Ever do an upgrade?
Of course you have, probably more often than you care to because the market or the media put the pressure on and next thing you know, you’re on a new version, a new platform, a new operating system all with new chargers, new software and new rules and behaviors and JUST when you thought you were actually becoming productive. My early write-up on the transition barely touches the iceberg.
In my most recent laptop research, I learned that I would have to pay more to stay on Windows 7 in a new laptop environment than if I went for Windows 8, while tried and ‘true’ in some early reviewer’s eyes, I didn’t think I should be forced ‘into‘ a new platform before I was ready and certainly not have to pay more for an older version than a newer one. Where does that apply elsewhere in life? Isn’t that sending a reinforcing message to its users? (translation: force is used when love isn’t already there to takes its place).
What happened to let the product speak for itself and if the newer version shines which ultimately it should if they did their job right, people will pay more to upgrade?
Bottom line: don’t force customers to an environment they don’t ‘choose’, particularly your loyal long-term users. The other culprets who don’t get this: legacy-minded companies Verizon and Comcast. Can you imagine Zappos, Dell or Virgin forcing such atrocities on its users?
Forward wind the clock six weeks. I was about to bite the bullet and go for the latest Lenovo, where frankly I’ve been happy 2x over when I got persuaded to go Mac by a friend who I wouldn’t classify as a typical Apple fan boy.
There are hundreds (okay thousands) who are so blindsighted by “Apple” energy and branding that they don’t always see straight. Sound familiar?
Truth be told. I’m a creative. I’m an artist. I may be a visionary in how I look at business and my client’s business and portfolio, but at the end of the day, how I think of the world and respect “it” is through an artist’s eyes.
And so, getting pressure from major CEO pals who run start-ups, VC firms and beyond, I thought, t’is time (aka isn’t it F-G time?) I migrated to a Mac like so many others in the world of which I subscribe (the one where entrepreneurship meets creativity and the arts?) After all Renee, didn’t Herbie Hancock and Gregory Hines (both part of the Apple’s evangelism program at the time) tell you insistently 15 years ago to get on a F-G mac within a month of knowing you and how you think?
This part is true: I THINK like a Mac, but I WORK like a PC. In other words, my ideas are MAC-like and my productivity and efficiency are PC-like.
While it’s never been truer that I AM an artist, I am a creative and I FEEL the world more than I program it, which ultimately makes me more a Mac user than a PC one, what’s even truer, is that I’m obsessed with efficiency and “getting shit done.”
I’m in multi-tasking mode constantly. It’s true that I’ve balanced a checkbook, taken two calls, and closed a mega deal in my CAR all at the same time. A lot of entrepreneurs have also done the same and done so, more than once.
It’s also true that I’ve been known to carry on a very ‘present conversation’ with someone over a four hour period and while on the phone, also worked out, painted a hallway, done the dishes and the laundry and watered my garden. As long as I stay away from a screen that demands my brain and attention, frankly I can multi-task in a way that serves, not deters.
As soon as a screen is involved, I am in conflict with “continuous partial attention” (see Linda Stone’s work in this area: she really gets it….I wish more people did).
What’s scary is when I googled an image for the term, a photo of me came up in the top ten.
And while the above image may tell part of the story, the below image of three friends together for an evening out who are likely not ‘truly’ present with each other or with anything on their mobile device screens either, depicts a truer story.
In the midst of my PC to Mac conversion, my gut said DO NOT DO THIS! A handful of people who knew me well also said DO NOT DO THIS. Someone I dated for all of 3 months but ‘understood’ the way I processed the world (mostly because he processed information the same way) said DO NOT DO THIS. Later, I earned that the President of my new company processed information exactly the way I do.
When he made the PC to Mac converation, he spoke of three years of hell after migrating to a Mac world as a heavy Outlook user and how things still aren’t efficient and don’t work for him.
Alas.
Nearly two weeks later and more hours and lost productivity time than I care to share, I learn that there are ALL sorts of limitations for the Mac Outlook user. Here’s my point.
For the Mac Fan Boys:
1. I like my MacBookPro. In other words, I get the value-add. It’s clean, the icons are pretty, it’s got a helluva brand, the operating system is more secure and it’s damn easy to search for anything using a simple button click.
2. Mobile: my iPhone is awesome. While I miss my Blackberry from time-to-time because I churn out SO much email, texts, tweets and more, the more visual and navigational screen on an iPhone makes my life more interesting and efficient because ‘search’ outweights text over the long haul. Bottom line: it’s a mobile world where I don’t need to be as efficient pr as fast as I do on my desktop. On my desktop, if I don’t become insanely more efficient because of an app or a process (the words insanely efficient are important), then there’s no reason to ‘go there.’
3. Visual Ecstasy: Your bottom of the screen icons are pretty. As a visual snob, I GET the appeal. It’s pretty, you’re pretty and your simplicity is addictive.
