Sunday, April 17, 2005
This is why you never ask a Windows user for Mac-related advice
This, from a well-meaning Windows-based technology columnist in a Philadelphia newspaper:
"Using Office 2004 for Mac will help you coexist peacefully with the larger Windows world. According to Apple, 2004-created 'Office documents are all fully compatible between Mac and Windows, so you can share everything from spreadsheets to presentations.' The 2004 Mac Office also includes Compatibility Reports, which are supposed to help you identify places where there might be clashes between various Mac and Windows versions of Office components. The report also offers solutions. You can also smooth your conversion path by using tools such as Virtual PC for Mac or Conversions Plus. Whether your Palm will work with the PowerBook will depend on the model and Desktop version you use. The vast majority of virus and spyware attacks are on Windows. But you should still protect your PowerBook with a firewall, an antivirus program and antispyware software."
That's what, about a one hundred and twenty word answer? The question being answered, if you couldn't guess, was "I am a 20-year Windows user, but I am looking at Apple's PowerBook. Will it be compatible with Microsoft Office and with my Palm Desktop? Will it give me greater protection against viruses?"
Only a veteran Windows user, with that sad little view of the computing world in which everything is iffy, everything sucks, and things don't work even when they're supposed to, could manage to come up with such massively contorted (and largely inaccurate) answer. Even Microsoft will tell you that Mac Office is one hundred percent fully compatible with Windows Office and that there's nothing else to the conversation, every Palm user worth his salt knows that Palm Desktop is a free download for both platforms, and the whole bit about a Mac user going through all those unneccessary hurdles to surround himself with Windows-like protection for Windows-based security issues, sort of conjures up images of bringing a gun to a spoonfight. And for that matter, a spoonfight with no opponent. The concept of spyware being a problem on a Mac is such a laugh-out-loud joke that there's no such thing as anti-spyware software for the Mac. You can only build an anti-spyware tool by telling it to search for known spyware, and there's no such thing as Mac-based spyware.
The real answer to the question should have simply been "yes, yes, and yes." But in the scarred experiences of a Windows user, succeeding at personal computing couldn't possibly be that simple...could it?
My advice to all the potential Switchers out there: next time you want advice about the Mac, ask a Mac user. Otherwise you're you're just getting guesses from someone who knows so little about the Mac that they're still wasting their time using Windows. If they knew the realities of the Mac-Windows landscape, they'd be using a Mac right now. The simple fact that you're considering Switching means that you're already ahead of every entrenched Windows user out there, so their advice will be of no use to you...no matter how well-meaning their intentions may be. Everyone say it with me now: if you want to know something about the Mac, ask a Mac user.
The bottom line is that local newspapers need more Mac-based columnists. If yours doesn't have one, consider offering to become one as a volunteer. With the current groundswell of interest in the Mac platform, your column will receive at least as much interest as the Windows-based one, and sooner or later, you'll find your way onto the payroll...unless the Windows-based columnist ends up switching to the Mac first.
The article can be found here, but don't bother clicking on it because you have to register with the site just to read the exact same text I've quoted here.
But the not-immediately-apparent upside in all of this? Throughout all the mediocre-to-bad advice that this particular columnist dished out on the subject, not even the slightest attempt was made to dissuade the person from actually making the switch to the Mac. The more Windows-based columnists who adopt that mindset, the more millions of Mac users we'll soon have.
This, from a well-meaning Windows-based technology columnist in a Philadelphia newspaper:
"Using Office 2004 for Mac will help you coexist peacefully with the larger Windows world. According to Apple, 2004-created 'Office documents are all fully compatible between Mac and Windows, so you can share everything from spreadsheets to presentations.' The 2004 Mac Office also includes Compatibility Reports, which are supposed to help you identify places where there might be clashes between various Mac and Windows versions of Office components. The report also offers solutions. You can also smooth your conversion path by using tools such as Virtual PC for Mac or Conversions Plus. Whether your Palm will work with the PowerBook will depend on the model and Desktop version you use. The vast majority of virus and spyware attacks are on Windows. But you should still protect your PowerBook with a firewall, an antivirus program and antispyware software."
That's what, about a one hundred and twenty word answer? The question being answered, if you couldn't guess, was "I am a 20-year Windows user, but I am looking at Apple's PowerBook. Will it be compatible with Microsoft Office and with my Palm Desktop? Will it give me greater protection against viruses?"
Only a veteran Windows user, with that sad little view of the computing world in which everything is iffy, everything sucks, and things don't work even when they're supposed to, could manage to come up with such massively contorted (and largely inaccurate) answer. Even Microsoft will tell you that Mac Office is one hundred percent fully compatible with Windows Office and that there's nothing else to the conversation, every Palm user worth his salt knows that Palm Desktop is a free download for both platforms, and the whole bit about a Mac user going through all those unneccessary hurdles to surround himself with Windows-like protection for Windows-based security issues, sort of conjures up images of bringing a gun to a spoonfight. And for that matter, a spoonfight with no opponent. The concept of spyware being a problem on a Mac is such a laugh-out-loud joke that there's no such thing as anti-spyware software for the Mac. You can only build an anti-spyware tool by telling it to search for known spyware, and there's no such thing as Mac-based spyware.
The real answer to the question should have simply been "yes, yes, and yes." But in the scarred experiences of a Windows user, succeeding at personal computing couldn't possibly be that simple...could it?
My advice to all the potential Switchers out there: next time you want advice about the Mac, ask a Mac user. Otherwise you're you're just getting guesses from someone who knows so little about the Mac that they're still wasting their time using Windows. If they knew the realities of the Mac-Windows landscape, they'd be using a Mac right now. The simple fact that you're considering Switching means that you're already ahead of every entrenched Windows user out there, so their advice will be of no use to you...no matter how well-meaning their intentions may be. Everyone say it with me now: if you want to know something about the Mac, ask a Mac user.
The bottom line is that local newspapers need more Mac-based columnists. If yours doesn't have one, consider offering to become one as a volunteer. With the current groundswell of interest in the Mac platform, your column will receive at least as much interest as the Windows-based one, and sooner or later, you'll find your way onto the payroll...unless the Windows-based columnist ends up switching to the Mac first.
The article can be found here, but don't bother clicking on it because you have to register with the site just to read the exact same text I've quoted here.
But the not-immediately-apparent upside in all of this? Throughout all the mediocre-to-bad advice that this particular columnist dished out on the subject, not even the slightest attempt was made to dissuade the person from actually making the switch to the Mac. The more Windows-based columnists who adopt that mindset, the more millions of Mac users we'll soon have.
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