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I have gotten over, and broken through, my Windows 'comfort zone.'
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Al Fasoldt's reviews and commentaries, continuously available online since 1983
T h e R o a d L e s s T r a v e l e d
A Windows switcher's own words: This is what computing is supposed to be like
Sept. 14, 2005
By Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2005, Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2005, The Post-Standard
How hard is it to switch from a Windows PC to an Apple OS X Macintosh? I've said for a couple of years that it's easy, but you don't need to take my word for it. Here's what one reader's experience was like.
This what Raymond Nourse of Chittenango wrote to me a few weeks ago. The letter was unsolicited; I had no say whatsoever in what he wrote. I've added parenthetical sections to make some of his points clearer.
I just wanted to let you know that after much deliberation, and the purchase of two new PC's for my wife and daughter, I have finally seen the light -- and bought a Mac.
Since I already had a new keyboard and 17" LCD monitor, I opted for the Mac mini (the least expensive OS X Mac because it does not come with a monitor, keyboard or mouse). I bought it right after Apple also saw the light and upgraded the mini with more ram and built in Airport and Bluetooth (wireless networking).
I brought it home -- (it's so small that) my three year old could cary the box -- and hooked it up in maybe two minutes tops, then turned it on and was surfing the net within five minutes on my home wireless network.
This is what computing is supposed to be, simple and seamless.
Now that I have gotten over, and broken through, my Windows "comfort zone," I can say that I have been set free of the problems and fears I have experienced with the many PC's I have owned. With little effort, anyone with even minimal experience on a PC can be "up an running" on a Mac in no time.
Yes, it evens works with my transferred Word and Excel files -- something you wrote about recently. I did opt to stay with my Firefox browser and Thunderbird email, which I have been using since early this year. Because of this, I don't have any opinion about Apple's Safari and Mail programs, but everything else works as expected and is simple to use.
Yes -- and probably what you have been waiting for -- your past articles and unbiased opinions were instrumental in helping me make this decision. I had never even touched a Mac until Apple opened its store in Carousel Mall, and did not know anyone who owned one. Your informative articles -- and my own compulsive behavior! -- helped make this decision. Thanks.
Please continue to advise your readers that the decision to switch is easier than they might expect. -- Ray from Chittenango.
What Nourse says is what many others have recounted, sometimes in almost identical terms, in letters to me since Mac OS X was introduced four years ago. As a newbie Mac OS X user explained to me when I was meeting readers at the newspaper's "Cafe News" at the State Fair, "Windows users don't seem to understand that their problems are Windows problems, not computer problems."
Whether you're escaping from viruses, spyware and zombieware or just enjoying your OS X Mac, you can tell me your story by writing to me at afasoldt@twcny.rr.com.
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