Why I think that Mac OS Leopard could NEVER compete with Windows Vista - and I own 4 Macs!

Yup, last night I gave in to the Steve Jobs distortion field - in the cold and wet I raced through the traffic to get to one of my favourite places on the planet, the iStore in Menlyn Park shopping centre in an affluent subburb of Pretoria East...

I have been anticipating the release of Leopard for some months now, and in the last few weeks I've been looking forward to the 26th of October - what a joy when the iStore staff phoned me to come to the worldwide launch of Leopard! So, like all Mac fanatics I went!

Now, before I explain the heading of this post let me just say that I currently own the following Apple computers:

1. Primary machine: Macbook Pro Mac OS 10.4.10, 2GHz Intel Core Duo (dual booting Ubuntu Linux and Windows XP Pro). It has a 'rough night out' gelaskin cover on the top - it has become quite famous at Methodist gatherings!
2. Secondary machine: Sony Vaio UX 180 P Micro PC with dual booting Windows XP and Ubuntu Linux (this machine 'lives' in my backpack!) I love this little guy! It is not much larger than a cell phone, it has a built in keyboard, a built in GSM / EDGE cellular modem and it runs for about 20 hours with my external battery pack! I most often take this little guy with me when I travel around the world. It can litterally fit onto my belt (when I really want to GEEK it!)
   
3. Primary desktop machine: iMac Mac OS 10.5 (Leopard!), with Windows XP in Parallels.
4. 'Old' Desktop: Apple Powermac G4 dual 1.25Ghz with a 23" cinema display running Mac OS 10.4.10.
5. My wife's computer: Sony Vaio TR3A, Windows XP Pro.
6. Daugther's computer: Apple iBook (the toilet seat model... Blueberry) running Mac OS 10.3.9.

[Just to mention that most of my machines were purchased with research funds (I could only use Macs for the magnetoencephalagraph that I used in Cape Town to measure magnetic activity in the human brain), or were acquired in trades. I have only ever purchased one new laptop, a G4 iBook back in 2003 - that has since gone THROUGH Wessel to another well deserving home] Oh yes, and let me add that one's spouse MUST be a saint to allow for SO MANY computers (she also has to earn a lot more than one does to keep one in the style to which one is accustomed... But that is another matter entirely).

You can see that we are a thoroughly Apple household!! We LOVE MACS!!!

So, you may be asking yourself, how could I possibly say that Leopard could NEVER compete with Vista!??? Well, the answer is simple - Leopard is just in a completely different league!!

Ha ha! Yup, Vista from my limited use, is to Windows XP what Windows ME was to Windows 95... Nothing but eyecandy and instability!

Leopard on the other hand is FANTASTIC!!! And yes, I am biased, but it is faster, more stable, and it looks even better than Tiger. I love the new Mail application, the new style sheets and eye candy, you can add 'to do' items and sticky notes directly in mail, the new Safari browser is FAST and user friendly, it also allowes you to 'snip' active elements from web pages to add as widgets in Dashboard. Of course the new Finder is magnificent! It has 'cover flow' that lets you see the contents of files within the finder (without even having to open an application like Word, Excel, Adobe reader, Keynote, or the Preview image viewer)... It is just fantastic!

So, yes, I bought a copy of Leopard last night - I aslo happened to see a cracked, working, iPhone! It is magnificent. If the guy who had the phone reads this post, would you mind dropping me a line? I'd love to stay in touch.

So, Steve Jobs and Apple, WELL DONE!!!! This is a great upgrade that will make my life so much more efficient and pleasant. It was worth going out in the cold and the wet, and the Apple iStore in Menlyn is still one of my favourite places in the whole world!!!!

Technorati tags: Apple, Vista, Leopard, better, iStore, Menlyn