The Blog

  • January 2, 2008
  • Rodney Dangerfield and my PC

    I was thinking about buying a new computer the other day and naturally my thoughts turned to the late and great Rodney Dangerfield.  You see, one of his jokes popped into my head as soon as the idea of buying a new computer entered my mind.  I went on-line to find the particular joke to make sure I reference it correctly.  Here it is:

    It’s been a rough day. I got up this morning . . . put on a shirt and a button fell off. I picked up my briefcase and the handle came off. Now I’m afraid to go to the bathroom.

    I am afraid to buy a computer.

    I have the money and the need, so this ought to be a no-brainer.  Instead, it’s becoming an arduous decision making process.  Should I buy a new Vista PC or should I go with a Mac?  How did it get to this? 

    Vista, you might know, is the newest release of the Windows operating system for PCs and it has received some uneven reviews for all kinds of things.  One of my big concerns is the availability of drivers for peripherals like printers. 

    My sister-in-law just got a Vista machine (and a new printer) and told me a horror story about the hours she spent on the phone with tech support trying to get the PC to log onto the Internet.  She started in the afternoon and gave up and went to bed around 10:30 PM after speaking with support centers around the world.  No one could solve the problem and she went back and forth with Dell, the manufacturer and her ISP for many hours. 

    On the other hand there is the Mac.  My son just went to college and has a Mac notebook which I think is really cool.  He went through high school using a PC but seems to have adapted to the Mac really well.  I still can’t get the Mac onto my Windows based network at home though and that’s a problem.

    The thing that scares me is that I have a small business that runs on computers and the Internet.  When it’s down so am I and I like to minimize that problem.

    So it looks like I might need to buy more than a new computer.  Certainly there’s a printer to purchase and maybe a new router.  I don’t know what to do but if I have to buy a bunch of stuff, I am thinking that making a change and going to the Mac might be the smart choice.

    If lots of people think like this, what does it say about Microsoft’s chances in the years ahead?

    Published: 16 years ago


    Discussion

    • January 3rd, 2008 at 8:43 pm    

      Feeling the same dilemma as you, I put out a query to an online community of consultants asking their experiences switching from PC to Mac. Based on 42 replies, I decided to buy a Macbook with Parallels (which allows you to run both Mac and Microsoft operating systems and apps simultaneously). That way I can use MS Office apps when I need to. However I’m told a new version of Office for Mac is coming out in January 2008, and I’m waiting for that to make the switch.

      I learned that Macs are much faster and less prone to security breaches. Whatever you do, though — Vista or Mac — plan on a learning curve. The new MS Office Suite takes a while to learn, too, but people say once you learn it, they like it.

    • January 3rd, 2008 at 1:07 pm    

      Denis you might seriously consider Linux. Take a look at the Economist technology predictions for 2008, and here’s some quotes from it:

      “No question, Gutsy Gibbon is the sleekest, best integrated and most user-friendly Linux distribution yet. It’s now simpler to set up and configure than Windows. A great deal of work has gone into making the graphics, and especially the fonts, as intuitive and attractive as the Mac’s.

      “Pundits agree: neither Microsoft nor Apple can compete at the new price points being plumbed by companies looking to cut costs. With open-source software maturing fast, Linux, OpenOffice, Firefox, MySQL, Evolution, Pidgin and some 23,000 other Linux applications available for free seem more than ready to fill that gap. By some reckonings, Linux fans will soon outnumber Macintosh addicts.”

      The full article is here:
      http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10410912

    • January 2nd, 2008 at 3:49 pm    

      Mac. I switch it on, it works. I plug things in, they work. I also dropped my ibook down the stairs, it still works. And they last for ages.

    Speak Up

    You must be logged in to post a comment.