Mac and PC

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Rhetoric and Composition 201

Ahmad Kassim

RHET 201

Section: 08

Summer 2012

Dr. Michael Gibson

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Table of Contents

Cover Letter…………………………………………….. 3

Research Paper………..………………………………. 5

-‐ Introduction…………………………………………... 5

-‐ Critical Analysis……………………………………… 7

-‐ Methodology………………………………………….. 13 -‐ Results of Survey & Analysis...…………………. 15 -‐ Interview……………………………………………….. 16 -‐ Conclusions & Recommendations.………… 18 Works Cited…………………………………………….. 20

Annotated Bibliography………………………….. 22

Appendix A………………………………………......... 28 1st Draft…………………………………………………. 29 2nd Draft………………………………………………… 35 3rd draft………………………………………………… 50 4th Draft………………………………………………… 67 Journal 1……………………………………………….. 84 Journal 2……………………………………………….. 86 Journal 3……………………………………………….. 88 Journal 4……………………………………………….. 89 Journal 5……………………………………………….. 91

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Cover Letter

Dear Dr. Gibson,

I never imagined that one day I would make the decision myself to take a

summer course during my summer break. When I was a child in during primary

school, I remember I used to cry each year on every first day of school up until grade

4. I used to love the summer break with all my heart. Here I am today, a freshman in

the American University in Cairo, and I’m proud to say that I am taking a summer

course. I know this might not seem like a big deal, but for me it is. During the spring

2012 semester, I made that decision to take a summer course. Right after the spring

2012 semester, there was a 2-week break before starting the summer course.

Unfortunately this 2-week break ruined my motivation for the summer course. At the

first it made me regret taking the summer, then once I started going to university

everyday I started to feel like it was a responsibility. Honestly, I started to feel like

I’m finally a grown up. Almost all my friends were on vacation and I was still in

university taking a summer course. It made me feel like I was actually doing

something useful for once in my life, like I was taking responsibility for my own

decisions.

I’m currently taking two courses, RHET 201 and Econ 201. Surprisingly I’m

enjoying both courses! In RHET 201 I’m writing a research paper on Macs and PCs. I

learned quite a lot on both computers and I even got to interview an IT director. I also

helped my best friend, who’s also taking RHET 201, with her research paper on

“Exorcism.” We went to a mosque and interviewed a sheikh. We asked him questions

on Exorcism. When we tried entering three different churches, they all refused to let

us in once they knew what we were going to ask the priest about. It was quite fun and

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spooky at the same time. As for Econ 201, I’m surviving. I’ve always hated

economics and I still do, but there’s one more week left.

I’d like to thank you Dr. Gibson for being there not only as a professor, but

also as a friend. Trust me the best way for a student to love his professor, is by feeling

that his/her professor is his friend. I am lucky to have you twice in a row for my

RHET 102 class, and now for my RHET 201 class. If I could take all my classes with

you I would. I am now proud and confident of myself when I tell my mother that I do

know how to write very good papers. How can I not be good at writing papers when I

have you as a teacher? You taught me to not procrastinate, to organize my thoughts

and my writing skills. You’ve inspired me in many ways and you’ve changed the way

I perceive things. You made me think about everything from two sides, not only from

my perspective. I’ve now become more interactive with the family, especially when

the grown ups sit and talk about politics. I would recommend each and every person I

meet to be a student in your class.

Your favorite student,

Ahmad Kassim

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Ahmad Kassim

900113671

RHET 201

Dr. Gibson

Research paper – Final Draft

Mac Vs. PC

Introduction:

How many people today cannot live without a computer? How many people

feel like life is just boring without the use of a computer just for one day? How many

people fully rely on a computer for their jobs? If we look back just fifty years ago,

there was no such thing as a computer or a laptop that we’re so familiar with today.

Today, computers have become an essential part to almost everyone’s life. They have

transitioned from a luxury to a necessity. The two most popular computers we have

today are Macs and PCs. However, if you were to choose a Mac or a PC to use, which

one would it be? By the end of this research paper you’ll know exactly which

computer suits your needs the most. I’ll try to forget my history with computers and

pretend that I myself am new to computers and that I have to choose one.

Without the following people our lives would have probably never been the

same: Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Ronald Wayne, Bill Gates, and Paul Allen. These

people that I have just mentioned are the ones who founded Apple and Microsoft.

Personally, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates are my role models in life. Astonishingly, they

both dropped out of college. The more I read about them, the more I get a kick of

motivation and inspiration. How many people would give up on what they’re doing

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once they fail? A lot of people would, but not for Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. Every

time they got pulled down, they kept on hanging and fighting and in the end it all pays

off. Steve Jobs gave one of the best motivational speeches I have ever heard at

Stanford University’s commencement. He told the audience at the commencement

that he dropped out of college back when he was a college student and that his

standing there on stage was the closest to graduation that he’s actually ever gotten. He

said that when he chose to drop out of college, he noticed that he was not obliged to

take classes in college anymore. He simply decided to then start taking classes that

only came to his interest. Steve Jobs took a calligraphy class because he simply found

calligraphy fascinating. How did that help him? He said “10 years later when we were

designing the first Macintosh computer, we designed it all (the calligraphy) into the

Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography.” He also said that we have

to believe in ourselves to see that the dots in our future will connect, which will give

us the confidence to follow our hearts even if it will lead us off the right path. This

speech did not only motivate me, but it also made me believe that Steve Jobs is a man

that knows what he’s doing. Ironically, Bill Gates had also dropped out of college

when he was a student. When he was still a high school student he spent so much time

using the school’s computer that he actually wrote a program that allowed students to

play tic-tac-toe against the computer. That’s when he started getting the idea that he

wanted to build a computer company with his friend Paul Allen. Two of my favorite

quotes that I heard Bill Gates say were “Whether it's Google or Apple or free

software, we've got some fantastic competitors and it keeps us on our toes” and “Your

most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.”

Macintosh (Mac) is a computer developed by the famous Apple Inc. The first

computer developed by Apple was introduced in 1988, shortly after Microsoft’s PC

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was introduced. Steve Jobs, former Apple’s chief executive officer, introduced

Apple’s first computer. It was the first computer to contain a mouse and a graphical

user interface, which allows users to interact with programs and devices, such as

mobile phone and flash drives, using images. Before the Apple computer, users

interacted with programs and electronic devices using commands. That meant that for

every move users had to perform on a computer, they had to type in a command.

Apple made this easier for users by featuring a mouse with the computer that allows

user to just drag, point and click on an image top use rather than typing in a whole

command.

The first PC Microsoft developed was back in September of 1981. This PC

was called “Windows”, just like Apple’s first computer is called “Macintosh”. Chase

Bishop, a computer scientist, introduced the first version of Windows to the world.

Windows is the first operating system that Microsoft used when making its first

computer. Although it might sound simple, the PC Microsoft first developed included

the following: a calculator, a notepad, Paint (a program that allows user to paint using

a computer), a clock, and a calendar. Those programs, which today seem to be little

and not so important, were actually one of the reasons why Microsoft had sold so

many computers at the time when the first computers were first being developed.

These little programs such as the calculator, was a big deal to people back in the

1980s.

Critical Analysis:

Most people who are Mac users today, once used to be PC users. So why is it

some people choose to switch from a PC to a Mac? There are a couple points that

answer this ambiguous question. The first main point to emphasize is how Macs

rarely get any viruses. Macs are less vulnerable than PCs are. At some point in time

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they didn’t get viruses at all, but of course with time hackers always seem to make

their way through anything. Macs are known to not have as many viruses compared to

PCs. In fact, Macs rarely get viruses ever since the introduction of the Mac OS X.

Each time a hacker builds a virus against Mac, it very quickly disappears before

starting to spread. Unlike on a PC, you can’t get a virus on a Mac without the user

giving it permission to install itself.

An article written by David Pogue thoroughly explains the steps from moving

from a PC to a Mac. It gives the steps from A to Z. It tells you how to back up and

move your files from the PC to the Mac. This step is actually a very important step

because most people tend to lose their data when moving from a PC to a Mac. This

article also talks about the confusion new Mac users tend to find in hardware such as

using the mouse, the keyboard, and the disc differences. Towards the end of this

article there are ten Mac tricks introduced that the PC couldn’t do. Some of these

commands include waking up the Mac instantly after being in sleep mode. This is

actually a huge advantage for Mac users, because when you put the PC in sleep mode,

it takes a while to open. Another trick is response to voice commands; unlike PCs the

Mac does not only talk to the user, but it also listens to the commands you give them.

This again is a huge advantage for Mac users, especially when helping disabled

people.

