MikeElgan
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Switcher Profile: Apple's 'halo effect' claims former editor of Windows Magazine
Cult of Mac writer Mike Elgan recently detailed the years-long process that convinced him to switch to the Mac. His story is fairly typical of many switchers: Once a die-hard PC evangelist, his first Apple product was the iPod, which he appreciated for its ease of use. The iPhone eventually convinced him to ditch his BlackBerry, and the iPad was the be-all, end-all of tablet-based computing as far as he was concerned. Finally, using his son's iMac convinced Elgan to switch away from Windows completely. As I said, it's a fairly typical switcher story... up until you learn that Elgan used to be the editor of Windows Magazine during most of the 1990s. It's hard to be a much more die-hard Windows enthusiast than that without having Microsoft's logo on your business cards and paychecks. The things that kept Elgan away from the Mac platform are fairly standard: familiarity with Windows and reluctance to learn OS X, not wanting to be dependent on Apple for hardware repairs, and not wanting to self-identify with the "fringe" elements among Mac users. But eventually, actually using Apple's products on a regular basis convinced the former Windows enthusiast to switch. Outgoing PCMag editor Lance Ulanoff is on the mobile side of this roster, as he's switching from a Blackberry to the iPhone. The "halo effect" of iPod users becoming enamored of Apple's smaller gadgets and switching to the Mac shortly after has been well-documented over the past seven years or so, and with the introduction of the iPhone and iPad this effect has intensified. Apple's efforts to bring some of iOS's functions to the Mac via OS X Lion can be viewed in this light as a shrewd move to amplify this halo effect even farther. People who are already familiar with the iPad's touchscreen interface may take one look at a MacBook Air running full-screen apps or launching applications via Launchpad and think to themselves, "Hmmm, maybe switching to a Mac won't be so hard after all." Just don't spoil it for those potential switchers by telling them about the Finder.
Is Apple the new Microsoft?
So claimeth Mike Elgan of Computerworld in his article on PC World: "It's Official: Apple is the New Microsoft." Well, I'm certainly glad that is settled! On to the iPhone news... Wait a moment, on what grounds does Mike base his comparison? I'll break down the points and test their coherence.Mike's first assertion is a familiar one: the iPod + iTunes ecosystem is the worst kind of monopoly, where you must use iTunes with an iPod. He says, "Not fair, you might say. Any hardware device that syncs data with a PC as part of its core functionality has software to facilitate that syncing. True enough. But operating systems have browsers as part of core functionality, too. Doesn't Mac OS X come with Safari? Doesn't the iPhone?"First of all, his argument is akin to saying ATI has a monopoly because you have to install drivers to make their video cards work. Secondly, his parallel to browsers is nonsensical. What does a browser, a completely different app unwed to any external hardware device, have to do with iTunes or an iPod? I'm not really smart enough to tell which logical fallacy this is, but I know BS when I smell it. Buy CD's, they don't come from the iTunes Store.Moving on to his one-line critique of iTunes: "ITunes is the slowest, clunkiest, most nonintuitive application on my system. But I need it because I love my iPods." iTunes is clunky and unintuitive, huh? Ever try SonicStage? PC World even called IE 6 one of the worst products ever. Of course, MMC plug-ins are models of intuitive design. Let's move on, shall we?
