the mac vs. pc controversy (from the pov of a techie-wannabe)

i've always considered myself a rather technologically-savvy early adopter. i had atari and nintendo consoles way before my friends did. while my 3rd-grade classmates asked for the full collection of thundercats and he-man action figures (let us not forget the grandiose castle greyskull!) in their letters to santa, i dreamed of a personal computer. santa listened, and on christmas of 1987, i got a us$500-check along with a note that read "give this check to your parents and they will get you that computer you want." i still remember the long nights i spent on this ultramodern computer (a zenith 286-processor, 20mb hard drive, and a vga monitor!! -- also, let me point out this is mexico in the mid-80s) playing the very first edition of sim city... and larry!! ooooh!! what a great game was the very first larry!!

thanks to my super zenith, i was at one point the only one in my class that handed in homeworks typed up in wordstar, as opposed to a traditional typewriter. also, thanks to our exclusive access to the next computers as ib-ers, i was amongst the first mexican teenagers that exchanged e-mails with the world, chatted on irc, and got excited when playing one of the first interactive computer games: mudd (no graphics, sorry!). and as soon as they came out (and became affordable to the general public, of course), i bought a palm pilot (nobody had ever heard of the term pda back then), a digital camera, and an ipod.

i never succumbed to the charms of the color-striped, half-bitten apple. the next computers, although designed by the great steve jobs, had a more windows-like environment. and my high school macs' only advantage over the pcs was hypercard. go figure!

it is definitely true that over the years macs have much improved and many people have converted. not me. not even the ibook, memo's most precious treasure, made me even consider the possibility of yielding to the dark side. truth is, since the powerbook g4, it's been harder and harder to simply ignore macs. and now the macbook pro, with its intel processor, is just like a magnet -- at least in terms of looks. i still haven't used any of these machines extensively (other than the 3-minute use you give it at the apple store and that hasn't been enough to show me any of its so-told super cool features).

now, a year and a half after i bought my dell desktop for grad school, i need to buy a laptop and am considering my options. many have tried to persuade me to take the big leap and convert to mac and, yes, reluctant me has played with the idea for a while. however, i just decided yesterday that it's not a good idea. although i need a laptop because i go away from home for extended periods and i still need to work, it would only be my secondary computer, and it won't be easy to synchronize the files between my desktop and my apple laptop. plus, i already own much of the software i need for my desktop and, as a student, i won't be able to purchase this software also for my mac os. so, the mac is not becoming part of my life right at this juncture.

uh-huh.

and just as i decisively concluded that, i downloaded a new skin for my mozilla browser and it's got the most simple, cleanest feel ever. guess what? it's called ifox and it's reminiscent of apple's safari browser.

it seems like sooner or later, we'll all convert...