# Switchers



## koim (Dec 8, 2002)

Judging from what I´ve read on this forum, Apple´s switch campaign seems to be working.


----------



## Sirtovin (Dec 28, 2002)

I am a "Switcher" and proud to be rid of the "Dark Side"... lol.


----------



## djliquidice (Jan 14, 2003)

Heh. i just got my ibook this week.  So far I like it, but i'm not 'switching'.  To claim one OS over another is silly.  Each has it's  pros/cons.  What makes owning a mac awesome is that I can use my Unix/linux experience in this So-called OSX.  

I use IBM OS/390, "Winders", Unix and AIX at work.    To embrace technology as a whole is awesome.  Why eat just the blue M&Ms? heh.


----------



## dafuser (Jan 15, 2003)

I got my 1Ghz TiBook in December, and really enjoy it.  Stable, reasonably fast, has UNIX without dual booting, and it can burn DVD's.  

However, there are a few programs I use in Windoze and just can't find the same thing for the Mac. (Really like Picture2Exe) I think I miss that one the most.

I use Solaris, FreeBSD, Linux, and Windoze at work, and OSX gives me the UNIX access I need when working from home.

I'm quite happy with the Mac, but won't throw out the Windoze box just yet. I still need the Windoze box for Picture2Exe. But maybe some day..........


----------



## mr. k (Jan 15, 2003)

no you dont... I think thats what they made virtual pc for?


----------



## jade (Jan 16, 2003)

I am a potential switcher.......have been considering for 3 years.  (or maybe even a little longer).  The next step for the switching campaign to be even more successful.  well i think it is cost-prohibitive to switch now.   

One thing that concerns me is speed.  and looking at the mhz #s,  a PC is at least twice as fast as an equivalent apple.  and that will scare people off.  Especially when they think about future software costs,  it seems really expensive for 1/2 as much computer.  I think if the processor sppeds are a lot closer,  it removes that potential objection and frees your computer choice up to being the coolest computer.  Hopefully this will be the year apple bridges the gap,  and I will be able to switch with a clear conscious.  

Until then I just look to the rumor sites for future clues and sit and wait.........










-----------------looking to replace my 5 year-old sony laptop


----------



## Inline_guy (Jan 16, 2003)

I am a switcher.  This is my first Mac and I LOVE it....

Matthew


----------



## fryke (Jan 17, 2003)

Jade: Go ahead and test what you would be doing on a Mac. Forget for a moment about the MHz numbers. What really matters is how fast you get your work (or not your work, but fun) done. And that's where Macintosh excels. It's the design of 'easy to use', it's how the machine works for you instead of the other way 'round that makes the Macintosh a better computer.

I don't really care whether the next PowerPC processors will be labelled 2 GHz, X MegaFlips or 200 MHz, as long as they're faster than the processors we're using now.

Benchmarks are all nice and that, but seriously: Are you the person that lets your computer run for four hours without interaction rendering something? I'm not. Most of the time I'm interacting with my computer, and there is where speed matters. Speed of workflow, that is. And the Mac's just faster.


----------



## Meltdown (Jan 17, 2003)

Most people use their computer to surf the net or do word processing. You can do that on a 486 with the same speed as on new hardware. How fast can you type? Mhz is only for rendering 3D, pro music apps or if you want to play the latest games. Most hardware of today is faster then the majority of  people can work anyway. It's the whole experience what makes a platform work or not.


----------



## fryke (Jan 17, 2003)

I almost thought your message meant I was wrong, but then I noticed that you only supported what I said, Meltdown.


----------



## Meltdown (Jan 17, 2003)

Fryke,

Please forgive me my lousy english, i'm Dutch ;-)


----------



## fryke (Jan 18, 2003)

Oh, please do the same for me, I'm Swiss


----------



## dtmdoc (Jan 18, 2003)

I'm not a "switcher" per se, because I use PCs at work, but I bought my quicksilver tower before it became fashionable to switch.


----------



## Giaguara (Jan 18, 2003)

... and my lousy english, i'm from south of fryke 

the mhz don't tell the truth even when you have the same software in different OS's. so a photoshop in a mac of xx mhz is faster than a photoshop in windoze of xx+yy mhz. 

it's weird there are NO people in the switch campaings switched or enchanced from other platforms than windoze. .. even redhat is doing the switch campaign - i think i'd enjoy the idea of being in two switch campaings = "why i chose linux" and then asap after that a mac switch. being a switch from an *X would do good for them, and i'm not the only who has run from other OS's. .. Oh, sun is nice also but i never realised that a computer i was using was a sun unless i looked in the logo  ...


----------



## bambi (Jan 27, 2003)

Well, I'm new here, just got a new iMac last month.  Am in love..... *sigh*....
My iMac is wonderful.  I love the way it looks, big face, skinny little neck-thing, and cute round bottom... that's why I've named it already... "Baby-boo" 
I was so SICK & TIRED of my stupid PC (Compaq) crashing & dying and freezing .... eeee, what a nightmare.  
I bought an older mac at a garage sale... and it had an older operating system (forget which version... 8 maybe?) but I LOVED it at once.

My kids hated it (PC heads), but I knew my next computer would be a Mac.  My teenage son, who's into programming, web design, servers, (and who does Java, Javascript, HTML, C+, SQL, Apache, .... um... what else...something that starts with a 'P'... I get the letters mixed up sometimes since I never really know what he's talking about....) anyway, he thinks he needs to use a PC...
but he's been sneaking onto my computer at times (says he just wants to see what his site looks like 'on a Mac'...) so I'm hoping he'll come around.

Say, how do you get to make a picture under your member name? (I'm definitely not a techie type... just another housewife who wants to DO something on a computer without messing it up too much!!)


