I bought a Mac after i used my friend's MacBook. Thought it was easy to use so I bought one just before I went back to college this semester knowing that I could always boot into Windows if I ever wanted to stick with Windows. My experience thus far ... what is Windows?

I grew up on the Apple II, but by high school my old IIGS was showing signs of its age and in came the 486 which made me a PC user for the next 10 years or so. Along comes the Mac mini and I'm now tempted to try out the Mac. I'm not sure why I was tempted to switch back in 2005, some of it could have been the iPod effect, some could have been the buzz... all I knew for sure was that the day Tiger came out, I was waiting in line in SoHo to pick up my brand new Mac mini :) In the 18 months since then, I've added a MBP to retire my old Vaio laptop, and convinced my parents to retire their XP box in favor of a shiny G5 iMac (which was bought 4 weeks before the iSight iMacs were released d'oh!).... at least it doesn't break, so i can spend time with THEM when i visit, and not THEIR PC!!!!!

I don't miss PC's, although I'm forced to use one in the office, my MBP sits next to it and probably gets 80% of the actual work (100% during the daily occurrence of Outlook crashing)

I'd always been curious about Macs since 94. I'd never owned one until about 5 years ago. My Windows PCs never were connected to the intertron so I had no security issues, but I did have software incompatibility and stability problems.

Back in college I didn't even know that there was difference in the OS. OS 9 was confusing to me. But OS X was a dream, very intuitive for me, easier to use than Windows, less hassle, more attractive.

I haven't had an OS crash in 5 years. I'll never buy a windows PC ever again. All they're good for are games.

I just switched to Mac after being with Windows since it first started (my first Windows OS was 2.11).
I'm just tired of Microsoft and the fuss of dealing with Windows, trojans, virus, etc.
Now that Microsoft has release a new EULA for Vista with severe restrictions I'm glad I made the switch. It's been very easy and that's what I expect from a computer. Good-bye activation, daily testing to make sure I'm legit, and system crashes galore!

Well, mac will be my next buy! Just need $$ right now.

I first used Apple II's in grade school. Then High school rolled around and I would use the yearbook computers that were LC II's. My first computer was a Performa 637CD (Money Magazine Edition) with a whopping 8 megabytes of RAM and a 350 megabyte hard drive. At the time the standard Perfoma model came with 4 megabytes of RAM and a 250 megabyte hard drive. Then I bought an iMac DV and had that for years. Now I am on an iMac Intel Core Duo. I have never bought a typical "PC" nor will I ever. I do run windows on my Mac using Parallels but it is just a backup if I find something on the web that I can't do on a Mac like virtualapple.org (kind of an oxymoron, huh) I have been using the Mac platform for now over 13 years. Always Mac!

Peace,

iMac79

I got my first mac right after they released the mini for $500. Now, it's $600, which is too much. If it was $600 I never would have gotten it/ been able to afford it.

The sad truth is the majority of Mac switchers I meet and greet are the ones too dopey to run Windows. Thank goodness you have an alternative.

You can't "do more" on a Mac, and you can't "do more" on Windows. They're both Operating Systems that run programs. But you can run "more programs" on Windows because it's more ubiquitous. But the ones who make their PCs crash and then blame Windows deserve to have the shiny, simple Macintosh. Knock yourselves out of the park.

I have far more respect for the Mac users who laud its unique offerings. To say you've switched to Mac because Windows kept crashing makes it very clear why you switched. You might as well say you switched from walking to crawling because you kept falling down. We forgive you, all of you. And use both confidently.

I used a pc for many years and was quite proficient with it. I also played around with linux and loved it, but apps were not there to keep me with the platform and too many things needed to be tweaked to make a useable system.

The Mac mini came out, I had a play with in the store and I thought - this is just like kde. I bought it and have never regretted it a single day. Now I spend more time actually doing things on the Mac, not wasting time maintaining a pc.

Thats retarded. Windows PC's hardly ever crash. The MACs at my school lock up and crash all the time, and I hate typing on ghey MAC keyboards. People ask me to name one thing I can do on a PC that they can't do on a MAC. I tell them "Right-Click"

I just like running OS X on my Intel PC. There is great satisfaction in triple booting XP, OS X, and Linux.

I started using MacOS because my family has always been diehard unix users. Because MacOS X is built on BSD Unix, we have all the benefits of unix and no longer have to spend weekends configuring things like we did with Linux. Joy!

For me I think all of the above apply. Yup, I heard about Mac's before. There are even some folks in our company graphic design department who have them. Even though I am in IT, I don't have to fix them really. However, since the switch to Intel I know now what the processor is. Being a Windows guys helps with that. I am now drooling over the MacBook Pro 17" version. I'm going to get one when the new ones come out.

I have now come to figure this out: Toyota is to BMW as PC's are to MACS. You get more bells and whistles with the Mac. I want my moneys worth.

Have you seen the MacBook Pro keyboard light up?? Sweet.

I use both a mac and a winXP machine side by side at my job. About the only thing the mac is good for is the "my pictures" screen saver.