How weird is it that a Microsoft search engine called “Bing” tells you to buy

the Apple computer, Mac. Well ironically, it is true. According to an article,

Microsoft tries to convince buyers to buy a PC by saying that it’s much cheaper in

price and that most people use it across the world. When I think about it, Bing just

gained many people’s trust due to its honesty. At least, it gained mine. Aayush Arya,

the author of the article called “Microsoft Bing Helps you Choose Between Mac and

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PC”, claims that she found Bing so reliable that she didn’t even consider using

another search engine such as Google.

A group of people got together to examine two types of desktop computers,

the iMac and the Gateway One. An article called “Mac Vs. PC” states that Macs are

becoming so popular that most artists and unemployed writers actually own one. Both

PCs and Macs contain the Intel processors, and surprisingly due to that Intel

processor, the Mac is also capable of supporting Microsoft’s operating system

“Windows” on its computer. According to the article, both Mac’s OS X Lion and

Microsoft’s Window Vista are very similar in so many ways including the menus and

utilities. Glenn Derene, the author of this article, performed an experiment with both

computers; he made his wife’s stepfather, who never touched a computer, explore

both the Mac and the Gateway One. They also gave both computers to other testers,

and were told to take out the new computers right out of the box and to start using

them right away. The testers were asked to surf the web, open music and other

applications. They were then given a survey. By the end of this experiment, the

winner out of both computers was the iMac.

Steve Detto, a user of both a Mac and a PC, wrote an article on his dual

computer usage. He uses a PC for work-related stuff, and a Mac for the “fun stuff”

such as movies, pictures and music. Detto, the author of this article, claims that the

Intel processor of the Mac allows you to install Windows on a Mac, therefore making

you have both operating systems on just one computer, which is the Mac. According

to Detto there are only two problems when having both operating systems on the

Mac; the first problem is that it’s going to be costy to put the windows operating

system on a Mac because it’s like buying a new computer, the second problem is that

if you want to save a document or a file on both operating systems, you’d have to

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copy it using a flash-drive because Detto and many others still don’t know how to

save a file that could be seen by both operating systems. Like the applications brought

on a Mac, you’d have to buy them and install them again on the Windows. Detto

concludes that he is amazed that such a day would come where he would use

Windows on a Mac.

Alec Watson wrote an article, which includes his opinion towards the

efficiency of Macs and PCs when making music. Watson is an owner of both a PC

and a Mac, he’s a dig audio guy, a beta tester for several software companies, a

reviewer for Canadian Musician and Professional Sound. The author states that

musicians, whom are Mac users, have an easy life and all they have to do is to start

working on their music things straight away. As for PC users, they have to spend a lot

of time setting up the computer and spending too much money for it to be ready to be

used for musicians. Garage Band, a program on the Mac, makes music makes life of

musicians a lot easier! It’s simplicity and easiness in use makes it a big advantage for

musicians to buy a Mac rather than a PC. I myself tried Garage Band a few times,

and I found it to be really entertaining. One time in The American University in

Cairo (AUC), I gathered a few of my friends and opened Garage Band from my

Mac. I got an electrical keyboard and starting playing the drums to make time

pass while waiting for our next class to begin. As I was playing I decided to play a

certain beat just for fun, and then surprisingly a friend of mine started rapping to

the beat. She started rapping by just putting words together of everything we see

in front of us. For example, when we would see a guy walk by us wearing a blue

jacket and red shoes, she’d rap it and be like “guy wearing blue jacket, walking

with a tennis racket. Red shoes on, thinking he’s a patron.” It was actually

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entertaining not only for us, but for the strangers around us. People would stop

by next to us and shake their head with the beat or tell us that we’re talented.

A comparison between Mac’s new operating system “Lion” and Microsoft’s

new operating system “Windows 8” has been thoroughly given in an article written by

John Herman. In his article Herman compares a MacBook Pro with an HP Pavilion.

The comparison revealed that the MacBook Pro has better graphics than the PC, the

MacBook Pro is fast in the Six-App Simultaneous Launch than the PC by exactly one

second, and the MacBook Pro is way faster than the PC when waking up from sleep

mode by 76 seconds! The battery life for the MacBook Pro lasts 7 hours, while the

battery life for the HP Pavilion lasts 6.75 hours, but from personal experience the

battery life for PC decreases at a very fast rate. The researchers gave both laptops to

everyday users, and made them decide which is better to use from their perspective. A

business traveler said that it’s easier and more organized to navigate around with a

Mac, but then stated that he prefers the PC’s mouse pad. He likes how easily he can

left and right click with the PC’s mouse pad. A teacher stated that she’s always been a

Mac user, but surprisingly she’ll change to a PC. A big advantage for PC users is that

the starting price for PC’s are around $600, while the starting price for Mac’s are

around $1000.

As much as I’m trying to stay objective, most of the sources I found leaned

towards Macs. For example, I found a video on YouTube called “Mac or PC? Which

Are you?” This video is about a guy named Jon who tells us why he’s switching from

a PC to a Mac. He states that the Mac has a much better video and graphic display.

Jon says that while using a PC, he didn’t feel really satisfied unlike his usage with a

Mac. He comments that he’s been using PCs for most of his life, and that he recently

purchased a Mac and had the chance to use it for only two days. Those two days he

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claimed to be more than enough to fully convince him that “Macs were the way to

go”. Jon likes typography and he says that Mac’s font is brilliant and clear, unlike the

PC’s. As I stated earlier at the beginning of this research paper, Steve Jobs brought

calligraphy into the Mac. It is now a clear picture on how this is having a positive

affect towards Mac users. Jon said “Mac’s Final Cut has become the primary video

editor of choice for many amateur and professional video makers”. He states that the

only thing missing from a Mac is the video games, but recently video games have

been created for them.

In David Bloom’s article, “Electronic Journal List”, Bloom gives thorough

detail about computer games on PCs and Macs. PC’s have been known to be popular

with video games ever since Windows 98. Throughout the years, the production of

video games has been more focused on PCs, leaving the Mac out. This was a huge

disadvantage for Mac users who are gamers. In recent years, video games for Macs

have started to increase especially with the new power chips and accelerators that

Mac now includes in its new computers. The three most popular games for Mac are

Caesar III, Quake II, and StarCraft. As for PC, I can’t really name the most popular

video games due to the fact that there are so many games on the market for PC

gamers. I myself played the game Quake, and this game is more than just amazing,

it’s epic!

In an article entitled “Assistive Technology For Students With Mild

Disabilities”, writer Michael Behrmann talks about how assistive technology can be

used for students with disabilities like deafness or blindness. He says how most

educational institutions can no longer ignore the use of computers within classrooms.

Behrmann also explains how it is a necessity for assistive technology to be available

in all institutions. For the Macintosh computers, there is a program called “Write

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Outloud” that helps the blind by reading the written text out loud, including the menus

and utilities. There’s another program that helps students and teachers develop ways

to teach the blind. Programmers have also built programs that help disabled people

take notes. Programs such as “OmniPage Direct” or “InWords” transform typewritten

notes onto the computer, which is read by a voice synthesizer on the computer.

Methodology:

In order to see how many people use Mac or PC, I came up with a survey that

I posted on Twitter and Facebook. I didn’t really get as many responses as I was

expecting. While my goal was to get one hundred, I received around sixty-eight

responses due to time limitations. The survey consisted of ten questions, some of

which included open-ended questions so that the people taking the survey could state

their own opinions. I told my friends to share the questionnaire so more people could

fill it out. I was thinking about printing out around fifty copies and distributing them

amongst different people in the AUC library, but unfortunately I went to the library

twice and there weren’t as many people there as I had expected, most probably

because we were in summer. I had hoped that I would get people from various majors

to fill out the questionnaire to see whether it matters if Macs or PCs are better. I

wanted to see what kind of laptop the majority of computer science majors choose

because I know that they work with certain kinds of programs.

I wanted at first to perform video interviews with several people within AUC

and ask them the following questions: Which computer do you use? Have you always

been a Mac or PC user, and would you ever want to change the type of computer

you’re using? Unfortunately due to the time limits I didn’t have enough time to do the

video interviews. Although I didn’t have time to perform video interviews, fortunately

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I had time to talk with a an IT director for a couple of minutes and a teacher in the

‘Rhetoric and Composition’ department in university. I spoke to a teacher called “Dr.

Ghada Elshimi”, who happens to be my aunt. According to Dr. Elshimi, Macs are so

much better to use than PCs due to their simplicity. She feels that PCs are too

complicated and they tend to become slow over time. Dr. Elshimi only experienced

one problem with her Mac ever since she got it, which was around two years ago. She

claims to have gotten a virus, which is very weird because Macs rarely get viruses.

