I'll be honest, if I were going to decide what I was based solely on the above image, it's a no-brainer. Who wants to be the frumpy corporate schmuck? Yeah, that's right...no one. However, like most people, I've been raised on the PC. It was my first experience with a computer in high school, and it seemed to be the norm in college & grad school. Then once I was a corporate drone, people were all walking around with Dells and Thinkpads. It wasn't until my first job in NYC that I was given a MacBook Pro that would send most Apple fans into a state of bliss. I couldn't deny the beauty of it. It was simple, clean, and much much prettier than the crappy Dell desktop I'd been using up until that point. Only the design team was given MacBooks and this made the act of sharing files or compatibility with other people's stuff relatively difficult. In order to overcome this challenge, we all started running VM Ware so that we could have the MS Office productivity software, but still use Creative Suite on the Mac side.
So began my personal hell.
I understand that Steve Jobs has a vision. I understand that a lot of interactions on a Mac are better than those of the PC. What I don't understand is how any normal human being can switch between the two without being driven to complete and total insanity. The interactions are just different enough to make me crazy! (just as an example, copy & paste keyboard shortcut- Ctrl + C or V vs. whatever the heck that key is called that looks like a swirly square cubey thing + C or V - I mean, the keys aren't even in the same spot on the keyboard! Cut me a break here!!)
Not only that, but even their hardware is different (read: EXPENSIVE) You can't just go to a Target and get a charger for your MacBook. You gotta go to the Apple store and spend 90 bucks on one.
After my first job in NYC, I had a PC. It was an adjustment to switch back, but it was like riding a bike. At my first job in KC, I was given a choice and I chose the MacBook. I promptly realized that it was going to be a pain in the ass because the helpdesk didn't support Macs and switched back to a PC. My next job was a Mac. Trying to keep up was enough to make my head spin.
At work, I'm currently using a MacBook with Office for Mac and no VM Ware or Parallels or Bootcamp. I'm fine at work...but the second I come home and try to use my Toshiba laptop to blog, all hell breaks loose. I use the wrong shortcut keys, I go to the wrong side of the screen to close or minimize windows, and I keep trying to use hot corners that don't exist. It's infuriating.
My point in this rant is to simply say this...
I know a ton of people who are die hard Apple fans. I get it, people...I really do. Their hardware and software is beautiful. However, I'm not convinced that you're die hard Apple fans because it's the best designed stuff or that it's the most usable or makes the most sense. I think it's because it's just too damn hard to switch off of one.
At this point, I am on my MacBook way more than my Toshiba laptop (mainly because I'm on the computer all damn day and I don't feel like staring at one at home too...) That being said, I'm pretty much indifferent as to which one I like more. I can say this: I'd be 100% okay with never using a PC again if I could just deal with Macs and I'd be 100% okay never using a Mac again if I could just deal with PCs. I'm not sure if that makes me a fair weather fan of one or the other, or just a victim of my circumstance. What would be ideal is if everyone could just get along, decide what way is the best, and then EVERYONE does it that way.
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