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the oestreichers are switching to mac

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for years, i’ve considered “going mac”. i’ve loved their design, their reliability, their functionality. i’ve wished i had some of the doo-dads my mac-using co-workers have, like the ability to i-chat. for many of those years, the thing that kept me pc was our network. but that’s just not an issue anymore, and a good 1/4 of our ys staff are on macs now. the primary final hurdle for me, the last couple years, has been my need to run mediashout for the core (our one-day training seminar). but this past year, a couple of our presenters had reasonably good luck running mediashout from some kind of split hard-drive arrangement on their macs (with the ability to boot up in a windows environment for mediashout).

the final push over the edge is that, simultaneously, both my work laptop and our family computer at home have become horribly gummed up and slow. sluggish doesn’t even begin to describe them. i have spyware protection software and good virus stuff, but they’re just a mess; and running all the clean-up programs i can think to run are having no impact.

so, at the same time, we’re switching over. my work laptop was due for replacement, so i’ve ordered a nice macbook pro, which is now waiting for me at zondervan when i go there at the end of september, when they’ll move all my data over and such. and, yesterday, jeannie and i spent a bit of time at the apple store, and came home with a new imac. i’m actually going back this morning, with our old pc, and they’ll move all the files i want to keep over to the new imac.

i’m fairly clueless about macs, really. so i’ll have a bit of a learning curve, i know. but i’m pumped. it’s a new day.

25 thoughts on “the oestreichers are switching to mac”

  5. Nice Move. It’s about time. The MacBook Pro and iMac is the same combination that my family is working. Let me tell you, it’s amazing. Seamless. No problems. No viruses.

    Can you put the pressure on those MediaShout guys to get the Mac version they have been promising for five years to finally get produced???

  6. Amazing how Mac, which seemed in danger of going under only a few years ago (or more – time goes by fast) is now starting to become the computer to have for a variety of reasons. I can’t wait till I can justify getting one… and afford it. They always want their money, silly people. Congratulations on making the switch.

  8. at first glance i thought jason’s comment was “now you really love Jesus”. luckily i took a second glance. but seriously…macs do increase your spirituality by at least a point or two on looks alone. not to mention once you install a bible verse widget.

  9. Welcome to the world of computers that actually work!

    Believe it or not there isn’t a huge learning curve for Macs. To borrow from Yoda, you must ‘unlearn what you have learned’.

    Now that I sound like a complete nerd, I’m going to stop typing now.

  10. it took me about 2 or three weeks to get used to the file systems, a bit different than just “my documents.” learn the short cut keys, it’s the way to do mac. there is a pretty cool (quick) video podcast with a quick tip each week that i find helpful for hacking into all the things the macs are set up to do. (podcast, apple quick tip of the week)

  11. yeah buddy! We found ourselves in the same boat a few months ago. I got a MacBookPro, and my wife is still struggling along with her infested PC desktop. She’s more a-skeered of change than I am! I don’t think you’ll find too much of a learning curve.

  13. I switched a couple of years ago (at home) and have loved the Macs simplicity. Don’t freak if you don’t get it at first… you’ll have an “Aha!” moment when it comes together and you say, “Well, that’s easy!”

  15. Paul – last time I bought a Mac (albeit a few years ago) I got a free upgrade to the new system that came out two months later. I would imagine that there is a similar plan in place now.

    Marko – If you want to do creative stuff, I would suggest a subscription to Mac:Life magazine (the successor to MacAddict). For example, last month there was an article about doing green/blue screen work on your mac.

  16. welcome, welcome, welcome. It truly is the light side!

    When I first started working @ YS back in April of 2001, I was a Mac user, but all we had at the office were PC’s. So I crash-coursed on a PC, and eventually (I hang my head as I admit this) I bought a PC at home.

    Since YS has allowed Macs, I’ve gratefully returned to my first love, and haven’t looked back.

    You will love it.

    (And the learning curve is surprisingly easy. If you keystroke a lot, that will be the hardest thing, imo)

  18. Marko- Welcome. I apologize for all of us who appear to be “FanBoys” of the apple world. Really the reality is that we crave anything that will make us “different” from the world. But then all of us end up with facial hair, tattoos, macs and VW’s or Mini Coopers. In the end we have just all jumped on another bandwagon. Sure the mac is cooler and you’ll probably even like it but I hesitate to welcome you to our side because as usual the grass here is just as green the only difference is we have more apples.

  23. Like I tell everyone – this Apple thing is just a fad! Someday VH1 will run episodes of “I Love the 2000s!” and we’ll all sit around and make jokes about crazy Britney, the RAV-4, and those silly Mac computers.

  24. Yeah, the learning curve takes about an hour or so. After that, everything is pretty intuitive and works just as you’d expect it to. No more Windoze for me.

  25. Marko – welcome!!!! I’ve been an Apple/Macintosh user since the OLD days, back in 1980 when I started with an Apple IIe computer. I even bought a Macintosh in 1984 when they were first introduced (awesome commercial played only once – during the superbowl). I have always used Macs, love them, and think you will be VERY happy with your decision. Congratulations!!!

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