It's Friday so I thought I would get away from political and cultural topics for the day and talk about technology instead. (Though now that I think about it, this topic can be just as contentious if not more so than things like abortion and religion)
After 15 years as a PC/Windows user, I finally made the jump to Apple last month. I swore that I never would. Not that I didn't know anything about Apples. In fact, one of my first computers was an Apple IIc that I used throughout high school and wrote all my college papers on.
There have been a handful of reasons why I didn't think I would make the switch.
1. MS Office - Not that I am in love with MS Office but it has been unthinkable, particularly in corporate America, to consider getting work done without having Word, Excel, or even Powerpoint. And say what you will about Windows; Microsoft usually does a pretty good job with their applications.
2. Cost - I have not been willing to spend the extra money just to have the Apple logo on my computer. I just couldn't see justifying the substantial cost increase to move to a Mac.
3. Hacking - I mean this in the "white hat", tinkering around with computers sort of way. My impression was that with a Mac I couldn't really get under the hood and modify things from a software/OS stance. While I'm no uber-programmer, I do know my way around a command prompt and have done programming over the years including Java, php, Perl, and VB. (yeah, I know some of you won't consider that to be "REAL programming"; lay off!)
4. The Closed-System, Proprietary Nature of Apple - I am generally an open-source kind of guy. I don't like companies telling me how I can or cannot use my computer, or software, or media files. On a PC, I have always liked the fact that if I want to add a new component like memory or a hard drive to my computer that I have hundreds of options. So the idea of moving to the closed Apple system wasn't very appealing to me.
5. Apple people - To be honest, this might have been my biggest reason to not make the switch. I have generally found Apple advocates to be insufferable pretentious jack-asses what with their constant braying about how enlightened they are with their "morally superior" choice of computers. It's a computer, people! It doesn't define you.
Well, last month I finally succumbed and bought one of the new Macbook Pros with the 17" screen. I would say that I love it except that it sounds ridiculous to claim love for an inanimate object. So how did I overcome my objections?
1. MS Office - Over the past year, I have started using Google Docs, Google's free office suite. While Google Docs has about 75% of the functionality of Word & Excel, it has 95% of the functionality I actually need. With the added bonus of being able to collaborate online with clients or friends. Not to mention that I can receive an email with a Word or Excel document and open it up in Google Docs. And if I find myself in a place where I can't get online, I use Open Office, an open-source alternative to MS Office.
Of course, going to work for myself has made this decision much easier as I don't have to ask the IT-Nazis for permission. And the exorbitant price of adding MS Office to a PC made the decision easier as well.
2. Cost - Yeah, Macs aren't cheap. but I started looking back at the past few computers I have bought. They weren't cheap either. As a power-user (whatever the hell that is supposed to mean), I had bought high end computers from specialty shops like ABS so as to get the best components. I have realized that Apple just doesn't sell low-end computers. They don't sell $500 desktops like Dell. But I realized that when I started comparing Macs to comparable PCs, the actual cost difference wasn't that much.
3. Hacking - Boy was I wrong on this one! What did I really think I was accomplishing by messing around with the Windows registry or using the lame command line? As I started researching making this jump I realized that Mac OSX is essentially Unix with a fantstic GUI. I can now pull up a real Terminal window. And use VI. And ssh. (yes, I am a bit of a geek) A friend of mine years ago said that Linux was the future. I never agreed with him because of the lack of a great GUI. Well, now I realize that Mac OSX is the future: a rock-solid Unix base with a fantastic GUI.
4. The Closed-System, Proprietary Nature of Apple - I am getting over this issue. Yes, a Mac is a fairly closed system. But it works. Do I really want to go back to a Windows environment where I wasted days and weeks messing around with incompatible drivers and constant rebooting just so I could have choices? Um.....nope.
This actually has major implications for tech support. Whenever I have had problems with a PC, it has often been a nightmare just figuring out what the problem is much less actually fixing it. Not to say that Macs don't ever have problems; mine actually has locked up on me once or twice. But that pales in comparison to my experience with PCs.
The process of starting to use this computer out of the box was quite illuminating. In the past when I had received a new PC, I could count on it taking me a couple of days to get everything set up just the way I like it and install necessary programs or drivers. But with my new Macbook Pro, I just started using. The setup took me about 20-30 minutes. Done. Ready to work.
