Well, it’s a Friday night, and I am at work. Not really for work’s sake, but because I have to rebuild my mother-in-law’s Windows box.

Now I am not really upset at her for screwing up her machine, she isn’t a geek and doesn’t spend every day working with them, but it does anger me a little that you almost have to spend every day working with a system just to insure you can keep it running. Just today there were six new “Critical” updates for Windows, and if you add to that anti-virus and anti-spyware, it starts to become a full time job.

That’s why I use a Mac.

I didn’t move to a Mac because I hate Windows. I moved because a number of my Linux-using friends bought Mac laptops because the latest operating system, OS X, was build on Unix. Thus you got a wider selection of off-the-shelf (than Linux) software, a killer user interface, with all the power we have come to expect from the Linux operating system.

I’ve owned my Mac for a year and a half now, and I am constantly amazed at how much actual work I get done using it. I am not spending my time constantly keeping it up to date. My Mac doesn’t crash. My Mac doesn’t get viruses. I rarely have to reboot my Mac.
There are software updates, of course. But unlike Windows, where the updates usually read “This critical update will fix an exploit where an unauthorized person can gain remote access to your computer, steal your credit card numbers, make out with your significant other and give you gout”, over half of the Mac updates are cool things like a new version of iTunes.

It’s funny. The things I get mad at Microsoft for, such as Internet Explorer and Media Player; I love when Apple does it, such as Safari and iTunes. Maybe it’s because Apple does it so well. Microsoft does the minimum it needs to get by, while Apple strives always to give you something extra.

I explained it on IRC with the analog that Apple was like a pretty woman, you tend to overlook her faults.

Understand that I was not a Mac zealot, and I still love Linux for servers. I’ve even been attacked by the zealots on Slashdot when I was talking about some of the issues I had when I first got my powerbook. But after more than I year, I am amazed at how much my Mac “Just Works&tm;”.

The biggest complaint with the Mac is that computer games are usually not available, or they come out later. One of the best games in recent memory, Neverwinter Nights, is available for the Mac, and
Doom 3 is supposed to come out on it. Most of the games worth playing eventually make it to the Mac, and it’s not like I have time to play games in the first place. So, see, Apple wins again. (grin)

So, let’s see – 26 Critical updates and two reboots, 14 other updates and 2 reboots. Just need to install Office, update it twice, install Anti-Vir, Ad-ware, and Spybot, then I can go home.

Envy me.