A week in the life of an Apple newbie
Introduction....
As Apple continues to get a larger market share of computer sales, you might be curious what it is all about. You may have seen a Macintosh computer, you certainly have been given someone's opinion, but for many it is a giant leap of faith to switch. I decided to spend the money for you, and this article chronicles my experiences over my first week of use. I hope it answers any questions a potential Apple customer would have about their computers. I have never operated a Macintosh, so Macintosh users; I apologize in advance for any obvious stupidity, for this is truly a first time Macintosh user. There is no bias to be found here, I am simply writing about my experience as I go with an open mind.
How I got here....
Having bought an iPhone, I saw how someone could get sucked into buying a Macintosh. The salespeople were awesome. I have had three or four people often ask to help me and even two or three helping me at the same time. There is no pushy sales pitch and if the person does not know the answer, they ask someone who does. Gasp! I saw this more then once; apparently this is how the Apple stores work. I had the same experience at least four times that I visited the store. It was then that I realized I was one of the people getting sucked in. Maybe I should buy a laptop, write it off and write about my experience? Since my laptop is primarily used only to work remotely with Gotomypc and play on Poker Stars, both now supported by Macintosh, why not take the plunge as I was considering replacing my "old" laptop. Computers to me must be how dogs feel, because each year feels like seven and using that math, my laptop is 14 years old. A different breed seemed like a good idea.
My experiences....
As always, the salespeople rocked. Seriously, if you want to see a no pressure sale, visit any Apple store. Trust me. In fact, I put this off because Macworld was a week away at the time and there was rumor that a MacBook Pro upgrade might happen. Here is the best part. The sale man told me to wait. I, of course, told him if he was getting commission, he really sucked at his job, but I was told that what I needed was best, although if I wanted one, he would go retrieve it for me immediately. Damn you Apple employees, if you tell me I do not want it, I have to have it! So, after Macworld produced no news on the MacBook Pro, I ran to the Apple store. All my questions were again answered by up to three sale people, and they didn't even push the extended warranty on me! They mentioned it; I explained my case (one-two year shelf life on computers) and that was that. I was, however, forced to debate cost as the top end MacBook Pro was almost three times the price of my previous laptop, but I HAD to know. Either way, if you can't afford a Macintosh, stop by any Apple store anyway, you can look and interact with their products with no hassle or obligation. If the store seems busy, as it did when I first went there, don't worry, they manage it very, very well.
Took the MacBook pro out of the box and opened it and plugged it in like any other laptop, except for the cool, magnetized power cord. Awesome! Ran through the original computer setup from there which most Windows users are used to, nothing too difficult, took about 10 minutes to boot to ready to run state on the setup. My average boot to ready state since then is roughly 30 seconds. Registration is optional with a privacy statement. I registered because I now own both the iPhone and MacBook Pro, I want to keep up on news regarding my new found technology. 5 days later, I have not received any email from Apple, a good sign that I won't be getting daily mail. A week later and I had still not received any email. Missing from the MacBook Pro is the many programs that come "bundled" with a PC. I do not need to remove programs or format my machine before I even use it, which I normally do. While a handful of these bundled programs can be handy, the majority of these are not wanted, needed and turn a typical shiny new fast PC into a slow, overloaded machine before you even get to your first porn site.
Poked around a bit right away and easily found some setting to adjust the Macintosh dock, as well as a few other settings. Overall, if you have PC experience, you can find most settings and features by simply poking around. The dock is the biggest change, and the coolest. While most of us laughed at the "newer" XP taskbar and even harder when Vista failed to improve on it, the Macintosh dock is just slick in looks and functionality. You can also drag items to your desktop and move the dock, just like you do with your Windows PC. Easy access to the most commonly used programs, setting or applications are here. A little more tinkering brings up widgets that look familiar. Yes, a lot like the Vista gadgets. Interesting. Did I mention the 17" model weighs less and is thinner then my 1 year old HP laptop? It is. From what I saw, I bet it is thinner and lighter then similar PC offerings. It is also just sexy. Anyone who has seen an Apple laptop knows the look.
Installed Poker Stars, took a minute or two to understand how to install. Overall, I just had to drag the download from the desktop to the applications folder and I was off. While this may seem weird, it’s no more complicated than a windows install, really. A prompt came up asking me if I was sure I wanted to run this application and that was all. At this point, I am still unaware of how to get it to the Macintosh dock for easy access. I had to open the applications folder and drag it to the desktop for easy access. From there I discovered I could easily drag it anywhere I wanted on the dock.
