Jeff Chausse
Digital Strategy + Design
Why I Switched, then Switched, then Switched
Back when Apple made a big deal about switching from Windows to OS X, I did. And I really enjoyed living the Mac life. But over time, due to a number of reasons, I drifted back to using a PC.
Firstly, I was stuck using a PC at work (ain’t that always the case). Secondly, (I thought) I wanted a netbook and a gaming PC. I figured maybe I should just standardize on one platform, and with the release of Windows 7, my fate was sealed.
Windows 7 didn’t suck.
I built a custom gaming PC and bought a netbook. Eventually, I realized that I don’t even really play PC games, and that yes, netbooks are kind of sucky and pointless.
But that’s not why I switched back to Mac.
I switched back to Mac because there’s been a crazy role-reversal between Apple and Microsoft in the past few years. I switched away from Windows because there were no good applications for it.
Remember when the number one argument against Macs was that all the good apps were on PC? Oh, how times have changed.
As the web (and web apps) picked up steam, something funny happened. The Windows app developers (mostly rooted in the corporate world) switched to building web apps, but the Apple app developers – mostly enthusiastic, passionate individuals or small teams – kept on building beautiful desktop applications (and passionate fan bases).
Again, Windows 7 does not suck. It is an excellent operating system. The problem was this: once my fascination with its improved taskbar, and Aero Snap, and all that good stuff wore off – once I got around to actually wanting to do stuff on my computer, I realized something. There was not ONE APPLICATION for Windows that I LOVED. Don’t get me wrong, Microsoft Office is good software. But I don’t love it. At this point, I think about Word or Excel the same way I think about “calc.exe”. It’s practically part of the operating system. It’s just something you have to have, and have to use.
The other apps I used a lot – Dreamweaver, Photoshop – were cross-platform, so even if they were awesome on Windows (they’re not – they’re bloated and buggy), they were no pro-Windows argument. The only Windows-only app I’ve come close to “loving” is SnagIt (I’ve always considered TechSmith the most Mac-like Windows development company), but man cannot live on screen capture apps alone. I mostly relied on web apps – using programs I was unenthused about, when I had to use them.
Windows 7 was a beautiful container for running a web browser. What was the point?
Since their respective inceptions, Microsoft has been all about business, Apple all about hobbyists. I’m making a gross generalization here, but Windows-based developers generally care about making money, and Mac developers care about making beautiful stuff. There’s little financial incentive to tying yourself exclusively to the Mac platform. Corporate niche Windows applications and subscription web apps are where it’s at if you just want to make money. If you develop for Mac, it’s because you want to make beautiful software, for people who appreciate beautiful software.
I recently hunted for a good Windows note-taking application, like the Mac’s Yojimbo. After seeing recommendations for OneNote and Evernote (two big, bloated apps) at every turn, I finally came across a small, simple, just-powerful-enough one called “GoldenSection Notes“, buried on the 5th page of some shareware directory. It really is good – try the demo. Then do a Google search for it. Every link on Google is from some cheeseball shareware aggregator site. There’s not one blog post about it (at least as far as I was willing to dig in the Google results). A forum for its users? Nope. A Twitter account from the developer? Keep dreaming. It’s like it fell onto the Internet from another planet. A whole lot of Windows software is like this. I found a really good Windows video converter called Aimersoft Media Converter. You’d never guess that it was good based on their web site, because it’s just one giant SEO trap. Popular Mac apps come with a developer blog, a forum, and one or more Twitter accounts from the developer. Windows software usually just comes with a feeling that you’re on your own.
You can buy decent Windows apps, but you’d be hard pressed to buy Windows apps that are beautiful and come with a passionate, accessible community to back them up. And that’s why I’m moving back to the Mac.
Welcome back, Coda.
Welcome back, Omnigraffle
Welcome back, Things
Welcome back, MarsEdit
Welcome back, Quicksilver
Welcome back, Mac.
Comments
View Comments to “Why I Switched, then Switched, then Switched”
Leave a Reply
You're in luck: SnagIt for Mac is in beta!
Nice! I love the observation about “no good apps for Windows,” and I think you could be on to something with the presumption that it's because all the good Windows app devs switched to the web, while Mac devs are more likely to stick it out on the desktop.
Welcome back! I'm glad MarsEdit is among your awaiting apps.