I’m Not a Mac #2–I Am a Future PC: Why I’m Dumping Apple after 15 Years
(Graphic: Not your father’s Apple Macintosh. Daring desktop image included with Microsoft’s new Windows 7.)
This post is part of my “I’m Not a Mac” series, chronicling my controversial migration away from Apple Computer after 15 years as a Mac user. Find other entries in the “I’m Not a Mac” series archive.
[Welcome to my readers from MacSurfer's Headline News, Applelinks.com, and Low End Mac. Don't hate--trust me, I'm as surprised at my decision as you are...]
I am a future Windows PC user and that is that. After a 15-year relationship with all things Apple, I’ve finally had it with the Steve Jobs “you’ll use your computer they way we tell you to use your computer” method of customer relations.
In June, I blogged about my effort to pare down my electronic lifestyle. In a bid to make it easier for my ADHD self to manage the sea of information in which I swim–or sink–on a daily basis, over the summer I did what most mere mortals dream of doing: I migrated to a single email address and telephone number. I dumped my Vonage number, along with Apple’s Mail and iCal programs. In their stead, I routed all my calls to my iPhone and let myself succumb to life in the Google cloud.
My past four months of being a Gmail and Google Calendar user have been transformational. The ability to manage my mail, appointments, and address book seamlessly whether on my laptop or mobile phone and sync most of those items in real-time made life a lot easier for me. It also made me wonder at length why I had to use third-party solutions to do so.
Sure, I could have paid an annual subscription fee to use Apple’s MobileMe syncing service. But that wouldn’t have changed the fact that Google’s web apps are more robust than Apple’s desktop counterparts–not to mention free. That got me thinking about all the times in the recent past I’ve felt hampered by Mac software.
Having owned about a dozen Macs in the past 15 years, I long considered myself a staunch Apple evangelist. But being a Mac user was a lot more fun before the platform became mainstream. Back in the days when the media was still placing bets on when Apple would finally keel over and die, there was a sense of camaraderie between computer company and user. Right up until Steve Jobs made silver the new beige, the almost holy triumvirate of Apple, Macworld magazine, and a largely professional user community vibrated with the sense that if we all stayed on each other’s side, computer miracles would happen.
What seems to have happened, instead, is that Steve Jobs decided to make the needs of occasional home users more important than the needs of savvier, longtime Apple adherents. Since the company began concentrating so wholly on attracting PC converts, Mac software solutions have turned into what in August Wired magazine termed good-enough tech. As long as college users could figure out how to play mp3s, soccer moms how to schedule car-pool days, and grandparents how to use email, Apple could garner more market share.
Apple’s solution to accomplish all this: creating a suite of closely interlinked programs that met the basic needs of average users–and not much more. Sure, those users might end up so deeply enmeshed in an Apple-only universe that they might never again consider living life without an “i” in front of it. But how else to keep them buying expensive, Apple-branded hardware?
Although I have long been a power user, relying on my Mac to work, play, and manage most aspects of my life, the above paragraph described me for years. Especially after the even more hermetically sealed iPhone hit the market. Sure, I wanted real-time, platform-agnostic control over my email, the ability to manage my own photo folders, and access to “un-approved” software on my mobile phone. But once you’ve drunk the Apple Kool-Aid, it’s really hard to yank the computer company’s weedy tendrils out of the firmament of your daily life.
Much as Apple likes to market itself as the answer to allegedly closed-minded Microsoft, to a regular Mac user, when it comes to using your computer it can often feel like it’s either Apple’s way or the highway. It’s one thing to regularly ignore the needs of users by releasing software and system updates that just as regularly break popular third-party applications and add-ons (back in the days of camaraderie–when Macs were still fun–this didn’t happen with such regular frequency.)
It’s quite another to tell users that if they try to put unapproved software on their $400 cell phones (via iPhone OS jailbreaking), you may render their phones permanently inoperable. For what reason? Spite? Control?
More likely, for the mere whim of it all. Earlier this year, the Times of London ran a rare exposé on the highly secretive Steve Jobs. After recounting that Apple tried to get the story killed twice, the article referenced multiple sources familiar with Jobs to come to one conclusion about him: that he’s a raging narcissist. The paper noted that Job’s likely personality disorder could be what makes him such a strong industry leader. Yet it could also explain why any use of Apple hardware or software not personally touted by Jobs or his lackeys at a press event ends up impossible to pull off without putting your warranty–or purchase price–at risk.
