“For most of the last two decades, I have been a Microsoft apologist. I mean, not merely a contented user of the company’s operating systems and software, not just a fan, but a champion. I have insisted that MS-DOS wasn’t hard to use (once you got used to it), that Windows 3.1 was the greatest innovation in desktop operating systems, that Word was in fact superior to WordPerfect, and that Windows XP was, quite simply, ‘it,'” Erika Jonietz reports for Technology Review.
“Yet my adoration wasn’t entirely logical; I knew from experience, for example, that Mac crashes were easier to recover from than the infamous Blue Screen of Death. At the heart of it all, I was simply more used to Windows. Even when I finally bought a Mac three years ago, it was solely to meet the computing requirements of some of the publications I worked with. I turned it on only when I had to, sticking to my Windows computer for everyday tasks,” Jonietz reports. “So you might think I would be predisposed to love Vista, Microsoft’s newest version of Windows, which was scheduled to be released to consumers at the end of January.”
Jonietz reports, “Ironically, playing around with Vista for more than a month has done what years of experience and exhortations from Mac-loving friends could not: it has converted me into a Mac fan.”
Jonietz reports, “…Many of Vista’s ‘new’ features seemed terribly familiar to me–as they will to any user of Apple’s OS X Tiger operating system… Playing with OS X Tiger in order to make accurate comparisons for this review, I had a personal epiphany: Windows is complicated. Macs are simple… I just want things to work, and with my Mac, they do. Though my Mac barely exceeds the processor and memory requirements for OS X Tiger, every bundled program runs perfectly… For me, if the choice is between struggling to configure every feature and being able to boot up and get to work, at long last I choose the Mac.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Dan” for the heads up.]
One by one their eyes pop open and they stand blinking in the bright light of reality. The dark ages of personal computing are finally coming to an end.
Related articles:
InformationWeek Review: Apple’s Mac OS X shines in comparison with Microsoft’s Windows Vista – January 06, 2007
NY Times’ Pogue reviews Microsoft’s Windows Vista: ‘Looks, Locks, Lacks’ – December 14, 2006
Forbes: Microsoft Windows Vista boss suffers from Mac envy – December 12, 2006
Unlike Microsoft’s Windows Vista, Apple’s Mac OS X Leopard will create no new jobs – December 12, 2006
15-year Windows vet tries Apple Mac: ‘My God! This is amazing!’ – December 04, 2006
Microsoft’s Windows Vista: obsolete on arrival? – December 04, 2006
InformationWeek: Now that Vista is the past, let’s look at the future: Apple’s Mac OS X Leopard – December 02, 2006
Microsoft’s Windows Vista and Office 2007 releases generate yawns – December 02, 2006
Dave Winer: ‘Microsoft isn’t an innovator, and never was – they are always playing catch-up’ – December 01, 2006
Harvard Medical School CIO picks Mac OS X over Linux and Windows – November 30, 2006
Microsoft’s Windows Vista vulnerable to malware from 2004 – November 30, 2006
Microsoft Windows Vista developers used Apple Macs for inspiration – November 27, 2006
A Windows expert opts for a Mac life – November 06, 2006
Microsoft’s Windows Vista is basically Microsoft’s version of Mac OS 9.3 – October 11, 2006
Embrace and Extinguish in action: TechIQ’s ‘The VAR Guy’ dumps Windows, switches to Mac OS X – September 25, 2006
Top Windows developer dumps Microsoft’s ‘pile of crap’ for Apple’s Mac OS X – September 12, 2006
$399 for Windows Vista Ultimate?! (Hint: Get a Mac) – August 29, 2006
Microsoft Windows Vista: If you can’t innovate… try to impersonate Apple’s Mac OS X – August 10, 2006
Analyst: Apple’s new Mac OS X Leopard sets new bar, leaves Microsoft’s Vista in the dust – August 08, 2006
Microsoft botches another copy job: Windows Vista Flip3D vs. Apple Mac OS X Exposé – June 26, 2006
Sydney Morning Herald Tech columnist dumps Microsoft Windows, switches to Apple Mac – June 13, 2006
Windows Vista rips-off Mac OS X at great hardware cost (and Apple gains in the end) – June 13, 2006
Computerworld: Microsoft Windows Vista a distant second-best to Apple Mac OS X – June 02, 2006
Thurrott: Microsoft going to get eaten alive over Windows Vista’s resemblance to Apple’s Mac OS X – March 09, 2006
NY Times’ Pogue on Gates’ CES demo: Most of Vista features unadulterated ripoffs from Apple Mac OS X – January 05, 2006
Analyst: Windows Vista may still impress many consumers because they have not seen Apple’s Mac OS X – January 05, 2006
Apple’s talent and innovation vs. Microsoft’s hype – October 25, 2005
Microsoft’s Windows Vista strives to deliver what Apple’s Mac OS X already offers – October 10, 2005
Thurrott: many of Windows Vista’s upcoming features appeared first in Apple’s Mac OS X – September 26, 2005
Microsoft’s Ballmer: It’s true, some of Windows Vista’s features are ‘kissing cousins’ to Mac OS X – September 18, 2005
PC World: Microsoft innovation – an oxymoron – September 14, 2005
As usual, Apple leads, Microsoft tries to follow – June 02, 2005
Bye-Bye Bill: another columnist dumps Windows for Apple Macintosh – January 20, 2005
Orlando Sentinel writer dumps Windows for Mac and writes ‘God bless Apple’ – January 16, 2005
IBM Fellow dumps Microsoft Windows XP, switches to Apple’s Mac OS X – September 02, 2004
Now, if we could convince my PC-loving father-in-law to switch….
