Cory Mac's it

By Cory Anotado
Collegian Staff
September 13, 2006

I care about you using a Mac, and you should, too. Apple computers, or “Macs,” as they are commonly called, are swiftly gaining attention in the computing world due to the moves being made by the Apple Computer company and their CEO, Steve Jobs.

Why should anyone care about Macs? The Mac OS operating system is used by about three to five percent of the internet population. There are very few computer games for the OS, and the OS’s perception as “radically different” scares most people away from using the system. Who in their right mind would use a computer system so niche and tucked away that it doesn’t even have a double-digit market share when they could have a Windows box, with its sexy 98 percent market share and its plethora of computer games? Let me make my case.

You should be using a Mac if you’re tired of a slow computer. With Windows, the way the foundation is programmed, there are many different holes and cracks that hackers can use to secretly put malicious programs on your computer. These programs run, eat up your memory and may be sending your personal information like your Internet browsing habits to a company to use against you. The Mac OS foundation is based on one of the most secure operating systems in existence today, UNIX. There are significantly fewer holes, and the holes that exist are so obscure that most hackers cannot find them. With your Mac, slow computing just doesn’t happen.

You should be using a Mac if you want to be creative. Since the late 1980s, programs like Adobe Photoshop or Adobe PageMaker have been created for Macintosh computers first. Creating Photoshop-like programs for Windows computers has always been an afterthought. The Mac OS also has special features to assist in graphics, photography and sound creating. Also, Macs come with programs like GarageBand (which creates cool music at the clicks of a few buttons), iTunes (the ubiquitous music management program), iPhoto (just like iTunes, but for all your pictures) and iWeb (make your own website), free of charge..

You should be using a Mac if you’re a student. La Salle Windows users know how much of a hassle it is to get a new computer onto the Internet here at La Salle. Plug in your Ethernet, download Cisco Clean Access, McAfee, and all that good stuff, and then cross your fingers and pray that you log on. With a Mac? Plug in your Ethernet cord and fire up your web browser. That’s all. Macs play nice with networks, jump drives, wireless mice, printers and headsets. Oh, but you need your precious Microsoft Office? Apple provides you with iWork, a suite of products that does everything Word and PowerPoint can do, just cleaner and smoother. Not enough? Well, Microsoft makes Microsoft Office for Mac, with Word, Excel, PowerPoint and a special Mac-only program called Entourage, which is like your one-stop Office shop.

There are many more reasons to switch from PCs to Macs. I switched over a year ago and I don’t ever want to go back. The ease of use of the operating system, the high level of my productivity and the fact that everything just works has turned me on to Macs for a long, long time.

anotadoc1@lasalle.edu