Over the years, there has been much argument over which computer platform to buy. The two contenders in this competition have been the PC with its Windows environment and the Macintosh.
Now, with the successful release of Windows 95 for the PC, the major argument for each side is hardware configuration, networking capabilities, and operating system. The first argument to look at between the PC and Mac platform has to do with hardware configuration. Before Windows 95, installing and configuring hardware was difficult. The instructions given to help install hardware were too complicated for the average user. There was also the issue of compatibility between the large number of different hardware setups available in the PC world.
Is a particular board going to work with my PC? With Windows 95, these problems were alleviated with plug and play technology. With plug and play compatible boards, the computer detects and configures the new board automatically. The operating system may recognize some hardware components on older PCs. Mac users will claim that they always had the convenience of a plug and play system, but the difference shows in the flexibility of the two systems. Another set of arguments Mac users use in favor of their systems over PCs is in multimedia and networking capabilities.
Mac users boast that the Mac has built-in networking technology in the system. Even if a user does not use it, the network is included with the system. They point out that PC users hate the fact that they need to insert a card in their computers to communicate with any other computer. With Windows 95, the Mac network boastful comments are silenced. Windows 95 included built-in network support.
Any network will work properly. The Mac users also claim that their systems have speech, telephony, and voice recognition, whereas the PC user does not have these features. In truth, the promised building blocks for telephony control do not yet exist. I think speech is not a good point in the Mac.
In the world of computers, people cannot stand still for too long without getting passed by. Windows 95 now threatens the only assets that the Mac has in capturing the interests of consumers because of hardware configuration, communication between computers, and differences in operating systems between both platforms. Almost any argument in defense of the Mac does not carry nearly as much weight as it did before Windows 95 arrived. PC users have something to be proud of.
