10 Real Reasons to Switch to a Mac from Windows.

1. If you have an iPhone or iPad, you get an ecosystem that keeps all your critical things in sync easily.

Not to say that you can’t do this with Android, Google or 3rd party software, but Apple simply makes it too easy and adds music, apps photos as well, all wirelessly, via iCloud.

2. The hardware is excellent.

People may say “But it is just the same hardware in any other PC in a fancy case.” but do PC makers buy up all of a particular kind of laser just to drill microscopic holes in the case for a single light to indicate the camera is on? Can you find an Ultrabook as good as the MacBook air that doesn’t have serious compromises? Even if we’re not talking computers, just look how popular the iPhone 3GS is, still! Not only that, but …

3. The hardware will last you 5 years.

Try getting parts for your HP or Dell in a few years. Good luck. Try getting up-to-date drivers for a PC notebook too. Good luck! With a Mac, you’ll be able to install the latest version of the operating system for at least 5 years, because, not only does Apple control both the hardware and software, but they have …

4. System software that is straight-forward.

No serial numbers, no activation. If you buy Mac OS X you can install it on all the computers you own and Apple doesn’t check. Un-intalling most apps simply means dragging them to the trash, as uninstallers aren’t needed. Even if you install, say, an internet plug-in, the files installed will all have meaningful names and you can easily uninstall most system add-ons by dragging their files to the trash. Even if you do buy a new Mac …

5. You can upgrade to a new computer or re-install the system and be up-and running quickly and easily.

You can re-install without wiping your critical data and all your apps will still work. Even if you erase the disk or are starting from a new machine, you have a number of options to import from an older Machine or hard disk via the Migration assistant. You do back up, don’t you? Regardless, on a Mac …

6. Time Machine will look after you.

Because not only does the system ask you if you want to use a disk for Time Machine, those backups can be used to migrate everything to a new install or Machine. You can be somewhat selective about what you want to import too. Of course, if you accidentally nuke an important file or files, you’ll be thankful you had hourly, daily or weekly backups, automatically taken care of in the background.

For iPhone or iPad users, backup is now done to iCloud as well, whenever you plug into the power, so you don’t have to worry about it.

7. Safety and security.

When you do need to re-install, it is usually because of a hardware upgrade of some kind. Rarely is it because of system problems, let alone malware, all of which definitively requires, like all programs, user permission to run.

8. You don’t get a computer not bogged down with OEM rubbish.

How often have you seen a brand-new PC loaded up by the manufacturer with loads of crap that you’ll almost certainly never use.  Then, even if you do put on a fresh copy of Windows, you don’t have much useful software, unlike Apple computers, which come with …

9. Most, if not all the software you need from the start.

With iLife and iWork free, you can do most of what you need to do right off the bat. Even if you do want or need mores software, you can get ..

10. Software that doesn’t suck.

Sure there is a huge ton of software for Windows, but how much of it doesn’t suck? Ever hunted for good software and had to bear bizzare and ugly user interfaces and ended up trashing the program anyway? This isn’t a problem in the Apple world, as if someone writes sucky software, because the user base is smaller, it doesn’t sell. Not to mention, with Apple’s App Store, all software is approved by Apple, so you know you’re not going to end up with rubbish, but instead, there are many apps out there written by people who love Apple and are deeply dedicated to designing the best software possible. Also, now that the iPhone and iPad have pushed software prices right down, even excellent software is quite cheap. Since use software is 100% of what you do with the machine, through the hardware, this is the most important thing.

KUSATSU, Shiga Prefecture–A group of students has found a way to recycle cigarette butts as T-shirts and persuaded local pachinko parlors and gas stations to donate the contents of their ashtrays to their enterprise.

via Students create fabric from cigarette butts – AJW by The Asahi Shimbun.

