Subject: Mac OS X blew me away

I’ve been a PC software developer for about 9 years. I know DOS and
Windows like the back of my hand. I am also a seasoned Unix/Linux user.
A few years ago, I owned 5 PC’s and had never even seriously used a Mac.
I wrote portions of books on Windows applications like FrontPage 98 and
Internet Explorer 4 for QUE. I encouraged my friends to buy Windows PC’s
and discouraged the purchase of Apple computers because “although I’ve
heard their computers are nice, they are probably going out of
business.” I built PC systems from components. I was the hacking,
building, PC-using type of person who loved to tweak and play, messing
with batch files and configuration files, the registry and more.

Now, I have 1 PC and 8 Macs. How did this happen?

My first real experience with a Mac came about when I requested my
company purchase one in order to cross-platform test a web site
application I was developing. I was immediately impressed by the speed,
simplicity and usability of the machine... and that was several years ago,
around OS 8. I started to feel that my NT ThinkPad that I enjoyed so
much was primitive next to the Mac.

Later, when the iMac came out, I bought one for my kid and as a toy.
Some toy. It immediately became my favorite machine because after a day
of fighting with PC’s, I could just do things I enjoyed on my iMac.
Before I knew it, my PC’s were going and I was picking up Macs.

Mac OS X blew me away. Not only is it gorgeous, but it somehow manages
to be the simplest and most powerful OS ever at the same time. My wife,
a non-technical user with a Windows background, refuses to use anything
but OS X. She needs no help with anything, which I appreciate very much.
My son, now 7, uses Macs like an old pro without ever being taught. I,
the technical power user, am lacking nothing on OS X. It fits all of us.
Macs have become the only computers I will use or buy. I still have one
PC, but I don’t use it much and I intend to replace it with a Mac just
as soon as I can.

- RS