(Not So) New Switcher

tsmith88 · Mar 9, 2008

Hi to all.

My name is Tom and I am a Microsoft Technical Consultant & Trainer (Yes this does mean that you are all within your rights to hate me. I have been watching and signed up to this forum for a while now but this is my first posting.

I have caught the Mac Bug big time. A while back I bought a 20" iMac, 24" was just to big for my office space, and since then have got myself a MacBook Pro, iPod & an iPhone, all of which I love.

Every single day the products amaze me both from a technical perspective and from ease of use. I know Windows products better than most and I have to say that I personally prefer the Mac UI by a long long way. I will not be switching back to Windows personally, and now the only time I run Windows myself is on my works laptop. I hope to stay around here as it seems like a brilliant place for all of the hints and tips which I am forever searching for!

Thanks for all of your help in the past.

Tom

The Vindicat3d · Mar 9, 2008

Glad to here it tom! I'm sure you already know, but you can run windows on your macs for the times you might need it (a lot I'm guessing!) using either boot camp or a program like VMware Fusion.

tsmith88 · Mar 9, 2008

Ah yes had a play with both. The thing is, I don't actually WANT to run Windows anymore! I have to for work obviously, so the only device that I ever run it on is my work laptop, which isn't even mine. I don't "own" a single Windows device, and glad of it. I don't want my Mac to run windows, why would I when it can run Mac

Tom

WolfsBane · Mar 9, 2008

Welcome to the board, Tom.

I think that you would really be amazed by the number of Microsoft app developers, system analysts, network administrators, and MS certified and non certified systems support professionals that frequent this and other Mac forums as Mac owners.

The environment in which we must work does not necessarily make us evil... ;-)

the8thark · Mar 9, 2008

Well if you want windows out of your life check out:

www.macupdate.com
www.versiontracker.com

They really help lots of people and you might find those sites useful too.

tsmith88 · Mar 9, 2008

Thank you for your welcome everyone, and thank you WolfsBane for saying that I am not necessarily evil for working for the big M!

It doesn't actually surprise me at all the amount of Microsoft type people that I see hanging around here!

Thanks for the links the8thark, I will have to have a look.

Tom

walkerj · Mar 9, 2008

That seems to be a growing trend I've seen. IT professionals work with Windows or Linux as a necessary evil, but personally use Macs for their own computer. Maybe or maybe not install Windows on their own computer (I have a Parallels XP VM on my Macbook mostly to show people I can do it) but don't own any other Microsoft anything. I'm a UNIX sysadmin/oracle DBA, but my only personally owned windows computers (2) either remain off all the time only to be turned on for some obscure use, or the other which functions as my TV in my office, and that's all it does.

By the way, just because an OS is widely used in business does not mean that it is in any way superior to that which is not. Business is very conservative, and will use whatever works just well enough to get what needs to be done to make money. It's kind of like back when railroads were still using steam locomotives even as diesel electric was proving to be a superior propulsion method.

So these days the consultant is likely to tell a client 'This Microsoft solution would probably be what you need to get blah working in your blah-blah enterprise', but the consultant wouldn't actually buy such hardware/software for themselves. That's why we're the consultant and they are the client.

tsmith88 · Mar 9, 2008

walkerj said:
That seems to be a growing trend I've seen. IT professionals work with Windows or Linux as a necessary evil, but personally use Macs for their own computer. Maybe or maybe not install Windows on their own computer (I have a Parallels XP VM on my Macbook mostly to show people I can do it) but don't own any other Microsoft anything. I'm a UNIX sysadmin/oracle DBA, but my only personally owned windows computers (2) either remain off all the time only to be turned on for some obscure use, or the other which functions as my TV in my office, and that's all it does.

By the way, just because an OS is widely used in business does not mean that it is in any way superior to that which is not. Business is very conservative, and will use whatever works just well enough to get what needs to be done to make money. It's kind of like back when railroads were still using steam locomotives even as diesel electric was proving to be a superior propulsion method.

So these days the consultant is likely to tell a client 'This Microsoft solution would probably be what you need to get blah working in your blah-blah enterprise', but the consultant wouldn't actually buy such hardware/software for themselves. That's why we're the consultant and they are the client.

I don't think I could have put it better myself!