Your Parents are making me buy a Mac

I've needed a new computer for awhile, and I've been long debating some issues. One is laptop versus desktop, but the primary issue is To Mac or Not To Mac.

There have been plenty of reasons to consider going with Apple:

• For years, the NFJS gang of hoodlums have been touting the Macbook Pro. I can't tell you how many impromptu, unpaid testimonials I've seen in the middle of a presentation.
• OCI has a sizable, passionate group of Mac folks. I've heard a rumour that they want to change the local traffic light near OCI HQ to be horizontal and Aqua: like the OS X window buttons (not really).
  
• If Charlie Rose can take one for the team when falling, so as to protect his Macbook Air, then surely I can learn to use one mouse button.
• The brick-and-mortar Apple Store is a temple for materialism: I am absolutely sucked in by the products, the ambience, and gorgeous lighting. Against the backdrop of bland Banana Republics, Foot Lockers, and food courts, The Store stands out like a beacon in the mist: an oasis of cheerful, productive humanity in an otherwise bleak and desolate existence. During a visit, I believe that I will be successful, cool, happy -- nay, complete -- if only I surrender to the inevitable and swipe that credit card.
  

Powerful stuff. But the real deal-maker is the following:

• I have heard N developers vow, after independent episodes of installing a new computer for their parents, that they want to have nothing to do with Vista.

That's my tipping point: N is sufficiently large. I'm seeking asylum from Vista, without even having tried it. (Send me the hate mail. Until I get the Mac, I'm lonely.)

I can't bear the thought of more Windows problems. I have not done my homework on my current Windows problems (I've been meaning to really understand the Registry for years now) and the issues simply accrue.

I need brand-new problems (I'm sure OS X has some?) and a fresh start.

I'll report on The Purchase and how things are going. And I'll send your folks a thank-you.

M.

ps. Yes, Linux is an option. I do own SuSe here at CtJ HQ but I'm simply caught in an iTractorBeam.