You hear it everyday from people. There are countless debates about it throughout the Internet, with people literally dishing out all they have at the other to prove their point and make it seem a better argument. Industry leaders are divided on their opinions, yet they remain neutral to not give too much away. There are fanatics that come in hordes to overwhelm anyone brave enough to raise a voice against the white glass fruit, but still, why the do the double digits elude the ones with the undisputed better operating system?

Misconceptions that plagueth

Today, everybody is using the computer. And they are using it in more than one ways. Computers are such an integral part of people's

lives, that they don't realise what will happen to them if it crashes and they lose every bit of data that it holds. Ask me, someone who is not new to crashes. I literally stop talking to people for a whole day, lock myself in my room. Yes, those are pseudo withdrawal symptoms, but thats besides the point. The point is that being empowered by computers, there are many who think they really know everything they need to know to make an educated decision regarding their computer.

Unfortunately, that's not true. To prove it, ask anyone what they know about Apple and their Operating System, OS X. If you're not greeted with the astounded 'Apple has an operating system?', then 99/100 times they'll tell you that Apple's OS X is meant for graphic designers. Strange, isn't it? Apart from their record shattering iPod sales, people barely know what all Apple to offer. Being the only mainstream (Linux is not that mainstream yet) which offers such high levels of scripting capabilities (AppleScript), OS X is still considered a designer's computer. Its saddening.

Fewer people will know that Apple actually invented the concept of an Operating System! Yep! News to you? *Phsshhhh*

Trying to find information for this post, I bumped into a forum topic which makes a lot of the points that I'd want to make. Misconceptions reign supreme that if people switch, there are going to be major compatibility issues, and it'll hamper their working. Hehe! They couldn't be more wrong. Macs make working so simple, that you'd really not want to go back to working on a Windows machine. You just need an initial handy guide that can give you the information you can use. Here's a good resource to try out if anything till here in this post has fired you up! Remember switching to Firefox? Didn't you hesitate? There are going to be a few cobwebs, for sure. But once you get the hang of it, you'll see your productivity increase!

The industrial handicap

Apple didn't realize the potential of their product when they invented it. Unfortunately, Gates did. Thats why today Windows stands industry preferred Operating System, when very clearly, OS X is a better OS. Every bench mark test, head-to-head comparison table points the same way. But because Windows got there first, and captivated audiences first, they've managed to keep ahead of the competition.

Jobs tried and succeeded (to a limit) to put Apple on the map, but the backlog created is too big for one man to do it alone. People slowly need to be awakened to what Macs really are, and what they can actually do. Now with Apple allowing dual boots, people will be more open to trying to change their OS of choice, since they don't lose anything if they don't like OS X.

These are simple strategies that they seem to be adopting to battle the biggest example of an industrial handicap you'll see faced by a clearly better product. The most I can do is argue the point wherever it comes up. But Microsoft fan boys always have one argument that seems to negate everything. 95% of the computers on Earth run on Windows. Who knows, the Alien mother ship which might invade Earth in a century from now will be running Windows Vista? (Which means its prone to viruses! Hehe!)

The last word

There's no vendetta against anyone here. Its a simple fact that drives the argument. If you can get something better, then why not? I'll be switching the day I start earning, but till then I'll have to continue using Windows machines I guess. I hope to get a Powerbook, or a Macbook Pro after I graduate from college! :) I hope to turn over a few people in that span!

Resources

Apple's share of the apple and how a small number is not a bad thing, since Apple is a brand. Dell has a share of 5%, so how bad is 3.9%?
Tiger Review by a convert
Macs in the workplace
Apple OS X
Crash course in switching