Originally posted by n8mac
While we are on the subject...
Mac is not an acronym while PC is. So when the two systems are used in a sentence together why isn't it Mac vs. Win, both short for their OS name? Macs are Personal computers. Some where along the line Win computers [were] replaced with PC, so [why] are Macs, Impersonal Computers?!
n8mac (not n8MAC he,he)
As I said before, a Macintosh really is a PC. Back in the early 80s, as IBM released their personal computer, others soon followed, being called as "IBM-Compatible PCs".
Because of the many, many IBM-Comptabile PCs that existed, each one had its different name. Many used a label such as "100% IBM Compatible," or something to that degree - that probably came with either DOS or Windows.
Whereas the Macintosh was unique, for that it had its own hardware that ran its own operating system.
So how do you differentiate all those IBM compatible machines compared to the Macintoshes?
Since the Macintosh had the strongest brand label (or possibly second to IBM) and IBM clones continued to produce like rabbits, it was only natural to simply refer to them as "PCs," since Macs were very distinctive in the first place. This is why, in this context, a Mac isn't a PC.
PCs collectively weren't named "Windows machines" or what have you, since many people were still running only DOS, even for years after Windows was released.
Nowadays, many of them have been dubbed "Wintels" (Windows + Intel processor), but with AMD, and with the Linux revolution, you can no longer say that about all these BIOS-running computers.
And actually, there is a "Mac vs. Win" comparison as in the OS war. But again, Linux exists, as does OS/2, Amiga OS, BeOS, NeXT, and many UNIX varieties such as AIX, BSD, and Solaris, so you cannot make the connection that all PCs run Windows, because that's simply not true.
So, is a Mac a PC? Of course it is - it is a personal computer. After all, Apple was the one who created one of the first (if not
the first - this is debatable) personal computers with the Apple computer in 1977.
Basically, you end up finding that those IBM-like personal computers had no name to call themselves as a whole, and the Mac had no name for its operating system (except "System").
But that was largely unimportant back then in the 80s - to most, they were simply just called "computers."
. Actually its because we only have 5% market share and feel we have to defend our computers and name for a constant fear of an unjustified loss of what we feel as the better machine. I try to never take it personal though. As long as they sell them I am happy.
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