On many Saturday mornings, I’ll listen to the Kim Komando radio show, where Kim fields calls from computer users with problems. Most of the callers are dealing with Windows problems, and I often get a good laugh out of some of the situations these people wrestle with, because on most occasions there would be no problem if they were using a Mac instead of a PC.
A large portion of the calls are from novice users with virus, worm, or ad-ware problems, or they just need help getting something simple done on their computer. Their Windows computer. And Kim will often end up talking way over their heads, giving some obscure string of commands to fix the problem, and promising to add the issue with thorough instructions to her newsletter.
When a question comes up about a Mac, she’ll often talk about how the issue would be handled on a Windows computer, but rarely gives a decent answer for the Mac user; she usually throws in some snide comment about Macs. When I turned the radio on last Saturday she was talking about Macs, and how one of her former employees — who had moved on to a new job using Macs — had stopped back for a visit. She said that he had told her that Macs aren’t really any easier to use than Windows machines; he said that the Macs that they used for her show worked well because they were well maintained, but the ones at his new job were not and they were anything but reliable. And she used that to back up her disagreement with a caller’s assertion that Macs are easier to use. The only ones who find Macs hard to use are hard-core Windows users. “Don’t throw anything new at me, I know all the ins and outs of Windows, and could care less if there’s an easier & better way!”
Now I don’t fault Kim for being Windows-centric. In fact in her line of work having more users on Windows machines is in her best interest, and it’s even better if they have problems with those Windows machines. It creates more demand for her books and drives more listeners to her show. Macs are a threat to that, plain and simple.
It still drives me just a little nuts listening to it all, and knowing there is a better way.