Got Mom to Switch!!!

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014




FINALLY.



She's absolutely had it with her PC...everything about it. I've been gently suggesting for months now that "there IS an alternative...".



Well, she seems to be open to it. I'm going to take my iMac DV (my beloved tangerine jellybean I just got back from my friend in Indiana two days ago) to Mom's house, set it up, get it online (she's got cable modem) and show her the ropes about Macs, OS X, the iApps, etc.



At least learn on this for a little while and she'll probably have an eMac within a couple of months, based on how she was talking earlier today.



Just getting a Mac in that house is a victory! And I'm very happy for her.



I told her if she and my stepdad bought an eMac (or whatever), I would be more than happy to a) buy a 512MB DIMM to bump the RAM up, b) buy her a .Mac account and c) buy the new OS X version of this greeting card-making program she loves to use (and actually makes money off of...hell, she does more freelance work that I do!).







She's got a kick-ass Canon S45 digital camera and a really nice HP photo inkjet, both of which are OS X compatible (iPhoto and so forth), so she really won't miss a thing. My stepdad surfs, does the occasional e-mail and plays Solitaire or games like that, so I'm betting I can easily find some good OS X versions of that sort of stuff?



Use the iMac as "training wheels", then graduate to a 1GHz G4 eMac with Combo Drive, 32MB graphics, 17" screen, etc.







You don't understand...this is a HUGE deal. I never thought it would happen!







My sister and Dad are next... [insert evil laugh]
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 30
    ebbyebby Posts: 3,110member
    Solitaire was a requirement when i switched my Grandpa from Win 95 to OS X. New 12" powerbook 'n all. I did a simple search on Macupdate and Versontracker to find them. He was having the best time bragging for months that he had a better computer than I did, that was until my G5 arrived.



    Good Job!
  • Reply 2 of 30
    Great news Pscates!! I remember when I got my sister to switch. She loves her 17in iMac.



    Good stuff



    Fellows
  • Reply 3 of 30
    flounderflounder Posts: 2,674member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by pscates

    I told her if she and my stepdad bought an eMac (or whatever), I would be more than happy to a) buy a 512MB DIMM to bump the RAM up, b) buy her a .Mac account and c) buy the new OS X version of this greeting card-making program she loves to use (and actually makes money off of...hell, she does more freelance work that I do!).





    What a good son!
  • Reply 4 of 30
    pscatespscates Posts: 5,847member
    Hey, what's $250 compared to a lifetime?



    The least I could do...
  • Reply 5 of 30
    Lucky for me I was brought up in a house with all Macs, my dad refused to use anything else. It stayed wintel free until about a year and a half ago when my older bro bought a sony. He has had nothing but problems so after some convincing from me and the obviousness that a mac is just a better computer he is coming back from the dark side, probably to a 15 in AlBook.



    Your story is inspiring! I'm gonna make him buy that AlBook even sooner now! Nice work.
  • Reply 6 of 30
    cubedudecubedude Posts: 1,556member
    I got my parents to switch when they went out to buy my brother a new computer.



    I really have a stupid salesperson at Circuit City to thank for this. He pissed them off so much they gave up for a while. Then when I had to go down to the Apple Store to buy Photoshop Elements, they were incredibly impressed by the salespeople, and bought an eMac and Airport Extreme equipment on the spot.



    Of course, now both the ABS and eMac are broken, and I have no clue how to fix it.



    (See my thread about my ABS in Genius Bar(please?))
  • Reply 7 of 30
    Awesome news, pscates



    I'm switching my sister this Christmas!!!



    Did you ever dream that your little Tangerine Dream had such a noble task left in its lifetime?



    WHO'S NEXT, when Mom gets the eMac? You gotta keep passing that Switcher Special on down!



    8)
  • Reply 8 of 30
    pscatespscates Posts: 5,847member
    I'll get my tangerine iMac back when Mom's done with it (strictly a "training wheels" loaner). Actually, I think once my Mom gets one, the rest will fall into place: my Mom will probably do more to convince my sister because they see each other all the time, since my sister's had her baby and Mom is a true doting grandmother.







    When my sister sees Mom doing the whole iPhoto/.Mac homepage gallery thing, that'll be it! The tangerine iMac probably won't even come into play!







    Then once my sister goes that route, she'll, in turn, work on my old man (which I'm kinda doing in the meantime as well).



    There's a very real chance that the whole clan could be sportin' Macs by summer. The key was Mom. Get her and the rest will crumble!



  • Reply 9 of 30
    alcimedesalcimedes Posts: 5,486member
    if you want to try and make this process as painless as possible, i highly suggest that you get the Apple Remote Desktop admin software on your machine.



    then when she runs into trouble, you can have her turn the client on and connect to her machine and show her on screen what you're fixing while explaining it over the phone.



    tech support for family members over the phone sucks.
  • Reply 10 of 30
    ebbyebby Posts: 3,110member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by alcimedes

    tech support for family members over the phone sucks.



    Here! here!



