Why does my new mac...?
1. start working within 2 min. of taking it out of the box? My last Windows box (a thinkpad running windows XP SP2 purchased in august 2007) needed 2 HOURS of setup/screens before I could use it.
2. find and connect to my home server (a windows server 2003 box) faster/sooner/more easily than my recent Thinkpad which took futzing with for four hours to get it to connect properly?
3. Make me smile every time I look at it? I get angry looking at my windows boxes now, remembering how much agony it was to set them up to self maintain (defrag & backup every night, migrate to new machines).
4. find all my music and movies and other media content so much more quickly?
6. run an incredible amount faster / boot much more quickly than a similarly speced windows box?
7.cost about the same for nearly the same configuration hardware wise (price difference: $8. that's less than me & Knick Jim going to the taco truck)?
8. not annoy me every time I want to run an executable or asking me always "Am I sure I want to do this?" for every freakin' action?
9. not have ANY 64 bit driver issues? (running Vista 32 bit is like trying to walk with one leg. The OS hogs so much memory you can't get anything done - I refuse to use it. I was about to build a new PC to run Vista 64 bit, but after experiencing this Mac Book Pro - my next desktop is going to be a Mac too.).
I swear, I am only MORE motivated to port Speak With Me's code to the Mac now (and support the iPhone too). We're all equipped with VMWare fusion and if 70% of the car navi market didn't use Windows CE we wouldn't have to support Windows for the long haul. I think that Thinkpad will be my last PC purchase. Windows, you are now going to be relegated to being a second class citizen I dual boot to - or run as a virtual machine so I can kill you any time I want to. This is coming from someone who used to be fanatical about Windows NT 4.0 & Windows 2000. No one is getting Vista in our office for as long as we can avoid it (we may get a contract for a media center pc that requires it, but until then...)!
We had the Mac purchases in mind initially so we can support the iPhone - but I think these will fast become our daily use machines. If you aren't making a product you yourself LOVE to use everyday, make something different. Make something irresistible - make something drool-worthy, make something you are proud of - and WANT to show off and talk about. And don't piss off your users - they are your biggest evangelists.
It's 3:48am - and for the first time since I used the very first macintosh when I was four years old - I have this huge grin on my face that won't go away - and all the inspiration I need to convince everyone on the planet - that the next step in the user interface - is the one that listens to your every word!
Don't be surprised if I stay up this late routinely (actually I had some espresso right before the Earthquake yesterday...), as I am itching to make our stuff work on an iPhone just that much more quickly. I have an HTC TyTN II coming my way this week for Windows CE testing too.. so my thoughts on that device will be coming too...