For many people, tablets aren’t yet strong enough to replace laptops, what with a solid physical keyboard being easier to type on and a wider availability of work-grade applications. At one point, it’s likely that this section of the market will converge, and instead of just having tablets, we’ll have notebooks – probably the thin and light ultrabooks – with capacitive touchscreens, a technology combination that invites both kinds of input: keyboard and touchscreen.

But if your phone was big enough and could let you do much of the things that a tablet would let you do – apps, big screen movies, and web pages with lots of screen real estate – why would you want a tablet?

I’m not the first to suggest it, but much of it could be the appeal to customers in the shop, as the bigger phone is going to look more impressive at first viewing. Unless the focus is primarily on improving the user experience though this could end up back-firing.

I don’t personally think that ultrabooks will have as much impact as Intel hopes though, as nobody can match Apple’s quality for the same price. When they do, then I’m sure they will, if MS doesn’t screw up Windows again.

I use an iPad for work, along with Apple’s Bluetooth keyboard. The keyboard only comes out at work, as outside, on the train and the like the iPad by itself is very handy. If MS or Apple could do a proper OS that can work both with just your fingers or with a keyboard and mouse, then I reckon things will start to get very interesting, as I’d love to have The One Machine to do almost everything.

It should be called, “Why Google has the potential to succeed over the iPhone.”  However, his primary argument has a couple of flaws in my opinion:

This explains why iOS has been losing ground to Android even though most people agree that the iPhone is the best single smartphone on the market. There are tens of millions of people who care most about the narrow end of the funnel. They want the best user interface, and are willing to make compromises on other fronts to get it. Most of these customers will opt for an iPhone. But there are hundreds of millions of customers who care more about some other factor. They want a phone from their favorite carrier, a phone with a physical keyboard or a removable battery, a phone with their choice of app store, a phone they can get for free with a contract, a phone they can get with a pre-paid plan, etc. No single phone (wireless carrier, hardware manufacturer, etc) can satisfy all of these diverse customers. Only a platform designed to support many different phones from many different manufacturers on many different networks can cope with this kind of diversity.

“They want …”

“… a phone from their favourite carrier.”

More like: The iPhone isn’t on their preferred carrier.

“…a phone with a physical keyboard or a physical keyboard.”

I’m doubtful that, in the face of the now numerous non-physical keyboard options with their capabilities that someone would have this as anything near their primary reason for choosing a phone unless they absolutely can’t stand a software keyboard and don’t care about, say, apps and all that and just want to send a lot of SMSs and emails alongside making phone calls.

“… a phone with a removable battery …”

I guess there are people still stuck with the idea that phone batteries don’t last long enough.

“… a phone with their choice of app store …”

You have to be joking. Who chooses a phone because of the app store (except Apple-hating geeks who wouldn’t buy an iPhone regardless anyway)?

“… a phone they can get free with a contract, a phone they can get with a pre-paid plan, etc.“

These people buy regular phones as all they want to do is make phone calls. Or they buy regular, pre-paid phones. People who buy an iPhone buy one because they want an iPhone. They don’t say “I want an iPhone and I want it free with a contract.” They look at an iPhone as a premium choice. Except in Japan, I doubt people are interested any more in paying premiums for other than an iPhone or smart phone. That being said, the old 3GS is pretty damn cheap now in markets where it is available.

I think the problem is, people are looking at iPhone vs. Android phone, whereas the regular non-tech-savvy customer, having become used to ever increasing features in regular phones, sees it as: iPhone or some other phone. Those customers not interested in either who just want to make calls and SMS just get a cheap, regular phone.

Also, don’t forget that many of the regular phones are being replaced with phones that run Android. This gives the illusion of “Android is becoming highly successful.” It is, but it is not because it’s Android, it is because the phone manufacturers are replacing their existing phone operating systems with it as they make new models. Overall, it’s not doing anything other than putting Google adsense on people’s phones, if we look at this as just the continued progress of phone technology.

Currently clocking in about 4 hours per day on the device, not counting desktop time.