I’m glad Jobs finds using Macs exclusively in his approved, cripple-ware ways so fulfilling. I, however, don’t. The ease of use I felt with Google’s software solutions motivated me to perform an ongoing audit of all the Apple software I regularly use. I wanted to determine whether third-party applications might better suit my needs.
As it turned out, in almost all cases the answer was a resounding yes. Since June, I’ve dumped the hard-to-customize Safari and its overly-simplistic RSS reader for the highly extendable Firefox browser and the equally robust NetNewsWire. I replaced Pages (and Word) with GoogleDocs. I ditched the standard Mac application launcher and switcher, the Dock, for the infinitely more useful DragThing. And at long last, I retrieved my 15,000 photos out of iPhoto’s sealed library and put them back where they belong–in a hierarchical folder archive categorized by me and now ably browsed with Picasa.
I deferred to the ease and utility of iTunes. But that’s about it. I now have the most platform-agnostic software suite I’ve ever used on a Macintosh. And that got me thinking even further. If my electronic life has been rendered easier by such a significant shift away from Apple software, what would happen if I made the ultimate switch of all? But it’s not like I’m foolish enough to go near the universally panned Vista or the by-now aged Windows XP.
And then surprise of surprises, last month Windows 7 was released to rave reviews, including Wall Street Journal Mac fanboy Walt Mossberg calling it as good as Mac OS X. That pretty much sealed the deal for me. I loved being a Mac user when it felt like Apple loved me back. But if there’s one thing I hate, it’s feeling like I’m being used. In this case, I feel used by Steve Jobs who must assume that no matter how marginalized he makes longtime users feel in his cripple-ware quest to increase market share, they’ll always stick around.
Sorry, Steve. I’m out of the magic Kool-Aid. I no longer feel compelled by your patented reality distortion field to make your company any additional profit at the expense of the daily ease of use of my own computers. You know, the ones I paid for, own, and frankly have a right to use however I see fit?
In the near future I’ll install Windows 7 on my Macbook in a virtual environment to get up to speed on how the modern PC platform works today (after all, it’s been a long time.) Then, thanks to Apple’s 2005 shift to Intel chips, Windows 7 will become my main Macbook operating system. And if you hadn’t guessed by now, after that my next computer will be a PC.
My iPhone isn’t left out of my back-migration, either. Apple’s heavy-handed control of the applications I’m “allowed” to use on the device–not to mention two years of frustrating-to-nonexistent AT&T signals in major cities across America–won no points with me, either. I’m shifting my calls to a nifty, new, platform- and device-agnostic Google Voice number. That way, when I break my AT&T contract and buy a new open-source Verizon Droid, my callers won’t notice a difference.
But I sure will.
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104 Comments
Trackbacks
- Out in the Blogosphere | Jeff's A.D.D. Mind
- Jailbreak on the Journey from Apple
- On Chicagosphere: OS Wars, Nonprofit Hijinks, Meatball Sundaes, Trailblazing Bloggers
- Control Issues: Why Apple Doesn’t Want You to Use Linux
- Why the Cloud Won’t Seduce Me From My Mac, At Least Not Yet
- I’m Not a Mac #8–Who Really Needs an iPad? | CHICAGO CARLESS
- I’m Not a Mac #9–Why I Walked Away from Apple for Windows 7 | CHICAGO CARLESS
- Happy Anniversary: Five Years of Chicago Carless | CHICAGO CARLESS
Hey Mike,
This is quite an honest-to-goodness approach to how you live your life, handling day-to-day challenges and in your words “sea of information”.
The journey that led your Mac to use the most neutral applications, compared to what’s recommended to be adhered to by Apple is a constructive breakaway.
I will be following your feeds to see what happens in the future, when you get Windows 7 on your Macbook!
cheers,
Mohd Hisham
Singapore
Jeff (my fellow ADHDer), thanks for the trackback, and Mohd, thanks for the words of support. I never thought I would shift away from Apple, but this year really taught me how bored, joyless, and frustrated I’ve felt about Mac for longer than I realized.
Mine is the Mac user perspective you never hear about, I guess. Too many of us never question Apple’s way of doing things. The new Get a Mac (“I’m a Mac,” “I’m a PC”) commercials are a great example of Apple’s reality distortion field. Windows 7 has debuted to excellent reviews–so the best Apple can come up with is an admittedly amusing commercial that basically says Windows 7 has to be bad because Vista and earlier versions of Windows were bad.
You know what that is? Totally disingenuous. You know what disingenuous means?
Ahem. Full of shit.
