People get irritated by us because we are genuinely happy about our purchases as opposed to people who buy Windows based PCs. We’re just out there trying to inform people of a better world but we get mocked and ridiculed for our beliefs. Why? It’s simple really, people know they’ve made a sucky decision and here we are rubbing it in their face. People hate admitting they’re wrong and to buy a Mac after stubbornly conforming to Windows would force themto admit that they were wrong.

I guess also they expect a “told you so” attitude from us Mac users as well but truth is we welcome those who have seen the light and joined our fold and not ridicule them for their past transgressions.

Oh sure, we could go on until the cows come home about how there are a grand total of 0 viruses for Mac OS X in the wild as opposed to the 400 or so coming out every day for Windows. We could go on about how much quicker and easier it is to use Mac OS X than it is to use Windows, especially considering Windows is a complete rip off of Mac OS. We could go on about how easy it is to connect hardware to Macs or how easy it is to connect to other Macs on a network or whatever but then Windows users have already come to the sad realisation that this is the truth. They hate to admit it but then that’s the reality.

Ultimately I like Apple because I’m sick and tired of Windows. I work in IT and I have worked in IT for around 10 years predominantly on Windows based systems. Servers however have been different. I haven’t done a lot of server work on Windows servers but have done so on Novell and Unix based systems. I’ve played with Windows 2000 Server and everything about it sucked and seemed counterintuitive.

So when it came time to abandon the sinking ship that was the Amiga I had two choices, Windows or Mac. I chose Mac because of one thing... desktop video. I wanted to work on video and it was actually going to cost around $3000(NZ) MORE for a Windows based machine and an infinite amount of time solving crappy problems that shouldn’t exist. So the Mac it was, an iMac 450DV+ running Mac OS 9 and I loved it.

When Mac OS X beta came out I scored a copy of it from my local dealer and instantly saw the potential of it and the direction Apple was going. Each release has trumped the last so it’s going to be difficult for whatever the next version is going to be.

Needless to say I can do everything and more on my Mac that I need to do with more stable and more secure software than Windows.

But the attention to detail that Apple takes with ALL their products is also beyond normal which puts it above everything else out there. Sure there are better specced machines but while they have the specs they don’t have the style, or they have the style but not the specs as such Apple gear is the best all rounder. If you’re going to be using a computer all day then I’d prefer something that is not so jading on my eyes. My Mac Mini is small enough to be put on a shelf out of the way making the only thing on my desk being monitor, keyboard, mouse, and tablet as well as all the other stuff that junks up one’s desk. On said shelf I also have an Epson printer/scanner, 2 x external HDDs, Belkin USB2.0 hub, speaker system, USB 2.0 TV Tuner, M-Audio FastTrack USB guitar box (connects my guitars to my Mac), iPod Dock, and some books. Because it’s power in a small case I can get away with this. If I tried it on a PC the damn shelf would fall over.

But Mac OS X has it’s nice little attention to details as well. For instance you can set the Trash to secure delete all the time. You can set it so folders display the size not just files. Cover Flow makes it nice and easy to see what a file contains. Drives respect the Dock. Thousands of little things that make for an efficient and productive experience.

There are many arguments against Macs... lack of games, too expensive, to difficult to learn... but the truth is these are all bollocks.

For example, Macs make a great gaming platform. All the machines are the same therefore anything designed to work on one Mac will work on another. Pretty much the same as consoles only more powerful. This is in contrast to Windows PCs where it can often be a nightmare getting games to work due to the varied architectures out there. Where this does become an issue though is machines that have the Intel graphics chipset because games companies are paid by NVidia and ATI so they don’t tend to support other chipsets so if you’re into gaming then an iMac, MacBook Pro, or Mac Pro are your best bets. Also companies like Blizzard, EA, and id Software are all onboard with the Mac now so there.

Macs by and large are actually cheaper when you factor in everything you get with a Mac. This has been proved time and time again so this myth needs to be put to sleep but then narrow-minded Windows LUsers (geek term) keep trying to push it to make it sound like we’re the ones getting the raw deal. Yes, having software that would cost thousands of dollars on a Windows PC for free is getting ripped off. Idiots.

My favourite one is that Macs are difficult to learn. What crap. Seriously. I mean if you think a Mac is difficult to learn then you shouldn’t be able to use Windows considering it’s a rip off of Mac OS. Microsoft even got sued for it. Yes, Mac OS X defaults to single button mode on the mouse but the mouse is actually two button despite its design. It’s takes less than 10 seconds to turn on Secondary button for the right mouse button in the preferences. Mac users tend to use the keyboard more anyway so Control Click is just as easy as well.

All in all Macs ARE better than Windows. I’ve been in this game long enough and worked on a large variety of different applications and systems that my comments are beyond those of so called Mac fanboys. I’ve worked on systems most Windows users could only dream about so when I say Macs are better than Windows based PCs my comments are truly well founded. They’re not fanboyisms but cold hard experience based facts. Windows users on the other hand are generally just cats backed against the wall. They haunch themselves ready for attack because they are scared. And rightly so.