“How hard is it to switch from a Windows PC to an Apple OS X Macintosh? I’ve said for a couple of years that it’s easy, but you don’t need to take my word for it,” Al Fasoldt writes for The Syracuse Post-Standard. “Here’s what one reader’s experience was like. This is what Raymond Nourse, of Chittenango, wrote to me a few weeks ago. The letter was unsolicited; I had no say whatsoever in what he wrote. I’ve added parenthetical sections to make some points clearer.”
I just wanted to let you know that after much deliberation, and the purchase of two new PC’s for my wife and daughter, I have finally seen the light – and bought a Mac… Since I already had a new keyboard and 17-inch LCD monitor, I opted for the Mac mini (the least expensive OS X Mac because it does not come with a monitor, keyboard or mouse)… I brought it home – (it’s so small that) my three year old could carry the box – and hooked it up in maybe two minutes tops, then turned it on and was surfing the Net within five minutes on my home wireless network. This is what computing is supposed to be, simple and seamless. Now that I have gotten over, and broken through, my Windows “comfort zone,” I can say that I have been set free of the problems and fears I have experienced with the many PCs I have owned.
Fasoldt writes, “What Nourse says is what many others have recounted, sometimes in almost identical terms, in letters to me since Mac OS X was introduced four years ago. As a newbie Mac OS X user explained to me when I was meeting readers at the newspaper’s ‘Cafe News’ at the state fair, ‘Windows users don’t seem to understand that their problems are Windows problems, not computer problems.'”
Full article here.
Advertisement: The new Mac Mini. Still starting at $499. Free shipping from The Apple Store.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
More would switch from Windows to Mac if Apple advertised more effectively – September 04, 2005
Windows to Mac switch like repeatedly getting whacked in the face with baseball bat of common sense – September 01, 2005
Mossberg offers resources for Windows users interested in switching to Apple Mac – August 18, 2005
Forrester analysts: Apple should advertise Mac OS X Tiger on television and in movie theaters – April 29, 2005
Mac fans line up for new operating system as passberby asks ‘what is a tiger?’ – April 29, 2005
Apple posts QuickTime movies of Mac OS X Tiger features in action – April 13, 2005
Why doesn’t Apple advertise Mac OS X on TV? – April 12, 2005
Windows users’ questions and concerns answered about Windows to Mac switch – July 27, 2005
Switching from Windows to Mac easier than you think – June 26, 2005
Why doesn’t Apple show its patented Mac OS X ‘Genie Effect’ in TV ads? – October 07, 2004
Top Ten things Apple needs to show the world about Macintosh – July 30, 2003
Defending Windows over Mac a sign of mental illness – December 21, 2003
‘Windows users don’t seem to understand that their problems are Windows problems, not computer problems.'”
Not only switching “easy and liberating, simple and seamless,” it just makes good sense in light of all the issues with Windows.
I talk to a lot of people every week that don’t know that their computer problems are almost almost always Windows problems. Most seem to think that is simply the way it is and accept the headaches Windows gives them.
When I show them the Mac, most have their eyes opened. Many, many people say something like “Why doesn’t Apple advertise like Dell or Gateway?”
Why indeed.
If Apple advertised like Dell, sales and market share would explode.
So say we all.
Frist!!!
Right on Mac rules blah blah blah blah, etc.,etc…
Bingo!
Ray is not the only one who switched because of what Al writes in our paper. As a member of the Syracuse Macintosh User’s Group, we frequently hear from new members that Al was instrumental in getting them to “take a chance” on the Mac. (Yours truly also falls into that same category.)
Not only does Al write very well, he’s a great speaker! We always have more members show up when Al stops by as our keynote speaker. Al shares a lot of great stories that he gets from from being a tech writer.
We’re very glad that Al has recovered from his battle with cancer and always wish Al and his wife the very best.
Peace.
So say we all!
(I like the Battlestar Galactica allusion.)
Well, all except for Steve Jobs that is….
As always it comes to this
If you want to work for the computer, get a PC
If you want the computer to work for you, get a Mac.
‘Windows users don’t seem to understand that their problems are Windows problems, not computer problems.'”
And misery loves company! ;o)
The Stockholm Syndrome is responsible for more PC sales than anything else. ;o)
Another mind has been freed.
Blue pill or red pill?
“their problems are Windows problems, not computer problems.'”
How many holes will there be in Windows Fista? How many more billions of dollars lost to Windows viruses before they wake up?
Switch to OS X. Just do it. You know want to.