5. Apple people - I'm not quite over this one. I realized that this was a monumentally stupid reason not to make the switch. But I have tried to do my best not to harangue everyone I know about how much I love my Mac, how cool it makes me, and how all of life's problems will be solved by Steve Jobs.
I have also discovered three additional reasons in retrospect to make the switch.
6. Networking - In the ten plus years of having a work PC that I would occasionally bring home, I could never consistently get it to network properly with my home PC. I could never share files or share the printer. This was a constant frustration that I just assumed would still be the case with my new Mac. You can imagine my surprise when it took me less than five minutes to connect to my home desktop PC.
7. Battery life - The battery life on this Macbook Pro is amazing. It smokes every PC laptop I have ever used and is far more powerful. I can sit in Starbucks (like I am now) without being plugged in for over four hours and not run out of juice. I have never heard of a PC laptop that I can last as long.
8. Vista - What a disaster! I had the misfortune of having to get a new home desktop last summer that came with Vista. I thought that new operating systems were supposed to be a step forward, not two steps back. If Microsoft is in serious danger of starting to lose real marketshare in its core product if it doesn't do something soon about this fiasco. The energy that they are putting into considering purchasing Yahoo needs to go into resolving their growing OS mess. Vista was almost reason alone to make me switch.
Yeah, yeah, start the flame war. Maybe we can keep it civil like the other conversations here. :)
Update: I have written another post about why Macs are right for most businesses.
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Comments
Will, Great thoughts here.
Will,
Great thoughts here. I made the switch from PC to Mac a little over a year ago. I had no background in Apple, so I was a little apprehensive. But what drove me to consider it was my intense frustration with my computing experience. Once to twice a year I was having to completely wipe my PC clean and reinstall the OS to get it working again. It would take me days to do so. Not to mention that the months leading up to that time the system slowly ground to a halt.
The switch-over was slow, took a few months for me to get comfortable. It was a tad expensive getting software, but WOW, what a joy it has been. I was even thinking last night how much I just ENJOY using my Mac. Two things that you didn't mention that have been great features for me:
1) It works- This seems like a no brainer, but it just works. Whatever I want to do, it does. Watch a video, burn a DVD, connect to wireless, edit a video. I always had errors and problems doing even these basic things with my PC.
2) Sleep/Hybernate- not sure which is which, but easily one of my favorite features is that when I open my Macbook Pro up, it is ready immediately to work on. No extensive reboot or waking feature. This makes it so convenient to open it up and schedule an appointment, grab a phone number, or get a fact from an email.
Macs - they just work. Plain
Macs - they just work. Plain and simple.
I am sure that in a short
I am sure that in a short while, you will be surprised to be called a pretensious jackass by windows fans while you are simply explaining why you switched. What you say and what they hear are two totally different things. Anyway, good luck to you!
I use Windows at my day job
I use Windows at my day job and Macs at home/for freelance stuff. I've found I can get all my work done on either platform, especially the last few years as more apps have moved to the web. But it's a bigger pain on Windows.
You do realize that MS
You do realize that MS Office is available for Macs?
I don't often use it, because I think there are better alternatives to Word (Mellel, Nisus Writer Pro) and PowerPoint (Keynote) on the Mac. But it is there.
You won't let me post links, but google "ms office mac" and the first link will take you to Microsoft's page.
You know what the biggest
You know what the biggest thing is that bugs us Mac users?
The pretentious jerks who make us look bad.
Congrats on the switch. I know plenty of people who have not had any trouble with Vista. But every single one of them bought new machines, and they don't do much on their computers besides email and cruise the web and work in Photoshop. (Adobe makes good software on both sides of the aisle.)
Weird that you don't know
Weird that you don't know about MS Office for Mac. Its been there for so many years. And the 2008 version, while not such an improvement as Office 2007 for Windows, is quite nice. I personally use iWork, but for compatibility reasons, I think you might want to check our MS Office for Mac.
But I have tried to do my
You'll get there, don't worry, but after awhile, when you'll realize that every friend and relative you switch will be another support dependent, well, you'll become more selective.
