Macs and Email and Stuff
There are two questions I'm asked surprisingly often. One has to do with why I use a Mac instead of a PC--the other, why I "still" use AOL for email.
As to the first--I actually use a Windows laptop on occasion, for certain older software that's incompatible with the Mac. But let me add that I use Windows only when necessary. My reason has everything to do with the constant need for "fixes," anti-virus downloads, the blue screen of death, and other annoying features which seem to have been built into Windows since the first release. It's time consuming, frustrating, irritating, and just a plain nuisance to deal with this on a regular basis. I put up with it as long as I could, and that's when I switched to a Mac.
The reason I've been using Macs for a few years now is very simple: they work. They don't plague me with virus problems. They're not always asking me questions about whether I "really" want to do this or that. They don't shut down or hang up at least half a dozen times in the course of an ordinary day, and they're not always giving me that dreaded blue screen that means--big trouble. They just ... work. And they work well. Without effort. I can write without continual intrusions to remind me how dependent I am on a machine.
Macs work mostly behind the scenes. Quietly and humbly. And they're cool.
I just installed the new Leopard operating system over the weekend, and it also works. No glitches. No problems. No fussing at me or making me feel like a fool for investing in it. While that's not always the case, even with a new Mac OS, it's almost never the case with a new Windows OS. Can you say "Vista?"
Now--about the AOL thing. My first instinct is to ask why anyone cares (I honestly don't care what email program you use as long as your email gets through to me, so it's a bit of a mystery to me why everyone is so quick to gang up on me when they find out what I use.) But for those who care: I don't use AOL as my "primary" email program, and I seldom use it as my browser. But I do have two or three mailboxes set up on it that I use regularly--because I can set them up once on one computer, and what do you know--they're immediately on all my computers, wherever I am, whenever I need them, along with my address books and "favorites"--at home, out of town, at one of my daughter's houses, etc. I don't have to configure a separate email program for whatever computer I happen to be on. Ever. I like that.
Yes, I know, the consensus is that AOL is Internet for Dummies. My webmaster (I hear you snickering, Kelli) says AOL is "evil." Well ... it's also internet for those who don't like to spend an inordinate amount of time making sure all our settings match on whatever computer we happen to be on. And then there's the fact that I almost never get spam on it. Once I set it up to block junk--it actually blocks it. Imagine that. I've used a couple of other programs for over two years now and "trained"their spam filters ... and I'm still inundated with junk. Every day there's more, no matter how much "training" I've done.
AOL also automatically sets up my folders and address books and everything else I use, with just a couple of clicks. The word is "automatically." And it seldom gives me any problem with sending or receiving attachments.
To clarify: mostly I use the Mac mail program or my .mac account. For throwaway mail I sometimes use Yahoo or Gmail, but I don't really like either of them, because they're intrusive. Sometimes I use Thunderbird. But I also make use of AOL.
So--the Internet for Dummies thing? If the shoe fits, I'll wear it. It's easy, it saves time, it works for me--and that's enough to justify its existence. So stop picking on me, all you techo-geniuses who actually enjoy a more complicated life.
BJ