Mike,
I’m with on a lot of it, but not the MSFT switch. Every PC I’ve had has been more or less junk. Windows can’t even suspend and resume right. It usually starts out ok, but after 2-3 months the machine bogs down to near un-usability. Try finding a PC vendor that doesn’t preload the computer will all sorts of add on junk too.
I’ve always been a Unix guy. Never was a Mac guy at all. I bought my first Macbook this year and even though it is the cheapest one Apple makes, it’s better than the best Windows PC I ever had. (And I can still drop down to Unix when I have to – that’s my bypass lifeline if I can’t figure out why a disk won’t mount).
Aaron.
If you want to complete the switch, I would recommend trying out either DoubleTwist or Songbird for a media player.
Supposedly, DoubleTwist is compatible with iPods for syncing and also has a great feature that will “liberate” your iTunes library from their draconian DRM. Additionally, DoubleTwist either has or will soon have direct access to the Amazon MP3 library for music purchases.
Songbird is a nice open-source music player based on Firefox. I used an older version and really liked it.
I just installed Win7 on my desktop and laptop, but haven’t had a chance to load up either Songbird or DoubleTwist, but hopefully will have some time this weekend.
Aaron, you and my Twitter peep @dupreeblue both raise a good point. I guess I’ll cross that tech-support bridge when I come to it. In my defense, I cause more than my fair share of snafus on my Macbook, so I’m not afraid to get under the hood.
Andy, thanks for suggesting those programs. I was wondering what besides Winamp I could use in lieu of iTunes after I install Windows 7. By the way, interesting tech site you’ve got!
[Readers can click on Andy's name to go there.]
Good luck, see you back in OS X in a month or two!
We’ll see. I did forget to mention in the post I also partially migrated away from Front Row to the far more robust Boxee. I blogged about that experience in September here.
“I deferred to the ease and utility of iTunes. But that’s about it. ”
Apparently you haven’t updated your iTunes recently. I made that mistake and am amazed at how awful it is not to search for music in the Apple Store and what a pain purchasing has become. It is still the best game in town for music, but it became a much more frustrating game to play. I put music on my “wish list” since Apple said it would hold it there without purchasing. Immediately it charged my card and began downloading. Huh? It also downloaded it five times and charged me five tiems for the same music. Apple has yet to fix this and its been a week.
You sure used a lot of words to say nothing.
I read the article looking for something approaching a rational reason why the Mac wasn’t suitable. You rambled a lot and said absolutely nothing of value.
What are the reasons Macs are less suitable today than they were 15 years ago? What justifies a switch? Be specific. I’ve spent enough time reading your rambling, content-free screed.
Mike,
I’m cross-platform, but you won’t catch me switching to an even MORE proprietary platform completely. The UNIX underpinnings of OS X and rock solid Apple hardware will always have me coming back for more. Perhaps you should try the UBUNTU distro if you’ve truly Googleized your life. I have switched back and forth between Windows and Mac several times over. Don’t think Windows offers me any advantages, and I’d still have to install anti-virus and anti-spyware as a matter of course. It’s just not worth it for me, and hasn’t been for over a decade.
(Graphic: Not your father’s Apple Macintosh. Daring desktop image included with Microsoft’s new Windows 7.)
Just the fact that Mike thinks that the Windows 7 turtle desktop image is cool is a great indicator that he has no taste at all.
Mike you won’t be missed
Joe, I’m glad the platform works for you. It doesn’t so much for me anymore and I can’t pretend it does just to make you feel better about my decision.
Mark, I’ll do some OS shopping around, don’t worry.
Harvey, neener, neener, neener.
“Joe, I’m glad the platform works for you. It doesn’t so much for me anymore and I can’t pretend it does just to make you feel better about my decision.”
I’m not interested in seeing you pretend, nor do I care about your decision. What I care about is your worthless article which is nothing more than an extended whine with no content.
If you want to grow up to be a journalist, start by stating the facts and building on reality rather than expecting anyone to care about your ability to use 500 words to say “I just don’t like Macs any more” with no rationale.
ChgoSaint, I’m not surprised at all. Sorry that happened to you.
Mike – I’m treading carefully here…
Your reasoning bothers me. Did the ‘Oh so locked in Apple/Steve Jobs’ forbid you from using anything else but Apple’s consumer apps? Did they disable your music/photo library to stop you using other solutions? No… the choice is yours and always has been.
I’m not an ADHD sufferer but as far as I see, there is no reason for you to hold such a disjointed and if I may say, naive viewpoint against Apple or any other computer manufacturer. By the same measure, Google is hooking you into their software in order to download unwanted ads to your computer.
