Technology musings…

When I first started using a Mac computer about three months ago, I wasn’t blown away or overwhelmed by the "Mac experience".  I recognized the differences between the operating systems and was able to get my Windows computers operating without too much fuss.  Until recently, I never realized how much I’ve actually enjoyed my Macbook.

The Situation
I recently joined a start-up company.  The company was ‘officially’ technology agnostic, but everyone except one of the partners used IBM/Lenovo laptops – one of the partners had contacts at Lenovo and was able to get some special rates.

When I joined, my computer wasn’t ready, so I began by using my own personal Macbook to minimize my ‘down-time’.  My original thought was to begin using company’s computers when available because it was "free" to me.  About a week and a half later, the new laptops arrived.

Choices:  Use the Company’s Windows Laptop or Use MY Macbook?
Before my Lenovo laptop arrived, I used some of my co-workers’ machines.  The laptops themselves are fairly well built and designed – I’d describe them as "rugged".  I always thought I could go back to using Windows, especially since I had only used my Macbook for about three months.  Unfortunately, going back to using Windows, even for a few brief moments was shockingly painful:

• Windows looks ugly compared to the Mac:  I know this sounds vain, shallow, and even trivial, but it’s true.  On Windows, the interface is inconsistent and awkward.
• Windows is less stable:  Since using my Mac, I’ve only had to reboot only a handful of times.  I can close the lid of my Macbook and then open it up and start using it with only a few seconds of delay without any worries of the system crashing.  On Windows, you can’t seem to do that.  It’s just better to either restart the computer or put the machine into ‘hibernate’.  Also, I noticed that programs on Windows seem to crash far more often.  I’m not talking about some dinky no-name programs here either.  Microsoft Office on a Windows computer seems to crash quite frequently – at least according to my co-workers.  Sure it could be a Office 2007 thing, but when you’re working on something, you don’t want to worry about your programs operating properly.

For the type of work that I currently do, there really isn’t a compelling reason to stick to Windows other than the fact that everyone else uses Windows computers.  There are some minor compatibility issues between sharing files, but it’s mostly because Windows has some issues with the conversions of their own standards or how they handle embedded objects like images.

The only other issue that I’ve noticed is that there are no Mac versions of Visio or Project.  There are plenty of Mac titles for diagramming or project management, but no exact Microsoft version.  I’m currently using OmniGraffle and OmniPlan.  There was a bit of an adjustment to using these programs, but that was more a function of being unfamiliar with them.

When my Lenovo Windows laptop arrived, I surprised myself and decided to use my own personal Macbook instead of using the company’s Lenovo laptop.  I’ve kept my options open and can opt to use the company laptop whenever I want.  If the compatibility issues become overly annoying, then I will probably go back to Windows.

The nature of my work is project based and I mostly use presentation software (Powerpoint), spreadsheets for analysis (Excel), word processing for report creation (Word), and communication software for email and calendaring (Outlook/Entourage).  I’m often at client sites or working from home, so there isn’t clear break between ‘office’ and my personal settings – working long hours doesn’t help either.

So my choice is to have separate computers for home and from work.  From a purely economical standpoint, I’d say that using the company’s computer is the way to go.  But from a personal productivity perspective, having one computer is much better since I can address any personal matters without having to wait to go home and use my own computer.

Conclusion
Is it possible to go back to Windows once you’ve switched to a Mac?  Yes, but in my case, I don’t want to.  My Macbook works perfectly fine in the business setting that I’m in and I hope that I can keep using it.

I’m not a Mac zealot, but my first three months of using a Mac have been pleasant and rather unremarkable.  When colleagues ask what’s so great about a Mac, I can’t really articulate any specific compelling reasons.  The best answer I can give them is that you just have to try it.  Once you do try, you might not be able to ‘go back’.

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