So, yeah, recently I switched platforms as a longtime Windows PC back to a Macintosh. Actually, my first computer was a Macintosh – back when I first entered college around 1996-97. Back then, Macs were still using PowerPC processors and OS 8 had just come out (geez, how old am I?). I really liked the Mac interface; it was unique and subtly different from Windows (which, and most people don’t realize this, Bill Gates copied when he made Windows). But as time went on I gradually found myself in the Windows camp as I pursued a Computer Science major at UNCW.
The next thing I know, almost ten years have passed, and though I’d dabbled with using Macs I’d never bought one again. So last year my famous musician brother, Nathan Head, asks me which platform he should use, Windows or Macintosh. Macs have long been known to be the better machine for graphic, design and music professionals, so I pushed him to get a Mac. As expected, he loves Macintosh, and when Apple annouched their plans to switch to Intel chips, it got me thinking.
But, let me back up a bit. Even though I had been using Windows, I wasn’t really satisfied with it. Instability, viruses, a clumsy and clunky interface, the blue screen of death, sudden freezing and on and on ad naseum, all really made me a very reluctant user of Winblows…err Windows. So every once in a while I would dabble with Linux. I liked the stability, lack of viruses, no blue screens of death, so sudden freezing, etc. but a lack of comparible applications kept me using Windows. Nowadays, Linux (my personal favorite is Ubuntu Linux) has programs like OpenOffice.org (which is free and can do everything Microsoft Office can), Firefox (so much of a better browser than Internet Explorer), Gimp (who needs Photoshop?) and many other applications that really remove all excuse to stick with Winblows…dang, there I go again.
This is why Ubuntu Linux is now my main desktop operating system at home.
But back to Macintosh. Talk about computer sex appeal. Talk about ease of use. Talk about all the things you love to use computers for, without all the headache that Winblows *oops* gives you. Now I use a MacBook and am loving every minute of it. And just in case you didn’t know, Mac OS X is based on an open source Unix kernel (called Darwin) which means it has all the built in reliability, stability and security that Unix systems have. For anyone tired of Windows *whew, had to really work to get it right that time* I suggest you take a look at a Mac or check out Ubuntu. You’ll fall in love with your computer again.