It’s simple and straightforward – the choice is yours and Apple makes it easy to do this whereas you may find that retrieving your data from Google’s grasp is not so easy should you choose to go in the opposite direction.
If you are the ‘power user’ you state you are then you will have known this all the time you used Apple’s products so why the oddly biased anti-Apple stance now?
just asking…
OK, so what I’m hearing you say is you’re switching to the cloud for apps.
That’s simple and understandable.
But what it has to do with the OS you happen to be using as a platform for getting to the cloud is not so obvious.
Fring, what really is going on here is that I’ve realized my Mac hasn’t worked for me for a long time–that I was dissatisfied long before I realized it. The point is I’m not the evangelist I thought I was, and I probably haven’t been in my heart for a few years.
The inertia of the Mac community, as perfectly exemplified by several of the comments here, tends to try to keep you in line. It’s like living with Mayor Daley here in Chicago–you’re not allowed to ask questions, express dissent, or choose a different leader to follow. Not unless you want people to have a visceral, emotional reaction to what is, in fact, a personal decision.
As such, you don’t need to agree with my reasoning. But if you want it in a nutshell, I am tired of forcing my Mac to do what I want it to do. And, really, using an Apple product is one long, endless commercial in and of itself. So I have no problem with Google’s embedded ads.
There’s no stance that’s not biased towards or away from something. There’s nothing odd about changing one’s mind. And there’s nothing odd about feeling disappointed by a computer company–Apple or any other.
If you so despised the limitations of the “iApps” on your Mac, why did you not move on to other software, whether Apple’s pro apps, or from someone else entirely? There are plenty of high quality alternatives. Your argument makes no sense to me.
Dumping everything but iTunes. How very odd. Reads like another Microsoft sponsored blog post to me (my opinion only). Why not switch to the google OS when it is released, or Ubuntu or other Debian flavoured Linux?
You say you won’t touch Vista, and yet Windows 7 is essentially more lipstick on the pig that is Vista.
Enjoy your Vista martini.
John, that’s a good point, I could have been more explicit about why an OS switch in the end. I decided that if by and large I’m not going to use Apple-designed or Apple-centric software any longer, I have no reason to stick with an OS that locks me into future hardware purchases significantly more expensive than their PC counterparts.
I don’t believe Macs and PCs achieve price parity no matter how you slice the feature sets and software suites involved, and I can configure and purchase a Windows system with the exact feature set I need for a lot less than the $1,300 I paid for my most recent MacBook in February. That coupled with Windows 7’s highly positive reviews is enough to make switching to a PC a compelling option for me.
There’s an intangible here, too. I just don’t feel the Mac environment is a fun one to work and play in anymore. Somewhere along the way OS X got boring–at least for me. Steve Jobs has spent the past few years upping the conservative vibe of Macs–software and hardware. I miss my curvy Wall Streets and colorful iMacs. I miss my Unsanity haxies. I miss a robust Holiday Lights program. The other side looks like a lot of fun and I just want to go over and play there for a while.
I’ve been using Apple computers for 20 years now (all the way back to the Apple IIe in high school). I even have an 18-year-old Mac Plus that still runs beautifully — can’t imagine saying that about a Windows machine more than five years old. The quality of Apple hardware (computers and iPod, I have no experience with the iPhone) far outpaces Windows hardware.
For me, the Mac is all about design, something no Windows PC maker can match. Mac hardware looks good, and that makes a difference to me.
And Mac OS X is a beautiful piece of software. I have a Mac laptop and a Windows laptop (I do a lot of Windows development) sitting side-by-side on my desk, and I use the Mac as my primary. It’s just much easier on the eyes. I think you’ll see a significant difference if you open a Google document side-by-side in Windows and Mac. Notice the quality of the text — it’s just so much cleaner and clearer on the Mac. That’s important to me — to have something I enjoy looking at all day long.
Like one of the previous commenters, I’m also a Unix guy. Most of the servers my clients use are Unix/Linux, so OS X has a distinct advantage over Windows. I’ve created an entire development environment that allows me to write and test code on my Mac and upload it to clients’ servers without modifications. Something I absolutely cannot do on Windows. The Unix underpinnings also make it easy for someone like me to customize my Mac to the way I work, completely ignoring the normal limitations average users encounter. Again, something Windows doesn’t make it easy to do.
Having said all that, I’m by no means a Mac zealot. When friends ask for recommendations, I always find out what they’re used to — what experience they have and what they’re willing to try — before recommending either Windows or Mac. I haven’t tried the new Windows 7, but I’m hearing good things from friends and colleagues about it. I can’t imagine making it my primary OS, but it might finally replace XP on my secondary machine.
