Or will you?
Conventional wisdom holds that once you try certain products, you can never be satisfied with the ones you previously used. Example: Tom's of Maine toothpaste. I've heard several people say that once you try Tom's, you'll never be able to use those ultraflavored, flourescent Crests or Colgates ever again. But I've tried Tom's, and that just hasn't been my experience. I can move effortlessly from Crest to Tom's to Pepsodent to Sensodyne and back again. No problemo.
And I'm beginning to think I might be the same way about computers. My first computer was a Dell, and our relationship soured quickly. (Specifically, the day it became unresponsive less than a week after the warranty expired.) After that, I got a Mac, and I've really liked it. But I never came around to adopting it as part of my identity the way I thought all Mac users did. (You know how someone will call him/herself a "Mac Person"?) Honestly, I've never fully understood the thing. After 5 years, I still try to use the right-click.
It's kind of like when you hear all of this hype about a movie, and then you go to see it expecting to be absolutely blown away, and you're inevitably disappointed because no movie can be that good, especially not when you're expecting it to be. So this is me lowering your expectations. Macs, Tom's of Maine--they're good. But they didn't change my life.
Oh, speaking of Macs, here's something I really do like (I don't want to raise your expectations, though): You know those ads where there are two guys, a Mac and a PC, and the PC guy is always in some ridiculous situation? The actor, John Hodgman, was on a recent episode of this American Life talking about his acting career. I really liked the whole episode. It's about the downsides of dream jobs, and is kind of eye-opening, particularly the part about lottery winners. But my favorite part is when John H says, "Which one of them thinks I am...'cutie'?" (Makes more sense in context.) It's here if you want to listen to it.