Main usage – newspapers and iBooks (zinio mostly).

What sort of time are others doing and what App is the main offender?

My reply is:

Main offender? Where should I begin…?

I didn’t buy an iPad… I bought two.  One 16 Gb wireless for my wife and daughter (with a pink smart cover) and a 64 Gb 3G for me (with orange smart cover).

Mine gets disconnected from its charger just after I’ve made breakfast and gets propped on a stand for me to read email or watch NHK World News with my daughter as we eat.  Then, as I settle down with a coffee at my computer to contemplate replying to and sorting out whatever chaos has manifest itself overnight, my daughter sits on the sofa with “pink” to watch an episode or two of Curious George, or more, because she figured out how to use the controls…cheeky bugger. But at least we get to have coffee in peace.

I make sure I’ve pre-loaded whatever files I’ll need for the day onto Orange via Dropbox or Evernote to Pages and sync Bento from my Mac’s database. Then Orange goes into my seriously-overbuilt bag, a Redoxx Gator, along with files, textbooks and whatever random crap I need and off to work I go.

In the car, Orange comes out and, using a piece of velco stuck to the back, becomes my navigation system using Itsumo Navi (I’m in Japan), sometimes with the aid of Google Maps.  While waiting at long traffic lights, I can flip to check email as it comes in (no time to reply though) and flip back to the navigation as they turn green. If I do feel the need to urgently reply to a message in only the 1-2 minutes I can sit at a red light, Dragon Dictation comes to my rescue, allowing me to speak the message and copy it into an email or SMS.

At work, I set up Orange at a low angle using the smart cover with a Japanese/English dictionary open. I also have Pages open and a page set to a large font so I can type out what I used to write on the whiteboard, then flip the iPad straight up for them to view, since the display rotates automatically.  If I’m teaching small kids, I can help them learn to write ABC or numbers with iWriteWords, learn letters, spelling and other things via the Montessori programs or just show off with Gravity Clock.

If a topic is brought up in class where I wish I had a picture, I don’t have to look any further than Google to bring up a picture I can show them on the spot.  Then all that I’ve typed or shown can go into Bento or Evernote, including a screenshot of the whiteboard if I decided to use that. After class I may need to confer with other teachers about the contents of the next lesson. I open up Pages and write out a plan on the spot, which in the future will get auto-synced via iCloud to my other computers/devices for review before the lesson day.

The only thing I can’t do yet is prepare lesson materials to print at schools on the spot, but I’m working on that.

During lesson breaks I have iBooks, The Guardian, news web sites, forums or anything else I can read or ponder. However, for Facebook and Twitter, nothing beats reading them magazine-style with Flipboard.  As I ponder Japanese I’ve learned or critical things I need to buy when I go shopping, AwesomeNote is too beautiful to not use.  On the way out the door I check my schedule is correct using Pocket Informant, which makes the regular iPhone or iPad Calendar look primitive.

And finally, back home we sit and watch NHK World News and chat while having dinner. Once the little one has had her personal language lesson with me and gone to sleep, I can start up Need For Speed and relax, plug in the Camera Connection Kit USB adaptor and use it via USB to a DAC as a music server, or plug in an iMSO adaptor to turn my iPad into an oscilloscope and play around with measuring the gear that forms part of my audio electronics hobby instead of listening to music with it while my wife surfs the web and does her email on Pink, occasionally bringing it to show me something interesting.

Anyone around who can top all of that? Surely there is…

Volunteering to take the place of younger workers at the power station is not brave, Mr Yamada says, but logical.

Mr Yamada has been getting back in touch with old friends via e-mail and even messages on Twitter. “I am 72 and on average I probably have 13 to 15 years left to live,” he says.

“Even if I were exposed to radiation, cancer could take 20 or 30 years or longer to develop. Therefore us older ones have less chance of getting cancer.”

In a video of the interview, the BBC reporter asks: “Are you kamikaze pensioners?” to which they reply “We are not kamikaze. The kamikaze were something strange, no risk management there.”

