“I’m now at the four month mark in my move to Mac. It didn’t start out as a switch; when I bought my MacBook in the beginning of February I was really looking for an excuse to play with some new technology,” Web entrepreneur David Alison blogs.
“I was satisfied – not excited mind you but satisfied – to use Windows as my operating system. I had my development environment on Windows and was well versed in all the ins and outs of it. I custom built my PCs myself, mildly over-clocking them to get better performance and being very comfortable in trouble shooting virtually any class of problem. I was a pretty hardcore Windows guy,” Alison explains.
“What started as an addition to my little technology family evolved pretty rapidly though. Not only did I find the Mac intriguing and fun to use, I found myself enjoying my Windows machine that much less. The MacBook went from a curiosity to a cool toy to my preferred personal productivity tool in a very short period of time. After a couple of months I hadn’t really switched though, my MacBook was really just my trusty sidekick and Windows continued to do the heavy lifting for me,” Alison writes.
“I would sit in front of my Windows machine and do my development work and then slide over to the MacBook for virtually everything else. Email, web browsing, news feeds, blogging – all of that became the domain of my MacBook. This worked great until I realized that I was simply not enjoying working on the Windows machine any longer. It’s not that it suddenly became more difficult to use or my machine’s performance was poor – I just didn’t like using Windows. It became the older commuter car that I took to work every day while the Mac was an open top sports car that I couldn’t wait to drive on weekends,” Alison writes.
“I was fascinated by the Mac Pro and the power it had. OS X screamed on my little MacBook – I wondered what it would perform like on a Mac Pro. It met or exceeded my relatively high expectations,” Alison writes. “Three days after I got the Mac Pro was the day I technically switched to Mac. Why? Because after transferring my files from my Windows machine to my Mac Pro I shut down the Windows XP machine. Turned it off. Stopped using it… I spent 17 years using Windows.”
Alison writes, “Computers are fun and exciting again to me.”
There’s more! Read the full article here.
Open your eyes, I see your eyes are open…
Jonathan Blum, “tech guru” for Fortune Small Business needs to read this.
I have a confession. Back in 2001 I was a hard core Mac guy who switched to Windows. Reason: Engineering Grad School, and I needed to use/learn the tools of the trade.
Why world still uses the term “swears like a sailor” instead of “swears like a new Windows user” is one of life’s great mysteries.
This is HUGE!!!!!!! Someone switched from Windows to Mac…
Thanks MDN, great SCOOP!!!!!!!
This article is great–it puts into words what I struggle to convey to the Windows apologists at work. I switched in 05 and have never looked back. I still wish I could use the “home” and “end” buttons on my keyboard in non-Microsoft applications. That’s my only complaint. Why are the buttons there if they don’t do anything?
People usually switch after they move from Roseanne to Cindy Crawford.
” . . . after they move from Roseanne to Cindy Crawford.”
Like a silk puss from a sow’s rear.
Slow weekend coming up … the calm before the storm?
” . . . after they move from Roseanne to Cindy Crawford.”
They thirty-something, the cultural referents have changed, fyi.
Where to Digg Alison’s article:
http://digg.com/apple/Why_switching_to_Mac_was_the_right_move
Geeze, I read that three times as “a sow’s ear” – it makes a whole lot of difference.
It’s kind’a like enjoying Shana Hiatt in the WPT then watching her Playboy video … and regretting it for a while before selective amnesia blocks it out. I’m interested in @Poison Mouse current cultural referents though … any names?
(sniff, sniff) I love these stories man! (tear in eye)
“They thirty-something, the cultural referents have changed, fyi.”
True. Retro is in, It’s more like going from Lillian Gish to Theda Bara.
Wait, no. More like Tawanna the Big Slave Girl to Cleopatra. Too far back?
“t’s kind’a like enjoying Shana Hiatt in the WPT . . . “
And who doesn’t love the Would Poke Her Tour?
” . . . after they move from Roseanne to Cindy Crawford.”
OR, if you’re a gay man or a straight woman, like switching from Larry Craig to Daniel Craig.
So, he managed to find the power button.
He must be one of the more evolved Windows users.
Shana is more tridimensional than Cindy. Cindy’s lips are interesting as sculptured stone; Shana’s ever changing facial expressions are delightful. Below the neck, it’s a toss-up for both, or a wash if you prefer.
Make that ex-Windows user, MCCFR.
You must’ve meant going from Theda Bara to Lillian Gish; one doesn’t go in the opposite direction except under extreme duress from IT.
I didn’t start out as a switcher, either. My first Mac was supposed to be a backup machine. Since I continued to use OS X and Windows at the same time, it took me two years to get comfortable with the Mac—mainly because of keyboard muscle memory. Then one day I woke up and discovered my Mac was my main computer.
With Windows, late at night I’d suddenly remember a 15-minute essential task that I had forgotten, and get out of bed to do it. Hours later, in the wee hours of the morning, I’d be banging my fist on the desk, saying, “Why won’t it work?” On the Mac, I also find myself up until the wee hours of the morning, but now it is because the Mac is so much fun, I don’t want to stop.
One day an opportunity will present itself on MDN for me to go on and on about my specialty – concrete structures in marine environments.
Until then, I have to read about frickin’ ‘cultural referents’, I suppose.
Thread hijackers – coming to your computer very soon……
” . . . after they move from Roseanne to Cindy Crawford.”
Or, like switching from George W. Bush to… anyone else…
Porn is so much more civilised on a Mac.
Ah Windows 3.1, I remember it well. So well in fact that it was the reason I switched to Macs. I guess that makes me one of the early switchers.
The home and end buttons work in Safari, Firefox, the Finder, and I’m sure other applications that I haven’t tested it on. Where don’t they work?