First published, 1/9/13 on Walters & Shutwell.
The War is Over: WinTel is dying. How do I know? The growing pile of HP technology in the corner of our room tells me so.
Don't get me wrong - I am not a Cult of the Mac, graphic designer types. The last Apple computer my family owned was an IIe back in 1980. My father, the teacher, got a massive teacher discount. I barely touched the thing.
I grew up on DOS 2.0-4.0(the one with the square mouse pointer) my first job was with an Inacomp selling B2B, computerized accounting systems.
In addition to Great Plains, I sold the difference between "IBM-DOS" and "MS-DOS". We despised MACs for their ease of use and lack of business applications.
I sold IBM PS/2' with OS/2. I was there from the beginning of the War. I was there when IBM, like Cleopatra on her barge, left the field of battle open to the clones and Steve Jobs.
A couple decades later, I was a Crackberry advocate and 'droid proponent.
I sold HP9065(Konica) copiers to IT directors back in the day because they loved that little blue logo. My managed print services practice was built around the Edgeline (cold sweat at night) - again, IT loved the logo.
So, yeah - I drank the Koolade for decades.
A few days ago, we brought into the office an iMAC. Jennifer uses it with her iPad, and I use a 2-month-old Mac Book Pro, with my iPad. We moved an older iMac out to be used by the kids. They have an iPhone and iPad Mini between the two. And iPod Touches. They can bring the devices to school because the school district has implemented a BYOD policy. A school district - that's what I said.
In the corner of the room sits an HP InkJet printer next to a half-empty box of A4 paper. The case is at least five years old and still contains a few original reams.
We don't print much.
On top of the printer is what I call, "the world's largest laptop, in the world" - some HP huge contraption that I am sure was great in its time but has also been downgraded to kid duty.
There is a Compaq/HP laptop stashed somewhere and soon to join the "pile of HP" is my last PC, ever. A very nice, HP, steel thing-a-ma-bob with so many .tmp files loaded on it, I should just take it into the woods and shoot it out of its misery.
But I won't. I need it for the picture.
We didn't wait for DOS 8.0 because we knew it was going to be a dog.
We didn't wait for all the new tablets, Droid or otherwise, because we knew they would never, ever be an iPad with the Retina display.
We didn't run out and grab the latest E-reader either - who wants a reader when you can get an iPad mini? Who?
Not many.
Conversely, corporate America did wait. But by the time they saw what they waited for, the Kool-aid had lost its sweetness. DOS 8.0 won't save anyone, it will remain planted in the past - #MSFT's last attempt has fallen short. Xbox to the rescue?
Our house is now a house of Mac.
No patches, no blue screen of death, no drivers, no long boot times, and no eye fatigue.
For me, it wasn't how good my eyes felt the second I started using the iPad, that convinced me of MSFT and the PC's death.
It wasn't the zillions of cool, available, and affordable productivity apps or the fact that all my contacts and music are sharable without the headache that tipped the scales.
Just because my computer is now a pleasure to work with, easy to understand, and powerful enough for NASA, I could still see an HP or Dell somewhere in the future. In a public library or someplace.
The convenience, ease of use, and increased productivity of the Mac hadn't convinced me totally of The Fall.
The thing that clinched it, the one observation that pulled it all together, that last nail in the coffin was a little device that fits in the palm of my hand.
A technological marvel.
Like the penny in Somewhere in Time - Apple's Magic Mouse snapped every second from 1980 into the present. Boom, here it was, full circle.
The last item MSFT will see as it fades to black is the first object that set Apple apart:
The Apple (Magic) Mouse.
"Alas poor #MFST, we knew you well..."
