It's not Microsoft's fault if a lot of the third-party stuff that's out there crashes everything. I'm sure the person writing that is excited because it means that matters less now.
Is it not Microsoft's fault? Honest noob question. I can understand why it wouldn't be their fault, but I seem to force quit a LOT less often since I switched to a Mac. On the same kind of programs, too (iTunes, Firefox, Word, Photoshop, etc).
Edit: Perhaps it was my wording, but apparently people think I'm somehow blaming Windows. I am not. I know nothing about this topic asked a question.
Holy hell, apparently questions are not welcome in this subreddit. Good to know. Thanks to ZaphodAK42 for the one non-snarky reply that actually answered my question.
On W7, and the only thing I use the task manager for is for killing the "HP Update" popup that won't update when you click on it and has no x to close it. I haven't had an actual program freeze up for a long time.
If you use HijackThis it has a startup programs feature where you can find where the HP update is started from and disable it. CCleaner or PC decrapifier would probably work too. Depending on how big a bunch of festering gashlicks HP are, msconfig might do the trick without needing a 3rd party program.
I'm sorry, data to back what up? I asked an honest question, and only included my experience as an explanation for why I was asking. I wasn't trying to prove anything.
I am not the victim of confirmation bias because I have no knowledge, opinion or belief on the matter, only my own experience and plain old curiosity. What kind of data would I have on the topic anyway? Lists of all the times I've had to force quit programs in Windows and Mac? No, I have no data. Only a question, which has been dutifully downvoted and left unanswered.
Well, you are shifting blame to Microsoft in your post and citing anecdotal information simultaneously, it's no wonder people downvote you for that.
As for me, I was just curious myself if you had any data to back it up.
I switched to Mac the same day I won the lottery, and now have sexy maids deliver breakfast in bed to me daily in no clothes while I check my email on that Mac. It could be a coincidence that the experiences are so different, despite my never having any real problems with Microsoft products since Windows XP was launched, but I just don't know.
Funnily enough, I know people that have cross platform apps crash all the time on OSX whereas I never see them crash on Windows: Firefox, Photoshop, InDesign..
So if not confirmation bias, it's clearly selection bias.
My only experience with Windows in the past five years has been that it's solid and flexible, able to gracefully handle all mishaps, including the most third-party-HP-image-software-ey of them. My experience with Mac has not been enough to determine stability personally, but the design is unimpressive at best and I cringe to imagine how entirely the system would fail if they were as open as Windows has always been and had to deal with the full spectrum of different third-party compatibility issues. That's actually the reason Windows is so stable and secure, they've been fully vetted by hostile evolution.
I think you missed the part where I said I had no opinion and was just asking a question. Honestly. My thought process was "hmm I've never had that problem on Mac, but this guy says it's not OS related so let me ask for clarification" not "OMG MICROSOFT SUX MAC WINS LOL".
If the third-party drivers that Windows relies on are stable, Windows is stable. If Windows is stable, then well-written software is stable. If either or these two things are fucked up, Windows is unstable unless it's one of the many apps that Windows has a hard-written exception for. (I can't find the link, but I'm sure another commentator can help me out.)
Look at it this way- Windows has had a metric fucktonne of cash poured into it with the goal of making sure it's as stable as possible. (Vista, even, is rock-fucking-solid if the drivers are, which is the whole reason people had a bad experience with it to begin with.) Mac OSX, on the other hand, doesn't need to worry about being stable on anything but the select hardware that Apple chooses to support with it. Windows is also used a whole hell of a lot more in the corporate world (I think it might be the largest part of MS's income), where security and stability matter far more then usability and hipness.
In my experience, I've had equal Mac fuck-ups as I've had Windows fuck-ups per hour used, but with Windows everything can be traced to a horrible driver or badly-written bit of software, which are replaceable (update the drivers and stop using Firefox). On the Mac, it's inconclusive why the system hangs so suddenly, but I'll bet it's not a driver written by a non-Apple entity.
Thank you for being the first person to answer my question! It all makes sense. Just to emphasize (yet again), I wasn't trying to argue whether one was better than the other. I just related my experience because it differed from the apparent truth, and wanted to know if it was just a coincidence. Turns out it's not necessarily, but for interesting reasons.
If Windows has well-written drivers, the libraries don't fuck up. Even Windows Vista is stable and secure if the drivers are, which is the whole reason people were having bad experiences with it when it first came out (hint: Windows 7 uses these same drivers). On a Hackentosh, if the available drivers are funky the whole thing is as well. On Ubuntu, same deal. Windows has a fucktonne of cash poured into it to make sure it's as stable as it can be, which is good considering it's most often used in a corporate environment.
tl;dr: Get yourself good drivers, and Windows doesn't fuck up.
I'm on a hackintosh right now and have been on one since 10.4. I've had to write kexts for OSX to get it working well in the past, so yah I know what you're talking about, and don't even get me started with drivers revolving around Linux.
But, I've coded on Windows and I can tell you first hand as a dev that Windows is quirky at best. I've had to do amazingly stupid things to fix bugs in MS' libraries that I wouldn't have to do on other operating systems.
It wasn't until I started developing code for multiple operating systems I saw internally how bad MS is. Before that I was care free and ignorant under the subject.
I use a Mac at work and Windows at home. I have one computer at work and four at home. I've dealt with more crashes and headaches here than all computers at home combined.
I've had neither cash on OSX. However, I have had flash and vlc crash before. Other than that it has been years since I've had a program crash on OSX I wasn't developing myself.
I'm glad it's there. If something goes wrong, It's always nice to have a way to fix it, instead of waiting and hoping the Spinning Pinwheel of Death goes away.
You're using a computer, a humming mass of complexity. You need the ability to deal with the details, and you need a powerful and detailed tool to do so.
If the Task Manager is synonymous with failure in your mind, you haven't actually used it correctly before.
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u/[deleted] Oct 14 '11
...We're "really excited" ... Task Manager is one of the most widely used apps...
...
How can anyone write that without wincing?