I think when your life/work is on the web (as yours is) rather than the computer (as mine is), OS is not so important. For me, a switch to Windows would be far too inconvenient.
@ChgoSaint: You might try the Amazon MP3 store. I got frustrated with the iTunes Music Store because I wanted my music in unprotected MP3 format that I could transfer to my cell phone. I still use iTunes, but I don’t buy from them. The Amazon downloader will automatically add my purchased music to my iTunes collection.
I also created a private Amazon wishlist specifically for MP3s I wanted to buy later. Now I just click a bookmarklet in Firefox, and the MP3 is added to my wishlist. I can go back later and buy it from the Amazon MP3 store at my convenience.
Charles (my next-tower neighbor), I had an Apple IIc with a green monochrome monitor and no mouse back in 1984. It lasted forever. Good machine design is available on the PC side from what I’ve researched, but you have to pay for it. Which when you think about it is the same deal on the Mac side. I may nurse my current Macbook as a Windows 7 unit for some time until I can afford better design on the PC side, or I may be quite happy with a plain-old creaky low-end Windows laptop. I don’t know yet.
You’re right, my work is largely web-based. Except for image editing, my machine doesn’t need to be completely tricked out. Again, I’ll figure it all out.
Mark, why should I pay for software functionality that I can get in the cloud (in this case Google’s) for free? I spend enough money being a Mac user as it is.
britmic, I will definitely consider the Google OS. I have less faith in Linux but that is really just ignorance of the platform on my part. Most reviews note that Windows 7 cures the majority of ills from Vista. Calling it what you called it seems unfair.
Here’s a thoughtfully considered dissenting opinion from my Twitter peep @JayRay:
Difficult Decisions (or why I only half-agree with Chicago Carless this morning)
NOTE: Time stamps are one hour off (they did not automatically correct for the end of daylight time.) If I correct them now, the comment thread will be thrown into disarray. I will leave the system time stamp as is until commenting dies down later tonight.
Mike,
Apple has always been a closed platform so that the hardware and software work better together… and it took 15 years before it annoyed you. However, note that you have been able to transition away from Apple software with a Mac, so it really isn’t as closed as you say… indeed, you will even be able to run Win7 on it.
Yes, SJ is obsessed with contolling user experience, but for most users that results in an excellent experience.
As a longtime Mac-user, I too have noticed that the regular updates to the iLife suite have had less value for increased cost (remember when iMovie updates were free?) and that the iPhone and other distractions have delayed OS and other software improvements. I also dislike SJ determining which technology I have access to (late adoption of USB2, no adoption of BluRay, etc.), but I have consistently found overall value in my Macs – my souped-up Cube runs Leopard great and if my G3 iBook I used for travel hadn’t finally died (and been replaced with a MBP), it would still be my primary computer.
My experience with PCs at work has mostly been good (we have a good IT team), but I would never want to deal with the security/virus/malware issues on my own at home, and I’d always rather use OS X. I’m also spoiled by Apple hardware…and the Apple user community.
Good luck on your transition – using good Apple hardware should make your move to Win7 nice (and bloatware-free), and if you hit any Win7 annoyances, you can always return to OS X.
Mike, the other side, where cool things are happening, the side that still feels like the old computer revolution days, is Linux. Give Ubuntu a try. You can do your cloud thing on most platforms; Ubuntu Linux has Bluebird for music management; DigiKam (note the “K”, not to be confused with Digicam, a completely different product) is on a par with Aperture or Lightroom; and numerous other very good programs (and a lot of junk, admittedly) that should satisfy your computing needs — and it’s all free. And you can purchase some really good hardware of your choice. No Kool-Aid. Just freedom. Remember, Microsoft is still The Dark Side. They’ve just been joined by a new BFF, that’s all.
Mike
‘I’ve realized my Mac hasn’t worked for me for a long time–that I was dissatisfied long before I realized it.’
OK, you are making a personal decision. But to place your dissatisfaction at the door of Apple’s consumer apps when no-one is forcing you to use them makes the rest of your post reflect badly on you rather than the machine you were using to get your work done.
Did those same consumer do what you wanted all that time? Did you continue to use them for 15 years because they didn’t work? Of course not. They did what you wanted then – and now you want something different. No problem, but please don’t regurgitate a mish mash of ill reasoned internet chatter which has nothing to do with you just wanting a change – it’s frankly insulting to everyone who makes a choice. You included.
