From PC to Mac

in IT

I grew up with a PC. I had a Compaq luggable (remember those). I installed the first IBM PC ever to control a paper manufacturing process. I had one of the first color laptops ever on the market - it was really cool! And dark! and had a tiny screen - but it was color! And as I sit here, I'm typing this blog on my first MAC...and it's as exciting as my first color laptop.

Truth be told, it does everything my PC does. While I am intimately familiar with the ins-and-outs of how my PC works, how to set it up, how to install and uninstall and all the little tweaks, I have to admit I'm a little lost on a MAC. But as for the applications, I'm feeling the MAC! It's smooth, fast and efficient. Yes, to an avid PC guy, it can be a little confusing but the transition has been relatively smooth. 

I'm not going to recommend either the MAC or the PC. It really is a matter of preference. For me there is a business value in understanding both. I have clients calling me up all the time asking how to set up this and that. In the past, if it's a MAC person, I'd literally have to get in my car and run over to Best Buy and call the person back. Katie, one of my favorite clients, thinks I'm a undercover Geek Squad guy. 

And lest we forget, the one thing PC's are doing that MAC has not is combine the tablet function with the laptop function. No touch-screens on the MAC. No convertible MACs. And while I would agree that I use a tablet for completely different things than I use my PC for, the idea of combining the two is inviting - although I've never been that enamored with the Windows tablet versions. There, I'd rather spend time on an iPad or an Android tablet. I can see a day where the iPad and the Mac basically combine into a single device. I'll definitely be in line for that. For now, my iPad is in the same bag and I pull it out when I need it.

And lest we forget, a lot of what we're doing is not even happening inside the PC or MAC anymore. It's on the web or in the cloud or on Facebook etc. Ultimately what I see happening is applications and hardware devices are converging more then they are becoming different. I'm sure that if I'd switched to a MAC five years ago the transition would have been much more difficult and frustrating. But these two systems now have more in common and they have differences. I just have to get used to the mouse scrolling in the wrong (or right direction).