Dr. Elshimi then explains that she got rid of that virus very easily and ever since never

experienced another bug in her Mac again.

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Results of Survey & Analysis:

Figure 1:

According to figure 1, thirty-five respondents were Mac users and thirty-three

were PC users. I did notice that most of the Engineering majors were PC users, and

according to most of them the reason why they weren’t Mac users is that Mac lacks

downloadable programs needed for most engineers, which are easily available on the

Mac. Another interesting observation was that most Mac users were once PC users,

and more than ninety-five percent of them said that they wouldn’t change from a Mac

to a PC due to the following reasons: Macs are faster than PCs; they have a longer

battery life; they’re more advanced; once you start using a Mac you can never let it

Number of people

Type of Com

puter

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go; they’re fully equipped with everything needed for a good computer; they rarely

need to get fixed (unlike PCs); they rarely get viruses (unlike PCs); they’re easier to

use; they’re built to allow users to change it according to their satisfaction; PCs don’t

perform as well as Macs; Macs switch on and off in a second; they are able to search

for documents faster; they’re much more user friendly; and they have better operating

systems than the PCs. One person who filled out the questionnaire even said “I would

NEVER in a million years switch to a PC, it feels like I’m dealing with a PMS-ing

b*tch”. I found that response quite ironic due to the fact that the so called PC users

are complaining so much, while Bill Gates, owner of Microsoft, had said “your most

unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning”, but he doesn’t seem to learn

from them. Another Mac user who was once a PC user said, “no I wouldn’t switch

from a Mac to a PC because it’s a bit of a step down.” According to my questionnaire

almost all Mac users are satisfied. The small majority who isn’t satisfied with their

Macs are those who either major in Architecture or Engineering since Macs don’t

have the programs needed for their fields.

Interview:

My RHET professor, Dr. Gibson, took me to a computer IT director, who

works in AUC in the RHET department. As I interviewed the IT director, Bishoy

Harby, I learned a lot of new information that I hadn’t encountered when researching

on Macs and PCs. Mr. Harby told me that one of the biggest advantages that PC has

over the Mac is that Microsoft’s enterprise support is way better than the Macs. After

hearing this piece of information, I finally discovered why a lot of companies prefer

using a PC rather than a Mac. Another thing I also learned were the following

disadvantages of the Mac, some of which I had mentioned earlier within this paper:

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does not support foreign languages in the Microsoft Office Package; does not support

Arabic throughout the whole operating system; is not as popular with video games as

the PC is; its hardware is very expensive and isn’t available everywhere; and the

Mac’s mouse is fancy, but after using it for a few months, its performance decreases

dramatically till the point of becoming unusable. Mac not supporting Arabic is a very

big disadvantage for Mac users in the Middle East. It makes Arabs think twice before

buying a Mac. Also gamers are more supportive of PC due to the fact that the Mac

isn’t really that compatible with video games. I myself remember that I had a lot of

video games on my PC back when I was a child. The next disadvantage that Mr.

Harby had mentioned was on the Mac’s hardware. Apple is very strict on its products,

as such it doesn’t want people to buy its hardware in any other store, and that is why

its hardware isn’t really available everywhere, unlike PC. When using a PC, if you

want to change your battery you just have to buy a new one, and simply replace it

with the one in your laptop. As for a Mac, when you flip it upside down you’ll see

how you can’t just simply take out the battery. You have to dissemble your whole

Mac just to replace the battery yourself. The final disadvantage of a Mac that I learnt

from the IT director was about the mouse (not the laptops mouse pad, but the actual

mouse). He told me that the mouse was brilliant when he first brought it. Later on he

then discovered that once dust comes inside of it, the scroll in the mouse will stop

working and there is no way to fix it. Those disadvantages mentioned above might

affect some people, but after using a Mac I could still live with those disadvantages.

When the thirty-three PC users were asked if they had the chance to switch

from a PC to a Mac, I was expecting some competition with the Mac users.

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Surprisingly, most of the PC users do actually want to switch to a Mac. Most of the

PC users who responded that they want to switch to a Mac gave the same responses

the Mac users mentioned above on their satisfaction with their Macs. The following

are responses of PC users who said they would not change to a PC:

• “No because I feel Macs are more complicated than PC in the few times I use

Mac”

• “No I am satisfied with the performance of my PC”

• “No I got used to PC”

• “I wouldn’t. PCs are more easily customizable/upgradable and they're more

suited for gaming. A Mac is much more expensive than a PC of the same

specifications, and you don’t get much benefit from the price difference. Plus

the Mac GUI (Graphic User Interphase) feels awkward.”

• “Can't right now because the software I need to use in my major aren't all Mac

friendly”

Conclusions and Recommendations:

Those responses are literally the only responses out of the thirty-three PC

users who would not change to a Mac. The rest of the thirty-three said that they would

love to change to a Mac. According to my survey, Mac is more chosen than PC. Some

of the people using a PC want to change to a Mac can’t due to their majors and the

programs required that only work on the PC. My father, who’s a civil engineer, is also

a PC user, but when he used my Mac several times he fell in love with the computer.

He told me that he wants to change to a Mac, and listed all the programs he needed.

After doing some research I couldn’t find any of the programs he wanted other than

one program, which was over $600. In the end, my father decided to keep his PC. I

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would recommend that you buy a Mac if you have the money to buy one, and if

you’re not an engineer or intending to major in the engineering field.

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Works Cited

Arya, Aayush. "Microsoft Bing Helps You Choose Between Mac And PC."

Macworld 26.9 (2009): 21. Computers & Applied Sciences Complete.

Web. 19 June 2012.

Behrmann, Michael M. “Assistive Technology For Students With Mild

Disablilities.” Intervention In School & Clinic 302 (1994): 70.

Education Research Complete. Web. 17 June 2012

Bloom, David. "Electronic Journal List." Full Text Electronic

Journal List. The Daily News of Los Angeles, 8 Aug. 1999. Web. 20

June 2012.

Derene, Glenn. "Mac Vs. PC." Popular Mechanics 185.5 (2008):

86. Masterfile Premier. Web. 20 June 2012.

Dotto, Steve. "Full Text Electronic Journal List." Full Text Electronic Journal

List. North News Shore, 31 May 2006. Web. 20 June 2012.

Herrman, John. "Mac Vs PC." Popular Mechanics 188.11 (2011): 82.

Masterfile Premier. Web. 19 June 2012.

“Mac or PC? Which Are You?" YouTube. YouTube, 18 Oct. 2010. Web. 20

June 2012.

O'Brien, John. "Full Text Electronic Journal List." Full Text Electronic

Journal List. The Courier Mail, 25 Feb. 2006. Web. 20 June 2012.

Pogue, David. "PC To Mac." Macworld 20.1 (2003): 56. Computers &

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Applied Sciences Complete. Web. 17 June 2012.

Watson, Alec. "Mac vs. PC." Canadian Musician Nov. 2006: 31. Masterfile Premier.

Web. 20 June 2012.

Kassim 22

Annotated Bibliography



Web. 19 June 2012.


the Apple computer, Mac. Well ironically, it is true. According to this article,



gained many people’s trust due to it’s honesty. At least, it gained mine. The person

who wrote this article claims that she found Bing is so reliable that she didn’t even

consider using another search engine such as Google.

Behrmann, Michael M. “assistive Technology For Students With Mild



This article talks about how assistive technology can be used for students with

disabilities such as being deaf or blind. It says how most educational institutions can

no longer ignore the use of computers within classrooms. It explains how it is a

necessity for assistive technology to be given at all institutions. For the Macintosh

computers, there is a program called “Write Outloud” that helps the blind people by

read out loud the text written including the menus and utilities. There are some

programs built on the Mac that helps student and teachers develop ways to teach the

blind people. Programmers have built programs that help disabled people take notes.

Programs such as “OmniPage Direct” or “InWords transforms type written notes,

Kassim 23

onto the computer, and then these notes are read by a voice synthesizer on the

computer.



June 2012.

This article talks about computer games on PC and Macs. PC’s have been known

to popular with video games ever since Windows 98. Throughout the years, the

productions of video games have been more focus on PC, leaving the Mac out. This

was a huge disadvantage for Mac users who are gamers. In the recent years, video

games for Macs are starting to increase especially with the new power chips and

accelerators that Mac now includes in its new computers. The three most popular

games for Mac are Caesar III, Quake II, and StarCraft. As for PC, I can’t really name

the most popular video games due to the fact that there are so many games in the

market for PC gamers.