Enjoy Windows 7, it’s not a bad OS but neither is it the panacea or answer to your concerns about continuing to use a Mac. Frankly, it’s anything but and over time you will likely meet some closed doors that are wide open to the Mac user.
As a long time user of both platforms, I won’t spoil your journey of discovery but will say that if headaches are a problem for you, you may be making an unavoidable mistake.
There was a time, a bit over a decade ago, when what you needed to do with a computer greatly effected which computer you bought. PCs weren’t optimized for graphic design work and Macs were slow at number-crunching and databases.
These days, there’s much less difference (although having to re-purchase all your software if you switch is a pain). That said, Apple is a real control-freak of a company and you will spend extra for that. And it’s interesting to see some developers slowly moving over because of the Linux underneath.
A friend recently said something to the effect: “Apple will continue to innovate, hold it too closely and then lose their audience when a less controlling competitor can do a knock-off.”
The iPhone was big, but those over-riding updates sound awful and a LOT of people are interested in Android. This tablet-sized iPhone sounds like a potential Kindle-killer, but there will be something similar in an alternate brand within a year. (Sony’s probably got something up their sleeve, but they’re all about proprietary formats.)
The one advantage Apple has maintained is the AppStore/iTunes (despite comments on this thread), but with all the Android models getting rolled out for the holidays, there’s now incentive for someone to develop an alternative.
Chris, I admit I have found value in my Macs, including the one I’m using right now. I just feel a sense of diminishing return at this point. Also, easing my way into the Windows world is why I’m going to use Windows 7 on my MacBook first. I do want to have a safe place to learn the platform.
Ponter, as I said, I will explore the Linux world as well. Promise.
Fring, my dissatisfaction is squarely at the door of both Apple’s consumer apps and Apple’s consumer relations. You can’t have your cake and eat it, too. It’s disingenuous for you to tell me not to be upset with those apps because I have a “choice” to not use them when Apple’s entire platform brand identity revolves around their supposed and universal easy of use and utility for most Mac users.
I don’t have niche needs, and I expect the core software touted by Apple (software Apple uses to sell its hardware, mind you) to work as I need it to work and not how Apple decides is the only approved way to use it. There is nothing ill-reasoned here. Take away the consumer apps and you’re pretty much left with an expensive, Linux-based application switcher.
If you think Windows 7 will serve you better than a Mac, so be it. But your rationale here doesn’t really make a lot of sense. Apple supplies applications like Safari, iTunes, iPhoto, etc. to meet the needs of the “typical” computer user. If you don’t feel they are adequate for your “power user” needs, then you are free to supplement them with pro or semi-pro applications.
In many ways, I think the departure of people who seem to somehow define themselves based on their choice of the Mac as a computer is a good thing. Your post reads more like a man going through a mid-life crisis than a rational person who has chosen a different operating system. Despite providing you with 15 years of a fulfilling relationship, you have spotted a cute barista who smiles at you and knows your name, and you now need to tell everyone how stifling and controlling your wife has been.
You seem to object to Apple even providing these apps, but it seems obvious to me that these tools are a big selling point for “regular” folks, and you are free to ignore them if they don’t suit you. For my personal use, I find iPhoto perfectly adequate as a photo management tool, but chose to go with Final Cut Express as my video editing tool of choice. I can’t imagine complaining about Apple including iMovie to address the needs of folks who just want to trim down video clips for sharing online and the like.
I find your claim that updates more frequently break 3rd party apps than they did in the past to be dubious, at best. I’ve moved a couple Macs from Leopard to Snow Leopard with no real fallout. And I have a wide variety of third party apps.
I have used Macs since 1985, and will continue to use them as long as OS X offers technical and user interface superiority over the alternatives available for the desktop. My choice of a Mac is based on the fact that it is a pleasant to use *tool*. If your criteria for platform selection is heavily influenced by things like haxies and holiday lights and colorful computer cases and user camaraderie and the personalities of the corporate leaders, then _maybe_ you will find the Windows world more “fun”.
But somehow I doubt it.
For the moment, I’m done playing ping-pong with the annoyed Mac fanboy set. Comments labeling my post as ill-conceived, poorly thought-out, or just plain wrong are just plain silly. I can see right through the petulance and I’m sure so can many readers. I’m sorry I don’t feel the same way about your favorite computer platform anymore.
Actually, considering the big babies some of you are being, I’m really not all that sorry. Sorry!
Congrat. Mike Doyle
Windows 7 is very very ROCK!
