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June 03, 2005
Apple
I recently found myself at an Apple store with my entire family celebrating the Tiger release (Apple's new operating system). My family is not an Apple family. We were pioneers in the eighties (or at least my parents were) and had an Apple IIE at one point (on which I played numerous games of MathBlaster and tried unsuccessfully to let Mavis Beacon Teach Typing), but we switched to Windows after that.
I scoffed at Apple users in high school and college, jabbering on about the superiority of the DOS interface (I didn't really know what I was talking about). I wrote papers on ThinkPads and 486s. Then, toward the end of college I took an HTML class taught on the Mac. I had to ask the person next to me how the thing worked. I was compeltely Mac-illiterate.
Slowly, as I learned to use BBEdit and Fetch and then got a job in a Mac-friendly office, I converted and became an Apple-loving freak. I bought a G4 desktop -- and a cool-looking Apple monitor -- and then a used G3 laptop. I made a pilgrimage to the Apple store when it opened in Soho and stared in awe at the new machines. I own a t-shirt with a sequined apple on it (the old rainbow one, for the retro appeal).
Why the conversion? The interface is full of great graphics-based shortcuts. You can drag-and-drop anything, and although I have had some very bad run-ins with slow and demented Macs that have died unexpectedly, OSX is pretty stable. Apple's software -- iPhoto, iTunes, especially the new Tiger Dashboard -- is always intuitive and well designed. Good design saves time and reduces clutter. Windows is a poor copy of the Apple interface.
I extolled the virtues of the Apply platform to my family but got a lukewarm response. I'm not great at logical debate (Me: Macs are soooo coool! Parent: They're way too expensive. And what about all the PC software we own? Me: Whatever -- it's like, just, really cool!)
Then, out of the blue, Mom decides that Dad -- the gadget man -- needs an iPod. Then Apple releases the very cute and affordable miniMac. Mom gets a MiniMac. And an iPod. Then my brother decides he needs a iPod Mini. (iPods are ubiquitous these days. Even Lego People have them.) So within the space of a couple of months the family is interested enough in Apple to attend the Tiger release and be dutifully impressed by all the hype and features. I HOPE this is indicative of a larger PC-to-Apple trend, but I'm trying not to jinx it.
Posted by csageday at June 3, 2005 01:18 AM
Comments
funny
Posted by: Erik at February 25, 2007 07:45 PM