This article examines two types of desktop computer, the iMac and the

Gateway one. The article states that Macs are becoming so popular that most artists

and unemployed writers actually own one. Both the PC and Macs contain the Intel

processors, and surprisingly due to that Intel processor, the Mac is capable of

supporting also Microsoft’s operating system “Windows” on its computer. According

to the article, both Mac’s OS X Lion and Microsoft’s Window Vista are very similar

in so many ways including.

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The author of this article performed an experiment with both computers; he made

his wife’s stepfather, who never touched a computer, explore both the Mac and the

Gateway one. They also gave both computers to other testers, and were told to take

out the new computers right out of the box and to start using them right away. The

testers were asked to surf the web, open music and other applications. The testers

were then given a survey. By the end of this experiment, the winner out of both

computers was the iMac.



This article is about a guy who uses both a Mac and a PC. He uses a PC for work-

related stuff, and a Mac for the “fun stuff” such as movies, pictures and music. Detto,

the author of this article, claims that the Intel processor of the Mac allows you to

install Windows on a Mac, therefore making you have both operating systems on just

one computer, which is the Mac. The only problem he says with having both

operating systems on the Mac is that it’s going to be costy because it’s like buy a new

computer. Like the applications brought on a Mac, you’d have to buy them and install

them again on the Windows. Detto concludes that he is amazed that such a day would

come where he would use Windows on a Mac.

Herrman, John. "Mac Vs PC." Popular Mechanics 188.11 (2011): 82. Masterfile

Premier. Web. 19 June 2012.

A comparison between Mac’s new operating system “Lion” and Microsoft’s new

operating system “Windows 8” has been thoroughly given in this article. This article

compares a MacBook Pro with an HP Pavilion. The comparison revealed that the

Kassim 25

MacBook Pro has better graphics than the PC, the MacBook Pro is fast in the Six-App

Simultaneous Launch than the PC by exactly one second, and the MacBook Pro is

way faster than the PC when waking up from sleep mode by 76 seconds! The battery

life for the MacBook Pro lasts 7 hours, while the battery life for the HP Pavilion lasts

6.75 hours, but from personal experience the battery life for PC decreases at a very

fast rate. The researchers gave both laptops to everyday users, and made them decide

which is better to use from their perspective. A business traveler said that it’s easier

and more organized to navigate around with a Mac, but then stated that he prefers the

PC’s mouse pad. He likes how easily he can left and right click with the PC’s mouse

pad. A teacher stated that she’s always been a Mac user, but surprisingly she’ll

change to a PC. A big advantage for PC users is that the starting price for PC’s are

around $600, while the starting price for Mac’s are around $1000.


June 2012.

This video is about a guy named Jon who tells us why he’s switching from a PC to

a Mac. He states that the Mac has a much better video and graphic display. Jon says

that while using PC, he didn’t feel really satisfied unlike his usage with the Mac. He

comments that he’s been using PCs for most of his life, and that he recently purchased

a Mac and had the chance to use it for only two days. Those two days he claimed to

be more than enough to fully convince him that “Mac’s were the way to go”. Jon likes

typography and he says that Mac’s font is brilliant and clear, unlike PC. He said

“Mac’s Final Cut has become the primary video editor of choice for many amateur

and professional video makers”. Jon states that the only things missing out from a

Kassim 26

Mac are the video games, but recently video games have been starting to become

created for the Mac.



This article talks about Macs and viruses. Mac’s are known to not have as many

viruses compared to a PC. In fact, Macs rarely get viruses ever since the introduction

of the Mac OS X. Each time a hacker builds a virus against Mac, it very quickly

disappears before starting to spread. Unlike on a PC’s, you can’t get a virus on a Mac

without the user giving it permission to install itself. In conclusion, Macs are not as

vulnerable as PCs are.



This article basically explains thoroughly the steps from moving from a PC to a

Mac. It gives the steps from A to Z. It tells you how to back up and move your files

from the PC to the Mac. This step is actually a very important step because most

people tend to lose their data when moving from a PC to a Mac. This article also talks

about the confusion new Mac users tend to find in hardware such as using the mouse,

the keyboard, and the disc differences. Towards the end of this article there are ten

Mac tricks introduced that the PC couldn’t do. Some of these commands include

waking up the Mac instantly after being in sleep mode. This is actually a huge

advantage for Mac users, because when you put the PC in sleep mode, it takes a while

Kassim 27

to open. Another trick is response to voice commands, unlike PCs the Mac does not

only talk to the user, but it also listens to the commands you give them. This again is a

huge advantage for Mac users, especially when helping the disabled people.


Web. 20 June 2012.

This article talks about the opinion of an author towards the efficiency of

Macs and PCs when making music. The author of this article is an owner of both a PC



musicians who are Mac users have an easy life and all they have to do is to start


of time setting up the computer and spending too much for it to be ready to be used

for musicians. Garage Band, a program on the Mac that makes music makes life of


musicians to buy a Mac rather than a PC.

Kassim 28

Survey – Appendix A:

1. Are you a Mac or PC user?

a. Yes

b. no

2. What’s you major/intended major?

3. How often do you use a computer?

a. 0-2

b. 3-5

c. 6-8

d. 9+

4. What are the most common problems that you’ve faced while using a Mac or

PC?

5. How often do you repair your computer?

a. 0-2

b. 3-5

c. 6-8

d. 9+

6. How satisfied are you with your computers battery life?

7. If you’re a Mac user and had the chance to switch to a PC, would you? Why

or why not?

8. If you’re a PC user and had the chance to switch to a Mac, would you? Why

or why not?

9. Have you ever changed from a Mac to a PC or vise versa? Why or why not?

10. Do you think that your computer would be easy to use for a disabled person?

Why or why not?

Kassim 29

Ahmad Kassim

900113671

RHET 201

Dr. Gibson

I-‐Search Paper – First Draft

Mac Vs. PC

Introduction:








one would it be. By the end of this research paper you’ll know exactly which





people that I have just mentioned are the ones who found Apple and Microsoft.




Kassim 30





that he dropped out of college back when he was a college student and that him












when he was a student. When he still a high school student he spent so much using

the schools computer that he actually wrote a program that allowed student to play

tic-tac-toe against the computer. That’s when he started getting the idea that he





Macintosh (Mac) is a computer developed by the famous Apple. The first

computer developed by Apple was introduced during the 1988’s, shortly after

Kassim 31

Microsoft’s PC was introduced. Steve Jobs, former Apple’s chief executive officer,

introduced Apple’s first computer. It was the first computer to contain a mouse and a

graphical user interface, which allows users to interact with programs and devices,

such as mobile phone and flash drives, using images. Before the Apple computer,

users interacted with programs and electronic devices using commands. That meant

that for every move users had to perform on a computer, they had to type in a

command. Apple made this more easier for users by featuring a mouse with the

computer that allows user to just drag, point and click on an image top use rather than

typing in a whole command.





computer. Although it might sound simple, but the PC Microsoft first developed

included the following: a calculator, a notepad, Paint (a program that allows user to

paint using a computer), a clock, and a calendar. At the time, those what seem little

program, are actually one of the reasons why Microsoft had sold so many computer.


1980s.

Most people who are Mac users today, once used to be a PC user. So why is it

do some people choose to switch form a PC to a Mac? There are a couple points that

answer this ambiguous question. The first utter most point to emphasize on is how

Macs rarely get any viruses. At some point in time Macs didn’t get viruses at all, but

of course with time hackers always seem to make their way through anything. Mac’s

are known to not have as many viruses compared to a PC. In fact, Macs rarely get

Kassim 32

viruses ever since the introduction of the Mac OS X. Each time a hacker builds a virus

against Mac, it very quickly disappears before starting to spread. Unlike on a PC’s,

you can’t get a virus on a Mac without the user giving it permission to install itself. In

conclusion, Macs are not as vulnerable as PCs are.


the Apple computer, Mac. Well ironically, it is true. According to this article,



gained many people’s trust due to it’s honesty. At least, it gained mine. The person

who wrote this article claims that she found Bing is so reliable that she didn’t even

consider using another search engine such as Google.


the iMac and the Gateway one. The article states that Macs are becoming so popular

that most artists and unemployed writers actually own one. Both the PC and Macs

contain the Intel processors, and surprisingly due to that Intel processor, the Mac is

capable of supporting also Microsoft’s operating system “Windows” on its computer.

According to the article, both Mac’s OS X Lion and Microsoft’s Window Vista are

very similar in so many ways including. The author of this article performed an

experiment with both computers; he made his wife’s stepfather, who never touched a

computer, explore both the Mac and the Gateway one. They also gave both computers

to other testers, and were told to take out the new computers right out of the box and

to start using them right away. The testers were asked to surf the web, open music and

other applications. The testers were then given a survey. By the end of this

experiment, the winner out of both computers was the iMac.

