PC is in the operating system kernel. Microsoft does not use any part of the UNIX or Linux kernels in their operating systems, nor do they plan to do so in the future. This may give Apple the edge in the PC market. The seamless integration results in a stable environment. And this is part of the reason they are able to charge much more for their PCs and operating systems.

Download Virtual PC for Mac

It is also interesting to note that Mac computers are able to run any operating system. Initially, they used only proprietary hardware, but Apple now uses Intel processors. This allows you to run Windows, Linux, or any other operating system on a Mac that you desire. One thing you cannot do is run Mac OSX on PC.

So, it would appear as if a Mac is really the only PC you'll ever need.

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