On the second day, while unplugged and wandering around my house, the MacBook Pro locked up. I tried to power off, press all the keys and even went for ctrl, alt delete. Once I plugged it in, it unfroze. I was a bit surprised; I would ignore it, well except that I just wrote about it. Minutes after writing this, I checked for a system update and a fix to resolve a frozen keyboard (that can last a minute or two) was available. That was quick! I am now trying to get used to the track pad built in. It is similar to any other laptop except that it only has one mouse button. That said you can plug just about any mouse into it via USB, like you would your own PC. If you never noticed (what PC user would?) most mice have system requirements and the majority will say that Macintosh is supported. Take a look next time your in the mice section of your favorite store. I decided to grab a wireless notebook mouse for future use. I opted for a Microsoft mouse simply because it was Microsoft. After all, one would assume if a problem was to be had with Apple hardware, sticking in Microsoft hardware should do the trick. It turns out to be the opposite. No beep, no new hardware found, nothing. As soon as I turned on the mouse, it worked. That was it. I am now getting used to the "close", "minimize" and "maximize" icons being on the left of an open program instead of the right, like on a PC.
On the third day, I picked up a Macintosh magazine at Staples because it mentioned some operating system tweaks. Like most magazines, they repeat these types of tips frequently and it not only pointed out some simple tweaks, but showed me how to get to other areas I had not discovered. Of course, if you are going to take a plunge on a different operating system, a book would be a great idea, but a magazine or two can give you some much needed help and some bathroom reading. I am still treading carefully, occasionally looking at this and that (a technical term for you) mostly by bumping into new things. As a car enthusiast, I compare this to trading in your old car for a new, different model. When you first get in your new car, you need to know some basics; if the seat is where you want it, how the high beams work, where the windshield wipers are and where the iPod jack is. Weeks later, you still discover more new things about your new vehicle as you go. You may have even opened your owner manual to discover something new.
Getting better at this....
After 5 days, I am beyond the basics of what I need to do and now am exploring into things I might want to do. I have gotten used to the Macintosh books track pad, though I still do not prefer it over the typical PC setup. We PC users are all about scroll, right click and breaking things. Speaking of which I was trying to drag my Poker Stars icon to the dock again today and accidentally deleted it. Oops. I briefly panicked like a PC newbie, then took a breath and started looking around. I could not find it in applications because it was on the desktop, but "Finder" found it for me and I restored the shortcut. I have realized that the dock truly is a condensed, easier to use version of the Windows start menu. Finder is similar to My Computer. Only 5 days in, I have much to explore. I have surfed the web with Safari before, which for some reason just seems a better experience on the Macintosh then the beta version for Windows. I just discovered spaces, a virtual desktop that allows you have 4 desktops to reduce clutter. This works well if you are easily distracted like me. It is easy to use, click spaces, and then click whichever desktop of the 4 you want to use. Click spaces again to select another. Spaces is off by default and took me 2 minutes to setup and test. Macintosh users will tell you that the Macintosh comes with everything most people will need. This is probably true. I have yet to play with everything, but some of the programs include iTunes, Garage Band (a fun personal recording tool), iPhoto (manage your photos, create cards, calendars), iMovie (view and work with movies), Time Machine (built in backup that is actually good), calendar, email, iChat, Dashboard (widgets) and probably more that I have not discovered. To use all of these programs and write about them objectively would take weeks, so I will leave all that alone. The point is that it might take you weeks to discover all the toys already included.
Final day....
I discovered "Spotlight" today. It is basically a search accessible from the top bar on the desktop. By typing into Spotlight, it returns everything it can find broken down to categories including top hit, definition, documents, folders, web pages and more. Very handy search. I found this in a small strip that is located across the top of your screen at all times, which I should have mentioned earlier. I am not sure what it is called, but it is similar to the start menu and task bar that you are used to in Windows. Maybe it is just called the taskbar? As usual, the backwards world continues as this taskbar is on the top by default, not the bottom. It also has the options normally found on the top of a running program in this area. For example, where I would normally click on File, about, etc. I instead find this on the top of my screen at all times when that program is active. Decided to install World Of Warcraft to see how it plays. Pretty excited about it because Apple has always run behind on a lot of gaming software.
