Chris Pirillo, Time to Get a Mac

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My friend Chris Pirillo is out with a post today entitled "Windows Vista, I'm Breaking Up with You." In the post he documents all the reasons why he plans on "upgrading" (yes, you read that right) from Windows Vista to Windows XP.

Chris points to the reasons why he's disappointed in Vista (his scanner doesn't work, Windows Movie Maker crashes, his fax software doesn't work, his Lifecam won't work -- check this out Chris, the Mac has a super cool cam already built in -- I could go on, but just read his article to get the whole thing).

But you see here's the thing. This is Chris Pirillo. Chris Pirillo the Windows heavy weight. Chris Pirillo who happens to be kind of sort of pretty handy with a computer. If Chris Pirillo is having trouble, just imagine the trouble that the rest of middle America is having.

I was as much of a Windows diehard as Chris Pirillo was before switching to my MacBook Pro. I really was impressed by what I saw of some early Vista demos. I used to deride the Appleheaded fan boys who would hype the bejezus out of Apple. And for years (16 of them to be exact) I just stuck by Windows again, and again and again and again.

I stuck with Windows for one reason. I was stubbornheaded. It didn't matter how much things fell apart and didn't work, like most people I just had a natural resistance to change. I didn't want to start over again. I was afraid of trying something new. I was busy, always super busy, and used the learning curve as an excuse. And then because I wasn't really sure (the Mac was the unknown) was I just going to waste more money on something else. I rationalized that all computers had the same problems. That Macs were no better than PCs, etc. etc. again and again and again.

And then after I'd been hit in the side of the head with a shovel one too many times and when I got tired of hearing my friend Kristopher Tate (that's him in the photo above) say over and over and over again, "Dude, get a Mac," one day on a total impulse buy I bought one at the Apple store in Palo Alto.

And it has been the most positive thing to happen to my computing since. I live with my computer. It's a big part of my life. I use it upwards of 20 hours a day. And although there was about a 72 hour learning curve and I had to ask Kristopher some really dumb things like "how do I rename a folder," after this short learning curve it was over and done and now I'm far, far more efficient with my computing than I've ever been.

Programs don't freeze. Everything with a USB connection I've ever stuck into the thing has just worked. It wakes up when it's supposed to. In three months of heavy, heavy use I've probably only had to restart maybe three times. Photoshop goes faster. Bridge goes faster. Everything goes faster. And everything just works. That's the bottom line, everything just works.

Don't get me wrong. Things *can* go wrong on a Mac. It just happens like 20x less than on a PC.

On top of it all it feels better. The built in cam and mic are awesome. The way the volume goes pop, pop, pop as I turn my music up and down is soothing. The keyboard is more comfortable. It's really cool how I can use two fingers on the touchpad to move my screen up and down, two fingers on the pad and click to right click, etc.

In his article about Vista Chris says, "I’m still more than willing to help Microsoft improve Windows and get the message out to users, but I simply can’t sacrifice my own time and productivity without benefits in clear sight."

I don't quite know what to say about Vista. I've got lots of good friends at Microsoft. I really like them. I wish I could say that I think Windows rocks, but I don't. To be fair I think a big part of the problem is Microsoft's open system vs. Apple's closed system. When you have a closed system you can just test it again and again and again to make sure it works. Windows on the other hand must support many, many more components than Apple does and so one lazy screw up by say a mousepad maker can ruin the whole experience (I never could get tap to click turned off on my old Dell laptop).

Take my advice Chris Pirillo. Make the switch. I should have done it years ago. You will not regret it. You won't look back. It will be like a dark cloud has been lifted from over your head. It really is that good. Forget about the marketing, about the guy in the hospital gown vs. the hipster. Forget about all the hype. Just do it. Bottom line is it just works and you will be so much productive for it. Don't "upgrade" to XP. XP Sucks.

Time to get a Mac Pal.

You can digg this post here.