Why Microsoft Employees Should Own a Mac

Wow. Lots and lots of hits on my last post about Apple’s Boot Camp software that allows Windows XP to be installed on the new Intel Macs. I guess my comment implying that I had MacBook envy (I wish my computer was lighter and better looking!) really got a chuckle out some of you. When I read through some of the posts mentioning the “Microsoft reaction” to Boot Camp, I was really surprised to see it mentioned that Microsoft employees were “coming out of the woodwork” and “admitting” that they owned Macs.

Wow…”admitting”? Doesn’t that imply that we believe we are doing something bad by owning a Mac? Hmm…I really hope that the powers-that-be don’t think so, because I’ll “admit” right here that I own an iMac, running Mac OS X (Tiger). Yep. I’m typing this from my Toshiba tablet, but my Mac’s running at home, as we speak. I check my email on it sometimes. Sometimes I blog from it. I’ve even used iPhoto to get pictures off of my camera, and I’m looking to buy a long USB-to-MIDI cable so I can hook up my electric piano and use it with Garageband. Heck, you have me—I even have Xcode installed! And Eclipse! And I work for Microsoft—on the Visual Studio team!

Wow, it feels good to get that off my chest. J Now, honestly, sometimes I like using my Mac. It looks all clean and squishy. The glossy, candy-blue interface is really fun to look at. Garageband is probably the most fun I’ve had with a piece of software since I played with Logo in elementary school. But…I don’t use a Mac because I’m “sick” of Windows, or afraid of spyware or viruses, or want to bite the hand that feeds me.

I own a Mac because, as a Microsoft employee, I should. I should use competitors’ products. Everyone should. Nothing says “arrogant” more than believing that Microsoft’s stuff is so good that there’s nothing to learn from our competitors, and shouldn’t see what they are doing really well (or really poorly.) By using Apple products, I discovered Apple’s communities. I’ve used Apple’s forums (they call them “discussions”—think different.) There are some things they do that we could really learn from. There are also some things they do that I would never, ever want to do with our site. Getting help in Visual Studio is, in my opinion, much easier than it is in Xcode. How would I know though if I didn’t take a peek?

Yea, I “dogfood” Microsoft stuff at home too. Right next to my iMac is a home-built Media Center PC. It’s (by far) the most useful computer I’ve ever owned. Under my TV is my Xbox 360 (streaming my Media Center TV shows…) It’s an awesome system—and you know what? I like it quite a bit better than Front Row, Apple’s Media Center-ish application. How do I know though?

Because I used it—and admitted that I do. :)