My final program test is to install World of Warcraft, a game that can be quite demanding on any desktop, not to mention laptop. I inserted the first CD which you put in like a console. There is no flimsy drawer to open or close and I like it. An icon was placed on my desktop that said World Of Warcraft Disc 1 and I double clicked it. The CD drive seems quite noisy, and about the same speed I am used to. My wife is laughing at me as I mention aloud that I don't know how to install this or get my CD back out. So far, this is not fun, I can not find out how to install from the CD. Autorun, anyone? Finally, after closing the program, I tried again and it dropped the installer into the dock. That’s sweet. Of course, I am doing this on batteries, mostly because I like to break stuff and it seems like a really bad idea. At this point I have been on batteries for about an hour or more and just noticed a bit of heat under the laptop, but nothing compared to my old laptop. Game ran fine at high resolution with most video settings turned up. The sound was laptop sound, but pretty decent, a step above what I was used to. FPS was anywhere from 20 in busy areas to above 60 in quieter areas. I picked one area and found 59 fps with the MacBook Pro and in the same area on my desktop I got 77 fps. My desktop also is dual core Intel but has an 8800 GT video card, a step above. Quite acceptable frame rates from the MacBook Pro.
I finished off day 7 back in the settings menu. Like Windows, this is an area you can tinker around in until your PC works, and looks, how you want it. I am having fun editing the dock size and position, trackpad settings, and discovered some functionality settings such as what to do when you insert CD and DVDs depending on what is on the CD or DVD. Sort of an expanded autorun and very cool. Many issues I had during the first week are now resolved in settings. In other words, once settled in, I am discovering how to tweak the operating system to do most of the things I wanted. I was able to get my iPhone to connect via Bluetooth, but was unable to actually do anything, such as transfer pictures to my MacBook Pro. Maybe later.
Conclusion:
At the end of the day(s) the Macintosh interface is just awesome. It has similarities to Windows and vice versa although Vista seems to have taken more from OSX including gadgets and the "shiny" look. It is a bit like being in bizarro world. Up is down, down is up yet everything is somehow familiar. Frankly, the Macintosh operating system is hands down much better in use, appearance and functionality then Vista ever dreamed of being. That's a pretty big statement. Sadly, this would make a great computer every day except for a few things. First, I like my choice and availability of hardware. This, of course, can also cause system problems and crashes as well to the average user. Second is the price. While I was at Staples to get a laptop pad, I looked at the laptops on display. Acer and Compaq both had dual core machines with 2 gigs of ram and 17" wide screen for 800 dollars, 25% the price of a MacBook Pro with similar specs. Dell had one for 1,000 on display. While you can argue the differences in machines, you certainly can not argue that the MacBook Pro has over $2,000 more hardware and software included. More importantly, you can not argue with someone who has an 800-1200 dollar budget that they need to come up with a thousand or two more. I know many people buying laptops in the past year and the MacBook Pro starts at $1,999 at the time of this article and most people would find $1999 for a 15" laptop too expensive. I did as well. If I was not in the business, I would have gone PC just on cost. That said the MacBook Pro laptops can almost be considered a boutique computer, something that can cost five thousand on a PC. I thought the desktop pricing was more reasonable considering the new 8 core PC is $2,799 the most expensive computer. Finally I wish for more software. Of course, Apple now has much, much more software then ever before and comes pre-loaded with some great software. Unlike the PC, this software is not stripped down or time limited versions of software you don't want or need. As mentioned above, two programs I wanted to run were not supported even a year ago. Of course, Apple has released Boot Camp, so you can purchase XP or Vista and dual boot to use your Windows PC. A great solution if you are unsure that a Macintosh is for you. I would love to see the Apple OS ported to work on Windows, but it is believed this will never happen.
Too bad, if they could compete better with price, they could earn more converts faster. In my humble opinion, every PC user who has the opportunity should at least try the Apple experience once in their lifetime.
Thanks....
Thanks to Krista at Mac.Majorgeeks.Com for discussing some of my experiences and helping me realize a few things. Thanks also to Anthony Kinyon, Pierre Szwarc, Chris Pirillo, Neil Turner and many more that inspired me to try this after countless emails about Mac vs. PC, Vista vs. Leopard and more. Thanks to Lev, Adrynalyne and Halo from our forums for proofreading this and offering suggestions. Finally, thanks to Jim at Majorgeeks for proofreading this in text format only to give me his opinion by responding "it's very black and white". You rule.