I think all six of your points are valid but I think it's points 1, 4 and 5 that have been critical in driving the Mac resurgence. Like all Apple products, the iPod exceeded what consumers had come to expect with its great esthetics and ideal functionality. But the iPod was the perfect product at the right time, effectively creating (if not inventing) the digital music market. People who bought iPods suddenly realized that Apple created great products not just "for the rest of us," but pretty much for everyone. The iPod put Apple and Macs on people's radars.

But moving Apple from the margins is a long way from making the Mac a viable computer option. Most people don't know any better, so they continue to buy Windows. And the PowerPC-vs-Intel wars made people wary of the Mac. (It was like the rotary engine vs the piston engine. Sure the rotary engine might have been better, but we didn't trust it — it was "different") So by embracing Intel and giving people the ability to run Windows on Mac hardware, Apple made the risk of getting a Mac computer a lot less, well, risky.

My guess is that switchers look at it this way: "I love my iPod, so other Apple stuff can't be bad. And if I get a Mac and don't like the OS, I can always use it to run Vista (and still look cool). So why wouldn't I get a Mac?"

I've always wanted a mac, since way back when when my grandma's boyfriend had an old Powermac G3 with Mac OS 8. I loved the pinstripes. Since then, my love for mac has matured, and I now own a macbook. It rocks. I also own this behemoth of a PC that I just spent $2300 bucks on building last year. Since then, I have been so eager to sell it and replace it with an iMac or Mac Pro that it's about to kill me. Sadly, I'm in college and am too freaking poor to afford one right now. But soon, I should be getting at least $1100 bucks in the mail from the government for my grant, so I should be able to afford it, after selling my computer of course.

I'm going for a 24' iMac, but if I can afford it, I'll get a stock mac pro with at least a 20" Cinema. I'll upgrade it later.

I've been strongly considering a mac for the simple fact that OS X is based on BSD. By running a mac I would be getting a sexy interface with a rock-solid base OS with all the power to meet all of my developer needs. Still, the hype and overpriced hardware keep me from taking that leap of faith.

If I ever buy a computer because it "looks cool" shoot me. It's a tool. I'll take linux over OSX any day. Apple should become a marketing agency, it's the only thing they really excel at.

I bought a MacBook Pro not quite six months ago because I loved what Apple had to offer, and I was just getting sick of Windows. Not only was Windows always giving me problems, but all the PC venders I saw always seemed.. out of it.

I'm presently a Windows user on Dell machines. We're running Windows Server 2003 as our gateway to the outside world, Windows XP on the desktops and non-tablet laptops, and Win XP Tablet edition on the tablets.

For a number of years, the reason we've been a Dell/Win shop was business expectations. We intergrate with a number of small businesses, where--until recently--MS applications (especially Outlook and Exchange Server) were the norm.

For some time, I've known that my next machine purchase will be a Mac.

As we learn more about Vista's licensing terms and cost of implementation, along with tighter and tighter restrictions of use (including unconscionable DRM in its media products), difficulty with support, etc.; Windows is becoming a liability.

At the same time Windows is becoming more onerous, Apple's usefulness is flourishing. Over the past several years, Apple has brought some serious game. There was a time--not that long ago--the only Mac true believers were in the PPP industry (Printing, Publishing and Packaging). But that's not true anymore.

Macs are working great in the businessplace. They're getting the job done and their interoperability is no longer an issue.

While Redmond seems driven to make their user experience ever more unpleasant, Macs are making life easier.

The transition is still going to be tough--all our business software is licensed for Windows machines. Some of it isn't available on the Mac platform. We're not entirely sure what applications we'll migrate to. But the trends of Win and Mac have hit the tipping point: The advantages of switching are starting to outweigh the costs of abandoning our Windows investments.

The only real question in our office is whether the next machine purchase here is going to be laptop or a desktop. We know it'll be a Mac.

In my case it is #4 -- except it isn't a "misconception". The PPC chips have been a long way behind the Intel chips for quite a while -- finally the hardware has caught up

The growing popularity of the Mac is a sign that the Microsoft Culture (if you'll forgive me for calling it that) is starting to break down.

If you talk to people who've switched from Windows to a Mac after about six weeks, you'll find that they keep saying the same thing: the Windows experience is characterized by little annoyances and workarounds. The Mac experience isn't.

Every Windows user has a personal catalog of network settings that have to be entered by hand every time, Product Demo pages that pop up every time they try to use the printer, error dialogs that go past every time they try to run the scanner, or other minor annoyances. No single problem is big enough to be a show-stopper, and people learn to work around them and get the machine to do what they want it to in the end. Over time, they develop a blind spot for the problems, and just assume that using a computer automatically means accepting a certain amount of low-level frustration.

Then people come to the Mac and find a user interface that's specifically tooled to avoid those annoyances. Again, the difference isn't big enough to make any single example a 'must have' selling point, but people find the cumulative experience refreshing.

Then there's the fact that the internet is the worst thing that ever happened to Microsoft.

Microsoft was blindsided by the internet. They didn't expect it to take off when it did, and they lost a couple of years trying to ignore the unix-based internet protocols in the hope that they could leverage their market share on the business desktop and force the rest of the world to adopt an internet based on Microsoft technologies. When they finally realized that wouldn't work, they had to raid university computer science departments for programmers who knew the unix-based technologies, because they didn't have anyone in-house with those skills.