Microsoft software products
Microsoft software products are some of the most CLOSED products on the planet. They get you with proprietary data formats, creating barriers to switching, and holding your data hostage (look no further than an Outlook .PST file for an example!) Microsoft has never been able to compete on technology - they compete through blackmail and leverage, getting people using their stuff before they find out they are now locking in to reams of files that no other product can read or use, without painful translation and edits. Embrace, Extend, Extinguish has been a common theme ... even with something as open and ubiquitous as Kerberos, which MS bastardized to proprietary, non-interoperable security.
Apple, on the other hand, supports open standards with virtually everything that they do, and the products that do store things in proprietary formats, are provided with export functions so as to not hold your data hostage.
Hardware is such a nit, in the overall price scheme of computers. The real value is in the data, and using user data to control the customer community is a mobster mentality, used by bullies who can't compete on their own merits.
Microsoft, publish your format (start with Visio and Outlook!) Stop bastardizing things like IMAP (used for Exchange calendaring), so that no one can interoperate with your stuff.
In the meantime, enjoy the OPEN Apple Macintosh OS X environment, and all the published, open data standards for virtually everything, and be free of closed Microsoft systems.
I don't hate Vista, but OS X
I don't hate Vista, but OS X is head and shoulders above it as an operating system. It is pretty crash resistant. I once accidentally opened every application in my Applications folder (about 150) and did NOT have to restart the Mac.
A couple of my favorite features are Spotlight (very fast search which doubles as an application launcher, calculator, and dictionary) and Spaces- have multiple apps running full screen and hotkey between them rather than shuffling windows. QuickLook also lets you look at almost any file.
You might try NeoOffice, it is the same engine as OpenOffice, but doesn't require loading X11 and looks a lot more like a Mac app. OpenOffice 3 when it is released will also not require X11.
Remember to scale down your enthusiasm when talking to Windows users. Many of them honestly don't know that an operating system isn't supposed to get in your way of doing things, and they regard all that antivirus/spyware/registry hacking stuff as normal.
I bought an old G3 iMac in
I bought an old G3 iMac in 2006 after my XP box was infected with a virus, and to be honest have never looked back. Apart from my music making Cubase laptop, all my systems are now Macs, including a G4 iMac (which I am on now), a G4 iBook and an intel iMac for running the music studio.
I too was taken aback by just how easy it was to set up and use, and to be honest I would use MS Office over OpenOffice on the Mac (I still use Office 2004).
Apart from a faulty memory stick on the G4 iMac, all has been plain sailing and everything, as you have discovered, just worked. No more tweaking the OS to get the best music making performance out of it, just power on, install and go.
I still use Windows, but I always look forward to powering up the Macs.
On the matter of Hacking,
On the matter of Hacking, Mac OS X was released back in 2001, and you finally realized this now. I wonder why?
Yeah, I suppose I am just an
Yeah, I suppose I am just an idiot. :)
There is a reason they are called "preconceived notions".
I can understand this
I can understand this however, classic Mac OS was not nearly as good in that area as Mac OS X. It is just that it looked strange to me that you didn't realize it until years after Mac OS X was released.
@ Malcolm Ramage: Small
@ Malcolm Ramage:
Small world--I also bought a g3 iMac in 2006 (for $65!) and I also have never looked back. It's still running Panther, but it's on my bedside table, still in use as an internet appliance and e-book reader.
That's a point that a lot of people miss in the whole "Macs are more expensive" argument. Aside from the fact that this is no longer true (if you compare truly comparable systems) there is a flourishing market for used Macs, whereas the only real "market" for used PCs is the landfill. Everybody had to buy a new PC to run Vista, and then a lot of them found that their "Vista Ready" machines wouldn't run anything but Vista Home Basic, without the badly-copied-from-Apple eye candy. Meanwhile, Leopard will run on everything down to an 864 MHz G4. Imagine trying to run Vista Ultimate on a comparable PC!
If anybody is hesitating about making the switch, really: you can get a quite useable Mac on Craigslist for almost nothing and give it a try. You have nothing to lose but your Microsoft-induced high blood pressure!
I switched to Mac after a
I switched to Mac after a disastrous experience with Windows 95. It would lock up if someone sneezed in the next street and if you were on line at the time, up went your phone bill.