Author - Timothy Tibbetts January 23, 2008
As Apple continues to get a larger market share of computer sales, you might be curious what it is all about. You may have seen a Macintosh computer, you certainly have been given someone's opinion, but for many it is a giant leap of faith to switch. I decided to spend the money for you, and this article chronicles my experiences over my first week of use. I hope it answers any questions a potential Apple customer would have about their computers. I have never operated a Macintosh, so Macintosh users; I apologize in advance for any obvious stupidity, for this is truly a first time Macintosh user. There is no bias to be found here, I am simply writing about my experience as I go with an open mind.
How I got here....
Having bought an iPhone, I saw how someone could get sucked into buying a Macintosh. The salespeople were awesome. I have had three or four people often ask to help me and even two or three helping me at the same time. There is no pushy sales pitch and if the person does not know the answer, they ask someone who does. Gasp! I saw this more then once; apparently this is how the Apple stores work. I had the same experience at least four times that I visited the store. It was then that I realized I was one of the people getting sucked in. Maybe I should buy a laptop, write it off and write about my experience? Since my laptop is primarily used only to work remotely with Gotomypc and play on Poker Stars, both now supported by Macintosh, why not take the plunge as I was considering replacing my "old" laptop. Computers to me must be how dogs feel, because each year feels like seven and using that math, my laptop is 14 years old. A different breed seemed like a good idea.
My experiences....
As always, the salespeople rocked. Seriously, if you want to see a no pressure sale, visit any Apple store. Trust me. In fact, I put this off because Macworld was a week away at the time and there was rumor that a MacBook Pro upgrade might happen. Here is the best part. The sale man told me to wait. I, of course, told him if he was getting commission, he really sucked at his job, but I was told that what I needed was best, although if I wanted one, he would go retrieve it for me immediately. Damn you Apple employees, if you tell me I do not want it, I have to have it! So, after Macworld produced no news on the MacBook Pro, I ran to the Apple store. All my questions were again answered by up to three sale people, and they didn't even push the extended warranty on me! They mentioned it; I explained my case (one-two year shelf life on computers) and that was that. I was, however, forced to debate cost as the top end MacBook Pro was almost three times the price of my previous laptop, but I HAD to know. Either way, if you can't afford a Macintosh, stop by any Apple store anyway, you can look and interact with their products with no hassle or obligation. If the store seems busy, as it did when I first went there, don't worry, they manage it very, very well.
Took the MacBook pro out of the box and opened it and plugged it in like any other laptop, except for the cool, magnetized power cord. Awesome! Ran through the original computer setup from there which most Windows users are used to, nothing too difficult, took about 10 minutes to boot to ready to run state on the setup. My average boot to ready state since then is roughly 30 seconds. Registration is optional with a privacy statement. I registered because I now own both the iPhone and MacBook Pro, I want to keep up on news regarding my new found technology. 5 days later, I have not received any email from Apple, a good sign that I won't be getting daily mail. A week later and I had still not received any email. Missing from the MacBook Pro is the many programs that come "bundled" with a PC. I do not need to remove programs or format my machine before I even use it, which I normally do. While a handful of these bundled programs can be handy, the majority of these are not wanted, needed and turn a typical shiny new fast PC into a slow, overloaded machine before you even get to your first porn site.
Poked around a bit right away and easily found some setting to adjust the Macintosh dock, as well as a few other settings. Overall, if you have PC experience, you can find most settings and features by simply poking around. The dock is the biggest change, and the coolest. While most of us laughed at the "newer" XP taskbar and even harder when Vista failed to improve on it, the Macintosh dock is just slick in looks and functionality. You can also drag items to your desktop and move the dock, just like you do with your Windows PC. Easy access to the most commonly used programs, setting or applications are here. A little more tinkering brings up widgets that look familiar. Yes, a lot like the Vista gadgets. Interesting. Did I mention the 17" model weighs less and is thinner then my 1 year old HP laptop? It is. From what I saw, I bet it is thinner and lighter then similar PC offerings. It is also just sexy. Anyone who has seen an Apple laptop knows the look.
Installed Poker Stars, took a minute or two to understand how to install. Overall, I just had to drag the download from the desktop to the applications folder and I was off. While this may seem weird, it’s no more complicated than a windows install, really. A prompt came up asking me if I was sure I wanted to run this application and that was all. At this point, I am still unaware of how to get it to the Macintosh dock for easy access. I had to open the applications folder and drag it to the desktop for easy access. From there I discovered I could easily drag it anywhere I wanted on the dock.