The push to catch up with Netscape hurt Microsoft in a couple of important ways: First, if forced them to put their single-user desktop machine in a place where anyone could take it over. Second, it put an important set of user experience features outside of Microsoft and Intel's control.

Pre-internet DOS and Windows were built on the assumption that the only person who could control the computer was the one sitting at the keyboard. There was little or no built-in security, because it really wasn't necessary. In fact, Microsoft's pre-internet development strategy was to make it as easy as possible for a user to control every part of the machine from whatever program they happened to be running at the moment. This was called 'integration', and sold very well in the market. People liked to be able to drop an Excel spreadsheet into their Powerpoint presentation and see it update in real time as they changed the data.

Unfortunately, by the time the internet came along, a Windows machine had a hard time telling the difference between the keyboard and the modem when it came to user input. Suddenly people halfway around the planet could crash your computer by sending it the right combination of bits. Once again, Microsoft had to play catch-up to try and patch the holes while still keeping the 'integration' features that customers liked so much.

In the meantime, there was another problem. Before the internet, the performance of a Wintel computer was pretty much what Microsoft and Intel wanted it to be. Microsoft geared its software to the speed of the processor, and either you upgraded to a new machine or put up with sluiggish-but-functional performance on your old one. But the internet gave computers a new performance bottleneck: the modem. A 2GHz computer doesn't load webpages all that much faster than a 250MHz one, so the growing population of people who use a computer to surf the web and send email didn't see much payoff from buying a whole new computer with the latest version of Windows.

Those two factors made Microsoft look stagnant. Meanwhile, Linux was growing by leaps and bounds, and Apple cranked out four (going on five) versions of OS X built on the same unix foundations but with Apple's traditional attention to detail.

Apple has worked hard to undercut the anti-Mac rhetoric that was common five years ago. You just can't keep the 'underpowered, overpriced toy computer' meme going in public these days, nor can you sell the 'Apple will be going out of business any day now' one. Meanwhile, Microsoft has been stuck dealing with a series of problems that turned into the anti-MS rhetoric of today. Anyone who has the good sense to use AV software gets a detailed description of the machine's insecurity every morning as they sweep away the day's viruses, worms, and trojans. It's gotten rather hard to invent FUD against Windows (including Vista) that outpaces the daily news.

People are willing to give Macs a try because it's gotten harder to knock Macs over the last few years, and equally harder to justify sticking with Windows. The people who have hopped over to the Mac side have found a good user experience, and the internet let's them tell everyone the world about it. Meanwhile, Microsoft has been stuck putting out fires, and hasn't been in a position to bring compelling and competitive products to the OS market.

Microsoft has done almost as much to lose market share (albeit inadvertently) as Apple has done to gain it.

I moved to Mac after I first got my hands on Tiger. I had a friend who was pro Mac and I had been reading about Tiger at the time. Due to my heavy concentration in Music, I decied to use it, and I then purhcased an iBook of my own less than 6 months after. I have gone back, and now I tell all of my friends, and everyone I know that has computer problems to move to a Mac. They talk about Spyware, and I talk about UI. They talk about the system being crappy, and I talk to them about how I can't wait to get my hands on a new iMac. Unfortunatly, the Window's world is not looking for inovation. The Mac World, is however.

I bought a mac this month for the first time because I think MS is evil. But I'm a tech geek. Running Win was a draw, but I must say I never use it.

I've been a Windows user for over 12 years and finally got so fed up with Viruses/Spyware/Adware and other BS that I went out and bought a MacBook. Like someone else said earlier, my take so far is "What is Windows?".

I have to say that people such as myself, whom Seth Godin would call a "Sneezer" - are responsibly for products like Macs getting more popular. For 12 years I've been learning PC's, the ins and outs of Windows and my phone rings off the hoook all day long with people needing help with their PC's, mostly because of viruses or spyware. The first thing I tell them now is that the easiest solution is to go down to the Apple store or CompUSA and pick up a Mac Mini or MacBook and give Apple a shot. They ask why I say so, I tell them I did it and love it and eventually they all make the switch and then call me to come give them initial training and consultation. My business continues and I get to support what I now see clearly as a superior product in the marketplace.

Thank god for this alternative...Windows, in fact Microsoft as a whole, is slipping bad - they're going down and Apple is coming up. Woohoo!

I personally just bought mac a month ago.
The fist time I got to know apple was a long time ago (when I was a kid I learn computers with Apple 2C) but since then I havent seen any.

Two years ago my mini disk die on me - so I decided to get an MP3 player - and then I got my first iPod - I fell in love with Apple great UI and elegant design - the easy of use too.

When Apple introduced the Intel computer I knew that my next one will be mac since I wont have any problem install windows on it if I wont like it or run XP on boot camp for programs I cant find on the mac world - so I got a mac book as my first laptop.

I love it - its great to use - very elegant - very simple to use.

Any way - if Vista wont be a blast I think my next desktop will be an iMac.

I'm buying a macbook pro because i need a laptop, and all of the windows laptops look extremely ugly.. Also, the fact that I wont be having to deal with viruses, spyware and the like will be such a relief!

