Ron Schenone

Windows Expert Says Goodbye To Redmond – Switches To Mac

Posted by on Feb 9, 2007 | 9 Comments

Scot Finnie dropped a huge bombshell on the Windows community, when he announced officially that he is dumping Windows in favor of a Mac.

And who is Scot? Well he has been writing Windows articles for many years and has written articles for many of the major publications as well as being ComputerWorld’s resident Windows expert. Scot also has a great free newsletter and also hosts a forum, which I have proudly been a member of for some 3+ years.

About three months ago, he mentioned he had purchased a Mac Pro notebook computer, his first Mac purchase ever. And that he was going to test the new PC and see if he could make it his personal system for everything that he currently was doing on a Windows PC. He wrote several articles about some of the trials and tribulations he went through, trying to find software that would be compatible for his needs.

And it was interesting to see a devote Windows man, trying something new and actually putting his Windows writing career in jeopardy. Which in itself, must of been a tough decision to make. He even took on Vista and had previously criticized the new operating system which I am sure was much to the displeasure of Microsoft.

Well he made his final decision to become a Mac person and has written a great article explaining his reasoning. It is a great read and as always, very well written by Scot.

Full Story Here.

[tags]windows, microsoft, mac, expert, scot finnie, [/tags]

  • http://fractalbeanstalk.blogspot.com/ Tim Hodkinson

    I wouldn’t be surprised if he returns to Windows. Can’t find a good screen shot program? That’s the wonderful thing about Windows; there’s so much software for it.

    I liked his Vista article. I think he’s really done some deep thinking about Microsoft’s motivation behind Vista’s design. I’m just a hobbyist, but when I heard that Vista was going to be released after the holidays, I knew something big had changed with Microsoft. Hearing an expert like him explain it was very enlightening.

    In the end though, it’s not the OS that we care about, it’s the applications. The ideal situation would be for Windows to become Open Source. It sounds pretty unlikely, but it would sink Linux and Mac as desktop alternatives, and that alone might be something MS would be interested in if the desktop market becomes unimportant (another unlikely event). I could see MS giving it all away to destroy it’s competition, just like it did with it’s browser.

  • http://wp3.lockergnome.com/nexus/blade/ Ron Schenone

    Hi Tim,

    Good observations. As for Scot, I think he may have drawn the line in the sand, and could jeopardize his credibility if he went back to Windows. I’m sure he weighed his decision and what the ramifications would be. He may find it hard being accepted as a Windows expert now that he has told the world he’s a Mac head. :-)

    Open source – should be interesting to see what happens. Especially since Novell [Suse] and Microsoft stuck an agreement, which appear they may have used to get Wal-Marts business.

    Have a good weekend, Ron

  • http://thereeper.com Dave

    You can run all windows software on mac’s now using parallels software…. and in addition you can run linux programs, so if you want a snapshot program you could use Ksnapshot..so the point about software is null and void.

    Here’s a snapshot of me doing an install of xp on my mac mini:
    http://s58.photobucket.com/albums/g244/thekornreeper/Most%20Recent%20-%20Newest%20Stuff/?action=view&current=DSC03714.jpg
    It runs full speed.. Get educated

  • http://wp3.lockergnome.com/nexus/blade/ Ron Schenone

    Hello Dave,
    Thanks for the comments. “You can run all windows software on mac’s”
    Interesting. I would like to get educated. Please send a picture of a Mac running Microsoft Vista Premium.
    Thanks, Ron

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=696846462 Brandon Carson

    I buy both… for my Jazz collection I’m always buying CDs, and I rip them to the Apple Lossless format… however, for current pop music that I want to carry with me on my iPhone, I buy iTunes songs or download MP3s… I think you’re absolutely right though — the audio quality of compressed music is just crapola. I worked at Dolby Labs last year and they opened my eyes to what audio quality really is… and compressed music throws away too much. Inevitable the quality will increase, but today’s kids who know nothing of CDs have no clue what they’re missing.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=696846462 Brandon Carson

    I buy both… for my Jazz collection I’m always buying CDs, and I rip them to the Apple Lossless format… however, for current pop music that I want to carry with me on my iPhone, I buy iTunes songs or download MP3s… I think you’re absolutely right though — the audio quality of compressed music is just crapola. I worked at Dolby Labs last year and they opened my eyes to what audio quality really is… and compressed music throws away too much. Inevitable the quality will increase, but today’s kids who know nothing of CDs have no clue what they’re missing.

    • http://mvaudiothoughts.blogspot.com/ Michael

      Yeah like you say, younger kids are growing up rarely buying a CD. CDs have been exactly the same for years, the problem with them being nobody had any media player big enough to rip them at a decent rate. With storage today as it is though (i’m probably the far end of the scale on this having a 160GB iPod Classic), you can get loads of stuff at a high rate on even the cheaper media player. I may be a bit extreme but i have my entire library at lossless on my iPod.

  • Anonymous

    I always buy audio CDs, their sound quality is way better than any digital format. I only download either MP3 or FLAC the stuff that I don’t really care much about (i.e. Not Jazz or Classical)

  • Fattyjnl

    I see a typo! :D