About Me

Before we begin the experiment, let me share a little about my background and experience with computers to qualify my research. I've been using Microsoft products for 20 years starting in MS-DOS days and all the way through all the versions of Windows including Vista.

Besides being an end-user I have spent a lot of time doing development including applicaton design in Visual C++ and Visual Basic as well as website design in ASP and SQL. I am also an MCSE trained network engineer and have worked for various professional companies utlizing these skills.

Five years ago however I left the technology sector and completely changed gears and got into law enforcement. I still use my technology skills heavily in my work and stay very active in development with side projects. On a regular basis I assist friends and family with technical questions and basic computer operations from "Help my hard drive is crashing and I've lost all my pictures" and "How do I setup my new internet connection and add wireless?".

This might be one of the reasons my fascination with an alternative to Windows exists. I'm able to handle any configuration, setup and tweaking that needs to occur to get running but the average user does not know how to negotiate a warning dialog box displayed in Vista. This will be another area of where my examination of the Mac myth will include. Not only do I want to know what a typical Windows power user is going to experience but how is Mac OS going to be received by an average end-user.