more on Windows users switching to Macs

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Robert Raisch <raisch () complianceweek com>
Date: November 7, 2005 3:55:41 PM EST
To: dave () farber net
Cc: ip () v2 listbox com
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




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