Sunday Morning Blog

January 15, 2006

First Week With My iMac G5

"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home." —Ken Olson, President, Chairman, and Founder of Digital Equipment Corporation, 1977

When it comes to changing technologies, I don't think anyone could have ever predicted just how necessary computers would become to our daily lives at home. It is also incredible to consider the speed with which computer technology is still changing today, and how much it has changed in the years since my mother purchased our first desktop (an Apple IIc). It has been twenty-one years since that first Apple computer, and I have had five Microsoft Windows based PC's (not including my word processor) over the course of that time. So, finally breaking that Microsoft ball and chain last week was a giant step for me. Yesterday, marked the anniversary of this fantastic change: one week with a new iMac G5. I am a convert.

I will not travel the road of extolling the virtues of the Mac over Windows. They both have their advantages and their disadvantages. I will say that, for me, change is always exciting, and I have not felt that newness or excitement working with a Windows computer for years. Windows had just become that old hat.

So far, the biggest thing for me has been fighting those Windows mouse habits and realizing how often I used my mouse button to cut and paste web links. The drag and drop in Mac is just as easy (if not easier), but it is a matter of teaching an old dog new tricks. That is half the fun. Learning something new is what Windows had going for it eleven years ago, so ten years from now (maybe less), I will probably be making the jump back to Windows or some other operating system. I can only hope that I will happily be exploring and learning the world of Mac until then.

Within days of purchasing my new computer I learned that Apple would be releasing the same computer, at the same price, with new software, more features, and processors that are two to three times as fast. At first, I was a little peeved; but then I realized: I had been willing to make this purchase despite the knowledge that six months from now, the choices would be far greater. That is always the case the way technologies are changing. There is really no sense in perpetually waiting for that new, improved release. It is also always the case that the first year 's edition of anything always has its lemons. The kinks, quirks and problems all need to be worked out. By the time the people who are jockeying to be first in line for their new iMacs have worked out the bugs, I will be the willing recipient of their successes and the best student of their mistakes.

I am the happy owner of an Apple computer again, and there is no looking back.

Posted by capecodcyclist at January 15, 2006 08:45 PM