Can an Apple do this....?

[Wampy]

Being a WinXP user, I am considering checking into Apple PC's, as they seem to have, from what I've heard, far fewer security issues and are more stable. However, I'm wondering about the following....

1) Are most firewalls and anti-virus programs readily compatible with Apple systems?
2) Can PHP, MySql and Apache be installed for web development?
3) Are software/hardware upgrades easily available, and are they price-comparable to Windows-based PC's?
4) Do alternate browsers ( Mozilla, Firefox, etc. ) install and work properly?
5) Would my ISP ( MSN ) run on an Apple?

Sorry if these sound so ignorant, but I have basically no knowledge of Apple products. Any help is appreciated.

Thanx....

 

[horndude]

1. not needed, and a firewall is part of the OS X kernel, same as linux
2. come with OS X I believe, if not they are free to d/l and install, they run natively on any unix based system
3. depends on what you want to do
4.OS X comes with several, I believe firefox works with OS X, check mozilla.org
5.dont know, check with msn

http://www.apple.com

 

[digitaloracle]

5. The basic service should, but the program that you use to get special fetures probably doesn't work with mac.

 

[gab00n]

MSN will give you a cd that will work with apple, but why do you want their junk anyway, just setup a connection manually.. Also the nice thing about OS X is that you hardly have to restart it.

 

[g5orbust]

Being a WinXP user, I am considering checking into Apple PC's, as they seem to have, from what I've heard, far fewer security issues and are more stable. However, I'm wondering about the following....

1) Are most firewalls and anti-virus programs readily compatible with Apple systems?
2) Can PHP, MySql and Apache be installed for web development?
3) Are software/hardware upgrades easily available, and are they price-comparable to Windows-based PC's?
4) Do alternate browsers ( Mozilla, Firefox, etc. ) install and work properly?
5) Would my ISP ( MSN ) run on an Apple?

Sorry if these sound so ignorant, but I have basically no knowledge of Apple products. Any help is appreciated.

Thanx....

1) OSX has a built in firewall system. Norton ultilities and antivirus is sold for Mac, as well as others (Virex, etc.)
2)Yes, OSx has a rudementary Apache webserver application built in and you can get programs that will run MySQL databases and PHP.
3) Hardware is harder to get in-store (internet is the main source of Mac upgrade gear), but software is easy. The price of Mac-only hardware (graphics cards for example) is usually about 15-20% higher than their PC counterparts, but only because of the performance and development curve and sheer production volume.
4) The Mozilla group develops all of its programs for Mac. Apple also has its own alternative browser, Safari.
5) I have no idea, but I dont see why they wouldnt have an option for you.

 

[mac_mogul]

Mozilla FireFox and Safari are almost 100% identical.

And, I'm fairly certain that an ISP is an ISP no matter what system you use. So MSN should undoubtedly work on a Mac.

Also, Mac hardware is quite difficult to come by, but that is only because all new Macs come with everything you need But.. I suppose if you want to upgrade later, a PowerMac has the PCI-X option and will expand as needed

Software is soooo simple to get for Mac. Almost every title out for PC bases systems has some sort of Mac counterpart.

Good luck and Happy shopping!

 

[g5orbust]

Mozilla FireFox and Safari are almost 100% identical.

Not quite. Theyre both open source based and Safari was co-developed by the dude who did Mozilla, but the browsers use two different rendering engines and thus are not the same.