Becoming a Mac

Well, it's been some time...  actually, it's been a long time since I've blogged about my efforts to go from PC to Mac.  I have to admit, it was a bit disconcerting for a while there.  Since last I blogged, I had made the personal decision to go Mac, but with my work and other obligations I knew financially IF I was going to do it, then it would have to be around the end of the year.  So I had a hard time finding the motivation to blog.  It was a little frustrating talking about something that I didn't own...  

The truth of the matter, simply put, was that my Mac had to be MY Mac and a gift to myself from myself.  Although I toyed with the idea of replacing my home PC it wasn't really an option.  My wife wasn't ready to make the switch and with her college assignments she was afraid she would get frustrated if something went wrong.  So, last week upon receiving a bonus from my employer - thank heavens that not every industry is in the dumps - I did it.  I bought a shiny new 13" MacBook Pro.  I almost talked myself out of it.  But thankfully, I did it.  And now I can say, I have my first very own Mac.  :-) 

As far as the home PC, it needed upgrading too and with my spouses concerns I thought it best to stick with Windows.  I snapped up a nice little Dell with Windows 7 and it's on the way.  Although I'm not as excited about it as I am my Mac, I am curious to see how my wife handles the transition from Windows XP to Windows 7.  It will be a bit different but she was willing to make some small changes and having played with the release candidate myself I felt comfortable helping her along the way.

Well here goes nothing! I'll start out 2010 as a Mac in a PC world.  At work it is all PC and at home I will be a Mac on my own time.  I have decided to keep this blog and I may change the format, post less formally, and perhaps I'll write a little about the transition to Windows 7.  Either way, as a newbie to blogging, and a newbie to the Mac, I do like the idea of having a place of my own to share a little about my journey from PC to Mac.

 

Or perhaps, My problems with being a PC.  One of the biggest complaints I have with being a PC is simply that things just don't work.  As a PC, with so many applications, devices, tools, toys, peripherals, and things that can be attached it's amazing that all of the manufacturers haven't figured out a way to standardize stuff so that it works.  For example, there was this whole idea of "plug and play."  Remember that?  You werePlug and Play? Hmm supposed to be able to plug stuff in and it would figure out what was needed and make it play.  Yeah, that doesn't work so well.

But to give credit, it has gotten better.  There really are a lot of devices that when they are plugged into a PC, like cameras and printers, they do "just work."  But it's so inconsistent.

As I look into becoming a Mac it seems that many of those concepts have been thought through.  I often hear Mac fan boys say that "Mac's just work!"  That sounds pretty good to me.  However, it's not a guarantee, right?  Is that enough reason to turn my back on years of being a PC?  Is that enough to throw away all of my time, money, blood, sweat, and tears?  Yeah.... many, many tears.

I guess I better really think about this whole idea.  Maybe I'll just talk myself out of it in the end.

The new plug and play...