When it comes to computers, I'm a PC person. I run Linux on several machines and Windows on a couple. I'd say I use the Windows more, since I work on 'em. (Linux being more a hobby) Anyway, I'm going to get my first Mac when Leopard comes out because, well, Vista's beta's stink. I'm tired of the MS junkware and bloat. Time for a computer that just works. I've been a die hard PC fan for 20 years, though the first GUI I ever used was a Mac IIe or whatever it was... Thing is, Redmond isn't hip (anymore?), and we all want to be cool. All your suggestions are right on, but the biggest one for me is Windows (Vista) is a sinking ship and Mac OS X rocks. Period.

Oh, and yes, I bought my iPod a year ago and it certainly started making Apple a household name around here. There's absolutly no doubt it too is a contributing factor.

Basides, their commecials are so good I watch them online. That says alot considering I didn't even know they existed (I watch TV through my Linux MythTV recordings and it skips all commercials!) until a friend pointed them out saying, "have you seen the new Mac commercials? They're hilarious!" Now I can't wait for new ones to download and play over and over.

Yep, I'm going to be a Mac addict!

I THINK THE ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS 1-7 ARE YES.

For me it was a matter of web development on windows vs mac. My servers have been freebsd for so long, it only made sense to have a mac to test apache/mysql/php pages locally.

I use a PC. I have used a Mac. To me they are both computers.

I think that people who buy Macs just want to use a machine and not learn anything about it.

Most people tend to forget the Microsoft is NOT a computer company. Dell, HP, Sony, etc are. And when they bundle junk sofware on their machines it can cause Windows some issues.

Microsoft got sued for bundling software. They could include products similar to iLife but aren't allowed. Apple can bundle software like iLife because the are under the Justice Dept radar.

So, my opinion, easy to use without the burden of tens of thousands of vendors trying to get into the machine and messing it up is the best reason for novice users.

One of the biggest but not quite obvious reasons would be that in the past year, Apple's opened up and started to make themselves open, universally. The move to the unix based kernel was a big key in it all. A lot of open source productivity came out of it and because of it, more applications were produced that allowed anyones experience to be more enjoyable. For those of you who have been watching the progression of Boot Camp and how it's functionality is going to be completely released in the Leopard release of OS X, it's a open invitation for users to not only install Windows operating systems on it, but also run it seamlessly with OS X, and to tell you the truth, it runs better. OS X is just overall more stable and incredibly hard to crash to lag to the point of not being able to use. The best part is that with Apple opening themselves to the ability to use Windows, is that it's just beginning... There is a ton more they have under their belt that they haven't even opened up to the general publics eye.

I am a long time user of PC/Windows. I bought a Mac because of OS X. Its ease of use and user interface elegance. Partly because I'm a designer, the Mac suits me better because everything on the Mac is beautiful. Even their icons are beautiful, it just inspires me just looking at it.

I was also sick of the bugs of Windows XP, spyware, inconsistencies, crashes, unfriendlyness of the interface and so on. Not that Windows is not 'ok', but OS X was just better for me.

When the Intel Macs came out, it made my choice easier, because I could still run Windows XP on it. I need Windows to do 3D. And a few games now and then.

Yeah and last but not least. A Mac is COOL! :D

I would think that the iPod has definitely had an influence, however one of the most important influences is changes in computer use.

As more people own computers primarily for the internet, and as internets have more and more advanced pages with 'flash' games and online applications the importance of which operatiing system you have diminishes. The operating system of Apple is (I think) much more user-friendly than Windows, but windows is also the operating system most people will use at work and thus familiarity has its advantages.

Apple's share will rise more and more as computer-games are developed with dual-system capability - with Apple moving to intel I expect more games will come out of Mac.

All the pieces you note have definitely had an impact, but the intel one is too early to tell. Apple's name is definitely out there and known to everyone now, maybe 5/10 years ago people who were into computers/design or technology-fashion had heard of Apple because of the iMac but few people I know who were going to be buying a computer had heard of them, and then trying to explain the difference between them and Windows made for a 'negative' experience as Windows was the 'easy' option.

The downside for Apple is that now a little mistake makes a big impact, because they have a wider audience and becaues their reputation is based on high quality reliable equipment/software

My first was an iBook late last year. When the Intel ine came out I shipped the iBook to my son and bought a MBP and an iMac.

I went to a mac at first because I got tired of taking care of my PC to the tune of an hour or two each week. I had changed my box to Ubuntu linux, but I needed a notebook for school and the Mac caught my eye, the price was right and it was not an XP box.

I can run M$ Office except for Access, but there you go. The only gripe I have about OS X is the crappy way you have to copy and move files in the Finder, prefer the thread effect like in explorer. But at least Quicksilver helps with that as well as automator.

I recently switch from windows to the Mac. Being an IT support guy, I have been dealing with windows problems for years, both the home and at work. I can now rest at home and do great things I never did before because in windows it was too much of an effort. Now I only used windows at work, and at home the Mac has been my primary computer for about 3 months. It used to be that I would recommend windows systems to everyone, but now the only thing I tell people is to just get a Mac and be happy.

