My Dad, the Switcher: Day 7

I don't mean this as anti-mac as it is going to sound, believe me -- I'm a huge Mac guy. I just tried to covert my dad... He's got about $500-700 for a new computer. Do me a favor and quickly look at how much actual technology you get under the hood for a PC vs a Mac for that amount of money and tell me how anyone can justify it? I found myself unable to recommend a Mac for him, which really sucks because I am the tech support.

Shame this article is not about 'your avarage dad'.
At least, mine doesn't want to learn Xcode.

Re property sheets, he might consider using plist files that are part of the app to store that kind of stuff. "Step Into XCode" (hugely recommended BTW as a great intro) uses this in a graphing app to store the default colors for the graph axes, datapoints, etc. Having worked through the example, it's pretty painless to use (you load the plist file as a dictionary and there you go).

As a salesperson who got his store to do a retail deal with apple (there was no apple store in our area) I must second Salespersons comment.
And as a former Win salesman, WinXP/Vista repairman and general computer dude my bias was originally completely Win.
Showing a Win user how a Mac works is a thing of joy and beauty. The easiest sales I made were usually the Mac sales, even though they cost a bit more (as such, more integration, you get more but the entry level is higher).
Most of my family has switched (my mom is the only one left, but she really wants a Mac) and most of my friends.
My support calls have dropped and proper chatting time with family and friends has gone up.

As a Mac salesperson, the switchers are my absolute favorites. Since they're used to so little, it takes virtually nothing on a Mac to really get that WOW factor!

I am getting ready to switch one of machines over to an iMac and I am looking forward to it; however, it is sad to see that this article still perpetuates "stereotypes" that users have about windows.

The great virtue of the mac that there is no setup, was the biggest thing that mac users and others sued Microsoft about. Yes, MS was called a monopoly for having applications all pre-installed to handle any file type - it stifled competition;but, if a mac does this it is a great thing.

Microsoft was forced to unbundle for the same reasons you praise the Mac.

I guess my real complaint, is that people are always trying to say that one is better then the other, rather then saying that they are different, and serve different users in different ways.

I support all OSes as each have their place and function. I am a fanboy of none, but champion of all, and I wish more people had that mindset, instead of the single thought of "mine is better then yours".

The biggest hurdle to getting my Mom switched to a Mac is that she uses very specific Windows software for her Genealogy. There are Mac programs she could use, but not the same one she's used to using on her PC. I am going to have to put in some extra effort to make sure that she can do everything she wants to (and then some...) on the new software - then I might convince her.

If I can manage that, I have no doubt my sister and other extended family members might follow - once they hear that Mom and I are video iChating all the time. :)

My dad switched about a year ago now. His windows laptop of 7 years (I'm serious) was stolen and so he had to use my old iBook for a couple weeks while he decided what to get. I got him to agree to a mac if I bought it from him if he decided he didn't like it, but after the two weeks on the iBook, and now a year on his MacBook, he's completely happy and isn't having any of the issues that used to plague him with Windows and Outlook. His clients (he's a consultant) always say things like "Mac? How could you, they're trash!", to which he responds that they're a hell of a lot better than Windows. The main problem it seems with getting business people moved to Mac is simply the buy in. Not the cost really, but the time. My dad would have never done it if his laptop wasn't stolen. And wow, am I glad it was. Used to get called at least twice a week if not more to help him with something, now he hasn't in months.

Now if I could just get him to buy an iPhone so I don't have to support Missing Sync and Windows Mobile anymore.

I recently bought my granmother an old iBook. And she just loves it, and that's pretty much to say considering that she last time used a computer it back in 1995 and the system was Windows 3.1. So far she has discovered iPhoto, iTunes (and found podcasts!), Mail and of course Safari. And the best part is that I haven't received Any support calls lately (and she has used the computer since I have received email).

Great post Robert, and what a great story. It would be nice if your dad could open up a blog about learning to develop on XCode as I'm a .NET Developer who owns a Mac for personal use and is willing to learn about how to develop on the Mac platform for both Macs and iPhone/iPod touch. I've bought my Mac back in May and I tried to write something very simple like a "Hello World" but didn't knew where to put the code exactly... There are a lot of files that are created when you start a new project and I got really lost and never tried to really learn (I guess it's my bad, I should use the ADC, shouldn't I?)

Well, great story, keep us up ;)