As the owner of a site dedicated to Mac users, you'd think that I spend all my time convincing friends to buy Mac. Well, I'd love to say that that's true, but more often than not, I end up helping them choose the right PC for their needs.

"Traitor!" I hear you scream? Well, it's never a pleasant experience, but for friends that are first-time purchasers, trying to explain the difference between what we all see as the "Mac experience" and using a PC just doesn't work. Believe it or not, people sometimes aren't even familiar with what an operating system is and that there is in fact more than one. Unfortunately instead, it often boils down to cost. And despite the heated arguments over Return on Investment, resale value and more, it finally comes to the point where I either help them with a PC purchase or don't help them at all.

They see that for a lot less dollars and daily adverts in the national papers, they can get a get a great PC with a lot of extra equipment bundled with it. Despite pleas, despite sobbing and despite the "you'll live to regret it" comments coming from me incessantly, a purchase is made. So what pleasure do I derive from helping these friends? Well, there's a time factor involved. You have to be patient, but pay-off comes in the smug look you can give them 12 to 24 months down the track when you say "I did try to warn you".

One such friend, a keen video editor, who purchased a PC complete with video input card (never used) is starting to see the light (hallelujah) and may actually buy a Mac. Why? Well, when he sees the flat-panel iMac sitting on my desk, sees the camera plug in so nicely and then sees iMovie launch, he's captivated. The astounding thing about products like iMovie is that their brilliance isn't because of their sophistication...it's because of their simplicity.

So when this PC user is captivated by the ease of iMovie, I go in for the kill...having just reviewed a raft of iMovie plug-ins for Macguide, I blind him with visual effects, transitions and titles galore....and just when he thinks it can't get any better...iDVD. Cue smug look and "Well, if you had a Mac you could do this" comment and even the mere thought of victory and a 'conversion' is worth it.

So there's our real target...not the people who are new to computers, but existing users. The true 'novice' user is going to take a lot of convincing to go Mac and it's a battle I rarely win, despite every effort. Apple HQ have recognised this in their latest campaigns by promoting and targeting existing users to Switch over to the Apple experience. The ads have been hugely successful and have even seen some downright disastrous attempts by the competitors to combat them. So are we going to see some in New Zealand? I wonder. And fingers crossed, after countless days round at my friends place getting scanners and sound cards to work, viruses to disappear and more...I'm hoping, just hoping, that I might have a candidate for one of those first ads.

In the meantime, minus a QuickTime movie, I'll sign off in Switch fashion...

My name's Philip Roy and I refuse to switch....I'm on the right platform already.