Switch to a Mac

This was something I was planning to do for a long time, ever since I saw the first mac (or rather the second in an absolute sense) at my friend's place. He had a beautiful while Macbook, and I wanted one right then. The first one was an older iMac that I saw when I was a kid. The graphics on that system were way better than the PC-XT and PC-AT systems I used to play with, but I was still a kid and any kind of Macs were just beyond me at that time.

I have been following the Mac community ever since, and even though I initially thought they were a set of snobs who want to be in a clique, proud of the money they spend on gadgets, interacting with them changed my opinion on them. I realized they were a set of people who have taken a brave step forward exploring other operating systems, and actually found one that was better than the other one, and stuck to it. They don't stop there, but are eager to let their friends see the benefits of using one of those, and give a whole-hearted suggestion to pick one up when they can. I promised to that friend of mine that my next laptop is going to be a Mac, but I never thought that it would happen so fast.

I got hooked to the iPhone when it came in. iPhone was so revolutionary at that time that I didn't hesitate much to empty my wallet to get one. And I never had to look back. The iPhone has its quirks, but it's just a gift from tomorrow that you happened to see today. Using the phone and interacting with it helped me improve my understanding towards how Macs are designed, and why their hardware and software is a serious contender to the more ubiquitous PCs.

Then Apple released the Macbook Air. I wasn't sure if this ultra-light notebook was the thing for me. But after a few days of deep thought, I decided I will go for it. I got one after a lot of fist-fighting, and after paying quite a premium, and there's no looking back.

I'm in love for the second time.

Negative publicity from non-users

I have been following the technology sector, and especially the gadget sector pretty intently for the past few months. The recent past has seen more than the usual number of technological breakthroughs, not just in terms of coming up with new gagets, but with the way these new gadgets have raised the bar on how these devices interact with humans.

The iPhone, for example, did really re-invent the phone. It doesn't mean that they have found a way to place a call to a person who doesn't own a phone, but that the phone is no longer just a pure old phone to their owners. These new generation of phones can do a lot more than making calls. 

The GPS market has been buzzing with newer inventions. GPS devices coming into phones, GPS devices playing music, GPS devices calling out street names etc.

Along with every blessing, there comes a bane. And the bane of the recent up-trend of technology is the number of people forwarding negative publicity. People begin rating products just looking at it on a website, just reading the technical-specifications. I've read a report saying that more than 90% of the people commenting and rating a product do not actually own it.

It's good if they give an honest rating. But most of the people who aren't in a position to buy one, invent these depressing ways of finding reasons not to like the product. They actually like it, and want to buy it, but they just can't, because they probably have something similar that works, or because just cannot afford one. They do not stop there and go on with their life. They instead start defaming the product saying it doesn't have this, it doesn't do that, so I hate it. And I do not want you to get it either. The people who actually own it write good and honest reviews about it, or just stay out of the whole mess.

So, a novice comes in looking for a product, runs into a good product, reads the negative publicity and stays away from it, and picks another product not meant for him. His decision was based on the views of the majority, who never owned the product he's interested in.

So, to you all readers out there. Do not rely on reviews too much. Do not base your decisions on someone else's opinion unless you personally know him or you're sure he owns a product, and is trying to warn you against committing the same mistake.

And to all those who post reviews on a product. If you do not own a product, ask questions about it in forums. If you own a product, post an honest review about it, if you please. And answer questions in the forum if that's your kind of thing. Do not go around badmouthing products you do not own. Keep your gadget world clean, and encourage good products with good reviews. Because the more you encourage a product, the better it gets.

Go ahead, explore the gadget world, and have fun. Lots of fun.