Switching your surroundings?

[gekko513]

I expect most Mac users do in some way or another encourage the PC using people they know to get a Mac.

How do you do it? Does it work? Have you noticed a change in peoples attitude towards Macs recently?

I try not to be annoying, but I make sure to tell anyone how much I enjoy my Macs and OS X if it comes up. I switched in December 2003 and I started my niece out with a Mac as her first computer in 2004. Other than that there has been little interest among people that I know.

But now things seem to have changed. No less than 4 of my colleagues have asked me about Macs and if I would recommend a Mac for this or that use. One of my brothers is also seriously considering a switch. To me it seems like the iPod halo is shining brightly on the PC users out there.

 

[alex_ant]

Whenever anyone asks me how I like my Mac, I tell them that god damnit, it pisses me off. The hinge to the screen broke and it would cost $400 to fix, the power adapter broke twice, the screen sucks, it's slow, it uses monumental amounts of RAM, OS X is too buggy, etc. I tell them that I really don't like my Mac, but that I used a PC before it and that was even worse! They ask would I buy another one? I tell them yes, but only because all the alternatives suck even more. Believe it or not, my open honesty has caused 3 people to switch.

 

[gekko513]

Whenever anyone asks me how I like my Mac, I tell them that god damnit, it pisses me off. The hinge to the screen broke and it would cost $400 to fix, the power adapter broke twice, the screen sucks, OS X is too buggy, etc. I tell them that I really don't like my Mac, but that I used a PC before it and that was even worse! Believe it or not, my open honesty has caused 3 people to switch.

Wow, that's ... interesting.

 

[mduser63]

Whenever anyone asks me how I like my Mac, I tell them that god damnit, it pisses me off. The hinge to the screen broke and it would cost $400 to fix, the power adapter broke twice, the screen sucks, it's slow, it uses monumental amounts of RAM, OS X is too buggy, etc. I tell them that I really don't like my Mac, but that I used a PC before it and that was even worse! They ask would I buy another one? I tell them yes, but only because all the alternatives suck even more. Believe it or not, my open honesty has caused 3 people to switch.

I guess it's good to be honest, but this is certainly not my experience with my Macs. I've had zero hardware trouble, and very little software trouble (none that I wasn't able to eventually fix), which is definitely different than my experiences with Windows.

I'm not pushy about Macs towards PC users, but I do talk positively about my Macs and switching. So far, one of my friends has switched. When other friends bash Macs, I usually just say something like "You hate them, but that's only because you don't know anything about them." There's nothing they can really say in reply to that, because none of my friends who know the first thing about the differences between Macs and PCs ever say that Macs suck.

 

[Leareth]

Hey last term in one of my classes the profs laptop died, a keener student lends him his toshiba 17" brick but it can't open the presentation, another keener lend him her dell but it does not have the proper connector to the projector the other dell users computer was suffering from chronic blue screen , I offer my 12" iBook as a potential, all the other students scoff, at the Mac => PC file transfer problems, the white laptop, the glowing apple logo. but the class is desperate (only 11 students so no more laptop potentials) with two hours more to go in the lecture. So the prof takes the iBook plugs it no problem to the projector, it opens the powerpoint presentation , and actually makes it look good (mac vs. PC gamma) and saves the day. the prof, his TA and three other students keep me after class for 45min talking about macs , the prof, the TA and two of the students bought macs: one PB and three iBooks that same term, and last week I had the third student run up to me in the hallway to thank me for switching her off PC's and onto the wonderful world of mac, she has an iBook , iMac g5 and a iPod shuffle now...
At my University there are more mac users and more mac labs than PC, those that do use PC's are usually in the Computer Studies program or use Linux
At my old school I converted the entire bio department to macs
apple should pay me

 

[Sttesuhc]

Leareth-- that's a great story! Seems like once people see Macs and see how well they can function, a lot of the anxiety goes away.

 

[Mac]

I switched in 2003. Never looked back since.

The joy of having several others find the trouble-free world that I have found is beyond expression.

A friend in Atlanta, GA chatted with me one day as I saw an abrupt stop to his messages. The phone rang. "What's up?", I said. "The dog-on computer is a flippin mess. Full of virus and malware probably", was the answer. "You know that I have switched, don't you?", I replied. "Switched to what?". "Mac", I joyfully replied. "Really", he dragged on it. "Why", he said. "No more BSODs, malware, virus, hickups or problems". "Really", he was now attentive. "I have bought several actually. I have one and so does .... (my wife) and the kids, and I set up the wireless network in less than 15 minutes. Haven' had a hickup or problem with any of them - ever!". He couldn't believe it.

In less than 4 days he had a Powerbook 15'' w/Superdrive. He managed the transition in his home in less than a week. He reminds me very often when we iSight eachother that 'he cannot thank me enough for helping him switch'.

He himself has now switched 4 other people.

So the ripple effect is in motion.