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news of 2005-02-18
Tiger 8A385 seeded
Apple has provided ADC Select and Premier members with Tiger build 8A385 now. We'll report soon.
[ written by fryke™ on 2005-02-18 at 21:26 CET ]
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The unofficial switcher's guide
And I mean for Mac people who switch (or rather convert) Windows people. It's rather simple. Goes like this.
0.) Most important: Don't EVER lie about the Mac. Don't say stupid things like "they're faster, anyway" or "they're even cheaper than PCs nowadays". Because your conversation partner could find a cheaper notebook or PC than what Apple offers and even if what they find is really crappy hardware, your argument would still be wrong, which is never good.
1.) You tell them to get a Mac, whenever you hear them complaining about Windows.
2.) If they say that Macs cost a lot of money, you either talk about the Mac mini if they're desktop people or the iBook 12" if they're notebook people. Don't lie to them, like I told you at 0.). Tell them the Mac mini costs about 550 USD (give them 512 MB RAM) and the iBook about a 1'050 USD (give them also 512 MB of RAM). Also tell them they'll want MS Office 2004 Pro for 429 USD or something like that. Again: Don't lie to them. But now...
3.) Tell them what they'll gain. Don't even start about how beautiful iLife is. Rather just talk about one thing first: Viri. There are none on the Mac. Zero. You don't even need Norton or something. But you can get Norton Antivirus if you want. But advise them to start without it. Because the single most important thing here is that they'll see they have *NO* problems on the Mac with viri, worms, spyware etc. Something they have simply come to accept and endure on the Windows side of things.
And then, if they're still interested,
4.) set up a clean new user for them on your Mac and let them sit at it for a moment. Tell them to "just" try it out, but be with them at that time. They'll click on some Dock icons or ask what they are. Show them Safari (but only shortly, just so they know that 'the internet' works), then show them Mail.app. *TELL* them that it has a good spamfilter. Tell them they'll still occasionally have to train that filter. Tell them that they can safely open *ANY* mail, without having to fear that something installs nasty software at opening a mail message.
5.) Show them iTunes. They might already know it from Windows, but they'll see how much more polished it looks on the Mac.
6.) Show them Microsoft Word, if you have it. Let them play with it for a moment, so they'll see that it's really the same thing - just in better packaging.
7.) Show them an application that might spoil them. If they're a photo person, choose iPhoto. If they're into music, let GarageBand speak for itself. TELL them it comes free with any new Mac!
8.) Slowly come back to the initial thought of it all. How they *won't* spend any more time fiddling with viri, worms and spyware.
9.) If it's a notebook you're using (and they'd buy), show them how to put it to sleep by closing the lid. Show them how fast instant-wakeup is, because if they've ever used a Windows notebook, they'll go WOW!, I can tell you.
And 10.) Patiently answer their questions. Don't think you know everything (even if you do). If you're not ENTIRELY sure about a specific question, tell them you'll find out and ask in a forum like macosx.com's.
And only then, when they're at least half-convinced they should get a Mac, also tell them that there aren't only iBooks and Mac minis. Now tell them about PowerBooks. Tell them about iMacs and PowerMacs. And if you're in for a challenge: Convince a gamer to keep his PC for gaming purposes only and to get an iBook on the side for everything else. That's more difficult, of course, but still doable.
[ written by fryke™ on 2005-02-18 at 13:10 CET ]
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Walter Mossberg gets it, then doesn't, then gets it...
Over the years, Mr. Mossberg has been a little flip-floppy about whether the Mac is a viable solution for people who dislike Windows or not. He now states in a new column that it is - but not for everyone. That's okay. We can live with that. Mainly, because it's right. But he still misunderstands some of the myths out there. The first one he bloody mentions is that the Mac uses a one-button mouse. Ah! Shuddup, already. People usually have two or three USB mice with more than one button at home, already, when they're switching to the Mac. So tell them they can actually use them instead of pointing out that the new Mac will come with a one-button one (which isn't even true with the Mac mini, which most current switchers would buy, and it's also only half-true with notebooks, where you might want to connect a third party mouse, anyway). Then he goes on to tell that you probably need to buy MS Office. That's cool, because most Windows-switchers probably actually use Word and Excel. Some even do PowerPoint. But he totally forgets that you also get VPC with the Professional version (at 80 USD more than the standard version) and instead later does name VPC as a needed software and prices it at 240 USD. Hey! Stupid? I mean: Sure you can go out, buy a Mac, then Office standard and then VPC separately, but that really is stupid. Instead, advise people to get the professional package, even if they think they might not ever want to use VPC. 80 USD is quite cheap for professional emulation software WITH a license of Windows XP, isn't it?
At the end he writes: "the Mac is a great alternative for mainstream consumers doing mainstream tasks who are sick and tired of the Windows security crisis. But it isn't for everybody." - But that just isn't right. Because many professionals *I* have brought to switching gladly spent the few extra dollars (well, Swiss Francs) they had to shell out for new software/shareware. Because the Mac did for them what I promised: It made the virus and worm and security issues vanish. First they were plagued, now they just use their computers. And for the few applications they still have to use Windows for, VPC is the right solution. They don't give VPC internet access at all - just like I advised - in order not to get viri etc. on that virtual PC. Which is perfectly okay with them. They can still take the data files of their financial software out of a shared folder and send them via Mail.app without a problem.
And now here's your task, dear reader: Apple doesn't seem to want to bash Microsoft for all the virus and worm trouble. So please do go out and convert Windows people. If you hear someone sneeze "I had a virus on my laptop this morning...", just go to them and tell them that he or she wouldn't have had this problem with a Mac. Don't do long discussions about whether a Mac is better or Windows is better. Just tell them that the Mac is the solution. Without any discussion. Spread the word. The world needs it.
[ written by fryke™ on 2005-02-18 at 12:46 CET ]
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