One of my 2014 goals is to do my best to utilize a single technology platform for my personal and business use. What does this mean? To the extent possible, I want to use either all Google, Microsoft or all Apple products both at home and in the office. Why? I just want things to be easy, seamless, and more importantly, I want my stuff to just work. At the moment, I’m using a PC, an iPhone, an Ipad and a netbook for my hardwire devices. And I’m using Office, Google Apps (including Drive), Dropbox, Gmail (separate business and personal), Yahoo Mail (legacy personal), Chrome, Firefox (browsers), Skype and Google Talk (phone) for my services. I’m sure I’ve missed a few others, but these are my main tools.
Over Christmas, I was inspired by my 93 year old GrandDad who made the change from a PC to a Mac (he also signed up for an account on ScottTrade to try his hand at day trading…good grief). I’ve tried to make that change on two separate occasions…both unsuccessful. But given my GrandDad’s success, I feel more confident than ever that if I put my mind to it, I can make the change to a Mac.
In the technology industry, it’s pretty imperative that you have a solid understanding of what devices your customers are using. Every device and every platform reacts in a different way and if you understand those differences, you can truly make decisions from a customer perspective. So I’m looking forward to making some of these changes. Brad Feld recently posted on his blog that he’s testing an Android phone for a month to see how it compares to his iPhone. I can’t wait for the results.
So here’s my question: Do I keep the PC, utilize primarily Google tools and apps and purchase an Android phone? Or, do I make the transition to a Mac Air, utilize Google tools and apps and continue to use my iPhone?
If I make the move to a Mac, I’ve pretty much given up on anything MSFT except for Skype. Hmm…
Let me know your thoughts.
John
I’m a Mac gal using google apps & love how all of my gadgets work. All. The. Time. Once I tried to leave apple cuz I didn’t want to pay the apple price tag, but I couldn’t do it.
Thanks KJ. I’m sure my move is coming soon. The price tag is tolerable if everything just ‘works’.
I made a switch to Mac from PC two years ago and never looked back. Now, I have MacBook Pro Retina, iPad, iPad mini, iPhone, Time Capsule, Airport Express.
I like FaceTime much better than Skype. All my emails from Gmail, Yahoo, and Hotmail come into Apple Mail. The contacts and calendar synch across all apple devices through iCloud.
I use Dropbox for online storage. BTW, Google Drive has app for Mac.
I also have a Windows 7 Virtual Machine on my MBPr, primarily for Tableau which doesn’t have Mac version.