Tales of a Failed Switcher

I talked to a co-worker who recently bought a new windows machine, but claimed she "almost" got a Mac. I asked what was the problem, and she stated it was too different, and for instance she couldn't even find control+alt+delete on the Mac! I found this hilarious and explained to her that there is a similar option on the Mac, however you almost never need to use it because your programs don't constantly lock up and crash on a Mac. Not the best reason for not switching!

I gotta throw my 2 cents in (I know, go figure) if only because I'm a Failed Switcher once removed. I attempted to Switch from a Sony Vaio (NB) to a PowerBook 12" (first gen). Bad HW experience. Annoying limitations (or quirkiness) with Panther when dealing with PC's. Gave up after 3 months and 2 roundtrips into AppleCare. Picked up a Mac mini on Tiger Day. Is Tiger better than Panther? I think it is, but my expectations are now different. Where my notebook (whoever makes it) has to connect to everything under the sun (printer, network, server, etc.) I view my mini as more of a consumer appliance. Something to be used for mixing and storage media. Possibly serving files or acting as a mini-server in some cases. It can see my network, it can see my printer, it can see my notebook. I can burn with an external DVD drive; I can add on external HD's for storage. It's not my home Personal Computer - it's my home Media Machine. Which of course leads me to ask the question of "why does it always have to be one or the other? why not both?".

For about 8 years I used Windows machines, since I was ten, that is. And I was reletively content, but in my time of using them there were many moments when I would have mouse smashing moments of frustration as the dreaded blue-screen appeared and wiped away some three hours of Photoshop work. It wasn't until I first read about OS X that I became seriously interested in Macs. I watched Jobs's keynote speech last year and fell in love with the platform purely at the sight of the power of Expose and the quick user switching. I bought my iBook G4 in late January this year and even though I haven't been able to afford all the software I need for it yet, I am fully pleased with the OS and will never turn back. Apple is a real and I think better alternative to PC. With the introduction of the Mac Mini we will probably see increased use in schools, leading to more software development and investement in the platform and, perhaps, start eating into the market share that Microsoft holds and abuses.

HOMEWORK for the unswitchers: Go to CompUSA and COUNT how many display computers are showing some kind of windows error message. First and foremost, I work on a Windows-based computer forty hours a week. I am a software engineer developing stand-alone and web-based applications. I know the nitty-gritty of regedits, DLLs and how softwares are deployed and installed into each computers. Thanks to Microsoft, I make a decent living. I know how ugly and messy the Windows can be. I don't mind that as long as I get paid for dealing with that. As soon as the day's over, I am eager to leave the Windows-infected world and do my personal stuff on my Mac. I have been a Mac user since OS 9. I love Expose, Dashboard, Smart Folders, Spotlight, iChat multi-video chat.... hell, everything! As a Developer, I love Xcode and the flexibility of various language it offers to us. EXPOSE is a huge time saver as I switch between windows. There's one thing though, I hope Apple will come up with a powerful web-based development tool like .NET. 10 days to try a Mac. I'm glad he's long gone. He doesn't deserve to be on a Mac. Go enjoy Longhorn... well... if it ever comes out. And yes, mingle with those Geek Sqaud nerds who makes a decent living on the mishaps of Windows. Anybody try the Dictionary short-cut (CMD-CTRL+D over any word) yet?

I switched before Apple invented "switching" and I recall a good long week of frustration based on my attempts to do things the Windows way. Naturally that often failed miserably - making me miserable. After a while I caught on to "the Mac way" and my experience improved but I still wasn't exactly happy. This period lasted about a month or so. Then one day I realized I'd set up a printer and scanner with no problem at all and that for over a week my computer hadn't crashed. At that point I got it and within a week I'd sold all my PC gear. This guy didn't even get beyond the first stage. He wasn't a switcher - he was a toe dabber. And his toe hardly got wet.

and speaking of humorous typos... it's humorous, not humerous. ; ) and the lack of availability of games or other software for the Mac is not the Mac's fault. it's simply a matter of marketshare. more people use PCs, therefore there's more software created for it. However, most software that's created by hobbyists, for example (like freeware/shareware), is far more thoughtfully designed than alot of the schlock made for PCs. someone above said it well, that Mac software developers are often very detail-oriented. so while their maybe 1000 shareware apps for PC, only a couple will be truly great, while on the Mac there may be fewer apps, but there will be a higher percentage of good options. just some food for thought.

I switched (back) in February with a Mac Mini. Being a Linux/Unix developer, and having used a Mac before (prior to 1997 all I used was Macs,) the transition wasn't very hard at all. I like OSX a lot (wrote a critique of it over here: http://www.wrecklass.net/mini_review.html ) and the little Mac Mini allows me to do all of my work related development just fine. However, it is true that the amount of software available on the Mac is weak compared to Windows. I am specifically talking about commercial software. I am also an avid computer gamer, and the number of games available on the Mac is a big let down for me. I will continue to use a Windows Pc for many things, including gaming. However, for most productivity related stuff, the Mac is great. BTW, I have to say that the comment "learning curb" made me laugh out loud. I suspect a few people think they have hit a curb when they first try the Mac, but typo (it should be "learning curve" of course) was very humerous.

Peter Koritschan: thanks for those tips! Keep forgetting about 'em features that really make the Mac look (and work) cool! :) Narco: can't agree with you more! I get people thinking the same way as well... these misconceptions can really corrupt the innocent mind!

I was close to converting a friend of mine to a Mac. She said she wanted something that didn't have spyware/viruses, easy to use, didn't break down all the time and wasn't ugly looking. I thought the Mac would be perfect for her -- she was even willing to pay extra for such a machine. Then her sister, coworkers and friends got to her. They all said the same thing: "You're not a graphic designer, you don't need a Mac." Basically saying that if all she planned on doing is talking via-AIM, email, internet and basic word processing, then a Mac is just TOO POWERFUL for her. I hate all these misconceptions. It's almost like racism in the tech world. But when it all comes down to it, I'm not the one actually using the PC, so I'll continuing enjoying my Mac. Fishes, narco.

The author clearly didn't try several of the things that make the Mac greatincluding using the Dockand simply discounted RSS readers even though there are more than a dozen on Versiontracker. As for look and feel, this could be said by anyone writing an article about a different OS, try making a Sun guy use Windows, or a UNIX guy use Linux and they will all have these complaints. I'd really like to see an indepth article about someone who switched-back, not this grab-bag of generalities. Peter, Changing icons is very easy, go to http://interfacelift.com/icons-mac/ for lots of cool icons and instructions on how to use them.