I work in the IS (Information Services) department at a manufacturing company. I am constantly asked by fellow employees for computer advice. While I really do enjoy talking about computers, and I don’t mind answering their questions, over the years I have come to realize that Windows is really not a good option for someone who does not like futzing with computers as much as I do. I will relate three short incidents (just from *this* week!) to illustrate my point.

• I only recently met the new guy in shipping. He seems really nice - his parents are from Trinidad and they make those awesome costumes for Carnival for a living. He’s articulate, though young, but he’s a real PC novice. He knew he wanted to get a computer because he realizes that having some ability to use a computer is basically a requirement for a better job these days, so he went out and bought a Dell (with Windows). ‘That’s supposed to be top-of-the-line, ain’t it?’ he asked. Well, no but a new PC should work - you certainly pay enough for it. He hasn’t had it very long. His problem was typical - he described a machine completely taken over by spyware and viruses: unwanted windows popping up, incredibly slow performance, strange errors, etc. I hooked him up with a copy of Adaware, gave him instructions on how to use it, told him how to deal with Norton, etc. I did not need another consulting job so I didn’t offer to do all this myself. If I had, I would have replaced IE with Firefox, changed the Firefox icon to use the icon from IE (the little blue “e”) and never even told him about it. I have done this on every machine at work (using an MSI package), and it cut down on these kinds of problems dramatically. (note: I also replace Outlook with Thunderbird/Mozilla which is probably more important)
• Another guy at work is from the Ukraine originally where he was an orchestra conductor! He brought in videos of himself conducting a symphony there since nobody believed him at first. A really nice guy, he’s not a computer-person. He’s a musician. he wants to play his trombone, get online and read Ukraine news websites, send email and write letters. He had some vauge notion that he wanted to compose music on the PC, but realized it is beyond him at this point. Another guy from the Russian side of Ukraine at work offered to build him a PC from parts (cheaper than a complete system and usually you can get better components that way), so the constant Windows crashes, blue-screen memory dumps, strange multi-colored screen errors, and unexplained lock-ups may be hardware (or driver) related, but they happen - stopping from getting even the minimum satisfaction out of his new PC, and keeping him from eventually using it for what he wanted in the first place - a communication portal to his homeland (which TV doesn’t provide) and a possible platform for music creation. His very limited free time is spent trying to get the thing to work for longer than 2 minutes. I may actually offer to look at his machine for him - I really don’t like doing this often because it eats up all my free time (which is why I have a Mac myself) and then you’re culpable for any data loss or future problems. It’s an endless service contract…

• My own brother called this week and described his situation which is quite similar to the one above. He has more interest in music and instrument performance and recording than in PCs. He has been plauged by problems with a non-name-brand PC with Windows for years. While it continues to limp along, he can’t trust the machine and it’s maintenance and fiddling will take away most of the time that he would rather use for the pursuits he enjoys. Luckily, I think I have convinced him that a Mac is appropriate for his needs and I *did* offer him personal support

The moral of this story is that for regular (non-business) users of computers, it makes *no* sense to use Windows. The Windows success stories (and there are a lot, I know) are *all* from folks who have done their due diligence in learning about Window’s peculiar vulnerabilities and puposely taking the time to set up protections and watchdogs to avoid the inevitable problems. For someone new to computers who expects their $1,000+ purchase to be at least as trouble free as their $99 DVD plater, they want an appliance. These folks just want to be able to access the internet, create or listen to music, deal with photos, send and recieve a fax, read and write Word and Excel compatible documents, install programs and hardware for their own personal interests easily, send and receive email, etc. These are all really simple, basic functions that the personal computer has been doing since at least 1993 for a lot of people. For someone who doesn’t want to learn enough about PCs and Windows to run an IS department - the clear choice today is a Mac. But yet, when I suggest this course to people who i think would benefit from this advice, I get blank stares of incredulity.

note1: I realize that Apple has an advantage over Microsoft in that they are a hardware company and can control the type of components that go into their machines and so reduce driver/hardware related issues. Microsoft is foremost a software company - they make money on providing ’solutions’ for the problems they create (like incompatibility with their own software - I love that one: Try opening a Word 2003 doc in Word 97, let alone an Access 2003 database .mdb file in Access 97.)

note2: To normal users, I don’t even bother suggesting wiping Windows and putting linux on the machine unless they ask and seem really interested in learning about it. Linux is a great way to re-purpose a troubled machine that would have gotten thrown away in frustration. But I do offer a bootable linux CD as a ‘test’ - if everything works when you boot up in Knoppix - it ain’t the hardware!