So-called Apple tax the latest ploy by Microsoft but it won't work

I read an article on ZDnet today by Ed Bott discussing the latest Redmond ploy to criticize Apple by calling the higher price of Apple machines the "apple tax".

Bott details his experience using a MacBook for a couple of weeks and then delves into the cost of hardware and software for the Mac compared to a typical Windows machine.

I made the switch from Windows to an iMac last year. I am not the typical power user, just an ordinary end user. I switched because I went through two long-labored processes of removing viruses that my anti-virus software didn't prevent. I spent about 5 weeks posting what was going on with my pc (made by Dell incidentally) to a virus help website, getting instructions, following them and then posting the results and going through subsequent instructions, step by step until I got rid of the virus.

It would have been bad enough on its own but it was the second time I had gone through the process. The first time I got a virus I was using Norton Anti-virus software that was updated daily. The second time I was using Trend Micro's PC-cillin that was updated daily.

I am an average user. I have never visited a porn site and have been around long enough not to click on any link without trusting the purveyor of the link implicitly.

Add to that experience the fact that I used a friends laptop in the interim that had Windows Vista and I made the switch to the iMac. I know the TV commercials show some ostensibly clueless people using the Vista software and saying how much they like it before knowing it's really Windows Vista but I'm not buying it, figuratively or literally.

My experience using Windows Vista reminded me of the experience I had when I had to upgrade my 3.1 Windows to Windows 95. The problems seemed to outweigh any neglible improvements.

I bought the iMac thinking I could get Windows and run it on my iMac for programs I missed or needed. As it turned out, I never loaded Windows on my iMac. I found out I didn't need to. The only program I would like to use that is Windows based is my Family Tree software and I didn't see the point in getting Windows for one program. Instead I put the program on my husband's PC. I only use it once in a while anyway.

At this point, it would take a lot to get me to go back to using a Windows machine. For me, it's worth the extra cost to have a reliable operating system that doesn't freeze and isn't nearly so susceptible to viruses.

It took me about a month to truly get used to using an iMac after 20 years of using MS DOS and then MS Windows OS software.

I am not one of those people who feels any particular loyalty to some giant nameless corporation or the CEO of such a corporation (read Gates vs Jobs here). I buy what I think is best for me and at this point, the Mac is best for me, not because I think it's cool and not because I for some arcane reason dislike Bill Gates. I like the iMac because I never have any trouble with it. You wouldn't believe the cartwheels and backbends it took to get the Gateway PC sitting next to my iMac to run wirelessly. And yes, I called the Linksys help desk. What a joke. The four or five phone calls I made to them were a waste of time and I finally figured out how to get the wireless card working through dumb luck and trial and error.

But getting back to my point, the iMac is easy to use. And like I said earlier, I am not a power user, I'm your average computer user. I shop online. I email. I play Boggle online. I check Facebook. I research information online for my blog.

My husband and I own our own small business (used book store) that is online. Slowly but surely all of the business stuff that we do on a computer is shifting to my iMac because everything we do is easier on the iMac. And that is surprising because we always had the impression that the Mac was supposed to be for hip artsy types while the PC is for working class slobs like us.

We have found that it's easier to print out a Delivery Confirmation label on my iMac. It's a whole lot faster and we can modify what is being printed because the label is on the local machine as opposed to being on the post office website (the only way to do it on a PC).

What I'm beginning to notice is that every program for the PC that we use for business that is made by Microsoft is huge, unwieldly, cumbersome and is probably perfect for huge corporations but much more than what we need for a used book business.

The only thing left on my husband's PC at this point is the credit card processing software (that we have been told is being discontinued) and a text in tabs file in Microsoft Excel that contains our inventory data. Since my iMac can reproduce the text in tabs inventory file we have on Excel, after the credit card software is obsolete, I can see no reason to have a PC for our small business.

Ed Bott wrote about the cost of upgrading the RAM. The thing to do is what I've been doing for years with my Windows machines - upgrade the Ram yourself. It's easy to do. And a whole lot cheaper.

Interestingly, I've noticed that my iMac runs a whole lot faster with 2g of ram than my husband's PC does with 4g of ram. To be fair, his machine is older than mine by a year.

The number one reason the Apple iMac is worth paying more for than a Windows machine is reliability. For me, it was worth the extra cost. The article referred to at the beginning of this column doesn't take into account the costs associated with downtime, virus software, and the ensuing panic attacks. I will stick with Mac to avoid those costs.