On 10/24/06, lea murphy <lea@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I would simply like to state that in my experience of using mac for a year vs. a pc for over 10, there is no comparison in the EASE with which things can be accomplished on a mac. Simple things like singing on to an open network, or even setting up a network between two mac computers for the simple purpose of moving files around. I'm not saying these sorts of things can't be done on a pc, they are just user friendly on a mac. Super easy friendly.
The thing about this sort of anecdotal experience is that it's often rather personal -- other people have different experiences. We routinely have trouble getting one housemate's Mac to run on the local wireless or wired network. I believe part of the problem is that it's "so easy" that we can't figure out what it's really doing and what spot it's failing at, because all the details are hidden from us. And when you put them forward as if it's the universal experience of Mac users, it bugs me. I have far less trouble with my pc laptop than friends I know with Mac laptops have with them. Not a big enough group to be a representative sample, I agree. Anecdotal, just like your own experience. Which is why it bugs me when Mac users put forth their experience as if it represents the norm. Especially it bugs me when people who I know have endless trouble with their Macs talk about Mac being wonderful just the way you do.
The reason I ever suggested Marilyn look at mac is because I regularly take my laptop with me to morning coffee where I do various things like import pictures, work on building web sites, check email, surf the web, etc. Rare is the day that I don't have someone approach me and ask about switching to mac. I always ask why they would even consider the switch because yes, it is expensive and yes, buying new software can be a pain. And there is a wee small learning curve.
And it's certainly an appropriate possibility to consider. And, if you're the kind of user who has to buy your support, and doesn't want to do anything to the computer yourself, the Applecare program alone might be enough reason to choose to go with a Mac.
My experience has been that most folks have never messed with a mac.
In my case, I tried to use a Mac before I ever saw a PC, and before windows 1.0 was released. We had one at work, to play with, and I tried to use it to create slides (overhead projector transparencies) for a presentation, using the original MacPaint. I found it completely unusable, largely (in hindsight) because of the absence of documentation. (When I saw the advertisements proudly claiming the lack of documentation as a feature, I probably became a confirmed Apple-hater; except that I'd always despised the Apple ][ also.) I finally managed to make the slides by using a graphics terminal connected to a timesharing computer, learning a new graphics language in the process, because MacPaint was so hard to do anything with.
Never put their hands on one, never opened files, never looked at pictures, never operated Finder, never experienced Spotlight, never created a movie made up of video clips and photographs then burned it to dvd to view on tv, never made a playlist of music and burned it to cd. When they see how EASY it can be to do these things they go bonkers.
I was burning mix audio CDs on a PC 10 years ago, it was easy. While I haven't done video, a friend was producing semi-pro video disks for clients at his wife's dance studio at least 8 years ago, using a PC; he didn't seem to have any trouble doing it. And often your "easy" is my "limited"; one of the most common Apple tricks is to make *one* way of doing something easy, and all the others impossible.
The one thing that caused me to make the jump is the fact that despite all my Norton, all my anti-spam, all my anti-spyware, all my virus protection that was up-to-date and current I still got a virus on my pc that wiped out thousands of files, froze my machine and crashed me to the ground. And I just flat out got sick of living like that. Yes it was all backed up but it was the straw that broke this camels back.
I've had my PCs connected 24/7 to the Internet since 1996. The one time I ever got a virus it didn't come from that, it was a Word macro virus that came in a document from a colleague at some volunteer work I was doing. While I've sometimes run anti-virus software, it has never intercepted a virus; I use it for reassurance, and sometimes to check out downloads from dicey sources before running them. Nobody else in the household has gotten their computer infected, and I don't hear from friends that they've had trouble either. The only time I have had trouble was *at work*, where I was constrained to run the software specificied by IT, which included Outlook. Before the public Internet, I ran a BBS for 10 years, and never saw a virus then either (and most of the software I ran was downloaded from various sources). I did work on helping a friend try to deal with a virus-infected PC laptop this weekend. It was so thoroughly compromised that scrubbing the disk and starting over seems like the easiest approach (we can save some user data first). No idea how it achieved this state. None of the viruses on that machine showed any sign of deleting or damaging files, though.
Expensive, you bet. And do I sort of feel like I'm getting screwed every time I make a mac purchase? I sort of do, yes. But again, in the end, the elegance of the system, the ease of getting things done, the beauty of the equipment is worth it. To me. And I feel strongly about sharing my enthusiasm and love of my gear with others.
Enjoy it! -- David Dyer-Bennet, <mailto:dd-b@xxxxxxxx>, <http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/> RKBA: <http://www.dd-b.net/carry/> Pics: <http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/SnapshotAlbum/> Dragaera/Steven Brust: <http://dragaera.info/>
