Raise your hand if you like running water. How about a warm shower? As Americans, we tend to take these modern conveniences for granted. However, if you do much traveling overseas, you know how these simple, every day pleasures can quickly become a commodity in some developing countries.
Admit it. We all like conveniences and -- whether we admit it or not -- aesthetics. Some Macintosh users have a hard time telling you why they love the Mac OS user interface so much. Many say that "it just works" or that it's easier to use.
As a user of the Mac OS and Windows OS for many years now, I can say with confidence that "it's the aesthetics of Macintosh" that really grabs me. From the ground up, the Mac OS has been engineered with the end user in mind. While Windows certainly has gotten much better over the years, it really lacks in operating system aesthetics and usability.
Ask any long-time Mac user who must use Windows at work or who is forced to switch for some reason. The first thing they'll tell you is that "all the programs don't work the same." Perhaps a more accurate statement is that the user "does not access every program the same way." This, in itself, is an important distinguishing characteristic of the top two operating systems in the world.
From the beginning, the Mac OS "toolbox" forced programmers -- like it or not -- to call on certain parts of the operating system the same way. That why for years all one needed to know to shut down a Macintosh application was CRTL Q or to choose Quit from the File menu.
Windows users may read my previous statement and say, "Hey, Windows works the same way, you're not being fair." Well, in recent incarnations Windows programmers have began to standardized on standard menus. However, if you'll notice, this is mainly in more mainstream programs of high professional or consumer distribution. If you don't believe me, download a shareware Windows program sometime and take a close look at it. More times than not the programmer will come up with all sorts of ways to access the program, all to the confusion of the user. In all fairness, this happens sometimes to youthful Mac programmers as well. But I have experienced it to be much more common among the Windows programming crowd.
Now that we've all grown accustom to the Mac OS, Apple is changing everything with OS X. What's promised is a higher level of usability and functionality. With the public beta out on the streets, we'll know soon how well the boys (and girls) in Cupertino have delivered on this one. If OS X lives up to its billing, Apple may set the standard for consumer operating systems once again.
What will be interesting is how Apple ultimately delivers OS X to the masses through its scalability and uses in a various of consumer and professional devices. With core underpinnings from UNIX, I believe Mac OS X is in a good position to capture some of Microsoft's historical market share. Will OS X be a part of your future? The answer is "yes and definitely." Will it be a part of the future of Windows users? The answer is a "yes, but they'll come kicking and screaming."
If Apple is successful with the implementation and marketing of Mac OS X, the company may once again position itself favorably in the physique of corporate America.
Time - and more than a beta release -- will tell.