Kassim 33

A video on YouTube called “Mac or PC? Which Are you?” This video is

about a guy named Jon who tells us why he’s switching from a PC to a Mac. He states

that the Mac has a much better video and graphic display. Jon says that while using

PC, he didn’t feel really satisfied unlike his usage with the Mac. He said that he’s

been using PCs for most of his life, and that he recently purchased a Mac and had the

chance to use it for only two days. Those two days he claimed to be more than enough

to fully convince him that “Mac’s were the way to go”. Jon likes typography and he

says that Mac’s font is brilliant and clear, unlike PC. As I stated earlier at the

beginning of this research paper that Steve Jobs brought calligraphy into the Mac. It’s

a clear picture now how this is having a positive affect towards Mac users. Jon said


and professional video makers”. Jon says that the only things missing out from a Mac

are the video games, but recently video games have been starting to become created

for the Mac.

Methodology:

In order to see how many people use Mac or PC I’ve come up with a survey

that I’ve posted on Twitter and on Facebook and so far I haven’t actually gotten as

many results as I was expecting. The survey consisted of a eleven questions and some

of which included open ended questions so that the people taking the survey could

state their own opinion. I’ll start telling my friends to share the survey so more people

could fill it out and I’m thinking about printing out around fifty copies and to

distribute it amongst different people in the AUC library. I hope that I get people from

various majors to fill out the surveys to see whether it matters if Macs or PCs are

better.

Kassim 34

I will still perform video interviews with several people within AUC and ask

them the following questions: Which computer do you use. Have you always been a

Mac or PC user, and would you ever want to change the type of computer you’re

using? I hope that there

Kassim 35

Ahmad Kassim

900113671

RHET 201

Dr. Gibson

I-‐Search Paper – Second Draft

Mac Vs. PC

Introduction:

















Kassim 36

























computer developed by Apple was introduced during the 1988’s, shortly after

Kassim 37

Microsoft’s PC was introduced. Steve Jobs, former Apple’s chief executive officer,

introduced Apple’s first computer. It was the first computer to contain a mouse and a

graphical user interface, which allows users to interact with programs and devices,

such as mobile phone and flash drives, using images. Before the Apple computer,

users interacted with programs and electronic devices using commands. That meant

that for every move users had to perform on a computer, they had to type in a

command. Apple made this more easier for users by featuring a mouse with the

computer that allows user to just drag, point and click on an image top use rather than

typing in a whole command.







paint using a computer), a clock, and a calendar. Those programs, which today seem

to be little and not so important, were actually one of the reasons why Microsoft had

sold so many computers at the time when the first computers were first being

developed. These little programs such as the calculator, was a big deal to people back

in the 1980s.




Macs rarely get any viruses. Macs are less vulnerable as PCs are. At some point in

time Macs didn’t get viruses at all, but of course with time hackers always seem to

Kassim 38

make their way through anything. Mac’s are known to not have as many viruses

compared to a PC. In fact, Macs rarely get viruses ever since the introduction of the

Mac OS X. Each time a hacker builds a virus against Mac, it very quickly disappears

before starting to spread. Unlike on a PC’s, you can’t get a virus on a Mac without the

user giving it permission to install itself.

This article written by David Pogue thoroughly explains the steps from

moving from a PC to a Mac. It gives the steps from A to Z. It tells you how to back up

and move your files from the PC to the Mac. This step is actually a very important

step because most people tend to lose their data when moving from a PC to a Mac.

This article also talks about the confusion new Mac users tend to find in hardware

such as using the mouse, the keyboard, and the disc differences. Towards the end of

this article there are ten Mac tricks introduced that the PC couldn’t do. Some of these



it takes a while to open. Another trick is response to voice commands, unlike PCs the


This again is a huge advantage for Mac users, especially when helping the disabled

people.







Kassim 39






the PC and Macs contain the Intel processors, and surprisingly due to that Intel




















Kassim 40





Windows on a Mac.




reviewer for Canadian Musician and Professional Sound. The author goes states that













in front of us. For example, when we say a guy walk passed us wearing a blue


with a tennis racket. Red shoes on, thinking he’s a patron.” It was quiet

Kassim 41


















around $1000.








Kassim 42


beginning of this research paper Steve Jobs brought calligraphy into the Mac. It’s a

clear picture now how this is having a positive affect towards Mac users. Jon said



are the video games, but recently video games have been created for the Macs.

In David Blooms article, “Electronic Journal List”, he talks about computer

games on PC and Macs. PC’s have been known to popular with video games ever

since Windows 98. Throughout the years, the productions of video games have been

more focused on PCs, leaving the Mac out. This was a huge disadvantage for Mac

users who are gamers. In the recent years, video games for Macs are starting to

increase especially with the new power chips and accelerators that Mac now includes

in its new computers. The three most popular games for Mac are Caesar III, Quake II,

and StarCraft. As for PC, I can’t really name the most popular video games due to the

fact that there are so many games in the market for PC gamers. I myself played the

game Quake, and this game is more than just amazing, it’s epic!

Michael Behrmann talks about how assistive technology can be used for

students with disabilities such as being deaf or blind. It says how most educational

institutions can no longer ignore the use of computers within classrooms. It explains

how it is a necessity for assistive technology to be given at all institutions. For the

Macintosh computers, there is a program called “Write Outloud” that helps the blind

people by read out loud the text written including the menus and utilities. There are

some programs built on the Mac that helps student and teachers develop ways to teach

the blind people. Programmers have built programs that help disabled people take

notes. Programs such as “OmniPage Direct” or “InWords transforms type written

Kassim 43

notes, onto the computer, and then these notes are read by a voice synthesizer on the

computer.

Methodology:



many results as I was expecting. Until now I’ve gotten around sixty-eight responses,

while my goal was to get one-hundred The survey consisted of ten questions and

some of which included open-ended questions so that the people taking the survey

could state their own opinion. I told my friends to share the survey so more people

could fill it out and I was thinking about printing out around fifty copies and to

distribute it amongst different people in the AUC library, but unfortunately I went to

the library twice and there weren’t as many people there as I had expect most

probably because we’re in summer. I hope that I get people from various majors to fill

out the surveys to see whether it matters if Macs or PCs are better. I want to see what

kind of laptop does the majority of computer science majors choose because I know

that they work with certain kinds of programs.


and ask them the following questions: Which computer do you use. Have you always


you’re using? Unfortunately due to the time limits I don’t have enough time to do the

video interviews. I chose to only stick to my survey because it is basically like doing

an interview. Although I didn’t have time to perform video interviews, fortunately I

had time to talk with a teacher in the ‘Rhetoric and Composition’ department in

university. I spoke to a teacher called “Dr. Ghada Elshimi”, who happened to be my

Kassim 44

aunt. According to Dr. Elshimi Macs are so much better at use than PC due to its

simplicity. She feels that PCs are too complicated and they tend to become slow over

time. Dr. Elshimi only experienced one problem with her Mac ever since she got it,

which was around two years ago. She claims to have gotten a virus, which is very

weird because Macs rarely get viruses. Dr. Elshimi then explains that she got rid of

that virus very easily and ever since never experienced another bug in her Mac again.

I hope that this research paper helps the readers when they think about buying a

laptop.

Results:

According to the sixty-eight people who filled out the survey, thirty-five were

Mac user and thirty-three were PC users. I did notice that most of the engineers were

PC user though, and according to most of them the reason why they weren’t Mac

Kassim 45

users is that Mac lacks downloadable programs needed for most engineers, which are

easily available on the Mac. Another interesting observation was that most Mac users,

were once PCs, and more than ninety-five percent of them said that they wouldn’t

change from a Mac to a PC due to the following reasons: Macs are faster than PCs,

they have a longer batter life, more advanced, once you start using a Mac you can

never let it go, fully equipped with everything needed for a good computer, rarely

needs to get fixed unlike PC, rarely gets viruses unlike PC, easier to use, built to allow

users to change it into their satisfaction, PC doesn’t deliver the amount of

performance a Mac does, switches on and off in a second, easier to search certain

documents, much more user friendly, better operating system than the PC. One person

who filled out the survey even said “I would NEVER in a million years switch to a

PC, it feels like I’m dealing with a PMS-ing b*tch”. I found that response quiet ironic

due to the fact that the once called user of a PC is complaining so much, while Bill

Gates, owner of Pcs, had said, “your most unhappy customers are your greatest source

of learning.” Another Mac user who was once a PC user said, “no I wouldn’t switch

from a Mac to a PC because it’s a bit of a step down.” According to my surveys

almost all the Mac users are satisfied.


from a PC to a Mac, I was expecting some competition against the Mac users.


responses of the PC users that want to switch to a Mac are the same responses the

Mac users mentioned above on their satisfaction of their Mac. The following are

responses of PC users who said they would not change to a PC:


Mac”

Kassim 46








friendly”

Those responses are literally the only responses out of the thirty-three PC users

whom would not change to a Mac, the rest of the thirty-three said that they would


of the people using a PC that would want to, but can’t switch to a Mac are due to their

major and some programs required that only work on PC. My father, who’s a civil

engineer, is also a PC user, but when he used my Mac several times he fell in love

with the computer. He told me that he wants to change to a Mac, and listed all the

programs he needed. After doing some research I couldn’t find any of the programs

he wanted other than one program, which was over $600. In the end, my father

decided to keep his PC.