----------



## dafuser (Jan 28, 2003)

> _Originally posted by bambi _
> *Say, how do you get to make a picture under your member name? (I'm definitely not a techie type... just another housewife who wants to DO something on a computer without messing it up too much!!) *



1. Make sure you're logged in to the site
2. Look above the lists of formus and click on   "user cp"
3. Click on "edit options"
4. Scroll to bottom of page, find "Avatar" section
5. Click on "Change Avatar"
6. Follow instructions on page for adding your icon to your user name.


----------



## malexgreen (Jan 30, 2003)

> _Originally posted by jade _
> *I am a potential switcher.......have been considering for 3 years.  (or maybe even a little longer).  The next step for the switching campaign to be even more successful.  well i think it is cost-prohibitive to switch now.
> 
> One thing that concerns me is speed.  and looking at the mhz #s,  a PC is at least twice as fast as an equivalent apple.  and that will scare people off.  Especially when they think about future software costs,  it seems really expensive for 1/2 as much computer.  I think if the processor sppeds are a lot closer,  it removes that potential objection and frees your computer choice up to being the coolest computer.  Hopefully this will be the year apple bridges the gap,  and I will be able to switch with a clear conscious.
> ...



As a fellow potential switcher, but also as an engineer who works in the computer industry, I can say that you pay more for Macs because you get more. No stardard PC's come with firewire, and gigabit ethernet, and can be upgraded to up to 1GB of memory. And as far as processor speeds, you can never take two computer chips that are built on two totally different architectures, and compare their performances based on the clock speeds. Got to apple.com/myth for more info. Based on my knowledge of both the Pentium4 and PowerPC architectures, a PowerPC with 1GHz clock speed is comparable to a 2-2.5GHz Pentium in performance, but with LESS power consumption, which is what is making buying a Powerbook or iBook so compelling to me.  Just my 2 cents.


----------



## Arden (Feb 10, 2003)

> _Originally posted by djliquidice _
> *I use IBM OS/390, "Winders", Unix and AIX at work.    To embrace technology as a whole is awesome.  Why eat just the blue M&Ms? heh.  *



Because they taste a lot better than those crappy red, green, yellow and brown ones...  



> _Originally posted by bambi _
> *(and who does Java, Javascript, HTML, C+, SQL, Apache, .... um... what else...something that starts with a 'P'... I get the letters mixed up sometimes since I never really know what he's talking about....)*



I believe what you are looking for is PHP (Hypertext Pre-processor--interprets and parses your code before writing the final product to the screen).  And all of those come standard with OS X, which means your cutesy little iMac is one lean, mean, (I wish I could say) green coding Mac-chine.


----------



## symphonix (Feb 10, 2003)

And Perl ... and Python ...


----------



## kanecorp (Feb 21, 2003)

i'm a "switcher"...but if anything, the switch campaign made me not want to switch.

It was OSX mostly, but i couldn't find a lower cost solution and still get a powerful mac.
Well the second the LCD iMac came out, i couldn't believe it.
It was one of the best lookin things i've ever seen, powerful enough, and had an LCD screen.
I think they should focus on how cool their stuff is instead on how a few idiots couldn't figure out how to get a camera working on a windows computer


----------



## macguy17 (Mar 10, 2003)

My mom always used PCs and my dad always used Macs, so about 3 years ago when I moved in with my dad I was forced to switch basically. Glad to say, I don't miss much


----------



## MacMarshall (Mar 28, 2003)

> _Originally posted by kanecorp _
> *I think they should focus on how cool their stuff is instead on how a few idiots couldn't figure out how to get a camera working on a windows computer  *


 But that is *SUCH* a cool feature. Last week, my friend asked me to show him how to connect a digital camera and a camcorder to his "new" Pismo PowerBook. He brought it over, I plugged the cameras in, and they worked _just like that!_

We didn't have to connect to the Internet, download drivers, install, reboot, etc. Both cameras worked the very first time. It saved me at least half an hour, but for a newbie, it saves you maybe a day. 

And I did try connecting my camcorder to my PC. I bought a FireWire board. Then I had to upgrade to Windows ME. My hard disk wasn't fast enough, so I bought a new one. And I added lots of RAM. Ok, then I installed a bunch of software, and it worked. 

But it doesn't work now. I don't know why, I don't really care, because, doggone it, I'm getting a Mac.


----------



## Arden (Mar 29, 2003)

Good for you!  We are so proud of you...


----------



## abyard (Apr 1, 2003)

> _Originally posted by fryke _
> *Jade: Go ahead and test what you would be doing on a Mac. Forget for a moment about the MHz numbers. What really matters is how fast you get your work (or not your work, but fun) done. And that's where Macintosh excels. It's the design of 'easy to use', it's how the machine works for you instead of the other way 'round that makes the Macintosh a better computer.
> 
> I don't really care whether the next PowerPC processors will be labelled 2 GHz, X MegaFlips or 200 MHz, as long as they're faster than the processors we're using now.
> ...



A simple point and well articulated!

The problem is... where do you go and test drive a Mac?
I don't know many computer shops in the UK that stock Macs and those that do are staffed by pimpled geeks who love to show off their knowledge of IRQ's and other really important 'techie' stuff.

We don't have the Apples in education thing like the US so I'm wording how many Macs are sold by word of mouth from people like us.

I wish I could write...
"Apple what you really need to do is XXXXXXXXXXX"
but I don't know what X is, so for now I'll follow your lead and show my friends, one at a time, that faster doesn't equal smarter.


----------



## Arden (Apr 1, 2003)

I think you just defined what "X" is: Apple needs to cater more to the foreign sector and expand their image and availability in other developed countries like Britain, S. Korea, etc.  Go ahead and write them about that.

Fryke: how many megaflips is _your_ computer?


----------

