An entire Sunday to spend in a Macintosh Mood. Who'd have thought it wouldn't be easy? Thankfully, I got up only at 11am and so didn't have all that much of the day to spend, and, in another four minutes it will have been 12 hours since I awoke. 4 hours of work today, during which I played one game of DotA, logged zero client interactions and listened to at least an hour's worth of "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson which spans a whopping 19 hours (though still significantly less than the Order of the Phoenix at 26-29 hours). All this while being giddy with excitement about what is to come starting 10am tomorrow at Moscone Center in San Francisco. Man, I am such a geek. (That wasn't derogatory or anything, I just love being a geek)

However, there were still 8 hours before now and I have been scouring the Internet for stuff to read. I went to www.cocoadevcentral.com and visited each and every developer's blog listed there. I gobbled up all the information within reading distance but still wasn't satisfied. So, I went ahead and wrote two entire product reviews on Impulsive Highlighters. I even tried a new feature of iPhoto 6 - Photocasting, and thus published a Photocast of beautiful Crop Circle pictures on Impulsive Highlighters (they make for great desktop pictures). All this and I'm still hungry for more Mac stuff. There just ain't enough of it that I can find. And this fellow - name o' Steinberg - who has some sort of a blog-like column, is supposed to have posted a Pre-WWDC Rant but it's only 11 hours to the keynote and I don't see anything that looks even remotely like an update. You see how desperate I am?! Interrobang! Gotta love those.

So, anyway, I've decided to write my own Mac-related article since no one else will do me the courtesy. The question which a lot of people have asked me in all sincerity, knowing me to be a Mac evangelist is, "Why don't people buy Macs?" Of course, this is not a random stupid question. These people are aware of the fact that some people do indeed buy Macs; they are simply curious as to why more people don't, since Macs are, in their own words, beautifully elegant, elegantly beautiful and exceedingly simple and thus easy-to-use. For the purposes of this discussion, let me assume that the person who is in the market for a new computer is okay with buying software that is tied to hardware made only by a single manufacturer (Apple). Let me also assume that one of the Macs in Apple's product line satisfies all the buyer's hardware needs from design to specifications, including such things as built-in webcams and quality of speakers. Oh, yes, and I also assume that the person was buying a Mac to run the Mac OS primarily. So, at this point, why would someone turn away from a Mac?

Since I was (primarily) a Windows user for many long years before I switched to Mac, a reasonable question would be to ask why I switched to the Mac myself. Unfortunately, I am not a normal person. The reason I switched to the Mac is the reason why most people would switch to the Mac and the reason is "familiarity". You see, I have always been a computers person and at the end of 2000, I had told myself that I had used Windows for a long enough period of time, that I had all the experience I needed and that I needed to try something new. I tried a Mac, having never used one before. However, this is exactly, as I mentioned, why a person would usually not switch to a Mac. If you're comfortable with Windows, you have had very little trouble with viruses or other kinds of malware, you do not find yourself banging your head against the wall because you can't get your computer to do what you want it to, and it perfectly satisfies all your requirements, why should you switch to a Mac? The obvious answer is that you shouldn't.

I think that the obvious answer is also the correct answer in this case. If all you do is surf the web and check your email, in addition to using a few instant messenging software, you do not need a Mac. Yes, a Mac will offer a (arguably) better user interface, almost complete resistance to viruses (as of today) and better hardware-software integration. Thus, a Mac would be great for a person who is new to computers, and as I mentioned earlier, fits into all my assumptions. However, if you're already comfortable with Windows and you fit into my aforementioned description of a person who is comfortable with Windows, I don't see an iota of a reason that you should switch to a Mac. And this is coming from a fanatic like me. I will perhaps remain the person with the cooler computer in the end, but if you don't honestly care about that, you're the happier person in the end, aren't you?

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