The following are the questions that were asked in the survey:


a. Yes

b. no



a. 0-2

Kassim 47

b. 3-5

c. 6-8

d. 9+


PC?


a. 0-2

b. 3-5

c. 6-8

d. 9+



or why not?


or why not?



Why or why not?

Kassim 48

Works Cited



Web. 19 June 2012.






June 2012.








June 2012.




Kassim 49



Web. 20 June 2012.

Kassim 50

Ahmad Kassim

900113671

RHET 201

Dr. Gibson

I-‐Search Paper – Third Draft

Mac Vs. PC

Introduction:

















Kassim 51


























Kassim 52







Apple made this more easier for users by featuring a mouse with the computer that

allows user to just drag, point and click on an image top use rather than typing in a

whole command.







paint using a computer), a clock, and a calendar. Those programs, which today seem

to be little and not so important, were actually one of the reasons why Microsoft had

sold so many computers at the time when the first computers were first being

developed. These little programs such as the calculator, was a big deal to people back

in the 1980s.




Macs rarely get any viruses. Macs are less vulnerable as PCs are. At some point in

time Macs didn’t get viruses at all, but of course with time hackers always seem to

Kassim 53

make their way through anything. Mac’s are known to not have as many viruses

compared to a PC. In fact, Macs rarely get viruses ever since the introduction of the

Mac OS X. Each time a hacker builds a virus against Mac, it very quickly disappears

before starting to spread. Unlike on a PC’s, you can’t get a virus on a Mac without the

user giving it permission to install itself.










it takes a while to open. Another trick is response to voice commands, unlike PCs the


This again is a huge advantage for Mac users, especially when helping the disabled

people.







Kassim 54






the PC and Macs contain the Intel processors, and surprisingly due to that Intel




















Kassim 55





Windows on a Mac.

















in front of us. For example, when we say a guy walk passed us wearing a blue



Kassim 56


















around $1000.








Kassim 57


beginning of this research paper Steve Jobs brought calligraphy into the Mac. It’s a

clear picture now how this is having a positive affect towards Mac users. Jon said



are the video games, but recently video games have been created for the Macs.

In David Bloom’s article, “Electronic Journal List”, David gives thorough

detail about computer games on PCs and Macs. PC’s have been known to popular

with video games ever since Windows 98. Throughout the years, the productions of

video games have been more focused on PCs, leaving the Mac out. This was a huge

disadvantage for Mac users who are gamers. In the recent years, video games for

Macs are starting to increase especially with the new power chips and accelerators

that Mac now includes in its new computers. The three most popular games for Mac

are Caesar III, Quake II, and StarCraft. As for PC, I can’t really name the most

popular video games due to the fact that there are so many games in the market for PC


it’s epic!

Michael Behrmann talks about how assistive technology can be used for

students with disabilities such as being deaf or blind. It says how most educational

institutions can no longer ignore the use of computers within classrooms. It explains

how it is a necessity for assistive technology to be given at all institutions. For the

Macintosh computers, there is a program called “Write Outloud” that helps the blind

people by read out loud the text written including the menus and utilities. There are

some programs built on the Mac that helps student and teachers develop ways to teach

the blind people. Programmers have built programs that help disabled people take

Kassim 58

notes. Programs such as “OmniPage Direct” or “InWords transforms type written

notes, onto the computer, and then these notes are read by a voice synthesizer on the

computer.

Methodology:

In order to see how many people use Mac or PC I came up with a survey that I

had posted on Twitter and on Facebook. I didn’t really get as many responses as I was








because we’re in summer. I had hoped that I would get people from various majors to

fill out the questionnaire to see whether it matters if Macs or PCs are better. I wanted

to see what kind of laptop the majority of computer science majors choose because I

know that they work with certain kinds of programs.

My RHET professor, Dr. Gibson, took me to a computer IT worker, who

works in AUC in the RHET department. As I interviewed the IT worker, I learned a

lot of new information that I hadn’t encountered when researching on Macs and PCs.

He told me that one of the biggest advantages that PC has over the Mac is that

Microsoft’s enterprise support is way better than the mac. After hearing this piece of

information from the IT worker, I finally discovered why a lot of companies prefer

using a PC rather than a Mac. He also told me the following disadvantages of the Mac

Kassim 59

and some of which I had mentioned earlier within this paper: does not support foreign

languages in the Microsoft Office Package; does not support Arabic throughout the

whole operating system; is not as popular with video games as much as PC; it’s

hardware is very expensive and isn’t available everywhere; and the Mac’s mouse is

fancy, but when operating it becomes bad over time. Mac not supporting Arabic is a

very big disadvantage for Mac users in the Middle East. It makes Arabs think twice

before buying a Mac. Also gamers are more supportive of PC due to the fact that the

Mac isn’t really that compatible with video games. I myself remember that I had a lot

of video games on my PC back when I was a child. The next disadvantage that the IT

worker had mentioned was on the Mac’s hardware. Apple is very strict on its’

products that it doesn’t want anyone to buy its’ hardware in any other store, and that

is why its hardware isn’t really available everywhere unlike PC. When using a PC, if

you want to change your battery you just have to buy a new one, and simply replace it

with the one in your laptop. As for a Mac, when you flip it upside down you’ll see

how you can’t just simply take out the battery. You have to dissemble your whole

Mac just to replace the battery yourself. The final disadvantage of a Mac that the IT

worker mentioned is the mouse (not the laptops mouse pad, but the actual mouse). He

told me that the mouse was brilliant when he first brought it. Later on he then

discovered that once dust comes inside of it, the scroll in the mouse will stop working

and there is no way to fix it. Those disadvantages mentioned above might effect some

people, but after using a Mac I could still live with those disadvantages.





Kassim 60

video interviews. I chose to only stick to my survey because it was basically like

doing an interview. Although I didn’t have time to perform video interviews,

fortunately I had time to talk with a teacher in the ‘Rhetoric and Composition’

department in university. I spoke to a teacher called “Dr. Ghada Elshimi”, who

happens to be my aunt. According to Dr. Elshimi, Macs are so much better to use than

PCs due to their simplicity. She feels that PCs are too complicated and they tend to

become slow over time. Dr. Elshimi only experienced one problem with her Mac ever

since she got it, which was around two years ago. She claims to have gotten a virus,

which is very weird because Macs rarely get viruses. Dr. Elshimi then explains that

she got rid of that virus very easily and ever since never experienced another bug in

her Mac again.

Kassim 61

Results:

Figure 1:

According to figure 1, thirty-five were Mac user and thirty-three were PC

users. I did notice that most of the Engineering majors were PC users, and according

to most of them the reason why they weren’t Mac users is that Mac lacks






Number of people

Type of Com

puter

Kassim 62



use; they’re built to allow users to change it into their satisfaction; PCs don’t perform

as well as Macs; Macs switch on and off in a second; they are able to search for

documents faster; they’re much more user friendly; and they have better operating










have the programs needed for their field.








Mac”



Kassim 63






friendly”

Those responses are literally the only responses out of the thirty-three PC users

who would not change to a Mac. The rest of the thirty-three said that they would love

to change to a Mac. According to my survey, Mac is more chosen than PC. Some of

the people using a PC that would want to, but can’t switch to a Mac are due to their

major and some programs required that only work on PC. My father, who’s a civil

engineer, is also a PC user, but when he used my Mac several times he fell in love

with the computer. He told me that he wants to change to a Mac, and listed all the

programs he needed. After doing some research I couldn’t find any of the programs

he wanted other than one program, which was over $600. In the end, my father

decided to keep his PC.