Don’t forget, though, that Mac users’ problems aren’t computer problems, they’re Mac problems.
Is there still no word on why the Mac Mini refund/promotion was cancelled?
Most newbie Mac users problems are from trying to do something on a Mac the bass ackwards Windows way.
It’s still a Windows problem.
Ampar, what a great idea you gave me. I can picture a spoof on Windows Vista. Here:
Windows logo changed to a BIG KNUCKLED FIST (FISTA)
Picture of a sad user with bruises and bandages on his/her face. Abused by MS.
Excellent! LOL
As a PC switcher (you believe me? Don’t? I don’t give a damn! who cares) to OS X, I have honestly to say that I have – so far – not one single problem the way I was used to in Windows.
K, only slightly more than a month but, boy. I was happy to be problem free for a couple days in a row before!
Thanks for this site and others. This is my first post here: true first post not the lame attempts to be the *first post* in any thread.
Cheers
MDN word “remember” as in: The only problems are those that I remember when I was with Windows. Amazing.
Thanks, MacDude! I’ll be here all week. Please remember to tip your wait staff.
Windows Fista Startup Screen:
A portrait of a sweaty, half-simian Ballmer with a huge raised fist and a cartoon balloon proclaiming, “F$%@ Google! Buy MS or I will f%$#ing hunt you down and kill you! Complete with little Billy G. in his shirt pocket taking a nap and having a nightmare of being chased down by an angry Apple logo riding a leopard. :o)
Al took a sip and then drank deep of the kool-aid way back in 2002 or so I believe. It was really fun to read his older articles and is a great reference site if you are ever trying to help a friend get over the inertial hump of dumping windoze and entering the light.
http://aroundcny.com/technofile/macs.html
Deep in the story was a very telling quote from the switcher:
“I had never even touched a Mac until Apple opened its store in Carousel Mall….”
Validation for Apple’s retail strategy if I ever heard one.
‘Windows users don’t seem to understand that their problems are Windows problems, not computer problems.'”
All well and good, but tell that to the PC user trying to switch over that’s having difficulty getting anything meaningful from an Apple “genius” or phone support when trying to migrate Outlook data.
I know a couple of people who nearly returned iMacs because of the difficulty in transition. Might be easy for a Mac user, but it isn’t as straightforward for a PC user – even a smart, experienced Windows user (and stuff the “no such thing as a smart Windows user”, not everyone has a choice in their OSes).
Mirgation tools should be better is Apple wants to attract more PC users.
This is why it’s too bad Apple discontinued the Mac mini test drive. Let people have 30 days with the Mac mini, iBook or iMac, and they’ll NEVER return it! In fact, they’ll probably come back and buy another one.
Maybe Apple discontinued the deal because they realized they could not possibly produce enough Macs to meet demand.
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I was one of the most die-hard Windows and Microsoft fanboys you would ever meet… right down to wearing clothing emblazoned with Windows XP logos and such. That is… until August 8th, 2005. I have now joined the Jedi, and haven’t looked back ONCE. Using a Windows PC (I am forced to use an HP and a Gateway) is now a thing of frustration, as I aimlessly look for Spotlight and Exposé on the barren (ugly) XP experience.
I, like most, was planning to buy a Dell notebook in the near future. Thank goodness I happened to meet someone who owned an eMac and and iBook… and was ready and willing to show off Tiger. I was so enamored of Exposé, Dashboard, the Genie effect, the dock, all the bundled applications (including iLife), etc., it didn’t take long at all for me to start to gravitate toward the light side. So here I am now with my new iBook… happy as a lark.
The tragic part of my story is the fact that I know that so many potential and existing computer users would switch just as quickly if they just had the slightest bit of exposure to Macs. Exposure as in —– ADVERTISING! If Jobs doesn’t do something about advertising soon (maybe once they complete the iWork suite and polish Tiger into Leopard), he is making a grave mistake of epic proportions.
I almost wanted to cry when someone I was briefly speaking to (after she saw my Apple stuff) about OS X’s current immunity to viruses and spyware said the following (remember this person is about 28): “Yeah, I used Macs in high school… I just like Microsoft’s products much better.” Nooooooooo! She was comparing more than a decade old Apple products with Windows XP. She isn’t even interested in seeing Apple’s current offerings.
Although I have one complaint about the iBook: is it a common problem for the right 1/3 of the screen to be much brighter than the other 2/3? It is not immediately noticeable, but just enough to be quite annoying after using it for long periods.
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