5 Reasons Switching to Mac is Cliche
BY Editweapon @ May 2, 2008
Mac seems to be everywhere. In fact, Guy Kawasaki twittered a story last weekend about the recent rash of PC to Mac "switchers ". So it’s the really "cool", "in" thing to switch to a Mac right now. Who says advertising doesn’t work?
I say you’re all a bunch of wanna-be lemmings!!
And here’s 5 bad Mac-switcher stories:
1. Lindsay’s Move
The first 4 weeks were hell. She was frustrated as hell at her pretty new Mac. As a keyboard junkie (like me), she was pissed that her fingers could no longer deliver what the brain commanded without any thought. Muscle re-memory was necessary.
Mac Mail was no Outlook, and Entourage sucked according to Linds, so she worked in Parallels for months. "Why did I buy a $2000 windows laptop?" she would ask.
(UPDATE: Truth be told, she buckled down, got some pointers from a friend, learned how to use it, and now she loves Mac. But talk about months of frustration!)
2. My Dad’s Move
August 2, 2007 Pat wrote a post about how mad he was at Windows and how he was ready to switch to a Mac. (The Mac vs. PC ads were taking hold of him.) Try as he might, he could not find a Windows program that would allow him to rip DVD audio and video and cut it into frames.
Additionally, every PC he owned was running slower and slower every day. Each freeware install of MakeMyPCFaster, PC Doctor, PCFixer, RegCleaner only made the computer slower. (Gee, I wonder why?)
So Pat jumped on the Mac-wagon, cut up the DVD with iMovie. But when I asked him last week if he liked his Mac, he admitted that he rarely uses it. All his old stuff is on his Win desktop and Win laptop. That’s where he feels comfortable, so that’s what he uses.
3. Brandon Zeuner’s Move
A virtual guru with his (unpaid?) version of Adobe Fireworks for Windows, BZ told me a few weeks ago, "I shouldn’t have made the switch. I didn’t really need to do it and I don’t know really know what I’m doing with this thing."
I told him he should make a Mac vs. PC video where he plays BOTH parts.
"Hey Mac, what’s going on? You look sad."
"Hi PC. Well, I’m reluctant to tell you, but I wish I never switched to Mac."
"Really Mac?? Wow, I never thought I’d hear you say that. I mean, you’re so cool."
"Yeah, I know right? I mean, I’m this 30-something, latte drinking, metro-sexual, nihilist who cares for nothing. But I’m pretty upset. I moved from a functional machine that I knew how use to a beautiful piece of artwork that I can’t figure out."
Something like that. You get the point.
4. Roy’s Mac Crashed…A lot
At least 4 times in 2 days of class, Roy’s MacBook Pro gummed up and wouldn’t be "obedient" to him. Sean, guru of all things tech, was called in to save the day 4 times.
But I thought everything just sorta worked with a Mac? Guess the emphasis is on "sorta", hey you nihilist prick?
5. My PC invaded the Airport
I stayed at my Mac-fanatic buddy’s house and when my 4 year old Toshiba connected to his router, I took his Mac and iPhone off the network. It’s as if I stole his IP or something. Neither of us knew what was going on. He just said, "Dude, I have this thing called Airport, I click it, and it goes. Now it’s not going. Clearly, your PC corrupted my network."
I thought everything just sorta worked with Mac?
Bonus: People with Macs really Don’t know How to Use Them
But at least they look cool. 
Technically, this is probably a wash on a PC or a Mac. People just don’t understand what is happening, THUS THE REASON SO MANY PEOPLE ARE SCARED OF COMPUTERS! The learn-ability curve is too high on both, default options are usually crappy, etc.
But enough of that rant…
Justin is a Mac bigot too
So I show up at Justin’s house on Thursday at 11 and he says, "Let’s get you a Mac today!"
I’m like, "Dude, I just wrote some notes THIS MORNING for a blog post called ‘5 Reasons why switching to Mac is cliche’, I can’t switch now. That’d be retarded!"
So I bought a Mac
Yeah, that’s right. After 1) getting verbally abused by my Dallas buddies about not using a Mac, 2) watching everyone “cool” use a Mac, and 3) not wanting to be the last person on the Mac-train, I let Justin be the straw that broke the camel’s back.
Fock cliches.
