Still Windows After All These Years
My old shoebox Windows PC was emitting a strange whining sound. I cracked open the case and discovered that the cheapo fan on my cheapo video card was dying. Tending toward lazy, I tried buying a new fan. I carefully measured the dimensions and ordered a similar model from newegg. Total cost : $10. I guess in this case I was a little too lazy because when I tried to install my gleaming new fan I discovered that the old fan was mounted directly on the heat sink. There was no way the new fan would fit without major surgery.
Maybe I should bite the bullet and buy a new video card? I could probably get an equivalent model on ebay for around $75. Though my shoebox was only two years old, it’s AGP slot made it a relic from another era. If I bought a new AGP video card, I would probably end up throwing it out along with the shoebox PC.
I decided to “save” the $75 and buy a new PC instead.
Like the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, the wheezing fan was a catalyst for massive change in my life. A new question arose. Was it time to Switch?
Flashback to 1997, the last time I owned a Mac. Back in college I was like a mini John Sculley. I pushed Monaco and BBEdit on all my disinterested friends. I released amateurish Macintosh freeware. I hacked AfterDark and learned how to crack with MacsBug. But even good things must come to an end. Upon graduation I put away my childish things and moved entirely to the lucrative, disorganized world of Windows and POSIX variants.
Several years passed. Exciting, productive, disorganized years on XP and Linux boxes. Recently, I’ve jealously watched while one friend after another loudly switched to MacOS, with their shiny screens and bizarre motion sensor hacks. They flaunt their beautiful machines at every opportunity. It’s very tempting, especially for an old school Mac fiend like your’s truly.
So why won’t I switch? Let me enumerate a few good reasons:
Half-Life 2 (and Episode 1-N)
Oblivion
Chronicles of Riddick
etc.
Future posts will detail my new rig and provide helpful hints to make Windows development bearable.
Sunday, July 23rd 2006 at 11:27 pm
Those 3 reasons to switch are just 3 reasons to get an xbox and/or 360.
Plus, nowadays you can always dual-boot into windows to game. I’ve played Oblivion on my iMac, and while I can’t enable all the graphical goodness, it still plays nicely.
But buying a machine is a very personal process, and I would not want anyone prosletyzing to me if I were in the same position. Godspeed, dear sir, in your endeavors!