2 years and counting

Tuesday August 24, 2004 at 5:59 pm | Filed under Mac

Two years ago today I switched from Windows to Mac. I’d do it again too. After 2 years I don’t feel the need to upgrade. Sure i’d love to, but my computer doesn’t feel slow, so I’m content, and that’s saying something.

The learning curve for some of the mor detailed tasks was a bit larger than I had anticipated, but eventually just came down to checking online in a few forums (apple’s official forums are great for this type of thing) and learning the way that a mac does it. On the wish list are a few things though: I really wish Macs would be a little bit more intuitive in how they handle networking, aliases ans shortcuts should be WAY easier than they are to set up. I have a couple of wishes for a few of the staple apps that come with the OS, namely Mail an iCal. While I use them, I think they could be improved quite a bit. Mail has some great advancements, but needs to be integrated more with iCal, like Outlook and Entourage. The Outlook interface is not nearly as simple to use as Mail, but Outlook has everything you want, once you know how to find (and once you’ve added a 3rd party spam app).

But the bottom line is it’s the best OS I’ve ever used and it’s really great that Apple is continually improving it. Windows is lagging behind in the updates, as Win XP is almost 3 years old. We’ll have seen 4 major revisions of the OS X platform between Windows releases. It’s be easy to guess that Apple is playing catch up, but there’s already a lot of things in the curent OS (Panther) that won’t make it into the next Windows OS (Longhorn). Wow.

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No Responses to “2 years and counting”

  1. Markie Mark Says:
    August 24th, 2004 at 6:40 pm

    I’m glad you like it… We’re so proud you macman.

  2. Arlen Says:
    August 25th, 2004 at 8:18 am

    I’m also in no real need of an upgrade, even though my iBook has long since been left in the dust by the newer models. But apart from my computer not going to sleep as it should (making me unplug it every time I close the lid), I have had no crashes or any lost data, and haven’t had to reinstall the OS. I HAVE reinstalled it once or twice, but found later that I didn’t have to. Can’t say the same for most of my PC-using friends.

    Just got the Airport Express and can now play MP3s across the room, so that’s pretty cool.

  3. Wayne Says:
    August 26th, 2004 at 12:30 pm

    Congradulations Joe on your Apple Anniversary!!!

  4. Jon Says:
    August 28th, 2004 at 11:15 am

    It was 10 years ago this month (or maybe July) that you convinced me to abandon my Macintosh ways for a PC. And I’ll thank you for that.

  5. Joe Says:
    August 29th, 2004 at 10:41 am

    Yowch! But hey man, back then the PC was the bees knees! It’s high time I converted you again! And for the record you had a IIe, not a mac, and I was trying to get you to buy a Commodore. hehe.

  6. Arlen Says:
    August 29th, 2004 at 5:58 pm

    Joe, between you and me, we’ll make Jon a Roman Catholic Mac User sooner or later!

  7. Jon Says:
    August 29th, 2004 at 9:02 pm

    Remember, I did buy a Commodore from Best Products. But something was wrong with it and I just ended up returning it instead of exchanging… don’t remember why.

    During college I was using two Macs, a friend’s and a girlfriend’s, so I was getting ready to buy one for myself. That’s when you intervened.

    I don’t think you’ll get me to join two cults at once. Hey-oh! Bam! Just kidding there. Really. Although, who knows… Rich is starting to get freaked out at how much I’ve been talking about sports related stuff lately, so I guess anything could happen… except for the Roman Catholic thing. Really.

  8. Arlen Says:
    August 30th, 2004 at 10:41 am

    Okay. You’re allowed to say things like that because I said them too, not so long ago . . .

  9. Joe Says:
    August 30th, 2004 at 9:09 pm

    Ahh, I do remember that Best products purchase. It’s a good thing you did return that thing because we’d still be copying floppy disks.

    the college thing is kinda fuzzy. But I still hold on to the idea that Windows machines were the way to go in the early 90s. the 2000s on the other hand… OS X, baby!

  10. Monique Says:
    August 31st, 2004 at 5:10 pm

    I think that both have their attributes. I’ve used PCs all of my life until Joe bought me a Mac recently. There are things that I miss when I’m at home and when I’m at work, I accidentally use my Mac keyboard shortcuts.

    It’s been a slow transition but all in all I’m liking my Mac. Especially because of the great tools and ease in transitioning files from one program to the other. It’s been great with all of the Illustrator, Photoshop, and other image work I do. I can see why it’s the system of choice by most graphic artists.

    Some days I curse my Mac because it’s not like a PC…but other days I realize that being like a PC might not be all it’s cracked up to be.

  11. Arlen Says:
    September 1st, 2004 at 4:55 pm

    Waiting for a post from you about the new iMac G5. In particular, your thoughts on the all-in-one approach to computers.