The New Era of the Macintosh

People are switching to the Macintosh. I am one of those people. In the last few months, both my close friend Kevin and I became switchers, abandoning windows and the PC world. After all the talk of a "halo effect" around the iPod, perhaps it should be expected. The strange thing is, neither my friend nor I own an iPod. So, if it isn't the iPod, what is it?

The truth is more complex than the "halo effect". In actuality a whole range of factors have converged to make right now the most Mac friendly period since the beginning. ¬ These factors can generally be placed into two groups: the factors that push people away from other options and the factors that pull people specifically to the Mac platform. Together, these pieces create the trend that has been incorrectly attributed to the iPod "halo effect".

The first group, the pushers, is well known. Every time a person receives a piece of spam, every time a PC crashes, and every time we hear about a new virus on the news, the PC world becomes a less friendly place. The amount of new spyware that exists on the internet is staggering. Exact numbers are hard to come by, mainly because they keep going up. One thing is certain: there is enough spy¬ware out there to support an entire ecology of anti-spyware products for the PC. Staying on the windows platform now requires a balancing act. The cost of dealing with these annoyances balanced against the cost of going somewhere else.

The most common place to go without getting new hardware is Linux. Because Linux distributions are generally free they should do well in this balancing act. And they do, at first glance. Sadly, Linux is still plagued by its own set of problems. Instead of spyware a person using Linux is still forced to deal with more difficult setup routines, software installs, and a lack of support for many pieces of hardware. In addition, most brand name software packages are not available for Linux. These issues may not be a problem for people with certain software needs or the more technically savvy, but for most people they appear an insurmountable barrier.

The current Macintosh platform on the other hand, has the best of both worlds. Major software packages such as Dreamweaver, Flash, Photoshop, and Microsoft Office all have recent versions available for the Mac. The bits of software you won't find on the Macintosh are the hordes of spyware, viruses, and so on that have become the bane of the PC experience.

In addition, the Mac has certain things that the PC doesn't. The first and most obvious is style. Computers have long been an icon associated with anything but style. A computer like the iMac challenges this view with its clean attractive lines and inviting exterior. In doing so, the Mac begins to feel more like other consumer electronics. It becomes, like the cell phone, not the anti-thesis of style and fashion but instead a part of them.

Second, the Mac answers the primary compliant about computers: that they are too hard to use. Through the bundling of the iLife software, Apple has provided its customers with the means to do their work easily and without the hassle most users have become used to. To get similar functionality on Windows, you have to spend significantly more money or download 'free' software that often comes bundled with the very malware users are trying to avoid. The difference is dramatic. Instead of treating our computers like alien artifacts, like many users do, my friend Kevin finds the Mac "cozy" while I find it "friendly". Words seldom used for Windows PCs.
In addition, the price of owning a Mac has dropped significantly and not just in terms of hardware costs. While the Mac mini handles sticker shock, some of the other factors keeping people from switching are also disappearing. For example, Virtual Private Networks or VPNs are important pieces of software in most corporate environments. The inability for the Mac to handle VPNs without special third party software was a show stopper. Soon that will change. In the latest version of OS X to be released, Tiger, VPN support will be built in.

With all the advantages, is it any surprise people are switching? The iPod "halo effect" probably has less to do with people liking the iPod and more to do with people looking for a way to safely ditch Windows. What the iPod really does in this case is alert them to the existence of a real alternative. But if enough people leave Windows for the Mac, spyware authors will inevitably try to follow. Whether or not the Mac is really any better under such an assault remains to be seen.