“Ten years ago, if you were a Windows user, the idea of switching to a Macintosh might not have seemed enticing. An abundance of new Windows software was arriving on store shelves, while the selection available to Mac users seemed to be falling behind, often relegated to a back corner of the same store,” Thomas J. Fitzgerald reports for The New York Times.
“Today the calculation is different. Apple Computer, through a series of transitions, has reinvented itself. With a new operating system, its own chain of retail stores, the iPod and now a new line of computers that run on Intel processors, this new and more mainstream Apple is catching the attention of Windows users, and many are curious about switching,” Fitzgerald reports.
Fitzgerald covers the basics of upgrading your personal computer experience from a Windows PC to Mac OS X machine, including software, Boot Camp and Parallels Desktop for Mac for running Windows applications, and security. Of the latter, Fitzgerald writes, “Security is another aspect of Macs that has Windows users curious. In Windows, antivirus and antispyware programs have become essential for defending against a variety of threats. So far, the Mac OS X operating system has not been infiltrated by viruses, and it remains free from the type of spyware threats that spread in the wild and go after Windows users, according to Symantec, maker of Norton Antivirus. But when Windows is run on Intel-based Macs, for example through Boot Camp or Parallels, it is vulnerable to the same virus and spyware threats that can affect conventional Windows-based PC’s.”
Fitzgerald also covers hardware and also includes a brief bit about switchers’ experiences in the full article here.
Related articles:
Liberal blogger on switch from Windows to Mac: I’m sold – August 03, 2006
Top Ten Reasons I’m Glad I’m a Mac Switcher – June 20, 2006
Switching To The Mac: A Guide For Windows Users – June 15, 2006
Detroit Free Press’ Wendland: Apple MacBook Pro ‘the finest portable computer I have ever owned’ – March 14, 2006
Sydney Morning Herald Tech columnist dumps Microsoft Windows, switches to Apple Mac – June 13, 2006
Moving Microsoft Internet Explorer Favorites to Apple Safari Bookmarks when you switch – June 08, 2006
Apple Boot Camp’s ‘Windows Insecurity Blanket’ helps buyers decide to switch to Macs – May 19, 2006
PC Magazine: Top ten questions and answers about switching to Apple Macintosh – May 18, 2006
A switcher’s guide to Windows, Mac OS X – April 25, 2006
Macs that run Windows will calm potential switchers’ irrational fears – April 06, 2006
“Today the calculation is different. Apple Computer, through a series of transitions, has reinvented itself. “
NY Slimes, as usual has no clue what they are talking about…
mac + windows = virus hell
mac minus windows = virus free
live free
Apple has reinvented itself in the past few years. I fondly recall the change in energy as Steve would successively release the next piece of the puzzle. It was electrifying. It was the realization that there was a grand scheme in play, and that it was being executed so well that prompted me to buy stock. Best financial decision I ever made.
The rest of the world is still early to catch on to this bandwagon. More change is in the works. Apple is becoming mainstream, while remaining cool and unique in tech.
So/so article. The author avoided many of the typical pitfalls (e.g., security through obscurity) and provided some useful information, but he also missed many things. For example, his statement that there could be compatibility issues for a Mac with peripherals, printers, etc., is SOMETIMES true (esp. with older peripherals/legacy ports), but he doesn’t mention that the Mac also has BETTER compatibility with some peripherals than Windows computers (e.g., drivers, plug-and-play). Also, no mention of iLife at all, or Spotlight, or Expose, and the odd notion that a Windows-based Vaio has better graphics/is “livelier.” The article IS overall slightly positive and more accurate than not.
I grade this one a “B-“.
MAc 7
And you do?
Why do you suppose Apple is where it is now if not for the reinvention that Jobs has done to a great but small company?
Had it not been for the recent – 5years or so -changes Apple would still be a small player. It took a drastic shift in direction to bring it to where it is now; Including the shift to Intel. Did you anticipate that? No I didn’t think so,
The Mac interface is the closest to the PC it has ever been not because of envy on the part of Apple but to a clever plot to make the transition easier to does who found the earlier and amazing Mac interface too different for them to switch. If you had been an long time user as most of us here you would know what NYTs is talking about.
Bitchin for the sake of bitching is surely your right but counter-productive all the same.
Mac7, I fear ’tis you who are the clueless one. Ten years ago Apple was not on Intel (not that I thought this was a Bad Thing), had a model range confusing to everyone, and the OS … wasn’t quite OS X, now, was it! Today that has all changed, and all for the better. Plus, today we can compare a given Mac with a comparable PC and show they are also price-competetive. Plus, today we have Xserve and Xraid that are gaining ground in (mostly small) business spaces.Plus we have iLife and iWork – in addition to a not-all-that-different AppleWorks. And then, there’s the iTunes/iPod franchise drawing eyeballs and hearts.
Apple has re-invented itself just in this decade, never mind the baby steps it took late last decade.
