I Dream in Colors

12/03/06 On Macs

It’s been only a few days since i made the switch to the Mac platform. I’m doing pretty well; i’m having more trouble adapting to the new keyboard (not a mac-PC thing; the key layout is slightly different to the one on my old computer) than adapting to OS X. With the help from a bunch of mac users i’m now surfing around OS X like if my first computer had been an Apple II (fyi: it was a Commodore 64).

I couldn’t help thinking why is it that some people, specially designers, rave about Macs so much. It’s not about the ease of use - my mom, for example, has no trouble with Windows, but if she had to use OS X now she’d find it pretty confusing. It’s just a matter of what you’re used to. It’s not that they’re more capable either. Millions of people use PC’s for proffesional work and they do pretty well. There is nothing magical about Macs that would make you more productive; if you can’t do it on a PC, you won’t do it on a Mac.

So what is it then? In my opinion, it’s just one simple thing. Macs are pretty.



Hold on, my brother just got sick from hearing that.



Ok, back. But i’m serious. Think of it, what’s the job of a designer? Making things look pretty. They (i’m focusing on designers but it applies for all mac users) like pretty things. They like to buy pretty things and they like to use pretty things. And a shiny silver or white Mac with a glowing logo on the top is much more attractive to them than a dull black HP (or Dell, or Toshiba, or any other PC). And while Windows XP is not (very) dull looking as the outside of some PCs, Mac OS X has silly little features that make the detail-obsessed designer happy. Like the fact that when you remove a program from the Dock, it actually explodes - “boom” sound included. Or how a window will squeeze in and out of the dock when you minimize/maximize it.

It’s just a matter of form vs function. Some could say there are other OS’s there that work as well, but Apple is not only taking care of the function, they’re also paying attention to the form. And for that, they got me.

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