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Dragthing 64 bit mac3/27/2023 ![]() It’s one thing to regularly ignore the needs of users by releasing software and system updates that just as regularly break popular third-party applications and add-ons (back in the days of camaraderie–when Macs were still fun–this didn’t happen with such regular frequency.) Much as Apple likes to market itself as the answer to allegedly closed-minded Microsoft, to a regular Mac user, when it comes to using your computer it can often feel like it’s either Apple’s way or the highway. But once you’ve drunk the Apple Kool-Aid, it’s really hard to yank the computer company’s weedy tendrils out of the firmament of your daily life. Sure, I wanted real-time, platform-agnostic control over my email, the ability to manage my own photo folders, and access to “un-approved” software on my mobile phone. Especially after the even more hermetically sealed iPhone hit the market. But how else to keep them buying expensive, Apple-branded hardware?Īlthough I have long been a power user, relying on my Mac to work, play, and manage most aspects of my life, the above paragraph described me for years. Sure, those users might end up so deeply enmeshed in an Apple-only universe that they might never again consider living life without an “i” in front of it. As long as college users could figure out how to play mp3s, soccer moms how to schedule car-pool days, and grandparents how to use email, Apple could garner more market share.Īpple’s solution to accomplish all this: creating a suite of closely interlinked programs that met the basic needs of average users–and not much more. Since the company began concentrating so wholly on attracting PC converts, Mac software solutions have turned into what in August Wired magazine termed good-enough tech. What seems to have happened, instead, is that Steve Jobs decided to make the needs of occasional home users more important than the needs of savvier, longtime Apple adherents. Right up until Steve Jobs made silver the new beige, the almost holy triumvirate of Apple, Macworld magazine, and a largely professional user community vibrated with the sense that if we all stayed on each other’s side, computer miracles would happen. Back in the days when the media was still placing bets on when Apple would finally keel over and die, there was a sense of camaraderie between computer company and user. But being a Mac user was a lot more fun before the platform became mainstream. ![]() Having owned about a dozen Macs in the past 15 years, I long considered myself a staunch Apple evangelist. That got me thinking about all the times in the recent past I’ve felt hampered by Mac software. But that wouldn’t have changed the fact that Google’s web apps are more robust than Apple’s desktop counterparts–not to mention free. Sure, I could have paid an annual subscription fee to use Apple’s MobileMe syncing service. It also made me wonder at length why I had to use third-party solutions to do so. The ability to manage my mail, appointments, and address book seamlessly whether on my laptop or mobile phone and sync most of those items in real-time made life a lot easier for me. ![]() My past four months of being a Gmail and Google Calendar user have been transformational. In their stead, I routed all my calls to my iPhone and let myself succumb to life in the Google cloud. I dumped my Vonage number, along with Apple’s Mail and iCal programs. ![]() In a bid to make it easier for my ADHD self to manage the sea of information in which I swim–or sink–on a daily basis, over the summer I did what most mere mortals dream of doing: I migrated to a single email address and telephone number. ![]() In June, I blogged about my effort to pare down my electronic lifestyle. After a 15-year relationship with all things Apple, I’ve finally had it with the Steve Jobs “you’ll use your computer they way we tell you to use your computer” method of customer relations. I am a future Windows PC user and that is that. Find other entries in the “I’m Not a Mac” series archive. This post is part of my “I’m Not a Mac” series, chronicling my controversial migration away from Apple Computer after 15 years as a Mac user. Daring desktop image included with Microsoft’s new Windows 7.) ( Graphic: Not your father’s Apple Macintosh. I’m Not a Mac #2–I Am a Future PC: Why I’m Dumping Apple after 15 Yearsīy Michael Thaddeus Doyle on Novem ![]()
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