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I've noticed that most of my friends that have switched to a mac either switch back on their next computer purchase ("it just doesn't do everything I wanted it

I've noticed that most of my friends that have switched to a mac either switch back on their next computer purchase ("it just doesn't do everything I wanted it to do"), or install linux... Win 7 is making it a lot easier to switch back.

pedalpete 17y ago
I've actually noticed a similar trend. The few friends who switched to mac, say they love it and they'd never go back, then they find they can't get/afford the mac they want, and go back to Win. Positive comments all around about Win7.
- elblanco 17y ago
  I've usually noticed it in the form of "Macs are awesome, but they definitely sandbox you in in terms of what you can do, and how you can do that. If you don't think in the Mac way, you'll find yourself frustrated." This realization seems to hit about 6-12 months into ownership of their first Mac. Then slowly, they start cracking, and they start booting into Windows, or they install Linux and never go back. At some point they find that they can do everything they want outside of OSX and never bother to boot back. And then they realize that Mac keyboards and mice are really designed for Macs, and start to complain about that. And then you hear things like "I don't even want to carry my Mac Book Pro around since it's so heavy." And they end up just using it at home. Some will try and use their iPhones as a temporary portable computing solution, but you can only do so much with that. By this time a couple of years has passed and its time to get a new computer. So they hit the Apple store and realize that nothing has really changed. The hardware is still "ok", but features they don't really care about are touted as differentiators worthy of an extra 40% "Apple Tax" -- like fancy acronyms for expensive screens that only appear marginally better for the casual user, or "unibody construction" or whatever. None of my friends know or care what a "bezel" is. But they think the chin on the new iMacs makes it look ridiculous compared to the HP they saw at Costco the other day for half the price (and better specs). So they go to a Best Buy or whatever, the Macs are out front on table with a little dedicated display and sales area, but by this time they are conditioned not to care about the shiny because frankly, the shiny hasn't really cared much for them the last couple of years and head back to Windows laptop land and....well we've all seen the Microsoft commercials where some a parent takes their teenager into a Best Buy and walk out with a new Windows 7 PC. Except now they bought the laptop and a netbook, fell in love with Windows 7 at first sight, and they basically have no real transition to make since they all already use some version of Windows at work anyway (and they'll just use an enterprise Office license for Office stuff). And they still have enough money left over to buy some movies and a few CDs. Of course there's always the one guy, the "Mac guy" who thinks we're all crazy and tells campfire ghost stories about problems Windows hasn't had since 1996. He drives a Dark Grey VW Golf, listens to Coldplay exclusively (and Paul Oakenfold), has his entire apartment furnished courtesy of Ikea, and wears stylish oxford shirts with cargo pants, refuses to wear sneakers and always has 2-3 days of stubble. Everybody still thinks he has a aura of "cool", just that his schtick is getting a little stale now that everybody is moving to the suburbs or into management. Nobody makes the connection that he was the one that got them all to switch in the first place it was so long ago, but they all remember the $2500 they could have used for their vacation to Switzerland.

pedalpete 17y ago

I've actually noticed a similar trend. The few friends who switched to mac, say they love it and they'd never go back, then they find they can't get/afford the mac they want, and go back to Win. Positive comments all around about Win7.

elblanco 17y ago
I've usually noticed it in the form of "Macs are awesome, but they definitely sandbox you in in terms of what you can do, and how you can do that. If you don't think in the Mac way, you'll find yourself frustrated." This realization seems to hit about 6-12 months into ownership of their first Mac. Then slowly, they start cracking, and they start booting into Windows, or they install Linux and never go back. At some point they find that they can do everything they want outside of OSX and never bother to boot back. And then they realize that Mac keyboards and mice are really designed for Macs, and start to complain about that. And then you hear things like "I don't even want to carry my Mac Book Pro around since it's so heavy." And they end up just using it at home. Some will try and use their iPhones as a temporary portable computing solution, but you can only do so much with that. By this time a couple of years has passed and its time to get a new computer. So they hit the Apple store and realize that nothing has really changed. The hardware is still "ok", but features they don't really care about are touted as differentiators worthy of an extra 40% "Apple Tax" -- like fancy acronyms for expensive screens that only appear marginally better for the casual user, or "unibody construction" or whatever. None of my friends know or care what a "bezel" is. But they think the chin on the new iMacs makes it look ridiculous compared to the HP they saw at Costco the other day for half the price (and better specs). So they go to a Best Buy or whatever, the Macs are out front on table with a little dedicated display and sales area, but by this time they are conditioned not to care about the shiny because frankly, the shiny hasn't really cared much for them the last couple of years and head back to Windows laptop land and....well we've all seen the Microsoft commercials where some a parent takes their teenager into a Best Buy and walk out with a new Windows 7 PC. Except now they bought the laptop and a netbook, fell in love with Windows 7 at first sight, and they basically have no real transition to make since they all already use some version of Windows at work anyway (and they'll just use an enterprise Office license for Office stuff). And they still have enough money left over to buy some movies and a few CDs. Of course there's always the one guy, the "Mac guy" who thinks we're all crazy and tells campfire ghost stories about problems Windows hasn't had since 1996. He drives a Dark Grey VW Golf, listens to Coldplay exclusively (and Paul Oakenfold), has his entire apartment furnished courtesy of Ikea, and wears stylish oxford shirts with cargo pants, refuses to wear sneakers and always has 2-3 days of stubble. Everybody still thinks he has a aura of "cool", just that his schtick is getting a little stale now that everybody is moving to the suburbs or into management. Nobody makes the connection that he was the one that got them all to switch in the first place it was so long ago, but they all remember the $2500 they could have used for their vacation to Switzerland.