Last Friday I talked to a young woman who was sitting out in the public area with her new MacBook 13". I asked her if I could touch it, feel it, stroke it. She said yes. All I can tell you is that this is the most beautiful computer I have ever seen. I had thought that the 13" screen would be too small, but it is rectangular and wider than it is tall: it is glossy and extremely readable, not like the old PC laptops I have seen and used. She had connected easily to our wireless network, and she told me she loves her new MacBook dearly. I have shopped Mac quite regularly since buying the eMac in 2003. I love my Mac, but have been thinking that replacement time should probably come in a few years, and should probably be a laptop, which I would use both as home and travel computer.

Now - today for some reason I finally saw this column: Switching From Windows to Mac. Robyn Peterson lets us in on his adventures with buying and setting up his new MacBook. It also makes me crave one. He has some minor irritations to relate, but they are really because he didn't get the Missing Manual to Mac OSX yet. He somehow expected things to be the same - menus, installation, etc., as on his PC, even though he knew better.

I use Mac OSX and Microsoft XP, and frankly, XP is a terrific OS for the user who knows to clean out internet files, scan for spyware, use her virii software, and constantly review the directory hierarchy and watch what's going on. For the last 20 years I have been using Windows so there's no sweat with XP. XP is stable. I have never had a BSD on my work computer. Now, on the Mac, using OSX there is just a couple of cleanups to be done, and they are fast and easy. What's "under the hood" in both OS'es is really the difference. Windows has become inordinately tough to ferret through and find out where and what the machine puts there as you use it or install it. I find that constant care and feeding is necessary with the PC, but I can clean up the Mac with the Cocktail Utility every time I shut it down. I also use MacJanitor.

Going from Mac to WinPC to Mac is easy. I don't understand what all the fuss is about. One thing I will do differently on my next Mac is that I WILL purchase Microsoft Office. I would prefer WORD to Appleworks or the Nisus software I purchased, but I don't use an Office Suite much, so I haven't worried about that. But next time, it's Office for the Mac for sure.

As does Mr. Peterson, I use Firefox on the Mac, or even Opera. I tried and purchase Omniweb, but it is overkill, slow, and the preferences are a klutzy interface to wade through. Safari is a day late and a dollar short after using Firefox, and Camino is OK but not as full featured.

In general, I thought his article was fun and interesting. He admits to not looking in manuals or help files online until he hits a wall, so there we have something in common. I use my purchased Mac OSX book to refer to when I need to - I am not a cover to cover manual reader. If he takes that baby to work every day pretty soon the offices of PC MAGAZINE will sprout more Macs...who knows...this could be the start of an unusual inter-OS relationship.