I am a PC. But it wasn’t always that way…

I grew up using Apple computers when I was a kid. I spent hours on that damned machine every day making drawings and creating simple 3D models. I loathed Windows computers. I bought all the hype about their substandard performance and I only though of them as computers for office workers who wanted to write documents and edit spreadsheets. Macs were for creative people, like me. Then I got my first job as a web designer and was forced to use a PC.

It was difficult at first, just getting used to the different key board shortcuts and all. But I soon realized that my experience on a PC wasn’t much different then on a Mac. I was still creating documents and saving them into folders that I could organize any way I saw fit, all the applications were the same ones I had learned on a Mac. For what I was using a computer for – Mac or PC didn’t make a huge difference.

Once I was ready to purchase my first machine (all my previous computers were my parent’s) I got a PC because the price was right. Then, I found out how easy it is to upgrade hardware manually to make for an even beefier machine at a fraction of the price of buying brand new. I was sold. I found it quite easy to learn how to customize and tweak a Windows machine then I ever did on a Mac. Add that to the fact that Windows computers were basically the only PC that played all the newest computer games, and there was no going back.

Don’t get me wrong, I admire Apple computers because they are easily accessible and it’s hard to ruin those machines. But I found the fact that I couldn't build one from the ground up or easily upgrade the hardware to be the tipping point. It seems to me that I need a bigger/stronger/faster computer every two years and the upgrades usually cost me about $400-$600 to make my machine pretty close to “top 0f the line”. If I had to buy a new Mac every two years, I would be homeless and poor, but I’d have a very pretty piece of metal in front of me.

I will say this though; I love the iPhone. I wouldn’t trade it in for any other phone on the market. But I am saddened to see Apple head down the same road Microsoft was caught in several years back and that is not playing nice with developers who want to create software for their OS (the iPhone OS, to be exact). The application process for the iPhone App Store is a joke. Sure, Apple says they remove certain apps because of poor coding that could harm the phone’s hardware or because of questionable content. But the fact that they also deny us apps because they infringe upon an existing iPhone feature (see the Google Voice app or the fact that Safari is the only browser allowed on the phone) is saddening. That’s like a Windows or Apple computer saying “Sorry, you can’t install FireFox because this OS already came with a browser built in!”. Give the people freedom when it comes to what applications they want.

Remember that old 1984 Apple commercial (above)? Apple’s idea was that we should not conform to how “the man” tells us how to use a computer. Computers/technology should set us free! Now it seems that Apple is making us conform to how they want us to use their machines. Someone go get me my mallet and orange short-shorts! I’ve gotta head over to Apple and smash a big screen.

In summary: I prefer Microsoft over Apple, but it’s more a personal taste then some sort of hatred of the latter or some moral conclusion.