I have been a Windows-only user almost my whole life. All of our home computers always had Windows on them, and I never messed around too much with anything pre-Windows, because we just simply didn't have computers in my house before that. The couple of times I had to use Macs (in high school and college labs usually) I had issues with them. The issues could have been user error, so I'm not necessarily blaming the machines--but nonetheless, I had a Mac lose a major project that I worked really hard on back in college, and I was turned off to Mac forever. (So I thought.)
In 2010, I bought an iPhone 4. In 2011, an iPad. Followed by an Apple TV. And so on and so on. My wife and I have basically been living in iOS for the last couple of years and she uses a work issued Macbook. Then there's this Windows PC sitting in my basement. It has been on XP, Vista, and 7. I built and rebuilt it by hand over the last few years, and it has been a workhorse for me. But it's starting to show its age, and to put it simply, I no longer feel like messing with it. These days, it is only being used to store media and share it out over HomeSharing. That's about it. Needless to say, we were in the market for a new computer.
I decided on the new Mac Mini after realizing that Windows machines just don't fit into our lives or our workflow anymore. (The 2009 and before version of me would be slapping current me in the face right now. I will reiterate that I used to be a HUGE Apple hater.) We have decided to hook it up to our HDTV in the man cave and use a magic trackpad and wireless bluetooth keyboard as the interface.
As far as setup, it took no time. I've been planning ahead for this for about a year. All my media files and documents I wanted to keep were already on an external drive ready to go. iCloud/iTunes Match took care of the rest. I dumped all my media on to the new Mac, formatted the external drive so I could use it for Time Machine, hooked it up to my Airport Extreme, and set it up for Time Machine backups. The backup situation that I thought would take forever to set up, took no time at all. And as I mentioned before, we use iCloud for everything else, so setting up profiles for my wife and I was painless.
As far as learning curve goes, it took all of one night. After the first night of learning how to use the trackpad and learning my way around the OS, I realized there really is no learning to worry about. You just do what you need to do. By the next day I felt like I was USING the computer instead of trying to figure out HOW to use the computer. Everything I used to do on my Windows box, there was an equal, no, better way to do it on OSX. And big advantage for me: My wife already uses Mac full time at work, so I don't have to show her how to do anything.
My original plan was to do Boot Camp and run Windows on my new Mac as well--just in case. That is no longer my plan. I don't feel that I'm missing out on anything by no longer using Windows. And I will add a side note to this as well. I tried the Windows 8 consumer preview back when it came out. My thought was that it looked pretty, but was, in general, a failure for PCs. It hit me last night when I was on Mountain Lion: "This is what MS was trying to do with Metro interface." I feel like MS saw where OSX was going and seemed to be trying to emulate it by using these full screen "apps" in the Metro interface. But what they ended up doing is putting 2 different versions of Windows in one OS. No convergence. Mountain Lion is convergence. And it works. And I love it.
So, Microsoft, the time has come for you and I to part ways. I will still use my Xbox 360 (I feel it's the only thing you're doing right anymore). Other than that, we're divorced. You've made things too complicated, too convoluted, and your OS shouldn't require a reformat every one to two years. Maybe we can try again when Windows 9 comes out.
In 2010, I bought an iPhone 4. In 2011, an iPad. Followed by an Apple TV. And so on and so on. My wife and I have basically been living in iOS for the last couple of years and she uses a work issued Macbook. Then there's this Windows PC sitting in my basement. It has been on XP, Vista, and 7. I built and rebuilt it by hand over the last few years, and it has been a workhorse for me. But it's starting to show its age, and to put it simply, I no longer feel like messing with it. These days, it is only being used to store media and share it out over HomeSharing. That's about it. Needless to say, we were in the market for a new computer.
I decided on the new Mac Mini after realizing that Windows machines just don't fit into our lives or our workflow anymore. (The 2009 and before version of me would be slapping current me in the face right now. I will reiterate that I used to be a HUGE Apple hater.) We have decided to hook it up to our HDTV in the man cave and use a magic trackpad and wireless bluetooth keyboard as the interface.
As far as setup, it took no time. I've been planning ahead for this for about a year. All my media files and documents I wanted to keep were already on an external drive ready to go. iCloud/iTunes Match took care of the rest. I dumped all my media on to the new Mac, formatted the external drive so I could use it for Time Machine, hooked it up to my Airport Extreme, and set it up for Time Machine backups. The backup situation that I thought would take forever to set up, took no time at all. And as I mentioned before, we use iCloud for everything else, so setting up profiles for my wife and I was painless.
As far as learning curve goes, it took all of one night. After the first night of learning how to use the trackpad and learning my way around the OS, I realized there really is no learning to worry about. You just do what you need to do. By the next day I felt like I was USING the computer instead of trying to figure out HOW to use the computer. Everything I used to do on my Windows box, there was an equal, no, better way to do it on OSX. And big advantage for me: My wife already uses Mac full time at work, so I don't have to show her how to do anything.
My original plan was to do Boot Camp and run Windows on my new Mac as well--just in case. That is no longer my plan. I don't feel that I'm missing out on anything by no longer using Windows. And I will add a side note to this as well. I tried the Windows 8 consumer preview back when it came out. My thought was that it looked pretty, but was, in general, a failure for PCs. It hit me last night when I was on Mountain Lion: "This is what MS was trying to do with Metro interface." I feel like MS saw where OSX was going and seemed to be trying to emulate it by using these full screen "apps" in the Metro interface. But what they ended up doing is putting 2 different versions of Windows in one OS. No convergence. Mountain Lion is convergence. And it works. And I love it.
So, Microsoft, the time has come for you and I to part ways. I will still use my Xbox 360 (I feel it's the only thing you're doing right anymore). Other than that, we're divorced. You've made things too complicated, too convoluted, and your OS shouldn't require a reformat every one to two years. Maybe we can try again when Windows 9 comes out.
