Switching from Windows to OS X a Pleasure
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- 2006.08.01
The first thing you might ask is, "If someone has used nearly all the Windows operating systems (apart from NT and the server editions, although I did dabble in 2000 Server a bit), why would he ever switch?"
The answer is simple: Macs just work.
Growing up on Windows (3.1, 95, 98, 2000, 2000 Server, and XP), I discovered something the hard way that any Mac or Linux user could have predicted - bugs after bugs after bugs.
Bugs, Worms, and Viruses, Oh My!
XP had just come out in the past few months, and I was so happy. My gaming rig would be the top of its class.
Through some of my dad's classes at college, he obtained a free copy of Windows XP. After a fresh install, as happy as can be, I installed a few games, played a little - and what do you know, it goes to the desktop and starts acting very weird.
After about a week of this, we decided enough was enough and switched back to the "stable" Windows 2000. For months I got by - playing games and doing school work - before the computer started acting up again.
This time it was hardware related, but still irritating. Fixing the hardware and installing a new version of XP, I started playing my games again - until Fable (a Microsoft product, go figure) would freeze the entire computer.
Finally, I said enough is enough!
I Saw the Light
I saw the light . . . it was in the shape of an Apple Logo
Stepping back to summer, where I
took a writing class to improve my handwriting (the high school I
applied for only accepts 100 students a year, and taking the class
was a requirement) my father let me borrow his iBook 500 Dual USB for minor notes.
I was in love with OS X the minute I saw it. Surprising enough - this is coming from someone who used Windows from the age of 5 until now (15) - it was simple to use, simple to find what you are looking for, just simple!
At home, work was done more and more on the laptop, relegating the PC to gaming only. September came around, school started up (I did get in), and I begged my father to let me borrow it. Reluctantly he agreed and allowed me to take it to and from school each day.
The Transition
Between September and October, father still had ownership of the iBook, until he finally said "Brian, let me see the iBook."
After a few seconds of typing: "There, it's an early birthday present. Everything is in your name."
Up until the end of the year, I only had a few problems with it - both where my fault and actually the same problem. Coming home, my laptop fell off my chair and hit the ground with a soft thud. Seeing as how it was in a protective case and my backpack, I thought nothing of it. Getting home and opening up the case, a small white triangle fell out, as did my laptop itself.
The problem? That small triangle was the clip that held the CD-ROM drive bay shut, so the iBook is sitting next to me with a rubber band around its middle.
This happened twice. The first time, father took the iBook apart, fried my 512 MB RAM, but fixed the drive. The second time, however, I lost the white triangle.
This summer has been a big transition for me. I gave up gaming all together. My gaming PC (AMD Athlon 64 3000+ 2.0 GHz, 1 GB RAM, 100 GB hard drive, GeForce 5500FX) was traded for my father's first generation eMac (G4 700 MHz, 768 MB RAM, 200 GB hard drive, GeForce2), and what a transition it's been.
The eMac (I am writing this article on it) has been a pleasure to own, and it doesn't need the newest, greatest system to do what it needs to do.
Overall making the switch from Windows to OS X has been a
pleasure. 
Recent Advantage Mac articles
- Free and low cost ways to bring some Leopard features to Macs running Tiger, 10.29. You can't make Mac OS X 10.4 do everything 10.5 can, but you can get about 80% of the way there with freeware and shareware utilities.
- Vintage Macs provide a less distracting writing environment, 09.18. A Mac OS X user finds an old Macintosh IIsi and discovers the joy of writing undisturbed by music, messaging, and streaming content.
- The GIMP, a free alternative to Photoshop, 09.13. Although it's not as powerful or polished as Photoshop, the GIMP may be all the image editing software you need.
- Compared with creaky old Windows, OS X is a pleasure to use, 09.08. Compared with bogged down Windows 9x and 2000 computers, a late 90s G3 with OS X is a breath of fresh air.
- More in the Advantage Mac index.
Links for the Day
- Mac of the Day: DayStar Genesis, Oct. 1995 - The first 'Mac' with multiple processors, technology Daystar licensed to Apple.
- List of the Day: SuperMacs is for those using Umax SuperMac clones.
- October 6 in LEM history: 98: USB is a good thing - Can Apple save Emailer? - 99: Kihei iMacs - 00: Advice about PDS Power Macs - 03: A replacement PowerBook battery - 04: AirPort Express - 05: The Apple Lisa story - 06: Don't ignore battery recall - Use any networked computer as an additional Mac display
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- More links in our archive.
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