The following are the questions that were asked in the questionnaire:


a. Yes

b. no



a. 0-2

b. 3-5

c. 6-8

Kassim 64

d. 9+


PC?


a. 0-2

b. 3-5

c. 6-8

d. 9+



or why not?


or why not?



Why or why not?

Kassim 65

Works Cited



Web. 19 June 2012.






June 2012.








June 2012.




Kassim 66



Web. 20 June 2012.

Kassim 67

Ahmad Kassim

900113671

RHET 201

Dr. Gibson

Research paper – 4th draft

Mac Vs. PC

Introduction:








one would it be? By the end of this research paper you’ll know exactly which









Kassim 68





that he dropped out of college back when he was a college student and that his












when he was a student. When he was still a high school student he spent so much time

using the school’s computer that he actually wrote a program that allowed students to

play tic-tac-toe against the computer. That’s when he started getting the idea that he







Kassim 69







Apple made this easier for users by featuring a mouse with the computer that allows

user to just drag, point and click on an image top use rather than typing in a whole

command.





computer. Although it might sound simple, the PC Microsoft first developed included

the following: a calculator, a notepad, Paint (a program that allows user to paint using

a computer), a clock, and a calendar. Those programs, which today seem to be little

and not so important, were actually one of the reasons why Microsoft had sold so

many computers at the time when the first computers were first being developed.


1980s.

Critical Analysis:

Most people who are Mac users today, once used to be PC users. So why is it

some people choose to switch from a PC to a Mac? There are a couple points that

answer this ambiguous question. The first main point to emphasize is how Macs

rarely get any viruses. Macs are less vulnerable than PCs are. At some point in time

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they didn’t get viruses at all, but of course with time hackers always seem to make

their way through anything. Macs are known to not have as many viruses compared to

PCs. In fact, Macs rarely get viruses ever since the introduction of the Mac OS X.

Each time a hacker builds a virus against Mac, it very quickly disappears before

starting to spread. Unlike on a PC, you can’t get a virus on a Mac without the user

giving it permission to install itself.










it takes a while to open. Another trick is response to voice commands; unlike PCs the


This again is a huge advantage for Mac users, especially when helping disabled

people.







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PCs and Macs contain the Intel processors, and surprisingly due to that Intel




















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Windows on a Mac.

















in front of us. For example, when we would see a guy walk by us wearing a blue



Kassim 73


















around $1000.

As much as I’m trying to stay objective, most of the sources I found leaned

towards Macs. For example, I found a video on YouTube called “Mac or PC? Which

Are you?” This video is about a guy named Jon who tells us why he’s switching from

a PC to a Mac. He states that the Mac has a much better video and graphic display.

Jon says that while using a PC, he didn’t feel really satisfied unlike his usage with a

Mac. He comments that he’s been using PCs for most of his life, and that he recently

purchased a Mac and had the chance to use it for only two days. Those two days he

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claimed to be more than enough to fully convince him that “Macs were the way to

go”. Jon likes typography and he says that Mac’s font is brilliant and clear, unlike the

PC’s. As I stated earlier at the beginning of this research paper, Steve Jobs brought

calligraphy into the Mac. It is now a clear picture on how this is having a positive

affect towards Mac users. Jon said “Mac’s Final Cut has become the primary video

editor of choice for many amateur and professional video makers”. He states that the

only thing missing from a Mac is the video games, but recently video games have

been created for them.

In David Bloom’s article, “Electronic Journal List”, Bloom gives thorough

detail about computer games on PCs and Macs. PC’s have been known to be popular

with video games ever since Windows 98. Throughout the years, the production of

video games has been more focused on PCs, leaving the Mac out. This was a huge

disadvantage for Mac users who are gamers. In recent years, video games for Macs

have started to increase especially with the new power chips and accelerators that

Mac now includes in its new computers. The three most popular games for Mac are

Caesar III, Quake II, and StarCraft. As for PC, I can’t really name the most popular

video games due to the fact that there are so many games on the market for PC


it’s epic!

In an article entitled “Assistive Technology For Students With Mild

Disabilities”, writer Michael Behrmann talks about how assistive technology can be

used for students with disabilities like deafness or blindness. He says how most

educational institutions can no longer ignore the use of computers within classrooms.

Behrmann also explains how it is a necessity for assistive technology to be available

in all institutions. For the Macintosh computers, there is a program called “Write

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Outloud” that helps the blind by reading the written text out loud, including the menus

and utilities. There’s another program that helps students and teachers develop ways

to teach the blind. Programmers have also built programs that help disabled people

take notes. Programs such as “OmniPage Direct” or “InWords” transform typewritten

notes onto the computer, which is read by a voice synthesizer on the computer.

Methodology:

In order to see how many people use Mac or PC, I came up with a survey that

I posted on Twitter and Facebook. I didn’t really get as many responses as I was








because we were in summer. I had hoped that I would get people from various majors

to fill out the questionnaire to see whether it matters if Macs or PCs are better. I

wanted to see what kind of laptop the majority of computer science majors choose

because I know that they work with certain kinds of programs.





video interviews. Although I didn’t have time to perform video interviews, fortunately

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I had time to talk with a an IT director for a couple of minutes and a teacher in the

‘Rhetoric and Composition’ department in university. I spoke to a teacher called “Dr.

Ghada Elshimi”, who happens to be my aunt. According to Dr. Elshimi, Macs are so

much better to use than PCs due to their simplicity. She feels that PCs are too

complicated and they tend to become slow over time. Dr. Elshimi only experienced

one problem with her Mac ever since she got it, which was around two years ago. She

claims to have gotten a virus, which is very weird because Macs rarely get viruses.

Dr. Elshimi then explains that she got rid of that virus very easily and ever since never

experienced another bug in her Mac again.

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Results of Survey & Analysis:

Figure 1:

According to figure 1, thirty-five respondents were Mac users and thirty-three

were PC users. I did notice that most of the Engineering majors were PC users, and

according to most of them the reason why they weren’t Mac users is that Mac lacks






Number of people

Type of Com

puter

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use; they’re built to allow users to change it according to their satisfaction; PCs don’t

perform as well as Macs; Macs switch on and off in a second; they are able to search

for documents faster; they’re much more user friendly; and they have better operating










have the programs needed for their fields.

Interview:

My RHET professor, Dr. Gibson, took me to a computer IT director, who

works in AUC in the RHET department. As I interviewed the IT director, Bishoy

Harby, I learned a lot of new information that I hadn’t encountered when researching

on Macs and PCs. Mr. Harby told me that one of the biggest advantages that PC has

over the Mac is that Microsoft’s enterprise support is way better than the Mac’s. After

hearing this piece of information, I finally discovered why a lot of companies prefer

using a PC rather than a Mac. Another thing I also learned were the following

disadvantages of the Mac, some of which I had mentioned earlier within this paper:

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does not support foreign languages in the Microsoft Office Package; does not support

Arabic throughout the whole operating system; is not as popular with video games as

the PC is; it’s hardware is very expensive and isn’t available everywhere; and the

Mac’s mouse is fancy, but when operating, it becomes bad over time. Mac not

supporting Arabic is a very big disadvantage for Mac users in the Middle East. It

makes Arabs think twice before buying a Mac. Also gamers are more supportive of

PC due to the fact that the Mac isn’t really that compatible with video games. I myself

remember that I had a lot of video games on my PC back when I was a child. The

next disadvantage that the Mr. Harby had mentioned was on the Mac’s hardware.

Apple is very strict on its products, as such it doesn’t want people to buy its hardware

in any other store, and that is why its hardware isn’t really available everywhere,

unlike PC. When using a PC, if you want to change your battery you just have to buy

a new one, and simply replace it with the one in your laptop. As for a Mac, when you

flip it upside down you’ll see how you can’t just simply take out the battery. You

have to dissemble your whole Mac just to replace the battery yourself. The final

disadvantage of a Mac that I learnt from the IT director was about the mouse (not the

laptops mouse pad, but the actual mouse). He told me that the mouse was brilliant

when he first brought it. Later on he then discovered that once dust comes inside of it,

the scroll in the mouse will stop working and there is no way to fix it. Those

disadvantages mentioned above might affect some people, but after using a Mac I

could still live with those disadvantages.



Kassim 80






Mac”








friendly”

Conclusions and Recommendations:

Those responses are literally the only responses out of the thirty-three PC

users who would not change to a Mac. The rest of the thirty-three said that they would


of the people using a PC want to change to a Mac can’t due to their majors and the

programs required that only work on the PC. My father, who’s a civil engineer, is also

a PC user, but when he used my Mac several times he fell in love with the computer.

He told me that he wants to change to a Mac, and listed all the programs he needed.

