Ultimate Switch Story: what's yours?

Ohenri · Jun 11th, 2006, 03:53 PM

So, I've been meaning to post about this one for a min. I'm sure that we all have/know a good one. Here's mine:

I used to travel back home to see my fam and take my lap with me @ all times. My younger bro used to ride me constantly, calling me a 2nd class citizen as a Mac user since he felt there was no s/w out there for us, in comparaison. yada, yada, yada.... He worked @ a university on PCs. But he was mostly a backend guy.

So you go thru the usual protocal and give them the untold truth etc... Anyhow, that lasted years.

Then about 18 months ago, he decided to buy an 12" iBook (using an employee/university discount). Called me afterwards to tell me that he was basically never going back to PCs ever again.

He could not believe how long he had been bamboozled, and felt that he would have been so much more productive with this iBook. He kept a Terminal window open to do back end stuff all the time (nothing that I get) among other things... He then took his iBook apart and painted it blood red.

- not sure why....

So, my bro recently left his job @ the University, and started a new job:

@ Apple Canada. Yes, in Markham.

After a 5 step interview process, he was hired (for a very note worthy position might I add). I could not be more proud. He's got a apple.com email address!!!

Anyhow, I thought that was 1 of my more interesting switch stories: from PCs to Apple Head Office. lol.

congrats homie!

H!

AppleAuthority · Jun 11th, 2006, 05:09 PM

	Quote:			Originally Posted by Ohenri
	My younger bro used to ride me constantly... But he was mostly a backend guy.

Sorry I could not resist. All jokes, man.

That was a great switcher story, BTW.

Banny · Jun 11th, 2006, 07:35 PM

My sister ran off to Vancouver for a year. She came home and could not stop talking about Mac. How proud was I to show her my new compy. (eMac).

Of course, she's not working in the Head Office of Apple.

dona83 · Jun 11th, 2006, 09:08 PM

	Quote:			Originally Posted by Banny
	My sister ran off to Vancouver for a year. She came home and could not stop talking about Mac. How proud was I to show her my new compy. (eMac). Of course, she's not working in the Head Office of Apple.

Aw she's not working there well best of luck to her landing a job in Apple.

Someone I think you meant to say "now" or maybe you didn't?

Banny · Jun 11th, 2006, 09:41 PM

Haha no I meant to say not. She's currently working at Dominos and attending Memorial University of Newfoundland.

Atroz · Jun 11th, 2006, 09:50 PM

Not a large single switch, but 5 little ones.

When the Mini came out in January 2005, I got interested in picking one up to play with. Never had a Mac before. Got talking to a few friends about it. Within the next few months, 3 of them bought powerbooks (12, 15 and 17"). None had been Mac users before. Due to unfortunate circumstances, my purchase was delayed 3 months, so I was the last to get one. Oh, and a co-worker also picked an ibook up during that time. Suddenly a lot of switches around me.

gridtalker · Jun 12th, 2006, 10:10 AM

	Quote:			Originally Posted by AppleAuthority
	Sorry I could not resist. All jokes, man. That was a great switcher story, BTW.<iframe border=0 frameborder=0 framespacing=0 height=1 width=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0 name=new_date noResize scrolling=no src="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=*H4hz/ywH9w&offerid=77305.10003289&type=3&subid=0" vspale=0></iframe>

LOL when I read that part I was like wtf lol

MacAndy · Jun 12th, 2006, 11:25 AM

My big switch came when I started teaching at George Brown College after I graduated in 1987. They had a slide presentation system called the Wasatch they needed me to instruct with because the new guy only knew Macs and they had just gotten 8 of them. What a pig of system this Wasatch was - $75K - and only did slides. It was all colourful, did airbrushing and such, had a 19" monitor, so it made the Mac SEs look pale in comparison. I had been working out of college for a year using PCs on something called GEM - predates Windoze by 2-3 years. I hated it. Installing a font was a massive task in itself. But I was a computer geek and hey, I had a job.

One fateful day, after a lesson, I left the kids to play with the Wasatch, so I ventured over to a Mac to see what all the fuss was about. PageMaker 2.0 was running. It looked like GEM/Windoze - that's what my nightschool students used to say before I converted them all the hell over - hey it was easy enough to use, but the monitor was puny, could not see me switching.

Then, I placed the mouse over the Font menu in PageMaker. BOOM!! The font menu exploded all over the screen a massive orgasm of Avant Gardes and Helveticas, Palatinos and Timeses... I had to light a cigarette even though I didn't smoke - symbolism here.

Quick my job within 2 months, rented time on Macs [remember being able to do *that*?! ] leased Mac later that year and never looked back.

PCs suck, big time. I have converted hundreds of people who led dull, boring existences by teaching them the ways of the Mac. A few of them are still good clients of mine who reminisce from time to time, swearing that my classes, and switching to Macs, changed their lives for good, forever.

Ahem.

macsackbut · Jun 12th, 2006, 02:10 PM

Not a switcher story, but it may well evolve into one.

I was talking to my dad this morning, who has always used PCs, has always had problems with them, but just refuses to switch (I'm sure we all know someone like that). He's by no means a power user, but he can find his way around a computer reasonably well.

One of his main arguments has always been the "steep learning curve" associated with switching. Anyway, today, after telling me about all his latest PC problems, he actually said something like, "if it weren't for the steep learning curve, I might actually consider buying an iMac."

Of course, I jumped right in and said, "but that's the thing, the learning curve isn't steep at all!" He came back with, "maybe, but I'm wondering if I'll be able to find a driver for my 10-year-old laser printer and my scsi scanner [good grief!]," which were top of the line in their day.

But just admitting he was thinking about considering the possibility of perhaps buying a Mac made my day. It's a chink in the armour. Assimilation into the cult cannot be far behind.

elmer · Jun 12th, 2006, 02:16 PM

I imagine my story's kind of typical, I don't know.

Played around with Linux off and on, and was impressed with stability and responsiveness compared with Windows which I was dual-booting. Plus I was learning C programming, perl, it was all making sense and seemed to me like UNIX was a superior computing philosophy and a playground for the technically minded.

Was frustrated with Windows trying to do the latest media stuff - DVD watching, MIDI recording, etcetera and running into Creative Soundblaster spyware and getting pissed off.

Tried doing all that stuff on Linux and couldn't do it (at the time), lack of drivers being a big stumbling block.

I think when I heard that Mac OS X was based on UNIX, that drew me in. Then I surfed the Apple website reading about how the G4 was a supercomputer, looking at all the shiny hardware, and I was convinced. Had a lot of disposable income at the time; went almost on impulse to Accurate Technologies and ordered a Quicksilver 2002.

I was blown away by Aqua, the transparent black Pro mouse, the neatness of the inside of the PowerMac, and my ability to solve every problem using Google and Terminal.app. A bit disappointed having to boot into OS 9 for a decent MIDI recording experience.

But then Panther came out with better stability, and Garageband came out, and iPhoto, and it was at that point I was completely hooked, and still am.

Currently psyched about Front Row, dabbling in iDVD, jamming with Garageband 3, and getting lots out of my photography hobby with Photoshop CS2 with Bridge.