Mac7 –
In some ways, it is fair to say that Apple has invented itself but you need to look at the time between Jobs leaving and Jobs coming back when the company started to lose focus and then drift with a bloated product line and time/money spent on projects that were never going to come to fruition (taligent anyone?).
So it’s not an insult to say that the company re-invented itself since it went from good to (Jobs inspired) excellent.
One “transition” that the illustrator of the article missed: Apple hasn’t had multicolored stripes on its logo for a long time.
Is that NYT article is written by a Mac new bee.?
Everything he looks at is the Windows-angle and indeed no mention of beautiful Apple Mac software and plug and play app’s..
For one second I thought the NYT was switching all of their computers to Macs….
All the Macs in the world won’t make the corrupt NYTimes non-traitors to the country that supports them. It wouldn’t matter if they just used typerwriters again – they’d still be printing lies and trying to destroy the US.
I don’t think Mac7 was complaining about Macs he was complaining about the NY Slimes. What a terrible newspaper, more like liberal propaganda paper. I think Mac7 was saying that Mac really has been much better all along. It hasn’t reinvented itself. It’s just taken so long for the Windblows zombies to figure it out. The NY Slimes has all but surrendered to terrorists.
NYT SUCKS! NYT SUCKS! NYT SUCKS!
The ContentLink for BootCamp is an ad offering refuge and help for teens in crisis by shipping them off to Oregon or Fiji.
There it is folks. Windows is now destroying the minds of our next generation. After all, children are the future.
I hope these camps use Macs.
NYT destroying the USA, have another cocktail, and take a nap. The MSM is destroying this country because it’s letting the ‘owning’ class get away with murder, ecological destruction and theft. I wish the NYT was destroying the facade that the Bush admininstration spouts out as ‘truth’. The first lie that they can tear down is the ‘conpiracy theory’ that 19 Arab hijackers, without MI5, CIA, and Mossad intervention brought this country to its knees. Google “9/11 proof” and wake the f up.
NYT is slipping into obsolescence, but they are too arrogant to see it coming.
If the article is in the New York Times then it is 40% lies and 60% bullsh*t
davida,
What you are saying may be part of the problem. You want them to tear down this or that. What you are implying is that the media should cater to your AGENDA. That is the problem with MSM. Thier JOB is to report the truth, for good or bad, not to bend toward your agenda. If you think that the NYT is sympathetic toward the Bush administration, then you need to wake the f up.
Why is there so mauch hatred and anger over people with other points of view? Is it honorable to be a bigot?
Let’s be open and educated. You don’t have to agree.
when Windows is run on Intel-based Macs, for example through Boot Camp or Parallels, it is vulnerable to the same virus and spyware threats that can affect conventional Windows-based PC’s.
and to think that just some days ago a Windows turd was spouting here that virus choose, yes CHOOSE, Windows as the best eco-system to thrive. If there was Mac with same market share they would migrate to the Mac to survive.
AHHAHAHHAUHUHHUHUHUAHHAHAHAHAHUHAHUHAUHHAUH
How people could truly be so idiots and that moronic as to write such turdiness online! IT IS WINDOWS the problem. Virus are just C/C++ (for the most) programs that run on Windows and exploit its weaknesses.
If you run Windows on Mac then enjoy the virus and malware. Best using Parallel and have Windows in a “sandbox” mode. How appropriate: a toy operating system relegated where it should stay and never get out: a sandbox.
Noraa,
You are right as usual, I agree. Obviously we are off topic. The piece looked like pretty good exposure, in spite of the due scrutiny of the NYT.
The NY Times is not destryoring America- America is destroying America! Let me illustrate:
-American Family life is suffering from divorce, lack of parental supervision towards children, lack of time for parents to be parents
-American manners are degenerating into one big flame where thy brothers are fucks and thy neighbors are idiots.
-Our apathy towards governance has led to a government running roughshod over the constitution because nobody seems to care
-Our entertainment centers around sex and violence. What would Jesus say about us?
-Our idea of money is actually credit
-Our idea of credit is minimum the payment
Wake up america, it’s not the NYT that are slimeballs- it’s us! The media is actually a pretty good reflection of the collective US!
Hmm. I guess the NYT must be reeling from their declining subscriber base to print an article that is mostly factual. Anyhow, it’s exposure.
davida, tj, etc.,
You need to wake the f up. Go try and negotiate with terrorists and see how long your head stays attached to your body. We need to finish off the middle east now. Give these fanatics the death blow before they get nukes. There is no question that they will use them on the West. No thanks to the NYT or davida and friends.
Thomas Jefferson, your post is self-refuting. You claim to care about manners and then you spout profanity. Spare us from your sanctimonious “do as I say and not as I do” tripe — you’re playing a moralist and your acting is second-rate.
I don’t know too many people who publish national secrets because they think that we the people need to know them, do you? I don’t know too many people who call dung on the Virgin Mary art, but refuse to publish the Mohammed cartoons out of a fear of provoking Muslims, do you? I don’t know too many people who can get away with a NYT standard for accuracy and truth in their lives, do you?