I was inspired to write this when I read the following blog post. I'd also like to thank all the other "switchers" that have spoken out before me. I think we've all come to realize there is something better and that thinking different is not a bad idea after all. However the blog post above really set me to thinking. Bill Gates was experiencing the same exact problems with Windows that so many of us see every day we use it. So now my "switcher" story...

My experience with computers started in the late 1970's on a teletype and a Commodore PET. These were followed by the Commodore Vic-20, C-64 and C-128 in the 1980s. I was completely taken in my technology on these devices. I would dive into this technology as a teen staying up for all hours of the night learning everything I could about them. Later came the Commodore Amiga a definite mind blowing device during it's time. Talk about keeping my attention. I was pulled in by all that cool Commodore technology.

 Innovative before it's untimely demise. The Commodore Amiga 4000.

I'm now at the five year mark in my move to Mac. It did not start out as a switch for me like so many others; when I bought my first Mac a 12" PowerBook G4 it was in the Spring of 2003 and I was really looking for an excuse to buy a small and portable notebook that included Wi-Fi. The fact that it gave me an excuse to play with an OS I had not seen or used, was exciting because I'd heard a lot of positive things about OS X. Windows for me had grown to be less than satisfying and it had basically sucked the life out of me. I'd been reduced to an average user - all my creatively safely removed and lost somewhere on the internet. I found myself doing the most mundane things not the exciting things I used to do on the Mac or even other platforms (Commodore and Amiga). I became very good at working on and troubleshooting Windows and PCs. I was the go-to guy for my friends and a fairly hardcore Windows guy.

However when my PowerBook arrived it changed things drastically and I began to evolve and reawaken. My creativity began to ramp up as I discovered that the new addition to my local area network was interesting and fun to use. Workflow on the Mac just improved my productivity like nothing else before it. Like most "switchers" I found myself liking Windows less and less. The PowerBook went from curiosity, to a way cool computing device and my preferred machine in a very short period of time.

I used the PowerBook for RSS Feeds, Email, web browsing, and office applications. At one point, I realized that like many others before me, I was simply did not enjoy working on the Windows machine any longer. It wasn't because the machine's performance was poor, it had more memory, a better video card and a faster processor than the PowerBook - it was that I just didn't like using Windows.

In 2005, I added to my Mac family. I was very fascinated by the iMac. OS X really came to life on the 20" display. Talk about meeting my needs for a desktop. Not long after that I had technically switched to the Mac. I did not mark the day, but I've never looked back. I had transferred all my files off of the PC and the Windows XP machine was shutdown, turned it off, and shoved it into a closet.

I spent more years than I care to remember using Windows on different hardware starting with the original IBM PC with huge 5.25" drives. I was a heavy DOS user back then. I laugh when people tell me that DOS does not matter these days. It's still so very useful for troubleshooting, but face it, the command line is going by the wayside. Luckily experienced people like myself know better and as luck would have it - OS X has the power of the command line at your finger tips if you want to get your hands dirty.

On Windows I went through 3.0, 3.1, Workgroups, NT 4.0, 95, 98, ME, 2000, XP, NT/2000/2003 Server and Vista. Vista was a passing fad for me. I tested it briefly and left it alone. It was scary. I am definitely a Windows power user having earned various Windows certifications. My skills on the Windows platform made me the go-to guy for my friends, co-workers, family, etc. I was as my friends call me the "IT Ninja" - a power user, professional software developer and a professional systems administrator. So how do you ask can it be possible for someone with my background to dump all this and switch to another platform? Leaving all this behind?

I was simply tired of Windows and what I had become while using it. There was nothing left to inspire or excite me like systems I had used in the past. I became an automated being with no heart or soul. Vista put the nail in the coffin for me. It did less than impress me, and there was nothing special about it that captured my imagination like the Mac and OS X. It was light years behind OS X and it took five years to be born. How sad.

Needless to say, all that passion has been gone for many years. Windows sucked it all away, but since discovering that first Mac in 2003, my life has been completely changed. I have learned a lot in a short period of time, but there is much more ahead of me to learn and master. The most important thing is that more than anything else I'm glad I switched to the Mac because it has rekindled that passion.

Computing is fun and exciting again to me. Thank you Apple, Inc.