On the second day, while unplugged and wandering around my house, the MacBook Pro locked up. I tried to power off, press all the keys and even went for ctrl, alt delete. Once I plugged it in, it unfroze. I was a bit surprised; I would ignore it, well except that I just wrote about it. Minutes after writing this, I checked for a system update and a fix to resolve a frozen keyboard (that can last a minute or two) was available. That was quick! I am now trying to get used to the track pad built in. It is similar to any other laptop except that it only has one mouse button. That said you can plug just about any mouse into it via USB, like you would your own PC. If you never noticed (what PC user would?) most mice have system requirements and the majority will say that Macintosh is supported. Take a look next time your in the mice section of your favorite store. I decided to grab a wireless notebook mouse for future use. I opted for a Microsoft mouse simply because it was Microsoft. After all, one would assume if a problem was to be had with Apple hardware, sticking in Microsoft hardware should do the trick. It turns out to be the opposite. No beep, no new hardware found, nothing. As soon as I turned on the mouse, it worked. That was it. I am now getting used to the "close", "minimize" and "maximize" icons being on the left of an open program instead of the right, like on a PC.
On the third day, I picked up a Macintosh magazine at Staples because it mentioned some operating system tweaks. Like most magazines, they repeat these types of tips frequently and it not only pointed out some simple tweaks, but showed me how to get to other areas I had not discovered. Of course, if you are going to take a plunge on a different operating system, a book would be a great idea, but a magazine or two can give you some much needed help and some bathroom reading. I am still treading carefully, occasionally looking at this and that (a technical term for you) mostly by bumping into new things. As a car enthusiast, I compare this to trading in your old car for a new, different model. When you first get in your new car, you need to know some basics; if the seat is where you want it, how the high beams work, where the windshield wipers are and where the iPod jack is. Weeks later, you still discover more new things about your new vehicle as you go. You may have even opened your owner manual to discover something new.
Getting better at this....
After 5 days, I am beyond the basics of what I need to do and now am exploring into things I might want to do. I have gotten used to the Macintosh books track pad, though I still do not prefer it over the typical PC setup. We PC users are all about scroll, right click and breaking things. Speaking of which I was trying to drag my Poker Stars icon to the dock again today and accidentally deleted it. Oops. I briefly panicked like a PC newbie, then took a breath and started looking around. I could not find it in applications because it was on the desktop, but "Finder" found it for me and I restored the shortcut. I have realized that the dock truly is a condensed, easier to use version of the Windows start menu. Finder is similar to My Computer. Only 5 days in, I have much to explore. I have surfed the web with Safari before, which for some reason just seems a better experience on the Macintosh then the beta version for Windows. I just discovered spaces, a virtual desktop that allows you have 4 desktops to reduce clutter. This works well if you are easily distracted like me. It is easy to use, click spaces, and then click whichever desktop of the 4 you want to use. Click spaces again to select another. Spaces is off by default and took me 2 minutes to setup and test. Macintosh users will tell you that the Macintosh comes with everything most people will need. This is probably true. I have yet to play with everything, but some of the programs include iTunes, Garage Band (a fun personal recording tool), iPhoto (manage your photos, create cards, calendars), iMovie (view and work with movies), Time Machine (built in backup that is actually good), calendar, email, iChat, Dashboard (widgets) and probably more that I have not discovered. To use all of these programs and write about them objectively would take weeks, so I will leave all that alone. The point is that it might take you weeks to discover all the toys already included.
Final day....
I discovered "Spotlight" today. It is basically a search accessible from the top bar on the desktop. By typing into Spotlight, it returns everything it can find broken down to categories including top hit, definition, documents, folders, web pages and more. Very handy search. I found this in a small strip that is located across the top of your screen at all times, which I should have mentioned earlier. I am not sure what it is called, but it is similar to the start menu and task bar that you are used to in Windows. Maybe it is just called the taskbar? As usual, the backwards world continues as this taskbar is on the top by default, not the bottom. It also has the options normally found on the top of a running program in this area. For example, where I would normally click on File, about, etc. I instead find this on the top of my screen at all times when that program is active. Decided to install World Of Warcraft to see how it plays. Pretty excited about it because Apple has always run behind on a lot of gaming software.
