Holiday Time: How Many Can You Convert?

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
With all the bad MS press and my Ti loaded with OS X, I ready to convince my entire extended family to return to the Mac in one fell swoop.



Check it out: iTunes, iMovie, Office, Mail, Image Capture, AOHell, and much much more. The new DVD players which read MP3 CDs will kick it up a notch... so will some SoundSticks...



So, I guess I'll convert 6, maybe more...



Oh Glorius Day!

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 9
    fran441fran441 Posts: 3,715member
    When I moved up to New Hampshire in August, my younger cousins started coming over to my house every weekend. We have all Macs here- a Snow iMac G3/500, a DP Power Mac G4/500 w/ 17" ASD + Sound Sticks, a PowerBook G3/500, and a PowerBook 1400 G3/400.



    One of my younger cousins who is about 10, started asking for an iMac for Christmas in about October. My Aunt couldn't believe it saying how expensive it was and how they really couldn't afford it. She also thought that he would change his mind and ask for an XBox or Game Cube, or a bunch of smaller toys (remember that he's 10).



    By Thanksgiving, he was still only asking for an iMac. My Aunt had saved up a bunch of money for Christmas and started asking me about where she could get a deal on an iMac. I found a bunch and gave her the lists. The $499 iMacs had just run out in NY, so that didn't work, and all of the $600-$700 iMacs were refurbished.



    When I saw her one day, I reccommended that she give him a gift card to the new Apple Store that was opening in Salem, NH so he could either go and pick out the computer himself (and add on with any money he might have). That way he could also wait a week and a half to see what new iMacs came out at MWSF. By this point, though, my Aunt had already purchased an Indigo iMac for him (mid-range). :eek:



    I guess that's one heck of a present, huh?



    So that's my conversion story, but I don't think I really had anything to do with it other than let him actually USE the computer.



    My other cousins (his older brothers) each have an HP PC which they use almost every minute that they are home on games like Everquest. (One of my cousins asked me to buy 512 MB of RAM for his machine because that's the 'reccommended' amount for it to run!)



    They don't let him use their PCs for anything (including homework), and that's one of the reasons I think he's getting it. Should be a fun Christmas helping to set up a new Mac.
  • Reply 2 of 9
    sinewavesinewave Posts: 1,074member
    Do you guys actually go out of your way to convert people to Macs?

    <img src="graemlins/bugeye.gif" border="0" alt="[Skeptical]" />
  • Reply 3 of 9
    What the hell are you guys, Jehovah's Witnesses? I'm not converting no one. If they want to use Windows and an ugly beige box, then they deserve it.
  • Reply 4 of 9
    emaneman Posts: 7,204member
    I don't go out of my way to convert people. If friends ask me of course I recommend a Mac but that's about it usually.
  • Reply 5 of 9
    I find that you can PASSIVELY convert people a lot better than you can push them into switching. The best way I've found to convince co-workers, for example, is by giving them information when they ask for it. They know I'm the most PC-knowledgable person in the office, so when I recommend an iMac or an iBook, they know it's not because I don't understand PCs, and they take it seriously.



    I don't lie to them about the shortcomings of Macs (more expensive, not quite as fast as the bleeding-edge fastest PCs) and they appreciate that. I don't act like a bug-eyed fanatic, but I give them practical reasons why they'll have fewer technical problems with a Mac, and easier installation of accessories and software and peripherals.



    I think back to when I was a Windows-only person, and the first person who tried to "evangelize" me to the Mac was a musician I knew. He acted so completely biased -- "PCs are garbage, any anyone who uses one is a moron" -- that it made me discount his opinion completely. I knew that my PC was pretty good for most things, and while I found Windows to be fairly unstable, it wasn't as bad as he says. The NEXT person to give me advice about the Mac was another musician, who talked to me about the reasons he used a Mac. He basically just said "Sure, I could use my girlfriend's PC instead for just about everything my Mac does, but the Mac just fits my way of working and I feel like it's easier and more enjoyable to use. That's all."



    I was much MORE persuaded by the more balanced reasons for why he used a Mac, and it made me wonder what the platform had to offer.



    Speaking of "converting" people at the holidays, I really think that carrying along your iBook and your digital camera and iPod and a few DVDs would be a great way to demonstrate how easy and integrated the Mac system is. I also think people would be more persuaded by just seeing you actually work with the machine, rather than set it up and tell them "OK, gather round, I want to give you sixteen reasons why the Mac is better than the PC."



    So like I say, I think converting people passively by letting them watch you and figure it out for themselves, works best.
  • Reply 6 of 9
    xoolxool Posts: 2,460member
    I'm not some crazed enthusiast... Most of my family wants to do all the cool things Macs are best at. It's just that their computer guy is PC-centric, and doesn't know about the best apps (iMovie, iTunes, iDVD, etc...).



    So for me its just this: Hey check out how easy it is to do cool stuff. You can have just as much fun too, just get a Mac next time.
  • Reply 7 of 9
    I'll wait until Steve-o-Cupertino works his magic afore I convert any auspicious mateys.
  • Reply 8 of 9
    [quote]What the hell are you guys, Jehovah's Witnesses?<hr></blockquote>



    The Jehovah's Witnesses I know are much, much less evangalistic than Mac users. And they're trying to keep you from going to hell! Mac evangelists are trying to make you send money to a company in California!



    Oddness.



    Evangelism is probably the number 1 detriment to further adoption of the Mac platform. It makes many Mac users come off as annoying, self-righteous pests. I know many people who would consider a Mac if the most vocal proponents of the platform weren't driving them insane.



    "Just leave me alone and let me use my freakin' computer of choice!" is a common refrain among PC users I've come across. The incessant evangelism along with the bunker mentality of many Mac users just irritates so many people, it's unbeliveable. I think most evangleists would stop if the actually realized how they were percieved.



    Which is along the same lines of the Japanese soliders on remote islands during the 1970s, who were still fighting World War II.



    [ 12-22-2001: Message edited by: DoctorGonzo ]</p>
  • Reply 9 of 9
    The last person I converted I first met about 5 years ago and he was a die-hard PC user who said he would never even consider buying a Mac. Fall '00 he bought an iBook, January '01 he sold it and bought a PowerBook G4. He's a Mac zealot now and hates Windows.



    Ooooh, earthquake just now in Southern California.



    [ 12-22-2001: Message edited by: MacAgent ]</p>
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