It’s refreshing to know another coma patient has been revived. So many sheeple to go.
The same thing happened to me when I had to work with an 200MHz NT box and a 75MHz Performa on the same desk. I ended up using the Performa to get work done even though I hated Macs. Welcome home!
Simple
MDN: One by one? so if 1 Winblows user turns to Mac in 1 day, how long will it take OS X to have 25% of the market? Let alone dominating the market as Winblows does now?
Arnold, he sounds like a real boar. And you shouldn’t cast pearls before swine anyway.
“so if 1 Winblows user turns to Mac in 1 day, how long will it take OS X to have 25% of the market? Let alone dominating the market as Winblows does now?”
Didn’t I see that on the S.A.T.? I answered “Amy”. I hate those tests.
At least she is honest. So many people in the GUI design world will claim until they’re blue in the face that “Windows is more intuitive” for the simple reason that “people are used to it.” Intuitive is not equal to familiarity. What these folks are really pushing is their own familiarity and the stodgy-old status quo, not what’s actually best for the user. Honestly, every Microsoft app requires you to learn different keystrokes for stuff anyways!
in the last 12 month i opend the eyes of a 4 of my friends and switched them to Apple and this on an island with more/less 140.000 hab.
Everyone of them are living now much better and enjoying ther computer.
And one sister of my wife will switch in February.
“One by one” means “individually”. It does not mean “one a day”. My geez, what is your problem?
Unsquirted,
You’re right about him being a boar, both literally and figuratively. The
only way we could get him to even take a glance at our new Mac Pro with
30″ monitor was to show him XP via Parallels. Oink!
It’s kind of another 1984 moment.
Well Arnold, even if he does bring home the bacon you may have to get the herd together for a Mac “pentervention”. He’s been feeding from the PC trough for too long.
do you mean boar
or bore?
mdn word ‘latter’
2 friends of mine ordered their Macs today and the brother of one of them was also a hardcore Windoze user, who knew it all better… Until he saw my MacBook running XP using Prarallels. Now this guy convinced his brother more and I myself another friend … The units ship today! In total I assume there’s nearly 10 Swichers now in 2 years around me and the number is growing…
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“Bore or boar?” Not really both. He’s intelligent and talented in many ways,
but when it comes to Macs, he is pig-headed!
radiomoscow: This link might help you. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_Ziffel
Good for you; one convert. What about those millions of other Windows users? I don’t see them switching.
Paul Thurrott? Took him long enough
This is big, big deal.
Leaving behind something that’s soft, warm and familiar is no small thing even if it’s plagued with problems. lots of problems. a shitload of problems. a never-ending parade of notices, suggestions and requests and problems….like that movie with George Clooney, ‘The Perfect Problem’.
You need courage…and support. I don’t even know this woman… Erika Jonietz ..but I already love her. Maybe I’m fucked up.
Calling Ampar, calling Ampar….
Oh, Unsquirted, it is you!
Does anyone think Jobs is holding off on software upgrade announcements until the day after Vista (consumer version)comes out?
I like brainy chicks. Especially the ones that can write. I would date this lady just to engorge my mind in her choice of words.
This may seem extraordinarily obvious; after all, Apple has built an entire advertising campaign around the concept. But I am obstinate, and I have loved Windows for a long time.
Let me help you forget…. You have iChat, non ? Let’s integrate sometime.
My efforts to get Media Center working highlighted two big problems with Vista. First, it’s a memory hog. The hundreds of new features jammed into it have made it a prime example of software bloat, perhaps the quintessence of programmer Niklaus Wirth’s law that software gets slower faster than hardware gets faster (for more on the problems with software design that lead to bloat, see “Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Meta,” p. 36). Although my computer meets the minimum requirements of a “Vista Premium Ready PC,” with one gigabyte of RAM, I could run only a few simple programs, such as a Web browser and word processor, without running out of memory. I couldn’t even watch a movie: Windows Media Player could read the contents of the DVD, but there wasn’t enough memory to actually play it. In short, you need a hell of a computer just to run this OS.
Aye, Vista [and the MW: office] – bloat by a company that cannot fathom the concept of restraint.
“engorge my mind”
Yep. My mind stiffened up pretty quickly reading her stuff. Now my hat doesn’t fit.
Alright! Enough with the pig jokes!
We have feelings too!