making the switch from windows to OSX
About a month ago, I did something I previously thought I’d never do — switch from a windows based computer to a Mac. For a long time I held the opinion that macs were for computer novices — the equivalent of the AOL of operating systems. I admit, I was totally wrong.
For the benefit of others who might be considering making “the switch”, here’s my experience.
Prior to aquiring my Mac Powerbook, I’ve owned 2 computers: a dell dimension desktop and a compaq presario laptop. The desktop ran Windows 98, and the laptop ran XP.
In general, I’ve always liked Windows. You could probably accurately say that I know Windows pretty well. I know how the directory structure works, I’m comfortable installing and uninstalling applications, adding devices, customizing the windows environment, working from a command line, etc. I’ve even dipped into the windows registry on occasion, and I’m not scared to muck around in my machine’s BIOS in order to troubleshoot something. In the relative scheme of things, I’d probably consider myself an intermediate to advanced user. I haven’t built windows applications aside from a few VB experiments, but that’s something I’d considered.
Windows 98 was great, or so I thought. It was clean, easy to use, intuitive, and it usually worked. It gave enough customization options so that it didn’t seem insulting, and for a while there, it was the de facto operating system for home users.
Windows XP was a bit of a let-down. Upon first use, I immediately disabled a bunch of the special GUI features that made it look different from windows 98, such as removing drop shadows and reverting to the classic grey interface. I didn’t like the way it looked, and I recall running into a handful of error messages every few days. But I dealt with it, and used it for about 2 years.
Enter OSX
Eventually my laptop crapped out on me, and I decided to invest in a new laptop. I had read and heard all sorts of things about OSX Panther online from some of the more reputable tech-centric blogs, and so I figured it was time to cast away my suspicions about macs and dig a bit deeper.
Tiger had just come out, and unless you live under a rock you’ve probably heard some of the hoopla surrounding the latest version of OSX.
I hit the apple store, played around with a powerbook, and almost instantly realized how much I was missing from being so close-minded. Despite the inflated prices of macs, I eventually decided that I wanted a fully equipped 12″ powerbook, and so I laid down my cash.
30 day review
After having my powerbook for about a month, I can honestly say it is nothing short of a joy to use. I use a Windows 2000 machine all day at work, and coming home to use osx is like going from antennae TV to digital cable.
Some of my favorite features:
- the soft, rounded, cool feel of the windows in OSX
- the smooth animations of the interface
- the big, 3d feel of the icons
- applications just work
- drag and drop installations
- tons of great free software out there
- the built-in wifi just works, with no configuration
- seamless integration with devices like ipod, printer, and a monitor
- sturdy, well-designed casing
- I haven’t seen an operating system error message in 30 days, despite using it about 4 hours a day on average
- No problems opening/viewing MS-based documents (Word, Excel, Powerpoint) on the mac platform.
- No viruses, adware, or malware
In summary, all you folks out there that scoff at macs, like I once did, are fools for defending the regular headaches that Windows makes you put up with. You’ve been trained to think you know how an operating system behaves, and you expect occasional errors and crashes and other inconveniences as being normal. It doesn’t have to be.
3 Comments
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The important thing is to feel comfortable and productive. With Linux, more than any other system I’ve tried, I am happy. If an Apple pc does that for you then you have the right system.
PS - I have a PowerPC live+boot disk of Ubuntu i’ve been meaning to give you.
Cool. You can drop it off in the mailbox if you like, or upload it and send me the URL.
I’ll stop by with one. I ordered them a couple of months ago and got a bunch, so they are professionally printed. You can download it from the website http://ubuntulinux.org also.