“I’m Not a Mac” Series Intro
(Photo: Those were the good old days…)
After 15 years of being a faithful Apple Mac fan, in 2009 I changed my mind. I realized I was living the Apple user life you never get to see in a “Get a Mac” ad. I felt controlled by a computer company set on telling me how I was allowed to use its products and how I wasn’t, and how I should be grateful for its uninvited intrusion into my right to choose how to use my own, owned hardware. The “I’m Not a Mac” series is an occasional journal of my migration out of the Apple Computer ecosystem–and thanks to Apple’s deep and unilateral control of so many aspects of my computing life, the heroic effort it takes to make that escape happen.
Since I began the “I’m Not a Mac” series in mid-2009, I’ve received a lot of attention from all sides of the OS world. Mac users have been incredibly pissed off at me. Linux users have been amazingly friendly and helpful. And Windows 7 users have been eager to welcome me back to the fold. I haven’t decided what my next OS will be. The only thing I’m sure of at this point is what it won’t be. The honeymoon’s over. Sorry, Steve. It was nice while it lasted. But the choice is mine. It always has been, you just didn’t want me to see that. Now do me a favor and get out of my way…
Browse the I’m Not a Mac category archive.
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I dove into Linux at the suggestion of several commenters who urged me to take a look at the open-source end of the OS world before deciding to go over to the Microsoft dark side. Why not? I figured. One-half of my goal is never again to have to pay several hundred extra dollars for specially branded hardware just to run my...
But there are elements of Mac OS X I love. They won't motivate me to stick with the operating system, but I'd sure like to take them with me when I finish migrating to a new OS. Primary among them is Time Machine, Apple's point-and-click, behind-the-scenes backup functionality.
In my eleven-part 'I'm Not a Mac' series begun in 2009, I blogged about my migration from OSX to Windows 7 after 15 years as a confirmed Mac user. Last fall, I said good-bye to the Windows ecosystem, too. Hello, Linux. Here's why I'm yours now.