I got a macbook pro and mac pro for one major reason. Parallels. The fact that I could run the one windows program I need without having to use windows most of the time was the clincher. I've been using Linux for years but liked the full gui / unix integration of the mac.

i actually just bought my first mac, a mac mini. i've had an aging windows computer for years now and figured it was time for an upgrade. First off, i just love OSX. It is more attractive and more functional, in my opinion, than windows or linux has or will ever be. the thing that really tipped the scales for me was the release of the intel macs. knowing that i could (although now i don't know why i would) run windows as well, if I needed to.

also, college students get macs, right?

When I first tried using a Mac I absolutely hated it. Both the OS, software, and hardware.
I am a case modder and overclocker, and I don't see how it's possible to mod a Mac due to their weird cases. There is no space to fit a fan or more drives, making it a computer for the average consumer.

The only reason people buy technology like this is because it looks good on the outside, but the quality of the inside may suck. Engineers and the sales department know the latest ways to trick consumers by sealing the inside, adding a couple of 4-cent blue LEDs, and making it smooth and shiny in appearance at minimal cost due to outsourcing. I am not saying that Macs are like this, but most "hi-tech" technology they sell for the average consumer. Only engineers know the real secret...

-I just laugh at those who say "I built my own computer!!!", "I did this all by myself...3GHz of power!" An average person with an IQ of 80 can do this. People are proud of themselves because it is fast, but you just bought a couple of ready-made blocks and wired them up using regular cabling. Now open up an electronics catalog and you will get a mental brain freeze.

I switched about a year and a half ago... I was sick of windows and supporting windows boxes where I work... So I switched and I've switched half of the rest of the office out..... By the end of 07 we'll all be on macs.... Windows isn't that bad if you know what your doing... but just regular users are constanly screwing up their computer... As I started switching people out to macs, I noticed that even the most computer ignorant people started LOVING their computer... and then they end up training the next person I switch more than I do...

I have used both in school and at work and I still stick with my PC.

I myself stick with my PC and use the Macs at school if I have to do animation work. I like my PC because one of many reasons is that if a part in the PC goes freaky on me. I can get a part just about anywhere with no problem. Mac parts I can get yes but only in certain places and after the guy at the local apple store here told me what it would cost to fix the problem that i described. I deverted away.

Viruses: Yes there are less viruses for Mac but that is because virues writing hackers (not to be confused with information searching hackers) use them as a target towards microsoft itself because they don't like them. Since Mac is unix based it is in a way like linux (yes I know not completely) so at the moment they don't feel mac is a target.

But Mac can run MS Office and Windows: Office was part of the payback program from Apple to Microsoft since Microsoft gave mac 200 million dollars (i may be a few off) a while back to keep it from going under. While on Microsofts side they did this to keep Mac alive so they would not be a monopoly.
Yes they can run windows. Good for them. Yet to so many who believe that this is a sign that windows is going to lose, think about this. Everytime you buy that copy of windows to run on your mac who makes money? Microsoft.

Will I get a mac one day? Most likely. I would like to learn how to use them much more than I already have. I would honestly like to own one. But for the stuff that I do at the moment i will stick with a PC and dual boot to linux like i normally do for now.

I will probably switch when Vista comes out since the main project leader left the Windows project to go to Amazon the rules for Windows have changed so drastically that I believe I will switch.

Unless you own the ultimate edition you can't save Iso's on your HD? Hey Microsoft how am I supposed to dual boot linux if I can't download the ISO to install it?

I bought the MacBook over any other PC laptop because of the fact that it had a built in camera. I think I just fell in love with that and thought made communication via video/audio so easy. Now although i have been a PC user for so long by this purchase i'm slowly transitioning all my apps to mac. But overall a mac is refreshing and breathtaking compared to any other laptop on the market. And although I can install Windows XP with dual book on my macbook, the question is "why do so?". Everyone needs macs now in days to simplify everyone's complicated life.

I was a life long Windows user. My initial exposure was to the intuitive(ness) of the Itunes software. That got my attention and as I began to explore my next computer I began to look into Apple and saw what they had to offer: Stable OS, Intuitive UI, Great packaged aps and a quality product. My 24" iMac is fantastic!

MACs are becomming more popular due to the changeover to the INtel chip.

I hated MACs for years, even owned one for a few months then resold it.

Recently I was able to boot OSX off a old Pentium3 computer that wasnt doing anything. I was livid at my Windows install due to it losing my login and not allowing me into my desktop. (long, annoying story)
I have been running a bootleg version of OSX on a PC for 5 months now. Due to this experience I am in the process of buying a 24"iMac to implement as my full time machine, replacing my haxx0rd OSX/PC and another PC that runs Photoshop and Dreamweaver.

MACs run smoother with less hassle. When I sit down at a MAC, I get work done. When I sit down at a PC I work on the pC, in hopes of getting some work done when its fixed.

Used windows all my life 'till 11th grade when I switched highschools, and my new one was mostly Macs. At first I wasn't in any tech classes, so I was stuck with OS 9, and i hated it, I never wanted to use a Mac after those experiences. Second semester I had a graphic design class with eMacs all running OS X, and I wanted one immediately, but had no reason to get a new computer. So when I graduated highschool, I was without a Mac, and since I needed a new computer for University, I got that long awaited Mac. So I guess it was OS X.

