14 Classic Tech Rivalries

Inkjet Printers vs. Laser Printers

What's So Great About Inkjets?

Ah, little inkjet printer, you give us rich colors for our photographs--as long as we use your specially coated paper. But soon, so soon, the ink wells run dry, the colorful cataracts diminish, and everything comes out all blue or yellow. And since a replacement set of ink cartridges for you may cost as much as the whole printer did originally, we must bid you a sorrowful adieu and move on to a new printer--which, tragically, too, will find its way to sleep in the local landfill. More prosaically, some of your cartridges contain microchips that block printing after an expiration date or before the cartridge is empty; we can't understand why you won't let us print on our own schedule. We're perplexed that third-party cartridges tend to be far less expensive and often match the OEM cartridges' quality, and we harbor horrible suspicions as to why your manufacturer has gone to such great lengths to block their sales. But cheap access to a clean, pretty paper copy of the Google Map to the restaurant where we're going for supper or to a quickie photo of the kid for Grandma makes all that go away.

What's So Great About Laser Printers?

Oh mighty (and inexpensive) monochrome laser printer, for black-and-white documents you are the only way to go, pounding out prints at a cost per page of around 3 cents--much less than the cost of inkjet printing. And for color elements, such as charts, logos, and other graphics, your high-toned siblings, the color laser printers, produce longer-lasting prints faster than inkjets can, at about the same cost per page. True, when your cartridge finally conks out, the bill can really hurt--and if you're a color laser, the cartridges can set me back more than the printer did. So maybe I should share most of my "prints" via e-mail over my iPhone...

Microsoft Office vs. Google Docs

What's So Great About Microsoft Office?

Any old app can let you enter some characters, maybe italicize a few, and add some links. But if you want to do serious, manly work with office documents, you need Microsoft Office. Just try using mail merge on your documents in Google Docs. The feature doesn't exist, does it? Applying conditional formatting to your spreadsheets? Also AWOL. Creating a custom animation in your presentations? We didn't think so. Okay, so maybe you don't use these superpowers every day--but don't you want them to be there, ready to spring into action, when you do need them?

What's So Great About Google Docs?

Sure, Google Docs doesn't have all of the features of Microsoft Office. Today's animals aren't as big as the Tyrannosaurus Rex either, but we all know what happened to the Tyrant Lizard King. Plus, Google Docs has some cool features that Office doesn't--and they happen to be features you'll actually use, like the ability to get to your documents from any PC that has a Web connection. (You can even edit offline with Google Gears.) Another great feature is the ability to let friends and colleagues share and edit your documents without a hassle. Oh yeah, and did we mention it's free?