    *Raises frosty beer mug*

  • Reply 11 of 30
    mac+mac+ Posts: 580member
    Congratulations pscates - I'm hoping that my mum will make the switch in the new year myself. I like your offers too - and the rationalisation:

    Quote:

    Hey, what's $250 compared to a lifetime?



    The least I could do...



    ... doesn't seem so expensive when you put it that way eh?
  • Reply 12 of 30
    mac+mac+ Posts: 580member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by alcimedes

    if you want to try and make this process as painless as possible, i highly suggest that you get the Apple Remote Desktop admin software on your machine.



    then when she runs into trouble, you can have her turn the client on and connect to her machine and show her on screen what you're fixing while explaining it over the phone.



    tech support for family members over the phone sucks.




    alcimedes - one may get the feeling that you're talking from experience there!



    But very sound advice, nonetheless. I'll remember it. Thanks.
  • Reply 13 of 30
    eugeneeugene Posts: 8,254member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Ebby

    Solitaire was a requirement when i switched my Grandpa from Win 95 to OS X.



    Should have convinced him to get an iPod too then...
  • Reply 14 of 30
    badtzbadtz Posts: 949member
    I remember I was in the same situation about a year ago.



    My brother/parents would keep calling me [I live about 400 miles away] asking "how to fix their Windows PC" ......



    I told them to PLEASE just try using a Mac.



    At the time, the 17" widescreen iMac just came out.



    So they bought it on my word. Also, I promised to sell it for them on eBay if they didn't like it.



    a year later ........



    i don't get anymore computer-related calls, and they won't use Windows again! lol



    And my dad loves playing with everything at the Apple Store, and just recently bought himself a powerbook
  • Reply 15 of 30
    pscatespscates Posts: 5,847member
    Yeah, I know. It's amazing. People, once they get a true taste of it - and give it an honest, openminded shot - tend to really like it and probably won't go back.



    It's just that initial "come on, try it..." that's so hard. And I understand, but...



    Sure would be nice to have some help from Apple themselves...



    \



    All the stuff I'm telling my Mom...why is that not out there a bit more, for the masses, via TV and print ads? I have to do all the heavy lifting and legwork? Now that Panther is out and the hardware officially rocks (everything has on OS X/iApp-friendly G4, everything comes with FireWire, Ethernet, modem and AirPort, etc.), there's no good reason on God's green earth that Apple isn't hitting the public over the head with this stuff.



    We (the faithful and passionate) are STILL carrying their water and having to do all the convincing.







    Imagine how dramatically the tide might shift if Apple simply created - AND AIRED - compelling, gorgeous ads....heavy on substance AND eye appeal. It can be done...
  • Reply 16 of 30
    You have to like Apple's current marketting scheme, though - make the products, do a few ads for them, and then all of their current users go and do the rest of the advertising.



    So for every person they convert to Mac via the ads or stores, they get half a dozen other customers who've been persuaded by the first person...



    That's one of the things I like most about Apple...
  • Reply 17 of 30
    placeboplacebo Posts: 5,767member
    I just got one of my friends to switch (he's our new member, PS3355) I showed him OS X running on a G3 300, and he was sold. Wow. If Apple's ads showed Mac OS X the same way I showed PS5533, we'd all be using macs.



    I had this idea the other day: "Switch a friend, get $50 off your next purchase" It would work.
  • Reply 18 of 30
    pscatespscates Posts: 5,847member
    Yeah, that's what I keep finding amazing (not in a good way): all the stuff Jobs demos and makes us go ga-ga for is NEVER shown to the public.



    And all the little things we do/show to our PC-using friends, families, co-workers that makes them switch or seriously consider switching is NEVER shown to the public.



    Again, it's us doing all the legwork and convincing. With little to no assistance from the mothership.







    All the things I showed my Mom (iTunes, iPhoto, Sherlock, Expose, .Mac, iChat, AirPort, etc.) that got her thinking "wow, what a cool computer..." has yet to be shown in any sort of print or broadcast ad. Argue with me all you want on why you don't think it should ( ), but, fact is, people just don't know.



    They're NOT going to suddenly wake up one day and instantly "get it" about Apple and Macs. Anyone thinking that is a goofball.



    They gave ONE half-ass attempt last year in the form of the "Switch" campaign, which Fred Anderson himself said was pretty much a failure. And I deemed it such about, oh, 16 or so months ago, so...







    Hell, maybe I can work for Apple with such staggering, after-the-fact insight?



    If Apple ever actually got a clue and launched a campaign as gorgeous and eyecatching and cool as their products, I absolutely shudder to imagine the incredible response that would result!







    You think people are "curious" now because of some colorful iPod ads? Jeez, people...that's just the surface of what COULD be done if Apple just did it.
  • Reply 19 of 30
    placeboplacebo Posts: 5,767member
    Most people I talk to think that Macs haven't advanced past OS 9.
  • Reply 20 of 30
    mac+mac+ Posts: 580member
    pscates How is the jellybean iMac with OS X. Is it Panther that you are running for your Mom, or some earlier version of OS X?



    I'd like to get my Mum a 2nd hand iMac to start with and it will probably be a G3 model, so I'm interested to hear how it is going.
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