XvsXP

XvsXP is an online operating system comparison site run by James Scariati and Michael Moriarty.

Overview

The site compares competing operating systems Windows XP SP2 and Mac OS X Tiger through over 100 different topics. The site explicitly includes only the "out-of-the-box" experience of each OS, as well as any freely released updates from the manufacturer. A unique feature of the site over many other OS comparison sites is that it features a forum to encourage readers to voice any concerns or comments AbOUT the site, as well as any suggestions for additions.

History

The site was originally launched in March 2003 by Dan Pouliot, with the scope of the site explicit also to the concerns of the "creative professional". The site was originally intended to advocate OS X by virtue of a fair comparison to Windows XP. Pouliot acknowledged that such a fair comparison was difficult, and he relied on debates within the site's own online forum to refine and expand the site. A PDF version of the site was available, and Pouliot reports it was downloaded 250,000 times between the launch of the site and the time the PDF was removed in January 2005.

The site was almost closed down in January 2005, including a brief period when XvsXP was converted to a pay site. Pouliot at that time decided he needed to move on, so a change of ownership was negotiated.

In November 2005, the site officially changed hands to the current owners, James Scariati and Michael Moriarty, and a rewrite of the site began, with a renewed objective of an unbiased comparison. The point of view was changed away from first person. Content considered to be editorial in nature was removed. (One example that was removed can be seen in the Internet Archive Wayback Machine: 1 where Pouliot discussed one particular XP dialog box at length.)

The site officially relaunced in March 2006, sporting a refreshed look and updated sections, as well as a format that was reportedly designed for ease of updating due to the upcoming releases of both operating systems, Windows Vista and Mac OS X 10.5.

Criticism

Some feel that XvsXP falls short of a complete comparison since it does not take into account other factors such as software availability, total cost of ownership, hardware interoperability and so forth. The owners contend that such topics fall outside of the site's scope as an operating system comparison and fall into a broader platform comparison. Both owners have stated that even the current comparison is a large amount of work, so a truly objective comparison of all aspects of each platform would require a team of full-time employees. In addition, the current "1 to 10" scoring system has been viewed as being too definitive for a subjective review. This is also compounded in the "Final Score" page where there is no option to wiegh the scores based on the user's concerns. (e.g. security is given as much weight as ICONS).

It should be noted that all owners (Dan Pouliot [original owner but no longer involved in the site’s operation], and James Scariati and Michael Moriarty [current owners]) of the site have openly admitted in their forums that they are primarily Mac users and advocates. Another area of criticism is that even though the site claims to incorporate “freely released updates from the manufacturer”, it takes but a bit of research on the site to see that many major releases from Microsoft are missing and that the final conclusions and scores in a number of sections favor Apple due to these omissions. Examples of missing no cost, downloadable Microsoft content for Windows XP:

Windows Defender
Visual Studio Express (Visual Web Developer Express, Visual Basic Express, Visual C# Express, Visual C++ Express, Visual J# Express, and SQL Server 2005 Express)
Virtual PC
Virtual Server R2
FolderShare
Sysinternals Utilities
Windows Media Player 11
Windows Live Toolbar
Windows Live Messenger 8.0
XML Notepad 2007
Digital Image Starter Edition 2006
PowerShell
MechCommander 2
Zune Theme
Carioca Rummy
(the list of absent Microsoft add-ons and updates for XP could go on for pages but this is just a list of reasonably major missing components. Via the XvsXP.com forums, the above items have been brought to the attention of the site owners many times over many years and no action has been taken. This is in contrast to Mac OS 10.4 Tiger data being added within two weeks of release.) Windows Vista was released on November 8, 2006 and it has not yet been added to the comparison. XvsXP.com forums include commentary from the site administrator’s and owners that Vista may not be added until Apple ships its next generation operation system, Leopard. It should also be pointed out that the site does not include public beta releases, which is another area that would likely see Windows score higher than the Mac OS since Microsoft’s development process provides more transparency, more beta releases, and earlier releases in the development cycle.

See also

  • Operating system advocacy
  • Comparison of operating systems