I have been a long time Windows' user. Almost 20 years now! Sure there have been others: DOS, VMS, UNIX, and, for a 7 month stint back in 1996, Apple OS System 7. But I have always come back to Windows. And until Vista, which I boycotted for the same reasons most every one else did, I was always on board with the latest Microsoft version or service pack. The list is long: Windows 3.0, 3.1, Windows For Workgroups 3.11, Windows 95, 98, ME (yes - admittedly I bought and tried Millennium), NT 4, 2000, XP, and most recently Windows 7.
For almost 20 years Windows has been comfortable for me. To be honest, I have found it part flexible, agile, manageable, and best of all application rich - at least for the most part. It's an environment that has given me the freedom to write, code, create, connect and communicate. But it has also frustrated me more times than I can count. Blue screens, hour glasses, apps not responding, and, even with win 7, which is the best Win OS yet, some apps just don't run.
But tomorrow marks a new day. Tomorrow - I start with a new tool in my toolbox - a MacBook. A trip to an Apple store six months ago seeded the idea after I got a chance to play with a Mac Book and found it to be incredibly intuitive. And then 2 weeks ago, a colleague and I got a chance to play further with the Mac Book Pro, and I realized it was time.
A week later a shiny new Mac Book Pro 13" arrived from Shanghai (guess that's where they make 'em). And starting this week - I will begin a new journey, which I will chronicle here.
My plan. No Microsoft products on the MacBook Pro - at least not initially. In its place iWorks, and the other software that preloaded on the system. I want to find out if in next 90 days the MacBook Pro can be the preferred tool in my toolbox. Certainly I will keep using my PC (because of necessity more than anything else), but I'm anxious to find out if the MacBook Pro will be the tool I will tend to reach out more for. Can it help me create and craft equivalent Word, PowerPoint and Excel resource, can it help quench my desire to create and code?
I plan to share my results here. And every post with the exception of this one, will be with the MacBook Pro. Today marks the end of the PC being the only computing platform in my "must have" toolbox. Tomorrow, a new tool will be put in play. I hope to share more in the days, weeks, and months ahead! It should be fun!
Stay tuned!
-Paul Gustavson
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