I used Macs back in school (pre-OSX) and thought the ease-of-use was incredible, but that there wasn't enough there for a poweruser (I program, like to host web services, and generally love the CLI). So for the longest time I used Windows.

When OSX came out, I looked and saw pretty colors and went, great, nothing has really changed, but the core. I didn't realize that there was a terminal to access all the unixy goodness underneath.

When MS started putting restrictions on installing their software (i.e. the Activation stuff) it really annoyed me. I like to change my hardware often and would be stopped by that stupid thing. I started using pirated copies of XP Corporate edition just to get around the activation thing. The multitude of problems getting some things to work right and not having what I considered basic operating system components (i.e. a good scripting language, a good CLI) finally got to me after having used unix-like os's for a while.

Finally, when my PC died, I went and checked out the Macs at the Apple Store. They OS was clean, simple and elegant. And anytime I wanted true Unix power, I just popped open a Terminal session and there it was.

I think that frustrution with Windows is the primary reason people are switching. I think seeing their friends switch is the primary reason new computer owners are buying Macs.

I think that the iPod has certainly helped get Apple into the spotlight so that they can go "Hey, look at me. I'm an alternative to Windows and not as complicated as Linux. Remember me?". Many people had only been thinking of Linux as an alternative because Apple had kind of fallen in to obscurity.

Finally, to new switchers, I think that the idea of being able to run Windows if they need to helps ease the thought of switching to a new OS. I know several who have thought of doing it this way and have never needed to go back to Windows for anything.

I got my first Mac three years ago. I found Windows to be endlessly frustrating with its crashes and bugs. When I upgraded to Windows 2000 on a brand new machine I nearly went crazy because of all the things that just did not work.

I switched to Mac for two reasons: (1) the frustration with Windows poor quality, and (2) that I think Microsoft's goal to dominate the world market in operating systems with its mediocre product is simply, morally wrong.

In the three years that I've been using this Mac I've been astonished at how well so much of it works so much of the time. I take it for granted until I sit down at Starbucks with a friend who has a Windows laptop, and then I'm reminded why I switched as I hear their groans of frustration. Plus, now I'm 99 and 44/100% morally pure!

the only reason people are switching is because there feddup with windows, its NOT the only operating system out there for a PC. You can build PC's yourself, you can get better hardware with PC and you can just do more. So instead of switching to mac just switch to Linux.

And also the ipod is NOT that great either. I have a 5g and have had a freakin nough of it. Switching to Archos ASAP!

I don't want to know everything about running a computer in order to make it work smoothly -- I would rather have a life of my own. I don't need to spend my time building my own Windows box just to say that I've done it. I don't play games on my computer (PS2 and Gameboy fill those needs, and they do it more easily and conflict-free than any computer).

There are many things that I don't have to worry about, and I'll give credit to my iBook.

Apple's been pacing themselves just right over the past several years (nearly a decade since the first iMac, too). iTunes/iPod was given Windows support right when everybody wanted one; the iTunes Music Store was introduced at a similar peak in interest. The Mac mini was brought out when OS X was even further ahead of XP, giving Windows users a good reason to sample a Mac for the first time and enjoy it. They were always developing OS X for Intel, so it's no surprise that the hardware switch has been accomplished so easily.

Apple's popularity is no coincidence. It's been part of a pretty serious multiyear plan, and thankfully for Apple, it's worked.

I've never had much of a problem with Windows - even Win98! - XP is fine for me, no maintenance in years, literally. But all these good things about Mac and dire warnings about future Windows made me want to try, and look.. well, I just can't appreciate the Mac interface in a 1,000 ways- e.g. no fullscreen window?? Certain big things are great - formatting and partitioning external drives for instance, but daily life is simpler and easier on Windows, for now. Plus iTunes, which I used to like, isn't good enough - I use Media Monkey, for its "Location" support, i.e. I control where I put my data, I don't leave it up to the ungainly ideas of [any] computer program. etc.

I've been a Windows user for most of my professional life and have installed, supported and endured almost every incarnation of that OS since it's birth. Working, as I do, with Solaris and Linux systems I used to run XP with Cygwin at home over a VPN and at work without too many issues.

Two years ago, I switched to an old Dual G4 running OS X and thought it was sweet. I'm now running Tiger and looking forward to the release of Leopard. I like the power and relative security of running Unix operating environment and I especially like the GUI that Apple delivered to sit atop the Mac's Unix heart. The combination rendered my old PC setup redundant and the Mac environment just feels more capable and comfortable.

Another reason for switching was the growing tide of malware affecting Windows users. I've never been caught out, but how long was that going to last? Like many PC enthusiasts, I get roped into supporting numerous 'less experienced' friends and have been getting heartily sick of eliminating the plague of trojans infecting machines with so-called protection. To these folks my new mantra is "Stop using Outlook; stop using Explorer and, if you can, stop using Windows ... buy a Mac when you upgrade." And some of them are listening.

