The Cool Kid Syndrome

In the early nineties I was a heavy Mac user working as an electrical engineer for the Dept. Of the Navy. Somewhere in the mid nineties I was convinced to switch over to the PC.   The primary motive was the cost delta and the lack of available SW for the Mac platform. I did not go willingly but over time it made sense and I became very comfortable in the PC ecosystem.

Fast forward to 2010 and it seems like every few months now people are talking to me about switching back to a Mac. The head of my IT group is a big Apple fan.  And of course I'm resisting the change back just as much as I did switching to the PC in the first place.  That said I was handed a new 13" MacBook Air before Christmas and begged to try it out - who turns that down.  

Bottom Line:  I really like the MacBook Air HW but my reservations still lie with the OS and applications.

The form factor, the instant boot up, the weight of the notebook, battery life, and the touch pad are great to use.  I have basically left my Sony VAIO at home now for over the last month.  I'm fully using the MacBook Air when I travel and work remotely.  But in the office and at home it's all PC.  The reason why is the OS and the SW apps.  As an example MS Office just isn't the same on the MAC and features of the OS are just different and confusing.  All of this causes me to fight the computer rather than be productive.  Forget about networking the device to a NAS - nothing natural in that process.

So I guess this is a training issue.  People tell me the Mac is so very intuitive and flows better than Windows/Office.  This isn't the case for me.  I find myself hunting around to do the simplest things.  And why is MS Office on the Mac different from the Windows version.  The menus are completely different and the features are all rearranged.  An an example of another change for the Office app is to add a new slide on a PC just type ; on the Mac it is .  This whole key instead of the key drives me nuts - not just with Office.  Lastly why is everything opposite on the Mac:  files download to the desktop on the right side; PPT full screen projection is on the left side - all opposite from the PC.  All of this make no sense and drives me crazy.  

I have a friend that works for a different firm that has gone through a complete changeover from PC to Mac.  We talk regularly about her experience in this change over.  She is a complete convert to Apple.  She said the funniest thing the other day when I was discussing my frustrations with networking and the Mac.  She said that yes she has given up capabilities from the switchover from PC to Mac but feels she is better for it.  I found that the oddest comment.  Why would a loss of productivity be better in any way?  In discussing this further I have determined that is the COOL effect that is drawing us to Apple.  Not reason.

I'm sure most people will disagree with this but when you're in a meeting and everyone has their Dell Latitudes deployed on the table and you whip out your cool Mac with the glowing apple on the back everyone takes note.  It makes you feel like a cool kid on the cutting edge of technology and productivity. Who doesn't like to talk about how great Apple is anyway.  We all have a lingering bias against windows going back to the late nineties and early 2000s.  Who can forget the Vista debacle.  Remember Windows ME.  Enough said.

So to close this out, I guess I'm a victim of the Cool Kid Syndrome.  I'm going to continue to use my MacBook Air and incorporate it into the work day and re-address this decision in 6 mo or so.  If I'm still struggling with the training aspect of it by then I'll probably give it up and move back to the PC or maybe install Win7 on the MacBook Air.  That just seems wrong is so many ways but I do like the HW form-factor.