My final program test is to install World of Warcraft, a game that can be quite demanding on any desktop, not to mention laptop. I inserted the first CD which you put in like a console. There is no flimsy drawer to open or close and I like it. An icon was placed on my desktop that said World Of Warcraft Disc 1 and I double clicked it. The CD drive seems quite noisy, and about the same speed I am used to. My wife is laughing at me as I mention aloud that I don't know how to install this or get my CD back out. So far, this is not fun, I can not find out how to install from the CD. Autorun, anyone? Finally, after closing the program, I tried again and it dropped the installer into the dock. That’s sweet. Of course, I am doing this on batteries, mostly because I like to break stuff and it seems like a really bad idea. At this point I have been on batteries for about an hour or more and just noticed a bit of heat under the laptop, but nothing compared to my old laptop. Game ran fine at high resolution with most video settings turned up. The sound was laptop sound, but pretty decent, a step above what I was used to. FPS was anywhere from 20 in busy areas to above 60 in quieter areas. I picked one area and found 59 fps with the MacBook Pro and in the same area on my desktop I got 77 fps. My desktop also is dual core Intel but has an 8800 GT video card, a step above. Quite acceptable frame rates from the MacBook Pro.
I finished off day 7 back in the settings menu. Like Windows, this is an area you can tinker around in until your PC works, and looks, how you want it. I am having fun editing the dock size and position, trackpad settings, and discovered some functionality settings such as what to do when you insert CD and DVDs depending on what is on the CD or DVD. Sort of an expanded autorun and very cool. Many issues I had during the first week are now resolved in settings. In other words, once settled in, I am discovering how to tweak the operating system to do most of the things I wanted. I was able to get my iPhone to connect via Bluetooth, but was unable to actually do anything, such as transfer pictures to my MacBook Pro. Maybe later.
Conclusion:
At the end of the day(s) the Macintosh interface is just awesome. It has similarities to Windows and vice versa although Vista seems to have taken more from OSX including gadgets and the "shiny" look. It is a bit like being in bizarro world. Up is down, down is up yet everything is somehow familiar. Frankly, the Macintosh operating system is hands down much better in use, appearance and functionality then Vista ever dreamed of being. That's a pretty big statement. Sadly, this would make a great computer every day except for a few things. First, I like my choice and availability of hardware. This, of course, can also cause system problems and crashes as well to the average user. Second is the price. While I was at Staples to get a laptop pad, I looked at the laptops on display. Acer and Compaq both had dual core machines with 2 gigs of ram and 17" wide screen for 800 dollars, 25% the price of a MacBook Pro with similar specs. Dell had one for 1,000 on display. While you can argue the differences in machines, you certainly can not argue that the MacBook Pro has over $2,000 more hardware and software included. More importantly, you can not argue with someone who has an 800-1200 dollar budget that they need to come up with a thousand or two more. I know many people buying laptops in the past year and the MacBook Pro starts at $1,999 at the time of this article and most people would find $1999 for a 15" laptop too expensive. I did as well. If I was not in the business, I would have gone PC just on cost. That said the MacBook Pro laptops can almost be considered a boutique computer, something that can cost five thousand on a PC. I thought the desktop pricing was more reasonable considering the new 8 core PC is $2,799 the most expensive computer. Finally I wish for more software. Of course, Apple now has much, much more software then ever before and comes pre-loaded with some great software. Unlike the PC, this software is not stripped down or time limited versions of software you don't want or need. As mentioned above, two programs I wanted to run were not supported even a year ago. Of course, Apple has released Boot Camp, so you can purchase XP or Vista and dual boot to use your Windows PC. A great solution if you are unsure that a Macintosh is for you. I would love to see the Apple OS ported to work on Windows, but it is believed this will never happen.
Too bad, if they could compete better with price, they could earn more converts faster. In my humble opinion, every PC user who has the opportunity should at least try the Apple experience once in their lifetime.
Thanks....
Thanks to Krista at Mac.Majorgeeks.Com for discussing some of my experiences and helping me realize a few things. Thanks also to Anthony Kinyon, Pierre Szwarc, Chris Pirillo, Neil Turner and many more that inspired me to try this after countless emails about Mac vs. PC, Vista vs. Leopard and more. Thanks to Lev, Adrynalyne and Halo from our forums for proofreading this and offering suggestions. Finally, thanks to Jim at Majorgeeks for proofreading this in text format only to give me his opinion by responding "it's very black and white". You rule.
Author - Timothy Tibbetts January 23, 2008