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A Bright Future Ahead For Apple And Mac Users |
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 Computers were meant to make our lives easier and let us have fun - and today's Macintosh does that.
I remember my first glimpse of a computer program. It was as a child in Blasdell New York (circa 1981), and on an Apple IIe a crudely drawn (although not by the day's standards) hot air baloon went across the screen. Shortly thereafter, us elementary school kids were treated to the classic game Oregon Trail.
That was it. I was hooked and had to see more! Luckily my older brother was "in the biz" of selling Macs and taught me more. My Dad eventually opened up his wallet enough to purchase an Apple IIc for me to go hog-wild on during my formative years.
And man, the fun I had! Not just with games, but creating stuff: printing out greeting cards, and flyers, and banners, making "choose your own adventure" text-based games, and on an on. And then along came the Mac and things got even better!
Apple sparked people's imaginations and the desktop publishing revolution. Things were easy and fun, and just worked. You didn't need to know arcane commands, you just pointed and clicked. And the selection of games were amazing, imaginative and unique (so much so, that many are still played today via emulation).
That's what the Mac was back in the day - fun and easy! And today, thanks to Steve Jobs' vision, Macs are fun and easy once again. Say what you want about the man, even that he can be a really big a$$hole sometimes, but the truth is that without him, Apple would still be stagnating just like in they were in the 90's.
Today there's OS X: a rock-solid OS with pretty aqua widgets, glorious screen effects, and a UNIX underbelly. There are all the iLife apps that let you do so many things so easily that it's just mindboggling! It really is a lot like the days of the original Macintosh, only with a brighter future.
Not just with all the good stuff that Apple is producing, but also look at the other side of the fence. Windows users struggle daily through things like IRQ conflicts, problems finding and/or installing drivers for 3rd party products, viruses out the ying-yang, corrupt .dll's, problems uninstalling software and much, much more.
Granted these aren't problems that EVERY Windows user suffers through, but compared to the freedom of a Mac, it's a virtual concentration camp. It ain't fun - I've seen it. Windows users spend so much time managing their systems that they have little time for the fun things, or actually making cool stuff!
But things are changing. Windows sufferers are learning that alternatives do exist: either with open-source or with Apple. (For Windows users contemplating jumping platforms, either route is fine, but I can fully guarantee that going the Apple route is MUCH more fun and will let you get more out of your computer experience.)
Despite what you may be hearing, Apple's switch campaign isn't failing. Sure the actual ads may not have gotten people to buy Macs, but they did help plant a seed. People thought about the Mac, and have asked their friends or family about them, or have hopped online to find out a little more, or even popped into an Apple Store to see just what the whole "Mac thing" was about. Maybe it didn't happen right away, but it got people curious. I know I've heard of more switchers in the past few months than I've heard of in my whole life previous to that.
Apple doesn't need to force the issue about switching either. It's a gradual thing, and can't be forced. I can imagine Steve Jobs sitting there in the lotus position meditating on how to increase the installed user base and saying something like: "The hard thing is to get the rock moving. Once moved, it picks up momentum on it's own."
These are just a few examples of how and why things are changing. We also have the iPod and the iTunes Music Store acting as ambassador's between PC and Mac users who otherwise would have never had a reason to talk to each other. There's Xserve and Xgrid paving inroads for Apple into the business market. And of course, Microsoft shooting itself in the foot almost daily will surely help affect change as well.
Once again it's a great time to be a Mac user, and the future never looked so bright. People are learning that Macs can help them be more productive and have more fun. More and more people will be going to the Mac platform and Apple will have more money to funnel back into giving Mac users more and greater products. (Hopefully that is, if they don't lose sight of their goals and go all Microsoft on us.)
And you know what's really exciting? This is just the beginning... |
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February 25 2004, 10:42 PM EDT, by
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Comments:
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| iKen |
2/26/04, 7:33 AM EDT |
Don't forget the fact that Apple is now officially debt free.
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| rlhamon |
2/26/04, 12:13 PM EDT |
What a great article. Jonaha you are right on
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sweetjimmyhugs
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2/26/04, 5:25 PM EDT |
it makes me all warm and fuzzy inside..... (HOARCK).. sorry, hairball.
Good article, not enough cowbell though. I got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell!
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| Jack Armstrong |
2/26/04, 7:34 PM EDT |
I have talked to like 5 or 6 people today who were thinking abotu getting a mac....
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| hey |
2/26/04, 8:24 PM EDT |
Last time I check, we don't do a lot of songs with the cowbell.
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| Bruce Dickenson (AKA Jack Armstrong) |
2/26/04, 10:57 PM EDT |
Guess What! I got a fever! And the only perscription... is more cowbell!
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| Joe Getty |
2/27/04, 4:23 PM EDT |
I'm a windows user currently, but using an ipod and itunes over the past few months have made me look over the fence.
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