I think you're questions are so leading. What if you include ther question, growing in popularity or not, Apple stills controls a small minority of the computer market? Ask the question, why do gamers prefer the PC AROUND THE WORLD. Apple junkies are always trying to make their facts fit their world view like bad debaters. Apple produces first rate products and has the best marketing team in the world. They are gaining market share because they have led the entry into sharing digital music using a handheld device. Other then that, they need another innovation VERY SOON.

Apple's acquisition of Emagic was the main reason I made the switch from Windows. Having used PCs for years and years for music, I really think that the Macbook Pro running Logic Pro 7 can't be beat as a portable solution for any recording musician or live electronic musician. It's simply fabulous.

And OSX is such a joy to use - you just forget you're even using a computer! As soon as I either get my hands on Parallels or take the Boot Camp plunge, I'll have no further need for my PC. Until then, I'll keep suffering Windows for the odd little things it's good at, like web design...

I've read a few of these comments that suggest that you can't right-click on a Mac. This is patently untrue - with the Mac single button mouse you only have to select Ctrl and then click to get a contextual menu in applications and in the finder (file manager) - and a Mac Mighty Mouse negates the need for a Ctrl-Click as it has a right mouse button.

The need for contextual menus, however, is minimal in Mac OSX (for example) due to consistent UI design, that in the main follows the general rule that any commands in an application should always be available as a menu item. I don't think I've found one app that I use that doesn't follow this rule.

Lastly - the most refreshing thing that I've found with my Mac (a PowerBook purchased late last year) is the sheer simplicity and flexibility of keyboard commands in Mac OSX - negating the need to be concerned about the dexterity of your mouse !

I used to need to run a Mac and a PC. I built my PCs with high performance options for playing games. Macs did present a problem for gamers as there were never very many published and they were always brought out a year behind the Windows versions.

Since I bought my Mac Pro and installed Win XP on it, my Windows games are now all installed on the Mac and run better than they ever did on my gaming PCs. I have no further use for my PCs.

Let's get one thing cleared up. Macs, thankfully, are nothing like PCs. The Mac can be thought of as an appliance. Its hardware is an integrated whole with everything matched to work together reliably. And the MacOSX pulls it all together. An Apple is a dependable integrated whole with good quality assurance in manufacture. The result is a computer that never needs its hardware upgraded and is generally kept in service years beyond the life of a PC.

Microsoft has a problem. It has to provide an operating system that can run what is basically a box full of disparate bits and pieces and drivers from a plethora of different sources. It is remarkable that a Winbox can run at all, and it is clear to me that a PC can never be considered to have the dependability of the Macintosh. And don't get me going on Windows malware and constant nagging as it proudly boasts that some update or other is ready to be installed. And then there is the frequent reboots following updates. For most software updates, the Mac does not need to reboot — so I just carry on with what I was doing.

I'm thankful that that there is an Apple who makes appliance computers so that I can get on with being productive with my pro applications and not be even aware that there's a computer behind my work. The antithesis of this is that I wouldn't trust a Winbox to sit there quietly serving my needs as I work with my applications. I'm utterly fed up with all those crappy popups that XP so frequently tosses up to distract me from my work. And not forgetting Window's silly missing keyboard application quit commands, or the missing keyboard function to make a new folder.

Well, in a nutshell, the Win XP GUI is a shocker. I've been a PC user since DOS and it continues to anger and frustrate me every day.

Does the author notice that the majority of comments posted here are positive about the Mac and OS X? This should be a clue to the clueless.

A couple of notes for a comment posted by soup:

"The sad truth is the majority of Mac switchers I meet and greet are the ones too dopey to run Windows. Thank goodness you have an alternative."

>> Microsoft has obviously convinced you that you need to be a computer engineer to be able to use a computer. Ever think that the reason you have to be a computer genius to run Windows is because the OS is poorly designed? Huh? No, because you're too dopey. Computers should just work like an appliance. Seems like you, "Soup", are bit smug about your Windows expertise.

"But the ones who make their PCs crash and then blame Windows deserve to have the shiny, simple Macintosh. Knock yourselves out of the park."

>> I guess if your Car breaks down you shouldn't blame the dealer or maker? It's all your fault.....What a dope you are, "Soup".

Windows only but annoyed
I was a Windows-only user (developer by trade) since the Windows 3.0 days. I grew up with Commodore computers so Apple was always "the enemy" to me. In the late 90s I started getting more and more frustrated with Windows instability, MS Office assuming complete control of all system resources, and Outlook's horrific memory footprint. I started shifting to any alternatives I could find (Eudora e-mail, OpenOffice, and so on) but stayed on Windows because that was "the only choice." I dabbled with Linux but it was too much trouble. The computer was, to me, an appliance not a project. I just needed something that worked.

Cute notebook for the wife
In the meanwhile, my wife bought an iPod after trying and hating five different MP3 players. She fell in love with that and, being equally frustrated with Windows, wanted to get an iBook when it was time to consider a laptop for school. I figured a Mac would be fine since she wasn't a "real" computer user.

New territory
Of course I tinkered with her iBook a bit at first (feeling quite dumb since I didn't know the first thing about OS X) and found myself borrowing it more and more. When we got to a point where I needed a laptop as well, I decided to include Macs in my comparison shopping. I finally narrowed my choice down to two: a Vaio and a Powerbook (based on a set of aesthetic and functional criteria I had created). The Powerbook was actually a bit cheaper so I bought it. I've never looked back.

