I have been bad… bad… I broke the sacrosanct status quo… I switched to Mac !

My friends at Microsoft stopped picking up my phone calls, they even made fun of me on Facebook – I forgive them… LOL

But I did it. And may I say, I don’t regret any of it. Sorry Bill.

Yes I know, I have just given up to the longest battle in the IT industry. But have I really ? no. I don’t dislike Microsoft. Infact, I like them, I just wish I could help them. I like Windows, I have had them all from 95 to 7. All of them. Yes including the server editions, the enterprise versions etc… all.

OS Wars results Linux ?

But if you knew me, you would understand. I am a geek. I have to have it. I need to try everything, that’s all. I had my first personal computer at 11 years old… Lord Sinclair made it for me, and he called it the ZX81 (oh well not exactly for me). Then there was the Atari ST and its 68000 processor… oh yes the same one as in the first macs, there we go… the worm was in the fruit already ! But then I had a PC, 486, 586, 686…. And then while studying in the states, I used mainly Mac… oops. And there is Linux also, I now run a Kunbuntu machine… not that I do much with it… but I had to know what it was like !

I sold phones – Windows mobile phones and I told everyone that it was better – or at least just as powerful as an iPhone. Yes power. Not usability. Now, I know that I lied to a few people… quite a few. It wasn’t really lies !! I think they call it marketing.

The world is not about hardware anymore. Sure hardware is key, hardware enables, but software empowers.

Hardware should never be considered alone. When you see specs on a product you have to wonder what it does for you. Is it going to do what you want it to do ? what’s pure processing speed to you if it is not about doing your work faster or more efficiently ? of course everything done by consumer electronic brands teaches you the other way. Processor speed with PC’s, Contrast Ratio with TV’s. It’s a race for “more” with a falsely implied link to “better”.

Well, here I come. I have shifted to Mac and my productivity has increased. Why? Simply, because it maybe does less, but it does what it does very well. I don’t have to worry about drivers, software crashes, downloading stuff, rebooting three times a day… viruses… in fact, I don’t have an anti-virus although that may not be very smart, there are in fact few Mac viruses around.

And the right hand talks to the left hand – ? what do I mean by this ? well, I have in a few clicks linked one workstation, one laptop and a phone together. All my files are shared, all my contacts, all my work… everything. It was easy, painless, simple.

Could I do this with Windows… maybe Windows 7 ? Sure ! in fact it would probably be better, faster, part of the time. Windows 7 looks stunning, and it is definitely a much better interface than the previous versions. But I just couldn’t be bothered anymore… To me, Windows was defeated by the needs to run my business more efficiently and focus my energy on getting clients rather than fighting technology. Once in my life, I wanted to concentrate on using technology rather than figuring it out !

The biggest OS War is not over !

And you have to give them that… Apple have got it right when it comes to easy, simple and intuitive. The machines (hardware and software) are designed and built to work in good synergy… it is not a race to extra power because the same version of OS X will run across all macs the same way – user experience is key. I can’t tell if Windows cares that much about my user experience because the blame was always to be put on something else… too many bits… too many parts… you are not using an Intel processor but an AMD !!! whooo or the graphic card drivers are not up to date, or the service pack needs to be updated… a race for better, faster, cheaper… in some ways great because it has brought computing to everyone easily. But it also opened the need for more stable, reliable, intuitive.

Now, I kind of wish Microsoft would just buy HP. HP is by far my favourite PC brand. They have made huge strides in the last years to bring truly innovative products to the table. But that is just not possible I guess… and the same goes for Apple, if you opened the hardware out to other brands, I can guarantee you Apple would fall back exactly where Microsoft is. Because it is the perfect marriage of hardware and software that makes them strong today and that’s what I bought into when I switched.

Will I ever go back ? oh yes… actually I have never left. I am running Windows 7 and loving it, but it’s not my main work machine sorry. I like the progress made in windows 7. The interface is beautiful. There are several functions I miss from windows on the Mac. I had to adjust, in some cases even downgrade my expectations. But It doesn’t beat reliability and stability. Every day I put my Mac to sleep and wake it up the next day, or after the next meeting. It just lights back up in 3 seconds flat and I never had to reboot because it had frozen or something. And I never could do this very long with Windows.

I am loving this era. More than ever I believe competition is great. Innovation is coming from everywhere. Every Microsoft needs an Apple to keep them active and on their toes. I am looking forward to the following generations. Happy that the world is not dominated by one brand… But I encourage everyone, whatever your industry is, try your competitor’s products! Take the time to understand why others prefer them. This is key. And finally – don’t do a ME TOO, that’s worse. Catching up is good but try more. Change the game. Do better.

Picture credits   Elizabeth/Table4Five