I am a Mac user, first and foremost. I have been for the past 13 years. Prior to that, I had been a Windows user since about 91 or 92. I had an Apple //c during middle school and high school but that system starting getting long in the tooth and Macintosh hardware was out of reach, whereas Windows computers were more economically priced. My family got our first Windows PC from Gateway 2000 and it seemed there was no looking back at and I was Windows for life… or so I thought.
I had a string of Windows computers for many years from no particular brand. I had Gateway 2000, Dell, Compaq and Hewlett-Packard branded computers. I started with MS-DOS 6 through 6.22 with Windows 3.1 running on top of DOS. I used a variety of DOS and Windows-based software. Most games were DOS-based and most application software (word processors, etc) were Windows-based. I had taken some classes in college that were DOS-based application software but most were hard to use without the GUI… that GUI!
When Apple switched from the PowerPC to Intel, that was my sign to try my first Mac. So, I bought a Mac mini CoreSolo based system and used a KBM switch to connect my Dell Pentium III based PC to the same keyboard, mouse, and monitor. This worked but was sometime clunky. It very well may have been the KBM switch… I really enjoyed using OS X “Tiger” compared to Windows XP. It felt fresh and had features like Spotlight that I found very useful. I enjoyed the way OS X worked and how powerful, yet simple it was. Then, lightening struck. Literally. My Mac mini and my Dell suffered damage. The Dell losing only the hard drive that held my data (only all of my college coursework… UGH!) and My Mac mini losing the entire logic board…
I did not have the funds to replace the Mini at the time, so I repaired my Dell and kept on using Windows XP. I eventually went back to the Mac when I purchased my first MacBook (affectionately called the BlackBook), a CoreDuo based system that was the coolest laptop I could ever have purchased (I still have it, but it is damaged). This was the spark that took me full-time into Macs. In a couple of years, I bought my first (in a long line of) iMac(s).
I have used every version of macOS from “Tiger” through the current version “Mojave”. In the meantime, I have used various Windows versions: Vista, 7, 8, 8.1 and of course, 10. The little I used Vista was a disaster. Crashes, bugs, and the like made it a broken experience. I am amazed when we have customers check in PC’s with Vista still running… I tried to use 8 and 8.1, but just hated the UI. Windows 10 is a breath of fresh air. It is like Windows 7 and 8.1 had a baby and named it Windows 10. I have spent the last 2 years working in a repair shop where I mostly work on Windows-based computers with a smattering of Macs. I have seen the best and worst of Windows, which I will tackle in part 3.