Over a month hands-on with the new Windows Vista operating system has convinced a longtime Windows champion to go Mac. I don’t currently have the time or need to explore Windows Vista myself, but I am mildly curious to see what Microsoft has spent the past 5+ years cooking up for it’s customers. So, over this morning’s coffee and bagel, I read this article by Erika Jonietz, a writer for MIT’s Technology Review.
After summarizing her years as an ardent Microsoft advocate, Ms. Jonietz explains how Vista “has done what years of experience and exhortations from Mac-loving friends could not: it has converted me into a Mac fan.” Her main criticisms seem to be...
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LACK OF INNOVATION. “Many of Vista's ‘new’ features seemed terribly familiar”, as they were obviously copied from Tiger, the LAST version of Mac OS X. (Meanwhile Leopard, the NEW version of Mac OS X, should be released to the public a little later this year, and promises further innovations.)
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YOU NEED A FAST NEW COMPUTER. “Although my computer meets the minimum requirements of a ‘Vista Premium Ready PC’, with one gigabyte of RAM, I could run only a few simple programs, such as a Web browser and word processor, without running out of memory. I couldn't even watch a movie (DVD).... In short, you need a hell of a computer just to run this OS.” By comparison, she writes, “Though my Mac barely exceeds the processor and memory requirements for OS X Tiger, every bundled program runs perfectly.”
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YOUR OLD PERIPHERALS WON’T WORK. If you want to install and run Windows Vista in all it’s 64-bit glory, “users will be virtually forced to buy new peripherals”, because hardware manufacturers have little incentive to write new drivers for their old equipment. By comparison, “The five-year-old printer that doesn't work at all with Vista performs beautifully with OS X, not because the manufacturer bothered to write a new Mac driver for my aging standby, but because Apple included a third-party, open-source driver designed to support older printers in Tiger. Instead of facing the planned obsolescence of my printer, I can stick with it as long as I like.”
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There have been many articles in the tech and popular press about people switching to Macs. But this is the first I’ve read by a self-declared “obstinate” Windows lover who has actually used the NEW Windows operating system. Her revelatory conclusion won’t surprise current Mac users:
“I just want things to work, and with my Mac, they do.... if the choice is between struggling to configure every feature and being able to boot up and get to work, at long last I choose the Mac.”
If you’re determined to stick with Windows, I suggest that you wait 6 months, before making the switch to Vista, giving Microsoft time to work out the major bugs that seem inevitable with new software, while early adopters take the arrows in the back and report on the new operating system. And when you do switch, just buy a brand new computer (and a damn good one) with Windows Vista pre-installed.
But I have to point out, for about the same cost in dollars, you could just buy a new Mac. And it will work with many of your old peripherals (which could save you a few dollars). Then, when you call me with your computer questions, my first response will no longer be “Get a Mac, and call me in the morning”.
(To learn more about making the switch to Mac, see my list of related articles, opinions and guides.)
January 20, 2007
