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This article makes a great point which I think more people should understand: "[...] when a platform makes a major transition, people are forced to stop and rec

by edanm 14y ago

This article makes a great point which I think more people should understand: "[...] when a platform makes a major transition, people are forced to stop and reconsider their purchase. They're going to have to learn something new anyway, so for a brief moment they are open to possibly switching to something else. The more relearning people have to do, the more willing they are to switch". This is exactly right. I'd love to switch to a Mac instead of my Windows, mostly because so many people do it and enjoy it, and their hardware is better. But I've got so many customizations and so much history with my Windows, that it will literally take me months of work converting everything, and there are some things I'm not even sure can be converted. But if Windows 8 will break half the things anyway, I'll really have no reason not to change to a new OS.

robryan 14y ago
The way to do that is just to go cold turkey on windows one day. That way you force yourself to find osx solutions for the sticking points.
aiscott 14y ago
I switched a couple years ago. I started my switch with hackintoshing my vostro laptop. I did buy a copy of snow-leopard, but even so, it was probably not strictly legal. Being relatively early in the hackintosh scene, a few things didn't work. Mainly the graphics weren't accelerated so all the nice animations in OSX looked crappy. But it afforded me the opportunity to use it as my main OS for a while before commiting to anything expensive. I rather liked the OS and had started iPhone developing. As my vostro laptop got long in the tooth, I chose to upgrade to a MacBook Pro. Still using that laptop today, in spite of two or three newer generations of apple laptops coming out. It's been very nice, for 32 months, no hardware issues. Last week, I've had a weird glitch where it switches to optical output when I remove headphones, and this has been annoying. I'll take it into the genius bar this weekend maybe. Probably the nicest thing about it is that it hasn't felt it's age. In my daily usage, I doubt the experience would be any better on newer hardware than mine is now. Gaming would probably be another matter, but I generally just do casual gaming. However, the infamous Walled Garden has been encroaching on the OSX space. That is something to give serious consideration to. It gives me pause. I've been thinking about giving linux a go again. Ubuntu has been giving me grief in vmware, but I'm going to see about dual booting.
- GeneralMaximus 14y ago
  > However, the infamous Walled Garden has been encroaching on the OSX space. That is something to give serious consideration to. It gives me pause. I've been thinking about giving linux a go again. Ubuntu has been giving me grief in vmware, but I'm going to see about dual booting. You can have the best of both worlds and run Linux on your MBP. You're in luck, too, since the new Fedora release supports EFI booting directly from both DVDs and USB disks. Since your MBP is 32 months old, all your hardware will most likely work out of the box with Linux. Early this year I bought an MBP exclusively for running Arch. Things have been absolutely wonderful. Top notch Apple hardware + an amazing selection FOSS software. What else can a geek ask for?
- felipemnoa 14y ago
  >>I've had a weird glitch where it switches to optical output when I remove headphones Similar thing was happening to me. It probably is dirty. Check to make sure it has nothing inside it, like lint.
iuguy 14y ago
I've had Macs around the house for personal stuff for a few years now. We have a Mac mini hooked up to the TV for watching stuff, and after putting an SSD and bumping up the ram it flies better than when I first bought it. No reason to upgrade, everything I ask it to do it does just fine. I recently bought a top-end 15" Macbook pro for work and put 16Gb of RAM in it. Despite the positive experience with the Mac mini, I feel like I'm sometimes fighting the MBP to get what I want done. I realise that this is probably me not doing things the Mac way, but it is mildly annoying to say the least. If Windows 8 is (as expected, and it was when I tested the consumer preview) similarly different, your point is absolutely spot on. I'll keep the MBP mainly because of the hardware quality, but if I was buying it again I'd definitely reconsider - both against because of the differences, and for because of Windows 8 (and the touchpad).
revorad 14y ago
The easiest start to a switch is a few years old second-hand Macbook.
AzAngel 14y ago
There is always Linux, one does not have to switch systems entirely.

by edanm 14y ago

robryan 14y ago

The way to do that is just to go cold turkey on windows one day. That way you force yourself to find osx solutions for the sticking points.

aiscott 14y ago

I switched a couple years ago. I started my switch with hackintoshing my vostro laptop. I did buy a copy of snow-leopard, but even so, it was probably not strictly legal. Being relatively early in the hackintosh scene, a few things didn't work. Mainly the graphics weren't accelerated so all the nice animations in OSX looked crappy. But it afforded me the opportunity to use it as my main OS for a while before commiting to anything expensive. I rather liked the OS and had started iPhone developing. As my vostro laptop got long in the tooth, I chose to upgrade to a MacBook Pro. Still using that laptop today, in spite of two or three newer generations of apple laptops coming out. It's been very nice, for 32 months, no hardware issues. Last week, I've had a weird glitch where it switches to optical output when I remove headphones, and this has been annoying. I'll take it into the genius bar this weekend maybe. Probably the nicest thing about it is that it hasn't felt it's age. In my daily usage, I doubt the experience would be any better on newer hardware than mine is now. Gaming would probably be another matter, but I generally just do casual gaming. However, the infamous Walled Garden has been encroaching on the OSX space. That is something to give serious consideration to. It gives me pause. I've been thinking about giving linux a go again. Ubuntu has been giving me grief in vmware, but I'm going to see about dual booting.

GeneralMaximus 14y ago
> However, the infamous Walled Garden has been encroaching on the OSX space. That is something to give serious consideration to. It gives me pause. I've been thinking about giving linux a go again. Ubuntu has been giving me grief in vmware, but I'm going to see about dual booting. You can have the best of both worlds and run Linux on your MBP. You're in luck, too, since the new Fedora release supports EFI booting directly from both DVDs and USB disks. Since your MBP is 32 months old, all your hardware will most likely work out of the box with Linux. Early this year I bought an MBP exclusively for running Arch. Things have been absolutely wonderful. Top notch Apple hardware + an amazing selection FOSS software. What else can a geek ask for?
felipemnoa 14y ago
>>I've had a weird glitch where it switches to optical output when I remove headphones Similar thing was happening to me. It probably is dirty. Check to make sure it has nothing inside it, like lint.

iuguy 14y ago

I've had Macs around the house for personal stuff for a few years now. We have a Mac mini hooked up to the TV for watching stuff, and after putting an SSD and bumping up the ram it flies better than when I first bought it. No reason to upgrade, everything I ask it to do it does just fine. I recently bought a top-end 15" Macbook pro for work and put 16Gb of RAM in it. Despite the positive experience with the Mac mini, I feel like I'm sometimes fighting the MBP to get what I want done. I realise that this is probably me not doing things the Mac way, but it is mildly annoying to say the least. If Windows 8 is (as expected, and it was when I tested the consumer preview) similarly different, your point is absolutely spot on. I'll keep the MBP mainly because of the hardware quality, but if I was buying it again I'd definitely reconsider - both against because of the differences, and for because of Windows 8 (and the touchpad).

revorad 14y ago

The easiest start to a switch is a few years old second-hand Macbook.

AzAngel 14y ago

There is always Linux, one does not have to switch systems entirely.