4. Photography: as a photographer addict, I’ve migrated over to Lightroom and Photoshop in a Mac environment. I’m told that some of the cluginess that I dealt with in Outlook for the Mac will dissipate in my all Mac environment. In other words, Adobe loves Mac mroe than the PC and just performs better there evne though it supports both. GREAT knowledge to know when you’re considering the facts and both sides.
THE QUESTION IS: Who Are You?
When people ask me about Canon versus Nikon or Apple versus Mac or iPhone versus Android or Window or Hulu versus blah blah blah, isn’t the real question always: who are you and how do you spend your time? What do you care most about?
Sorry folks but as much as I AM a creative and an artist, and I GET and appreciate Apple in so many ways (see my Steve Jobs obit write-up), HOW I primarily spend my time is getting shit done. I do that primarily through:
1. Outlook
2. WordPress
3. Photoshop and Lightroom
4. Groupmail (A Dublin-based company who doesn’t yet support the Mac but I love their app, their team and how they think)
5. Filemaker (I have been loyal to them for years and there’s a reason for it)
And sure, Microsoft Word and Excel are a close 6 and 7 and there are a zillion apps that follow. SnagIt rocks and I can’t say enough great things about it but I can use SnagIt on a PC and a Mac and there’s no glitch on either OS, although frankly I prefer their UI on the PC. Why? It’s more efficient!
I wish my professional world looked more like this:
And, while it doesn’t resemble this sad image as an hourly existence, my career centers around deadlines, stress and fast turnaround more than it does a serene four hour work day on the grass or the beach.
If you’re a power user, which I am:
1. Outlook for the Mac restricts the SIZE of your PSTs or whatever the hell they call PSTs in a Mac environment. While I’m on the most powerful MacBookPro you can buy including the top of the line solid state drive, with an extra 750 gig drive to boot, sub 1 terabyte horsepower. I also went with RAM of 16 versus a sad 4 in my old Lenovo which albeit slow, was able to handle Outlook more efficiency (by a lot) than this mega MacBookPro that I spent a fortune upgrading to.
I also learned that there are other restrictions. Not only does it handle power sized files poorly, but you can’t do some of the most basic functions a power user needs to do — regularly such as file emails in folders and subfolders. A friend of mine is still suffering from this after his PC to Mac Outlook migration three years later.
I didn’t want to do a post like this because frankly someone might lump me into a PC or a Mac camp or none of the above (a naysayer and just bitter about technology), which is so unfair.
I expect that as the years go by (have been in this industry for 25 years now), I would become more efficient not less, happier, not less so, more integrated, not less, more organized, not less so (do you konw that you can’t integrate mailboxes from several emails in a Mac environment unless they’re all on IMAP and even then, it’s clugy). In a PC environment, it works and has done so flawlessly for me for 10+ years. I expect smart curation and smart organization – technology that helps automate me not the other way around.
I’m forced onto Google Docs because the industry says I MUST. I had a client give me a wink and a bravo that I responded to something in Google Docs recently saying “Renee is finally on Google Docs.” Really?
I’ve been on it for years but frankly I don’t choose to use it as my default because I don’t find that it makes me more efficient. I’m sorry, call me a naysayer, but bottom line, EVERY decision for me comes back to more efficient. If the system, process, app, mobile device or platform doesn’t make me more efficient, why go there?
I want less time away from my PC or Mac, not more. I want to be less tethered, yet more connected and more efficient. Moving into 2013, shouldn’t we be thinking about THIS GOAL as away to improve our productivity so we ultimately improve our lives and how we spend it? Remember the visual?
Think about it Apple fan boys and Microsoft addicts: if a solution doesn’t allow you to spend MORE time with your kids, loved ones and friends, then why sign up? VCs, please, the same question applies given the kinds of things you invest in and don’t.
While I love my iPhone and even though I SO get Blackberry addicts, I realized I navigate the web more than I thought and therefore the iPhone wins in the end despite the insane number of texts and tweets I do on a mobile device. That said, the same case CANNOT be made for email.
Email needs to be efficient and while some people may argue and complain and go to great lengths ditching Outlook, it has worked solidly for me for over a decade.
Sure, it crashes occasionally (not as much as Mac has in a 7 day period) and sure, it’s not always as fast as I want it to be (it’s faster than other email programs I have used or server-based email) over the long haul.
Bottom Line: if you’re a power user (I had over 90 gigs of Outlook data that was originally brought over to the Mac – and did NOT work), STAY in a PC environment, one which supports productivity addicts. These are the folks, like me, who find productivity and efficiency their life blood even above and beyond simple search, beautiful icons and tighter security.
I USE FOLDERS. And I use them a lot.
I CARE ABOUT ORGANIZATION and it needs to be micro-managed. I’m sorry but I deal with countless entities, companies, non-profits, organizations, conferences, events and individuals (for the latter, I have about 30 categories. You?)
I need simple drag and drop into folders, from and to and I don’t want to think about rules or objections. I need it to work and I need it to work FAST.
