Thomas Hawk is a photographer and digital media enthusiast in the San Francisco Bay Area who writes, “Well I’ve been hiding a secret for the past two weeks. It’s something that I’ve felt conflicted and unsure of, something that I’ve felt ashamed of and proud of at the same time. Something that I’ve been trying to sort out before I actually wrote about it. Most people will probably say, ‘yeah, big deal.’ But for me it kind of is a big deal. I haven’t told very many people. I showed Robert Scoble last week but have been kind of hiding it otherwise.”
“A little over two weeks ago I walked into the Apple store in Palo Alto and bought myself a new MacBook Pro. Yes, the new sexy Intel dual core MacBook Pro. And I went home and after not using a Mac for over 15 years, put my Dell PC notebook literally in the bookshelf and have been using this new Mac as my primary computer for the past 2 weeks,” Hawk writes.
Hawk writes, “And what do I have to say about the experience after two weeks? My God! This is f***ing amazing! For the past 15 years I’ve pretty much been a diehard Microsoft PC guy. I’ve mocked the religious zealotry of the cult of Macintosh. I’ve derided the senseless brainwashing that Steve Jobs seems so elegant at.”
“I was very frustrated with my Dell PC for a number of reasons,” Hawk explains. “And all along the way it was my 18 year old tech mentor Kristopher Tate, who kept saying, dude, just get a Mac. Just get a Mac. They just work. And so I did. And I have to say that he’s right. It just works. It took about 48 hours of getting used to but once my little introductory awkward phase was over it just works so much better.”
“As tech saavy as I like to think of myself as I’ve had so many problems with my PCs over the years. If using a PC is being outside working digging ditches all day long in the hot sun, using my new Mac is like hanging out at the spa,” Hawk writes. “I’m not really giving up on my PCs yet. I still do have four of them at home and two at work. But I imagine that I’ll be spending 85% or more of my computing time on this slender sexy new MacBook Pro in the future.”
Hawk writes, “Call me a convert. Call me a traitor. Call me a heretic. Or call me a fanboy. Welcome me to the club or say it ain’t so Joe, but all I can say is that Kristopher is right. It just works. And it feels so great while it does that. It’s the best I’ve felt about using a computer in a long, long time.”
Full article here.
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I like how so many say “Hey right-click is now built-in”. It has been there for many years! I had a three button mouse on my powerMac G4/400!
It’s also important to tell people about the System Preferences pane so they can go in and customize their machines, you know, turn on the right-click function, etc.
Macaday said, “Read the hundreds of comments and it is far from just ‘another one’ down.”
Boy oh boy is Macaday ever right! The article comments, which I am only halfway through, indicate an army of switchers out there. Yes, the tipping point is coming.
I felt the same way in ’84. The Mac OS sure left that MS-DOS command line interface in the dust.
I was at least 20 times more productive on the Apple Mac.
Right now, Microsoft is a little bit closer to the current Mac OS. Why, Vista is almost half way to Tiger.
A little aside: This is the same Thomas Hawk who got into a nastier-than-nasty flame war with a photographer named Jill Greenberg a few months ago. Google his name and “flame war” for details, but in short, Hawk objected to Greenberg’s photos of children crying and the grumpiness erupted into a call-the-lawyers online battle.
Perhaps he can expend some of that same insanely manic energy on his newfound enemies at Microsoft, providing some future entertainment for MDN.
Wait until you find out you got one of those defect Macbook pros and you get your first acqaintance with Apple customer service…
good luck.
And the real question is he using his Mac just to run Windows….
—————
And his biggest complaint about the Dell was when he couldn´t figure out how to properly get it to wake up????
Or: “When I would edit photos on it and then upload them the color would be all wrong.”
Dude – that has nothing to do with the computer, it´s the software and you don´t know how to use it.
All Scoble’s videos are made using Macs and Apple software.
MDN MW: works
as in
“It just works!”
Wally – it could be he has his monitor calibrated wrong, too.
+++
So many users of Photoshop do not understand how the color profile they use makes a huge difference on how photos look printed and on other computers or on their website.
I’ve been hitting myself in the head for 15 years with this hammer. Trust me, it feels so good when you stop.
Can anybody tell me just what the hell this moron is talking about?
Apple has this guy snowed. Why does Apple continually resort to these fake blogs and astroturfers? I’ll tell you why. Their product is crap and they know it is crap so they manipulate the market in unsavory ways. When I pick up an iPod I feel dirty considering all the technology they copied from Microsoft in putting that turd in the marketplace. Same goes for that OS X garbage. Hey Apple lemmings, where do you think Apple got the ideas for that from? Stick with an original. Go with Microsoft.
Thing about the Apple astroturfers is it’s all the same. Talk about monotonous and boring…
“Oh, it’s so easy”,
“look at me, I don’t have any viruses”
and this classic… “everything just works”
Bullsh!t. Working with overpriced Macs is a frustration headache that won’t go away. Try playing games on one of those things—oh, that’s right—YOU CAN’T! You want a stable, secure, headache-free computing experience that is a joy to use? Get Windows. It’s people-ready.
Your potential. Our passion.
Welcome to better computing. More relaxed and nearly problem free. Enjoy your new PC!
the new Microsoft Kool-Aid….
In my case, it’s “welcome to biter computing”
sorry, that should be “bitter computing”
I remember feeling the EXACT same way about 5 years ago. Welcome to the fold
I felt the exact same way in 1982/83, when I switched from an early PC (TRS-80) to an Apple IIe.
Even then Apple was smoother, smarter, and just worked. It was fun! And this was before Macintosh.
Some things never do change.
Hi Howiebear
You say that “there still is no Mac software to equal MacProject.”
Have you evaluated Merlin?
See: http://www.projectwizards.net
As for the switcher… go out and evangelise!
Zune Tang – YOu have obviously NEVER used a modern mac, or any mac at all.
Try it and you will never go back to the shit OS that is windows.
Why make your life a hard one?
Just buy a mac and you will have so much free time because you wont be spending 8hrs a weeks updating you anti-spyware, ant-virus and every other addon you need to make you windows pc barely usable.
Join the fold Zune Tang – ‘Welcome to THE social’.
BEST QUOTE EVAR!!
“If using a PC is being outside working digging ditches all day long in the hot sun, using my new Mac is like hanging out at the spa,”
[I’ve mocked the religious zealotry of the cult of Macintosh.]
What?! There aren’t any Windows zealots? How come I’ve never been invited to the Cult of Macintosh meetings? I’ve been a user since ’84.
[I’ve derided the senseless brainwashing that Steve Jobs seems so elegant at.]
Brainwashing, eh? Apple – 5%, Microsoft – 90%. Uh, maybe Bill is better at it than Steve, no?
Another, “Oh, I ‘could’ like Apple’s products, if it weren’t for all those nasty ‘MacZealots'” — crapfest.
This is like moving into a black neighbourhood, after 15 years of bitching about all the crazy ni**ers he didn’t want to put up with.
Hurt me once…
Anyway, he can join our cult if you want. But, I’m fscking skeptical. I say, he can drop dead.