Congrat.
-Domenico
‘I can see right through the petulance and I’m sure so can many readers.’
LOL
Your words are those of a gentleman and scholar sir. As nothing is perfect, neither is Windows 7 nor Microsoft. However, having the integrity and courage to keep an open-mind for sure has served you well.
I happen to like Windows 7, thinking it is what Windows should have been all along.
I applaud your decision to take the plunge, perhaps one day, when time permits, I might take the plunge the opposite direction, just to learn to swim into unfamiliar waters, just like you do.
~~~~~~~~~~
I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.
~ Confucius
The open-source, open-ended “PC” (Macs are PCs, just FYI; PC stands for “personal computer”) community will welcome you with open arms. Bravo for standing up against close-mindedness and closed computing environments.
Good article, Mike. You write well.
Got a mailing list? I’d like to see more as it gets published.
“For the moment, I’m done playing ping-pong with the annoyed Mac fanboy set. Comments labeling my post as ill-conceived, poorly thought-out, or just plain wrong are just plain silly. I can see right through the petulance and I’m sure so can many readers. I’m sorry I don’t feel the same way about your favorite computer platform anymore.
Actually, considering the big babies some of you are being, I’m really not all that sorry. Sorry!”
Ah-ha! The sounds of a frustrated 12-year old.
Best of luck.
I use W2003 every day (the server OS is far faster) in VMWare. I find it very annoying in so many different ways but then I’m a Mac power user by choice and a Windoze power user by necessity (a decade of it no less). I’ve downloaded W7 — well, one edition. I am still not sure which edition I want. I’d like something that works with Unity mode better than what I have. That I have to pick between the scads of editions already pisses me off. Oh, and if you get 64 bit, it’s a kludge when you start looking at how they shoehorned that in. You can’t see how Apple’s done it but you will suffer a bit with how M$ did it. For starters, there are TWO Program Files folders. Then there are those inane Properties windows. They still remain even in W7. They are TINY and NUMEROUS — the latter just to get things done. That’s what led me to call Vista Lipstick on a Pig. I don’t think W7 is that much better. Like using cmd-a to select all text? It doesn’t work everywhere on a windreck like it does on a Mac. I could go on forever. It really is death by a thousand cuts.
Still, suit yourself.
Meanwhile, Gmail is great but it is not as reliable as you portended considering how much time the web interface was down in the last two months. I use their most excellent IMAP to load all my mail into Apple’s Mail app and it wasn’t down. (I use the web interface once and a while and it is very impressive as well.)
Question. Does Firefox give you a definition of a word without having to load another page (google)? That’s one feature I like on a Mac: cmd-ctrl-D and it works in every Cocoa window as it’s a service.
Still, Apple hasn’t been putting out truly high quality code since Tiger. There are too many bugs.
Funny, you’d like to try ChromeOS when it comes out, but are wary of Ubuntu. You do realize that except for Gnome’s color scheme (think of Gnome as Linux’s answer to the Finder or Windows Explorer) and a few possible custom apps by Google, they are both Linux and both basically the same. Right?
I understand where you are coming from. I too have dropped some Mac apps. I LOVE Gmail and through their Google Apps I Gmail with my own domain, FOR FREE!! I also use NetNewsWire which now syncs to Google Reader, and still I prefer the online version of the RSS reader.
However, I am missing your point. The fact is that you are running all these other options in MACOSX. The fact is that Google works great in MacOSX. I use Mailplane for my Gmail and I love it. You cannot blame Apple for including, FREE OF CHARGE, the most basic of applications that Microsoft does not bother to include and the complain that they are constrained. With simplicity comes constraint… it is inevitable. They are highly integrated and simple but you are not forced to use them…. unlike Internet Explorer, which STILL pops up in Vista once in a while although it is not my default browser.
You are leaving a company because you do not like their philosophy but is Microsoft’s any better or their profit motives any less clear? I have no problems leaving some of Apple behind. I am about to dump slow to upgrade Aperture for Lightroom 3. I dumped .mac/me for gmail. I plan to use more of Google Docs AND I now have push Gmail on my iPhone thanks to Microsoft Exchange support. APPLE, those evil people, also gave me bootcamp which will allow me to run Windows 7 all on its own or in Parallels.
You can get everything you want in MacOS X without the virus’ and the pointing of fingers when problems pop up from Microsoft to the hardware makers and vice versa. Windows 7 is shiny and new and I think it will be a great operating system, but no reason for me to switch over.
