Most of you know by now that Google is taking on Microsoft on sacred Microsoft turf… the Windows operating system. Just as Microsoft is making a surprisingly strong attack on Google on sacred Google turf… internet search. But Google's new Chrome OS has an interesting attribute, one that might appeal to closet leanies.
is so long overdue. Recycling my Windows machine still takes 6
minutes. Recycling my Mac is much better (and I do it far less
frequently), but lean manufacturing pundits would cite the time it take
to restart or boot a computer as the epitome of "waste."Even cheaper
netbook computers. Now an OEM needs to only worry about a nice screen,
an input device of some sort (keyboard or pen or gestures), some
resident memory and a robust wireless interface.
Boot time on my old PC, even a supposedly super-fast Dell XPS, used to drive me up the wall. So much so that it was a primary factor causing me to switch to a Mac over a year ago. Of course the other factors were crashes, unnecessary complexity, aggravation… you name it. The Mac… just… works. No crashes. And a boot time of about 30 seconds from complete off or just 5 seconds when I open the lid on my sleeping MacBook Pro.
Ok I didn't intend for this to be an ad for the Mac, but somehow that always happens. By the way, do your customers rave about your products that way? Unsolicited and unpaid? Think about it.
"… lean manufacturing pundits would cite the time it takes to restart or boot a computer as the epitome of 'waste'."
Yes, we do.
kathleen says
People rave about Macs, how customer service is so great. Repair is a big deal, they’ll repair the macs whenever needed (as long as you bought the maintenance agreement). A friend sent one of her macs for repair 8 times, she sent her other mac back 4 times. She foams at the mouth she thinks apple is so great. How about building a computer that doesn’t need to be repaired so frequently or you have a decent warranty that comes with it without getting stuck to buy the add-on warranty that adds another 10% to the purchase price?
I resent that bought a mac six months ago. I’ll spare you the myriad reasons I am less than enchanted. But suffice to say, this cost almost as much as the Dell network server I bought for my office. I have never, ever, in 15 years, had to send any of my PCs back for repair. I do not have the long boot times you experience. My mac has crashed more times in six months than my network PC has in 3 years. Moreover, the three year contract you have to buy with the mac, came at no additional cost with the Dell.
Macs are very expensive. I do not believe it is because they are better, it’s because the company is less efficient, less lean and thus, unable to lower their costs and prices.
Imo, it just seems that everybody has drunk the kool-aid… Maybe I’ll write a blog post of why I think Macs are not lean. Frankly, I try to refrain from thinking about it because the usability of some design elements just make me furious.
Yanek Michel says
There needs to be a disclosure about how Apple builds the hardware and the software. The software is tailored to only run on limited amounts of hardware. Windows on the other hand is designed to work on just about any piece of hardware which Microsoft does not design. From what I’ve been told, Microsoft coding is bloated but at the same time their code was built from scratch. Apple took the basic UNIX code which is supported by a whole community and “perfected” it. Windows based PCs deliver the best price/performance ratio compared to MACs (just as Toyota does in comparison with Ferrari but a MAC is not a Ferrari as they would like to believe, more like Acura–slightly faster than average). Apple is great at marketing and is not seen as evil as Microsoft. Windows based computers are more susceptible to malware/viruses because guess what, people will waste their time to develop malicious code that affects 90%+ of all computers rather than waster their time on merely 6-8% of all computers. In the end, I do not excuse Microsoft for year’s of crap they put out, but if I have a piece of hardware, if the software does not work out of the box in windows, I can make it work somehow. So I leave you with two questions: 1) is your PC crashing from day 1 of purchase or AFTER you install a new piece of hardware with bad drivers not designed by Microsoft or you keep going to porn sites and getting malware? 2)Why does the gaming developing community not rally behind apple if their products are so superior? Also, I hope Google’s chrome is successful (works well with almost instant boot times) but I would use it alongside windows. I’m not moving over to MAC because the learning curve I would experience would not make my computing experience significantly better. I’m willing to say the Mac fanboys are just suckers for marketing. Ok I didn’t intend for this to be a hatefest for the Mac, but somehow that always happens.
Mark Graban says
Interesting that they would bring up lean in Computer World.
The time of booting is waste if you do nothing but stare at the screen and not do something else. Does anybody do this?
Eric H says
My dual boot Ubuntu machine boots in just a few more seconds than Kathleen’s Mac. From time to time, Firefox crashes on it. But in terms of crashing and needing to be re-booted? Only when I’m experimenting. It just … works. For free. The only “downside” is that there is no iTunes for linux. Well, not that iTunes is the leanest program in the world. Most security administrators agree that iTunes can be regarded as a virus.