Monday, May 19, 2003

Maybe before I nervously start, I should say something about my Mac head credentials. Most of my computers have been Apples: starting with an Apple ][, a Mac classic, a colour Mac classic, and a PowerPC - an awful mid-1990s lemon which turned me off Apple for a few years. All was forgiven with OS X. I'm fortunate that I work at a place which allows me to bring in my iBook for my work. I can do 95% of my work on the iBook. I hardly ever need to turn on that noisy boring beige fan in a box that's disguised as a computer :) Mac users often feel like an oppressed minority, united by their stubborn resistance to the Wintel Borg. This is where I encounter difficulties. Although I'd never willingly buy the Windows operating system, I don't hate all things Microsoft. It's like being a very lonely minority within a minority. I'm not here to defend M$'s business practices, just to state the fact that sometimes they make decent software, including their software for the Mac. It's ironic that what's brought me to this point has been my move away from my Windows PC at work. One of the whole reasons for this transition is that I loathe the GroupWise email and personal information management (PIM) software that my university uses. I wanted to combine all of my stuff under the one roof - and the one thing that worked for me was MS Entourage - their Mac equivalent to Outlook. I felt very guilty about this. I so wanted to rely on iCal, iSynch and Apple's Mail programme like the rest of the Mac faithful. I wasted many an hour trying to find the proper solution, but I missed synchable notes and the symplicity of categories - the elegance of having multiple calendars was wasted on me. Since I've already sold my soul to Bill Gates, I might as well admit this: now that MSN for OS X has been released, I've decided that this works better for me than the traditionally more-Mac-friendly Earthlink. Sure it has added a few training wheels to get the AOLers, but I can ignore those. In true Microsoft style, the MSN email intregrates very nicely with Entourage - although not the address book or calendar, which is quite annoying. Something that MSN for OS X does - as well as AOL for OS X - is look very nice in the Mac's new operating system. I recently read an opinion - but cannot remember where so I cannot credit it - wondering why Apple made such an elegant and visually appealing operating system only to ignore it in all the software they produce for it. This is the beginning of my rant against brushed metal. It was a novelty in iTunes, but now it's also in iPhoto, iCal, iSync and now Safari!! Maybe it appeals to Steve Jobs' sparse aesthetics, but I think it looks cold & unfriendly. Microsoft did much a better job with its Office X suite and MSN browser. And so I'm torn between feeling unworthy to use my Mac - and reveling in my blasphemy. 11:38:23 PM