Mad as hell about being a cliche’d switcher
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my aapl’s thank you
Glad to see you’ve succumb to the pressure! Pretty soon, you’ll start getting rid of things from your desk to compliment the sleek machine. Then it’ll spread to the whole house… throwing things away left and right, minimizing! You’re place will look like something out of a swedish design catalog. But seriously, you’re gonna love it P!
Nice!!! Moooohahahaha… another switcher. I talked my brother-in-law into a 24-inch iMac the next day too, but Best Buy was sold out in Midland, and no Apple Store. He’s ordering one though. Switch On Dude!
You,re in Wimberley Tx. and all you can talk about is a Computer… Glory told me about your blog and that you were in Wimberley so I had to check it out. Our favorite place in the whole world is that little piece of Hill Country paradise so forget about the Mac and enjoy.
Micah, I did go outside. Got 82 chigger bites. Shoulda stayed inside and worked more on the Mac.
Casey, I’m already a clean freak.
Here’s my desk with PC:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=799538&l=dfc5a&id=616054934
Without PC:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=799536&l=3a5ea&id=616054934
You’d think I would have gone Mac years ago, eh?
-Patrick
Okay, time to bring this full circle. Since I told Patrick about my frustration with Mac (a month or so ago) I have completely come around. I absolutely love Mac. I better, since I spent $4K on my Powerbook, right? Truthfully, my ONLY frustration with Mac is the separation of the iCal, Mail and Address Book. Yes, I know in Leopard they improved the integration, but it’s not good enough. Especially to the guy who really was used to Outlook. Let’s be honest, Microsoft has figured it out with Office. So I was spending a lot of time booting up windows to get the Office (mostly Outlook) experience. Office for Mac 2008 looks too risky. The reviews are terrible. BTW, I also put a PAID version of CS3 on the Mac. So now, I still boot windows (to run Flypaper, it’s worth the boot), but not nearly as often. Other than my Mac Mail, iCal and Address Book gripe, I am now hooked on Mac. btw, did you buy your macbook in flagstaff or something? where is the pic taken from?
Our family Dell was dying last fall – perfect timing to replace it with a sleek new iMac. My son and I gleefully bought one and set it up. It was great, until my wife (it’s really her computer) found out she didn’t want to learn the Mac way. “But it’s beautiful and life will be good!”, I said. I even set up Parallels with Windows to ease the transition. It ended up being an imperfect and expensive PC. So, we’re back to Dell for my wife’s computer. Sonny boy has an MacBook. Our iMac is at our office now.
I imagine there are many people who don’t want to learn a new OS and UI, even though it’s superior. Bounce!
iMac cables = (power, network)
Dell cables = about 10 (power, mouse, keyboard, speakers, printer, etc.)
Frustrated. I too like the way my pretty mac looks. It matches my pretty phone and my pretty case matches my pretty clothes. But I’m on my second harddrive failure since August of 2007 and I’m ‘pretty’ frustrated with mac. Crashes often. Embraced iWork, no problem. Would rather visit the store to buy more stuff, not deal w repairs. When I went to do the quick drop, was told that I might have a lemon. Did he really say ‘lemon?’ What would Jobs say? Have an appointment with a ‘genius’ tomorrow-wish me luck. Will try one more time-Bridget Z
Bridget – “A lemon?” You’re kidding!!
Greg – I want to move my mom to MacBook Air, but “learning a new OS” is my biggest fear. If I think Tech Support is hard now, just imagine talking her through an OS that I’m still learning myself.
All – why is moving the cursor between words different in every program? Most of the time it’s Apple + Left/Right.
But other times (like twhirl, or the Comment field on this blog), it’s Control + Left/Right.
And sometimes (like a Fireworks text control) the cursor doesn’t jump between words at all.
I heart Mac for at least 4 reasons (battery, sleep, airport, speed, etc.), but I still feel slow as a slug when dealing with text.
Hey Patrick! OK-Saw Sean, a Genius at the apple store yesterday. Maybe I didn’t allow all updates all the time and it funked it up. Will be extra good to this thing, defrag, always update, etc. I can be a little rough w stuff. It wasn’t ‘her’…I think it was me (sigh). Stopped calling it a lemon and taking it to the Getting Started w Mac this Sat morn.
Treat your lady kindly, and she’ll take care of you. (Are we talking about computers?)
About f*&#ing time!
Jack Z and his preference for Mac.
http://seesmic.com/v/IDQEjxQRyH
Dude, how did I miss this post? Its a classic.
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