The constant need for upgrades, the prayers for compatability, and the familiar blue error screen have been pushing me away from the platform for a few years now. But the hundreds upon hundreds of my dollars invested in the platform (in hardware and software, not to mention the time spent in understanding and learning how to troubleshoot) has kept me with Windows.

Well, last year I became an investor in Apple Computer's stock--one of the few tech stocks I own--since it was a company I've admired from a distance, and a company I wanted to be a part of, even if I didn't feel I could be a user. In researching and following the company at the business level, I couldn't help paying attention to its users as well. And it was here I learned that much of what even I believed about Apple and the Mac platform was entirely false. And I'd already considered myself pretty enlightened about Apple.

I could use my Windows software on the Mac platform. I could use much of my Windows hardware on the Mac platform (and sometimes it is easier to install a Windows device on a Mac than it is on Windows, even when there are no Mac drivers included). Macs are more reliable than Windows machines in business as well as graphics and multimedia operations. I read an item about a European company that was criticized for using a Mac server, so they posted a five-figure bounty for the first person to successfully hack into it. The prize went unclaimed for three years.

I like Apple's history. I like its innovations and I especially like its mistakes. Apple has consistently taken risks where other companies have played it safe. In the Wintel world, only Sony seems to be as willing to innovate in functionality and industrial design--and Apple still clearly leads in both areas.

The consistent feature of all unreliable Windows machines I've used is Windows. And, in March, I was about to buy a laptop with the same problems I'd been dealing with for five years. If I was ever to break away from Windows, now was the time. Purchasing another Windows laptop would cement my commitment to Windows for at least the next five years. Such a commitment was displeasing, but not risky.

I spent over a month shopping around and comparing price and performance. I cut certain features I didn't need and added features I wanted until I found the closest laptop to the one I had in my head: a top-of-the-line Dell Inspiron with a bunch of souped-up features almost doubling the base cost of the machine. It was a great computer, though it was still Windows. But about the time I finalized my decision, I heard Apple was about to release a new laptop May 1st. Apple's Titanium Powerbook, which came out a few months earlier, was truly impressive, and I did consider it for a bit. But the high price (close to $3000), plus the new software I'd have to buy (stuff like Photoshop you don't want to run in Virtual PC emulation) made such a choice unrealistic. If this new laptop was anything like the Powerbook (though cheaper, please), it might be a worthy contender to the Dell.

Well, curiosity got the better of me and I waited. And on May 1st, Apple released my dream notebook: the new dual-USB iBook (nicknamed the IceBook by many Apple users). It was beautiful, functional, and affordable.

I posted some questions on an Apple messageboard for advice about the difficulty and cost of transitioning from one platform to the other, and though most of the advice was encouraging, I realized that, for what I wanted to do with the thing, the iBook just wouldn't work. I wanted a laptop to do the work of my desktop and only the Dell could do that in my price range (note, though, that the Dell with the features I wanted was the same price as the similarly-equipped Titanium Powerbook, but with the Dell I could continue using the software I'd already paid for, not buy new Mac versions).

So I decided a second time on the Dell.

About every day through mid-May, I configured and checked the price of my laptop on Dell's website. With their rotating deals (free printer, memory half-priced, free ground shipping, etc.), I wanted to make sure I'd get the best price for what I wanted. But each time I did this, I also looked again at the specs of the Dell.

And this was the wall I kept running up against: I configured the Dell with two batteries for a total declared battery life of four to six hours (independently tested between 2 and 3 hours total; less if you use the CD drive). 2 hours on 2 batteries? This wasn't my idea of a portable. And any other PC laptop was about the same. If I wanted that kind of portability, I had no choice but to go Mac--even if it meant rethinking what I wanted to do with my laptop.

I ordered the iBook near the end of May and it arrived five weeks later (free advice: never customize a new item from the Apple store, if you don't have to--use a reseller). With the money I saved by purchasing the iBook rather than the Dell, I bought some of the key software I need for the Mac, some cross-platform upgrades, some full versions. I also bought Virtual PC which will let me run Windows 98 in emulation--and thus keep most of my Windows software and hardware from becoming obsolete.

Exactly a week before I placed my order for my first Mac, author Douglas Adams died. I've since learned that Douglas was an outspoken advocate for the Mac platform. No, I'm not so romantic as to think I'm the up-and-coming author taking his place in the publishing and computing world. I'm more hoping I'm but one of many creative artists who have taken his place among the Mac minority in the weeks since his passing. And I certainly have more respect for Adams due to his computer choice.

So I've taken my first step toward getting away from the Windows platform. My next desk computer will be a Mac. All future software will be bought for a Mac. I'll probably start selling off old hardware and software (what I can sell legally, anyway) for money toward these purchases shortly after I get married. I'm still dipping into Virtual PC in emulation, but that's about the extent of my relationship with Redmond. And from what I'm reading about Microsoft's XP versions (keep in mind ZDNet has historically been fanatically pro-Microsoft) of its software and OS, I couldn't have picked a better time to jump ship.

Well, maybe I could've. The wedding is three weeks away and I'm in the middle of a move. With all the planning and preparing still left, I haven't yet had a chance to give the iBook the attention and the test-drive it deserves. Priorities--they always get in the way, don't they?

Speaking of which, there won't be any newsletter this month. And I don't expect to have a chance to post another entry until after the honeymoon. So ta-ta until August. Have a good summer, everybody.

BYTE magazine said recently [1995] 'It would not be an exaggeration to describe the history of the computer industry for the past decade as a massive effort to keep up with Apple'. However, the Macintosh is not the last word in interface design, and if Microsoft had been the innovative company it calls itself, it would have taken the opportunity to take a radical leap beyond the Mac, instead of producing a feeble, me-too imitation.

Douglas Adams

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