I am a data hog. If you have a lot of files: megafiles and subfiles, then don’t go to Mac, at least not if you’re coming from Outlook. There may be other viable options for you if you start native on a Mac, but bottom line, tell your IT guy HOW you spend your time and how you spend MOST of it.
Sure, I love my time in Photoshop and Lightroom and frankly, will likely find that I’ll be better off on the Mac moving forward than in my PC environment. Photography is fun for me and while I do spend a lot of time on it, it doesn’t make or break my business. Email does. Welcome to my life!
So, Apple fan boys, as much as you may be in love, call it what and like it is. If someone is a power user and needs to process the kind of VOLUME I do, which I’m told is the level of a head of sales for a large enterprise company and maybe more, Mac ain’t your best friend.
If you need efficiency, power, support, integration and beyond, Microsoft and Outlook is still a more viable option. While my friend keeps repeating like a broken record, “it’s not the Mac,” my argument still sits: I’m ON a MAC, aren’t I? One that is almost 10x faster than my six year old Lenovo and yet the environment where I spent 95% of my time (Outlook) performed BETTER and FASTER there than it does on my Mac.
The only difference is that I’m on a Mac and one that is 10x faster at that.
So while you want want to argue that it isn’t the hardware and the hardware may be a fast purring leopard-like machine, I don’t FEEL or EXPERIENCE that if I spend 95% of my time in Outlook, where Mac performs pretty badly compared to my old thinkpad that is on its way out.
If you’re running a business (Sorry, but I do) if you’re not ONLY thinking about productivity and efficiency, then can we please stop the conversation now? I don’t have the time to talk icons, pretty pictures, search and image as much as they all matter to me.
I need to get shit done and SO, after an entire week LOST (and I mean LOST), my Outlook is now set up an older version of Outlook on the PC side of my Pac via Parallels and once again, it’s running and my business is no longer DOWN.
As much as you’ve pained me over the years, thank you Microsoft. I’m more efficient in your world.
While it’s not over yet, and I remain inefficient in the Mac world, there are some tools and people behind the tools who have made sure I didn’t jump of a roof in frustration:
- Doug Free and his team at Microsoft for commitment to old fashioned PR as we knew it and looking after me, Microsoft’s Technical Support Team which surrpised me 3x in a row (they did an amazing job, including Ryan in Seattle who isn’t on staff but deserves a raise)
- John Uppendahl and David Spackman at Parallels. John convinced me to move to Mac because I could still have my Windows fix if I needed to (I never knew how important this would be: I have learned so much through both of them, including tips on how to be efficient in both worlds)
- Ken Eddings from Apple who helped me decide which MacBook would work best for me also in some insane hour when no one should be working (can you give this man a raise already – he SO deserves it. Really guys – open your eyes to what kind of employee he really is).
- The Twitter team at @MicrosoftHelps who responded the best they could although it was a much more complex situation. Oddly @Outlook didn’t respond at all and my main issue was with them. As much as I’m an Outlook addict and 10+ year user, they’re obviously NOT on the #socialmedia bandwagon. C’mon guys, get with the program.
- Adobe: they’ve been great despite my cries and agony. These guys clearly care and their team have gone to great lengths to ensure I’m ultra happy with Photoshop and more importantly, Lightroom, which remains my “bible” for photo editing. They dealt with my stress levels and venting with grace and I remain a fan.
Image credits: vendor websites, Amazon & Get stuff done image: Wikivillage.
Renee Blodgett is the founder of We Blog the World. The site combines the magic of an online culture and travel magazine with a global blog network and has contributors from every continent in the world. Having lived in 10 countries and explored nearly 80, she is an avid traveler, and a lover, observer and participant in cultural diversity.
She is also the CEO and founder of Magic Sauce Media, a new media services consultancy focused on viral marketing, social media, branding, events and PR. For over 20 years, she has helped companies from 12 countries get traction in the market. Known for her global and organic approach to product and corporate launches, Renee practices what she pitches and as an active user of social media, she helps clients navigate digital waters from around the world. Renee has been blogging for over 16 years and regularly writes on her personal blog Down the Avenue, Huffington Post, BlogHer, We Blog the World and other sites. She was ranked #12 Social Media Influencer by Forbes Magazine and is listed as a new media influencer and game changer on various sites and books on the new media revolution. In 2013, she was listed as the 6th most influential woman in social media by Forbes Magazine on a Top 20 List.
Her passion for art, storytelling and photography led to the launch of Magic Sauce Photography, which is a visual extension of her writing, the result of which has led to producing six photo books: Galapagos Islands, London, South Africa, Rome, Urbanization and Ecuador.
Renee is also the co-founder of Traveling Geeks, an initiative that brings entrepreneurs, thought leaders, bloggers, creators, curators and influencers to other countries to share and learn from peers, governments, corporations, and the general public in order to educate, share, evaluate, and promote innovative technologies.