After doing some research I couldn’t find any of the programs he wanted other than

one program, which was over $600. In the end, my father decided to keep his PC. I

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would recommend that you buy a Mac if you have the money to buy one, and if

you’re not an engineer or intending to major in the engineering field.

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Works Cited



Web. 19 June 2012.

Behrmann, Michael M. “Assistive Technology For Students With Mild





June 2012.








June 2012.




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Web. 20 June 2012.

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Ahmad Kassim

900113671

Dr. Gibson

RHET 201

Journal 1

Exploring Possible Topics

There’s actually a certain topic that I’ve wanted to gather more

information about, than the information I already know about it. One of the

topics I’d like to research about is a major here in The American University in

Cairo (AUC), and that major is called “Management of Information and

Communication Technology” (MICT). This a major that I’ve been thinking about

majoring in, but unfortunately my dad isn’t agreeing. Another topic I’d like to

research about is on the recent elections here in Egypt after the revolution,

whether I think it will make a big difference if Ahmed Shafik became president of

Egypt. An interesting topic that could relate to many people today that I could

research about is Windows versus Macintosh. I’ve always used a Windows PC up

until two years ago when I switched to a Mac. I’d like to know why most

companies prefer using Windows rather than Macs.

The topic I chose to write about is PC versus Macintosh. I find that this

topic is the most interesting topic to “tech” people today. I find that a lot of

students today debate on whether the use of Mac or PC are better! In my opinion,

Macs are so much better than PCs because they’re not common with viruses,

they don’t lag, and they’re more user friendly. I’d like to know why PCs in the

recent years have been degraded, and now Macs have become more popular. I’ve

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also come to notice that companies are more of a PC user, than a Mac user. Did

the death of Steve Jobs effect the sales of Macs?

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Ahmad Kassim RHET 102 900113671 Dr. Gibson Journal 2

First Link: http://www.lexisnexis.com/hottopics/lnacademic/?verb=sr&csi=8399&sr=HLEAD(Mac+and+PC+still+duelling)+and+date+is+May,%202006 The first source is about a guy who uses both a mac and a pc. He explains how uses a Mac when doing the “fun stuff” as in photos and videos etc, and he uses the PC when doing work related stuff. He also mentioned something that’s very important; he said that Macs could also support the PC or windows interface, which is in favor for Macs big time. Basically a Mac could basically include both Windows and the Mac operating system. "LexisNexisÂ® Academic & Library Solutions." LexisNexisÂ® Academic & Library Solutions. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 June 2012. <http://www.lexisnexis.com/hottopics/lnacademic/?verb=sr>. Second Link: http://www.lexisnexis.com/hottopics/lnacademic/?verb=sr&csi=8399&sr=HLEAD(Nielsen%2FNetRatings+compares+Mac+and+PC+users)+and+date+is+July,%202002 The second source is about the famous telecommunication company “Nexus” who made a report on the difference between Macintosh users and PC users. Their reports and research found that 70.2% of the Mac users have a university degree. Mac users are more likely to build websites and shop online than PC users. This report contains more statistics on between the two computers. "LexisNexisÂ® Academic & Library Solutions." LexisNexisÂ® Academic & Library Solutions. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 June 2012. <http://www.lexisnexis.com/hottopics/lnacademic/?verb=sr>. Third Link: http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?sid=81c71636-‐ca4b-‐470f-‐9723-‐c163c8decf9c%40sessionmgr11&vid=1&hid=12&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=iih&AN=44381924 The third source is basically a search engine, which is actually made by Microsoft, the search engine actually tells us to buy a Mac instead of a PC.

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Fourth Link: http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?sid=f7edb92b-‐c7c9-‐4b31-‐a56c-‐cd7c6c949c03%40sessionmgr12&vid=1&hid=12&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=f5h&AN=75330798 This fourth link gets in depth about the differences between the Mac and PC! It reports that they performed testing on both laptops such as the battery life, speed, and functions. Fifth Link: http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?sid=4db3f15a-‐a20e-‐448e-‐8787-‐ce5a230fb4a2%40sessionmgr14&vid=1&hid=12&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=f5h&AN=31834381 The fifth source also includes a differentiation between the Pc and Mac. It seems reliable and interesting because it’s unbiased. To form an educated opinion I have to fully explore the pros and cons of each and the differences and similarities between them. And this source provides exactly that. Sixth Link: http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?sid=f304277b-‐3605-‐4108-‐9a56-‐1fec9b19cf1d%40sessionmgr11&vid=1&hid=12&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=f5h&AN=24378685 This source is about the author’s opinion on the worldwide debate on the efficiency of Macs and PC’s. The difference between Mac and PC. The info provided in this source is sufficient enough to detect feature differences between Macs and pc’s. So I will be able to make a better comparison.

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Ahmad Kassim RHET 102 900113671 Dr. Gibson Journal 3 Source 1: This source gives information towards the famous question on whether Mac is safer to use than a PC. This is a very important question to my research because according to my past knowledge Macs do not get any viruses unlike Pcs.

Abrams, Rany. “Is A Mac Safer Than A PC?.” San Diego Business Journal 30.49 (2009): 4. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 13 June 2012 Source 2: This source is about an article that compares both the PC and Mac. It explains how the PC’s parts are made by other companies, but the Mac is completely made by apple from head to toe. O’BANNON, ISAAC M. “The Mac Vs. PC Battle.” CPA Technology Advisor 19.8 (2009): 12. Business Source Complete. Web. 13 June 2012. Source 3: This source is an article talking about the in depth performance of the PC and Mac. Komando, Kim. “PC Vs Mac.” Popular Mechanics 177.7 (2000): 72. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 13 June 2012. Source 4: This source is an article discussing the advantages and disadvantages of PC and Mac. Northway, Wally. “Mac Or PC? The battle Continues.” Mississippi Business Journal 30.38 (2008): 4. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 13 June 2012. Research Question: Being a user of Both a PC and a MAC, which one is better and why? This is the topic that I set my mind on researching about, because today we live in a world full of technology; the two most popular computers worldwide are both Mac and PC.

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Here’s the questionnaire that I’ve made on the topic of Mac Vs PC. I will

try to get as many people as I can from different majors to answer this

questionnaire because some majors requires certain computer programs to use.

I’ll try to focus more on Mascom, computer science, and architecture majors.

Questionnaire:

1. What’s your major/intended major?



4. Which computer do you prefer?

5. Which do you think is more helpful with your current occupation?

6. Which computer is more user friendly?

7. If you were a Mac user and had the chance to switch to PC, would you? Why or

Why not?

8. If you were a PC user and had the chance to switch to Mac, would you? Why or

why not?

9. Which computer has a longer life span?

10. Do you think that Macs are for specific types of people and PCs are for other

specific types of people?

11. Which computer would be easier to use for a disabled person.

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As for the interviews, I’ll go to the different departments in the American

University in Cairo (AUC), and ask different professors and students. Here are

examples of some of the following questions I’ll ask:

1. Which computer do you prefer to use?

2. Have you always been a Mac/PC user (depending on the answer for question 1)?

3. Would you ever want to change the type of computer you’re using?

Results till now:

I sent out the questionnaire to a couple of students in AUC and I still

haven’t gotten a lot of responses till now. Until now, I’ve gotten almost four

responses so I cannot conclude my results till now. According to the results,

three of the students were Mac users, and only one student was a PC user.

Unfortunately I didn’t have a lot of time to do the interviews, but it shall soon be

done.

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many results as I was expecting. The survey consisted of a eleven questions and some

of which included open ended questions so that the people taking the survey could

state their own opinion. I’ll start telling my friends to share the survey so more people

could fill it out and I’m thinking about printing out around fifty copies and to

distribute it amongst different people in the AUC library. I hope that I get people from

various majors to fill out the surveys to see whether it matters if Macs or PCs are

better.

I interviewed an IT director, Bishoy Harby, in the American University in

Cairo (AUC) who was unbiased in his judgment towards Macs and PCs. He gave

some new information that I haven’t read about during my research. If I had the

chance I would have liked to interview more IT directors in order to get new

information based on their experience. Unfortunately due to time limitations, I

didn’t really have enough time to interview more people in the IT field.

Throughout my life I’ve never really enjoyed writing papers. I couldn’t

imagine myself writing a paper during my summer break. Here I am, in the

summer of 2012, writing a research paper for my RHET 201 class. Surprisingly

I’m enjoying this research paper that I’m currently writing. My topic is about

Macintosh and PC. I hope that someday I would enjoy writing all my papers, just

like I’m enjoying writing this one.

Documents

Mac and PC