Why did I take so long to switch?
I'm using a Macbook Pro now and my wife has a Macbook and we dread the times we have to use Windows. After you've used a OS that's so intuitive and though-out like OS X, the convoluted mess of an interface in Windows XP is downright annoying. Who's with me on hating the Start Menu?

Spread the word
Because of my wife's switch three years ago, there are now 12 additional, happy switchers (people I've talked to, people they've talked to, etc.) that I know of. Many have said it before but the reason more people don't switch is that they think Windows is as good as it gets. Do your friends a favor: show them your Mac, don't be pretentious just because you saw the light first, and give them time to come around.

Macs are all I have ever known. I make my living on these beloved machines and I can't imagine my life without them.

I've owned everything from a 1988 Mac SE/30, Mac IIsi, Quadra 650, PowerMac 7500/100, PowerMac G4/500, PowerMac G4/dual 1.25Ghz and now my latest, a brand new Intel 2 Duo Core iMac with built in isight camera. I can't imagine my life with out these beautiful and productive machines.

I lived through the dark years, 1994 - 1997. I would have clients ask me why on Earth I was using an Apple computer? They would continue to make comments that Apple was dead and would be out of business within the year. I stayed true to my beloved machines and I'm happy I did. Now, if I had only been wise enough to buy the stock at .28 a share in the early 1990's I would be a wealthy man right now. =)

i never switched to mac. i am mac user since '89 and i am very happy because of that. used windows to work only 3 days in my life. worst days in my life. i quit that job very fast and btw i was one year ago at same guy on job interview, he got macs now.

I’m convinced and I'm getting my Mac thanks to Rishwant but my admiration for Microsoft stays intact. I see a game here being played between Jobs and Gates that their diehards haven’t caught on.

I noted last Sunday at the art gallery that Juliana and Rishwant were tearing at Microsoft and I gather too its dominance - but doing a little reading I note that almost all 7 million Mac users - about 3% computer users worldwide - depend on Microsoft’s Mac Business Unit to develop Mac versions of its products such as Word Excel PowerPoint etc, their key to a world where Windows is the dominant operating system. The irony is these products were developed for Mac before they appeared in Windows and any way I wash it, if Microsoft’s the maker then Mac’s the guinea, at least in this context.

The other irony is MMBU turns a profit year after year selling the very people who are mental against it, not to mention the folks at MMBU use Macs to keep current with an environment trying to do them in, which they continue to support.

Have we diehards lost our sense of irony? Next time Jobs spikes a feel good by ridiculing Gates or when Gates takes the pedestal just before a power outage or when some Microsoft executive is openly ‘disloyal’ packing a Macbook, I will chuckle at the fodder but not before reading the agreement between Apple and Microsoft which has been in place for a quarter of a century.

Thanks Tom for pasting my name up on the internet, what more next to Juliana's.

Yes I made my first Macintosh purchase about a month now. It has been difficult to get the brain to learn new things. But the Mac OS X 10.4.8 is great. Its easy. I do not need the manual to learn this thing. I agree with most of the comments here. Reasonable they are. And reasonable they are in saying that the Mac is nothing superior etc.. or that Microsoft is not really worthless. It stands to reason that Microsoft cannot be totally useless or Gates is doing nothing right. The figures say otherwise.

What sold me on the Mac is its architecture (it boots up superfast... no underlying DOS-like program to first load), its originality (unlike Vista, the Tiger and Leopard OSs are original), its functionality (built in microphone, firewire, isight, no cd tray, battery level indicator when laptop is off, magnetic power cord).

Hey, I better stop. I am sure you are all thinking that I rehearsed this, but no: it came spilling out like spaghetti. Windows copies the Mac and call me a fool but I think innovation ought to be rewarded.

Finally, if not for everything else, my Lisa is original. And I need not worry about viruses or spyware. Sure, right the commentors are that you need worry only if visit 'certain websites' etc.. But let us wake up. When I plug in my thumbdrive or floppy in another person's PC or my brother's PC and I absent mindedly plug it into my PC, what about then? What about when my antivirus subscription expires or if I forget to upgrade it? Then what about the valid argument that we need not worry about all the 100,000 odd viruses out there for the Windows PC: we only need to be concerned with the latest, say, 10,000? I have no time for this.

Then, what about that latest microprocessor I purchase for my IBM compatible. Will it spend a lot of its energy (and memory) scanning for spyware and viruses? It really reminds me of the PALM and WINDOWS CE battle: Windows CE is a truck: it requires large storage spaces and engine capacities. Same thing for the Windows PC.

Let us awaken to the fact that this has consequences in so far as processor speeds and memory is concerned. A sacrifice is made. I don't have this problem with my PALM or my MAC. And I luv 'em both, silly sod that I am.

I haven't got a mac yet, but will at the end of this year. I have been a PC user for all of my life and have decied to make the switch for a few reasons...

1. I recently got an iPod for Christmas. Liked and decided to check out other Apple products
2. Sometimes go into an Apple store and love the style of Mac's
3. Like the 'Get a Mac' ad's
4. My friends all have one and get positive comment from them