From TOKYOMANGO

..but beware, you can only set them up for one Apple ID.

The admission that MobileMe wasn’t Apple’s finest moment was one. Steve talked about email and calendar syncing as if MobileMe didn’t exist, which it does. By that I feel he is saying “Give us a second chance to get this right and make it really ‘just work’ for you”.

The Reading List and proper tabs in iPad Safari really addresses one critical issue that plagues the iPad – a lack of memory. Honestly, on my Mac, the only programs that use more RAM than Safari are Aperture (I shoot at 12mp RAW) and Photoshop. Browers easily chew up a gig or two of RAM. So on the iPad, every time, just about, I tap on a tab in Safari, it has to reload the page as there presumably wasn’t enough memory to store the contents of it.

The lock screen improvements are incredibly welcome. When I first bought an iPhone, it annoyed me with how tedious it was, compared to a regular flip-phone, to make a call to my wife, who was first in the list on my phone. With my old Motorola, it was: Flip open, press the down button, press the call button. On the iPhone however, it was: Click the home button to wake up the screen, slide to unlock, tap the phone icon, tap on address book, scroll through the list to find the number, tap to select then tap to select which number to call. Six actions, half of them slow, versus three quick ones. Once I’d worked out how to use favourites it was a little faster, however, but it still doesn’t beat my old phone.

In Mac OS X, saved sessions in programs such as Pages has been a feature that people have wanted FOR THE LAST 10 YEARS. This is not a joke. The Sun Solaris terminals at university had this feature before Mac OS X existed and it has taken Apple that long to implement it. They had spaces too with most of the features. Apple is the king of rehashing old, good ideas, or in the case of those ideas that are similar to good features found elsewhere, from other people.

Does anyone else see how ironic full-screen apps are, considering how many times over the years we’ve had to explain to people switching from Windows that Mac OS X isn’t designed in a way that you’d use your apps full-screen?

Versions is brilliant. This is why Apple writes great software – they think about building the features that would be really useful and that they themselves would like and use, just as we would.

Autosave too. I think Apple has to continue in the direction of making software that “just works”. The only problem I worry about is, if something breaks, how readily will we be able to fix it? Where are app sessions stored? In the application’s preferences?

Being a victim of your software’s success can have a different meaning in Apple land. Instapaper and Dropbox are examples – if your idea is too good, if you aren’t bought out by Apple, customer demand will result in Apple creating their own, if not as good, version of your software.

Dropbox emailed me (well, all their customers presumably) straight after the keynote trying to persuade me to upgrade to a paid service with 50-100 GB of storage. While I feel that iCloud will impact them, I’m sure they’ll take advantage of the API for it quickly to build something more advanced for users who want more flexibility and control. This keynote, while it seems on the surface bad for them, could be very good if they see it as an opportunity, such as Instapaper has.

Mission Control looks pretty, but as someone who never got enthusiastic about Exposé and uses the Dock, Cmd Tab + Spotlight for just about everything, I’m not sure I’ll be particularly interested in Mission control without deliberately forcing myself to change habits.

The music matching service is meh. All my music is lossless as my audio gear is high-end and I don’t purchase from the iTunes Store.

It was interesting noting what garnered the most and least applause too. The most went for finally being able to activate and use an iPhone or iPad without a computer. This requirement alone prevented me recommending the iPad to various acquaintances for whom it would be a great device, being that they are computer illiterate. It sure would have been great for my parents. I can’t help wondering what my late father would have made of reading the newspaper and magazines on one.

Ultimately, however, it is interesting to ponder how much we pick the finest details about what we don’t like about the iOS devices, despite the wonder and convenience that they have brought us. As much as we may joke about Steve Jobs and his reality distortion field, there is no doubt that he has revolutionised personal computing from a chore to something wonderful that will define our lives as much as electricity did a century ago.