I wish Apple were less secretive and less restrictive sometimes but I do see the bright side of that. A few days ago some jailbroken iPhones were hijacked by a hacker who demanded 5 Euros to unlock them. Apple’s warning was correct! No company or platform is perfect and if you think that Microsoft, with all its convoluted tentacles will be any better, I am afraid you will be disappointed.
And BTW. I think it is wrong that you express your frustration with a platform and those that do not understand your argument are labeled fanboys. Most of the comments have been pretty straightforward and respectful. It seems you are the one that is emotional about a computing platform.
Mike,
Having drank the Kool-Aid (which you served me) I have become a pretty solid Mac person. However, I have never been one to say that Apple is the end all, and be all. I am always the first to admit OS-X isn’t perfect (spinning beach ball anybody?).
That said, unless there has been an enormous improvement in the Microsoft operating system, I worry that you will also be unsatisfied with Windows within a short period of time… I remember the frustrations I have had with windows… System crashes… Blue screens of death… The enormous challenge of migrating to a new computer… And may other untold things I have since blocked from my memory banks since making the switch.
iLife is pretty much an unnecessary collection of applications for me. There are lots of Apple programs I have no use for… I stopped using iPhoto back in 2006 when my photo collection made using it too unwieldy (you remember)… The solution for me? Well, I chose not to use Apple’s Aperture for my photo management because I discovered that Adobe’s Lightroom is a better product (and it still manages more than 50,000 images quite well). For my purposes, Apple Mail and the calendar function are fine… But I can see how they wouldn’t work for business needs… Outside of that, I am pretty happy with the shiny pretty system that Steve offers up.
I will stick with my Mac, but I wish you the best in your venture to the other side… Be sure to stock up your virus protection.
I have used Macs for a long, long time too and really…two items, embarrassing and lazy as they may seem are what have kept me using. I like pretty, and I hate dealing with security issues. And while I’m permanently attached to a computer or iPhone it seems, my user needs are not ones that would have forced me to evaluate certain aspects of the technology available to me.
That said…I have recently found myself gravitating more and more to using Google apps myself. Because I am a very mobile person throughout the work week, I have to be able to access the same information literally everywhere I go, and often I need others to be able to access the same things I’m accessing. Right now, a marriage of iCal and Google Calendar and increasing usage of Google Docs have given me just the amount of freedom I need right now. But as possibilities for increased flexibility and mobility, and universal access become more and more the norm, I can see your point that putting up with Mac’s shortcomings seems less and less necessary.
@Marcos: “It seems you are the one that is emotional about a computing platform.”
It’s all just a frickin’ tool. The end result is what counts. If you can do what you need hassle-free on Win/Mac/Linux or in the cloud, fine. I run Win2K3 Server, WinXP, and MacOS X. Tried the Win7 beta. Meh. They all have issues, some more than others.
Bye – watch the door on your way out!
someone hit a hornets’ nest
. it is beautifully amusing to see how emotionally attached people are to their OS … LOL – to Victor’sPanlilio’s point -> “It’s all just a frickin’ tool”.
i feel more comfortable talking about conflicting theological views than OSes. with the exception of linux evangelists, the mac evangelists are dug in pretty deep…
one votes with their (insert currency here). *everything* has good and bad. i have been using linux exclusively for about 6 years – and i *love* all the things i value about it, but absolutely acknowledge the negative aspects. what i value in linux outweights not being able to stream video from netflix easily (among other things
).
with applications migrating to the cloud, open-standards, and runtime environments that run on multiple platforms…one’s OS is starting to matter less and less
on a personal note – i enjoy being able to buy the hardware i want to use and know where my files are on *my* machine
(to Mike’s point of iPhoto’s enigmatic brokerage of one’s photos)…i remember moving my mom’s photo off to her non-mac-based computer … brutal! talk about serious tethering!
i’m sure someone is ready to string me up and beat me with a stick for sharing my last two opinions of what is important to me (lol). before you do…take some deep breaths…and repeat after me “it’s just an OS” … and if you’re really ready to fly off the handle and burst – perhaps now would be ideal to reflect on your life’s journey
.
Whaaaaaa. See ya!
[quote=article_author]In the near future I’ll install Windows 7 on my Macbook in a virtual environment to get up to speed on how the modern PC platform works today[/quote]
the very fact that you _can_ do this–run windows in virtualization (and not vice versa) is a very compelling reason to stay with a mac. vmware unity merges–in my case, for example–ubuntu and windows apps into the mac gui so transparently that you could go without knowing what os was running what app except that the non-mac ones are exceedingly ugly. [g]
/guy