[IP] more on Windows users switching to Macs
Begin forwarded message:
From: Robert Raisch <raisch@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: November 7, 2005 3:55:41 PM EST
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx
Cc: ip@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [IP] Windows users switching to Macs
Dave,
I've recently switched my laptop from a Toshiba Portege running
Windows XP to an Apple Macintosh Powerbook G4, and I must say I am
impressed.
A number of factors contributed to this change, not the least of
which was the soul-crushing weariness I've felt hunting down and
eradicating each new Window's-borne virus or other malware.
Yes, I have a firewall, an ad-blocker, a viral-scanner, and all the
other tools of the modern technocratic Road Warrior, but it all just
seems such an enormous waste of my time. As Ted Nelson is fond of
saying: "Computers are universal control devices. So, why can't we
give people Universes to control?" In part, I think the answer is:
we have all been enslaved to time-intensive prophylactic
responsibilities we should have otherwise been spared, had the makers
of our tools only understood what it really meant to connect them to
the global Internet.
First, I abandoned Internet Explorer for Firefox, only looking back
when some incompatibility (Hello Cisco!) required Explorer to operate
correctly. Then Outlook fell, replaced by Thunderbird, and I felt
somewhat safer. But the next step was a big one for me.
For many, many years I've held an (admittedly) irrational disdain for
the Macintosh.
Originally, it was based on my admittedly meager experience with some
of its first models. I thought it was a system poorly featured for
"computer professionals" and much better suited to artists and
marketing people. Over time, I began to believe Apple had, by
designing such a minimally configurable (locked-tight) and easily-
understandable (feature-lacking) user interface, done more to keep
its users computer illiterate than any other technology company.
And while I never really begrudged the "I Don't Have To Know How a
Carburetor Works To Operate a Car" crowd their love of the Macintosh,
I knew that attitude only really works well in the context of
automobiles because there exists a vast infrastructure of State-
licensed professionals ready to reliably fix your ailing automobile.
No such consumer protections exist for users of computers, which are
profoundly more complicated devices, and so I believed strongly a
certain minimal level of knowledge of the inner workings of computers
must be a prerequisite to ownership and use. I still believe this,
but I admit I have come around to "The Macintosh Life".
I've found the Powerbook to be an excellent (if hefty) replacement
for my Portege, and moreover, OS X (Tiger 10.4) to be a vastly
superior operating system to Windows XP; it is faster, leaner, far
easier to configure, more feature rich, less crufty, and yes, pretty
damned attractive. In short, it makes my daily email, web-surfing
and minor UI development tasks an unexpected joy. (Now if I can get
used to the odd misplacement of the CTRL key, I will have been
completely assimilated.)
I am sure no small part of my love affair with my new Crack-intosh
can be attributed to the realization it is really just a very pretty
face on a vastly superior operating system and one with which I am
intimately familiar. (And of course, it's also wonderfully
convenient to use that as the rationale for my desertion of Microsoft
with my more techno-geek friends who still seek more organic reasons
for my recent and oh-so-obvious mental impairment.)
I still use both Firefox and Thunderbird on the Mac, with no changes
required or incompatibilities detected. I have to write something to
synchronize my configuration on the Mac to my desktop, but that seems
accomplishable.
So, I still use Windows XP on my desktop, because it supports
software I require and old habits are very hard to break, but that is
swiftly changing. I can now foresee a time when my workplace,
personal accoutrement, and home office and media centers will be
Windows-free zones and feel a deep sense of approaching relief.
/rr
--
Robert Raisch, CTO
Financial Media Holdings Group, Inc.
Publishers of Compliance Week - www.complianceweek.com
-------------------------------------
You are subscribed as roessler@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To manage your subscription, go to
http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip
Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/