The Mac was a PowerBook It has SCSI built in and ran System 7.1 and had all the software I needed right from day 1.
What a breath of fresh air. Reliable and with very few crashes, I quickly realised that this was the way forwards and I haven't looked back.
I am pleased with the transition to unix with OS X and it has opened up my interest in OSs even further.
Well done Apple.
"Everybody had to buy a new
"Everybody had to buy a new PC to run Vista, and then a lot of them found that their "Vista Ready" machines wouldn't run anything but Vista Home Basic, without the badly-copied-from-Apple eye candy."
Not exactly true, all computers that can support Vista can run all of the editions, though again without the eye candy.
"Meanwhile, Leopard will run on everything down to an 864 MHz G4. Imagine trying to run Vista Ultimate on a comparable PC!"
So does Vista, which can run on PCs all the way back to a 800 MHz Pentium III or Athlon, and almost all the PCs introduced since 2001 should come with a hard drive big enough to run Vista, as well as being able to add enough RAM to support Vista. No you won't get the eye candy, but almost all XP drivers should be compatible (and all properly written ones are), and you do gain a little.
Each platform has
Each platform has pretentious jerks. I cannot tell you how many times over the years I have had PC snobs belittle the Mac as an over priced toy and worse.
I have been using Mac's since the intro in 1984, and MacOS X since May 2001. My old g3 iMac had one system crash in June 2001 on MacOS 10.0! That was the ONLY system crash that machine ever saw in seven years of daily use! I swithced my wife (an educator) from Windows three years ago. I got tired of spending all of my time fixing issues her PC would have. After the first year of her using MacOS X I asked her how many system crashes she suffered. The answer was zero! I then asked how much data had she lost that year. The answer was none! Case closed I told her.
OS X is a better OS for many
OS X is a better OS for many things there's no doubt. But far from bulletproof as a web search will quickly illustrate. As a long time Apple user I reckon Apple recent quality, overall, is disappointing compared to older/vintage Apple products.
4 hours battery life is good but not remarkable at all. I'm baffled why you're amazed by this. There's plenty of laptops with better battery life. I expect you meant 4 hrs is very good for a 17" laptop though.
I don't get why your Windows machines are so flaky. I've worked with Macs and PC's in large numbers over many years, and I've never seen that kind of unreliability on any platform unless there was an underlying unresolved issue. There's always a reason, almost always fixable. Its not magic.
The difference between smug
The difference between smug Mac and Windows users is that Mac users have actually used Windows.
I have never had any
I have never had any problems with Vista on a new Sony Vaio labtop. My friend got a low-end Compaq pre-loaded with Vista for college and has no problems with it. You all state these generic problems with Vista but fail to list any actual proof. I want to know why Vista failed for you!
I bet 75% of the people who claim they switch to Apple actually don't switch at all. They continue using their Windows machine and have an Apple as a toy. After a fe
If things are really as bad as you say they are with XP/Vista then why does 95% of the world still use Microsoft? And don't say it's because of MS monopoly, blackmail, or other shenanigans. If Microsoft really made these terrible products that crashed all the time more people would switch to Apple, but they don’t switch because they don’t need to.
Bring it on!
@ Reverend Doctor: 90%+ of
@ Reverend Doctor: 90%+ of people use Windows for the same reason that the overwhelming majority in our country drink Bud/Miller Light, watch American Idol, and pay money to see Michael Bay/Jerry Bruckheimer movies on a regular basis: it's the obvious choice that's out there, and everyone else is doing it.
Are any of those things really superiour to their counterparts because more people use/see them than the alternative?
Hardly.
I don't do much on my laptop
I don't do much on my laptop except cruise the web and write college papers.
Whats great is that I can download things and not worry about them jacking with my computer.
The reasons I bought a Mac
1 they don't freeze. Ok, well mine has once, but thats because I tried opening every application and downloading a movie at the same time (and it worked for about a minute!).
2 tech support. If you have ever called Dell before you know about the nightmare I am talking about.
soo if you're going to buy a laptop and you want it to last, you'd pay at least 700 or 800 for it right?
a mac really isn't that much more. and for those 2 reasons I listed, it was worth the money, BIG TIME.
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