Date: Thu, 16 Oct 97 08:02:09 -0800
From: EvangeList <evangelist@apple.com>
Subject: Tidbit - Winteloholics Anonymous

Keyword: Advocacy, Why Macs Are Better

Doug Carter

Hi, my name is Doug Carter and I'm a Winteloholic. It's taken me many 
long and painful years to admit my illness, but now I'm comfortable 
talking about it.

It started innocently with my first computer, an IBM PC. I bought to play 
with, not to be productive. It was a great toy, it helped me learn a lot 
about computers. It helped me to my next step, Unix and system 
programming.

Then the trouble started, I began to need computers for two reasons. I 
continued to use Unix for software engineering and started using Wintel 
for my administrative needs. Using Wintel for mail, home finance and 
games *seemed* logical at the time. However, it's been a long, slow and 
confusing trip. All of the advertising and business news seem to reaffirm 
my computing choice, but I was so unproductive and unhappy.

Earlier this year, I finally snapped, I had reached my limit. I sold my 
primary Wintel machine and bought a PowerBook. I must admit, it was a 
little scary. I had listened to the Wintel propaganda for so long, it had 
become truth. I was throwing out all that I knew and taking a risk on 
something new. I've never looked back. In fact, I'm really sorry I didn't 
take action sooner.

I was in a used computer store the other day, they had both Macs and PCs. 
I told the sales guy I was glad they had Macs, he looked surprised. 
"Why?", he asked.

I told him that one by one, I've been replacing all of the Wintel 
machines of my family and friends. I told him I was sick and tired of 
promoting inferior technology, not to mention the time and energy to 
support them was getting too large. He started to look confused.

Then he asked, "Aren't you concerned now that Microsoft had bought out 
Apple?" I explained that Microsoft's "investment" was just a overdue 
patent infringement payment, mostly designed to keep the antitrust 
litigation at bay. His eyes started to glaze over.

He continued with more confused statements, "There's not much we can do 
to avoid Wintel, they are a necessary evil". I told him that I've been 
doing just fine since I've switched. I've been able to do everything I 
was doing before, only now it was easier. Ease of use and increased 
productivity have paid for itself many times over in just the first few 
weeks. I had hit a nerve.

He then told me a long and detailed story of how he spent days trying to 
add some new functionality to a friends Wintel machine. He started to see 
how he was caught between the Wintel marketing machine and the reality of 
the inferior technology. He started to look lost and helpless. He was 
starting to realize that he is a Winteloholic.

I wish I would have found the EvangeList sooner. I'd like to think it 
would have saved me a lot of time and suffering. On the other hand, maybe 
not. I might not have been ready to accept my illness or the willingness 
to do anything about it.

Now that I'm feeling better about myself and how I relate to computers, I 
take every opportunity to let others know that there is a better way. 
It's usually confusing for them, sometimes it's painful. But in the end, 
they always thank me.

I must go now, I have more work to do...

__________________________
Digital Guy Sez:

(sniff) I'm all verklemt. Talk amongst yourselves...here's a topic: 
"Winteloholics Anonymous has the same initials as the abbreviation for 
Washington state, location of Microsoft...coincidence or subliminal 
plot?" Discuss...