1999: The biggest excuse for a PC user to avoid the Macintosh is, “Mac’s are for desktop publishing, and I don’t do that.”

The real reason your average PC user doesn’t use a Macintosh is that it isn’t all around them. People adapt to and accept what they are surrounded by. Sadly, that is Microsoft Windows.

But lately people have not been accepting their surroundings, and everyone is looking for an “alternative” to Microsoft. “Down with Microsoft,” the Windows-using lemmings scream. “Give us an alternative.”

Be careful what you wish for – you just might get it. Before I announce if I am going to be a Macintosh user for life, I would like to introduce a scenario that I don’t think too many people in Wintel land have thought about.

Let’s say that Microsoft does get split up, Windows 2000 bombs, and the public gets its way by Microsoft getting wiped off the face of the planet. There is an old saying, “Don’t **** where you eat,” and I think PC users don’t quite understand that. If PC users lose Microsoft, their PCs will be little more than paperweights. All the PC applications and games will be ported to Linux.

“We don’t know Linux or Unix!” the PC users will scream. “Why should we have to learn command line now? We didn’t have to with Windows.”

You made your bed; now you have to sleep in it.

Microsoft will fall, and Linux will thrive in the x86 arena. The power/influence will be taken away from the so-called “professionals” and put back into the hands of geeks like myself (where it belonged to begin with). My dollar value in the IT field will triple because I have worked with Unix for many years exclusively in the information technology field. PC users will be running scared, screaming, “What do we do!”

Macintosh users will rejoice in their victory over Microsoft, and I think the Mac users will welcome Microsoft refugees with open arms. It’s just in their nature, and that’s what puts the Macintosh crowd above the rest.

So will I continue to be a PC user, or will I convert to the Macintosh platform? Yes to both.

For the general public, I think the Macintosh is the future. For a user such as myself, I like to work on several platforms. I welcome everything that is new and exciting with an open mind. For my day to day tasks, I will continue to use a Mac. Perhaps when I start playing with Mac OS X Server, I will be able to morph some of my other activities as well. My Quadra 605 will need to be replaced because it just doesn’t offer the power I need.

I think a Power Mac G4 may be in order to become my full-time computer. Except for the Quadra’s speed, the Macintosh is top notch. The Mac OS is superior to all other mainstream OS’s. Networking needs to be improved a bit, but I will save that for another time. Security is flawless, but that’s what happens when you have people who know what they are doing.

I now consider myself an official Macintosh user, but the metamorphosis is far from complete. Until it is, I will continue to tell you all about it here at Low End Mac.

Long live Apple!