My background is computers. I’ve been noodling on them since I was a lad, back in around 1984. So that’s twenty years, give or take. I wouldn’t go as far as to say I was a veteran, but I can remember many of the computers of that time, and the feeling of excitement as I took my first tentative steps on the new frontier.

That was then and this is now; twenty years gone past and many if not all of the computer and software houses of 1984 are now no more. With a few notable (and very successful exceptions) we have lost a lot of the colour and competition which used to typify the industry.

I recall reading about a revolutionary new, single box computer with a thing called a mouse and sophisticated graphics and a new way of doing things. I recall it was called Macintosh, and as a young lad I wanted one. It did, however, take twenty years of working my way via a convoluted route to finally own one of these Macintoshes. Twenty years of grief, frustration and exasperation. Mainly condensed into the latter fifteen years of this period when I backed the IBM PC.

Retrospect being a cruel mistress, it is only now I realise how much of my life has been wasted using poorly designed computers running inadequate, unreliable operating systems. Yes, stand up Microsoft, that’s you to whom I refer. You see, it was only earlier this year that I finally found the planets in alignment and the circumstances right to acquire my first Mac.

The John of 1984 would, of course, have been astonished at the compact wonder that is the Powerbook 12. Since selling my hulking Dell Inspiron 8000 back in July, I’ve been almost 100% Apple, and generally not looking back. The elegance and thought that has gone into this little device is somewhat special; the Dell just could never compete.

However, no matter how good the hardware, what matters is the quality of the software that you choose to run on it, and in this regard the Apple is so far removed from the world of Windows that I’ve coined it a ‘colour TV moment’. Think about the day you finally got a colour TV, with push-button channel presets. Think about how much better it was to use and how reluctant you were to go back to the old B&W set. That’s it: Apple OSX is colour TV with remote to Windows’ black and white with dial and sticky tape holding the power switch on lest it accidentally switch itself off or lose the channel. You know, this analogy is good!

My path in computers took me to uni and into developing an interest in the way we work with computer systems from a usability and human factors point of view. It is in this single area that the Apple has cleared up and won all the gongs. For instance, one of the really frustrating things about Windows is finding the correct window. The status bar is a bit useless beyond a certain point, and it’s easy to lose things. Compare this to the Apple; we have the dock, which works (and can be set to get out of the way when we’re not using it) and Expose. This last feature is my favourite of all. Whatever you’re doing, hit F9 and all the windows magically shrink and arrange themselves so you can find the one you’re after. Or hit F10 and only windows from your current application do this. Or F11 and everything hides and clears the desktop, with another press restoring it. Doesn’t sound too important, but believe me it becomes a staple of productive use and for me that’s vital.

You know, I could go on about my discovery of the Apple. Like a girl you distantly knew at school, forget about and then bump into one evening and fall madly, passionately in love with, you start to question what life would have been like if we’d hooked up earlier, where we would have gone, how things might be different… but I’ll spare you all of that.

All I can say is that unless you absolutely must use a PC at work or home, saving a couple of hundred quid on a Dell is a false economy and 90% of people would have a far better time with a Mac. No bull, just the way it is.

John