“Get A Mac” Campaign

Following on the heels of the numerous comments to the article from Friday, May 4, 2007 outlining my recent switch to Windows Vista Ultimate which recommended that I “Get A Mac”, you can send your donations or iMac/Mac Pro gifts-in-kind to the following business address:

Drew McManus
416 W. Washington Blvd. #2
Oak Park, IL 60302

<a Donations are not tax deductible but are sincerely appreciated! Additionally, a series of detailed articles comparing the features, reliability, ease of use, etc. for Vista Ultimate and MAC OS X as well as the pros and cons related to converting from one operating system to another will be published within one month after the new MAC is installed and operational. All in all, this could be a very useful series of articles for orchestra administrations that are considering upgrading to Windows Vista or converting to MAC OS X.

About Drew McManus

"I hear that every time you show up to work with an orchestra, people get fired." Those were the first words out of an executive's mouth after her board chair introduced us. That executive is now a dear colleague and friend but the day that consulting contract began with her orchestra, she was convinced I was a hatchet-man brought in by the board to clean house.

I understand where the trepidation comes from as a great deal of my consulting and technology provider work for arts organizations involves due diligence, separating fact from fiction, interpreting spin, as well as performance review and oversight. So yes, sometimes that work results in one or two individuals "aggressively embracing career change" but far more often than not, it reinforces and clarifies exactly what works and why.

In short, it doesn't matter if you know where all the bodies are buried if you can't keep your own clients out of the ground, and I'm fortunate enough to say that for more than 15 years, I've done exactly that for groups of all budget size from Qatar to Kathmandu.

For fun, I write a daily blog about the orchestra business, provide a platform for arts insiders to speak their mind, keep track of what people in this business get paid, help write a satirical cartoon about orchestra life, hack the arts, and love a good coffee drink.

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5 thoughts on ““Get A Mac” Campaign”

  1. While you’re looking at alternatives, don’t forget to consider Linux. Unless you have reason to consider a different distribution, Ubuntu seems like a good choice–it’s what Dell is using.

    The best part? We don’t need to send you any donations, Drew! 🙂

  2. Hey Drew!

    After the gifts start pouring in, I think you’ll find OSX fairly easy to deal with. It is mostly a matter of figuring out what goes where and how to open/close things, etc.. If you use Office, the programs are very similar and compatible. OSX does many tasks automatically and the ilife programs automatically link to each other and your photos/music/movies, etc.. I’ve been using OSX in a Windows environment for years now and have had very little trouble fitting in.

    I’ve heard that Vista is a disaster. Even our extremely Windows-oriented tech is buying a mac. I liked XP, but got annoyed with all of the viruses, software conflicts, etc..

    In general, the mac makes my life easier, not more complicated. No viruses, no need to move my computer back to an earlier date. If you have a problem with your new mac, you can take it in to the apple store and they will replace it right there! [this just happened to a friend of mine]

    The other great thing is that you have a lot of freedom to configure your computer and you can create advanced projects [movies, web pages, slide shows, etc.] very easily.

    For some coffee, maybe breakfast at Nora’s, I could help you in the Tetons… Show you the basics, get everything configured, though you may be a pro by then.

  3. As much as we have income issues here, we’ve always spent the slightly more $$ and purchased Macs. I can’t imagine using anything else … because I never have!

    But I’m sorry to say I can’t afford to send you any $$ toward your computer. Go figure. 🙁

    If, however, you’d like to help us put our THIRD child through college …. heh … feel free. 🙂

    (Can you imagine? A community college instructor and an oboist and we have three children and we are on the third university experience – beginning next year, that is. In four years I can tell you there will be a huge celebration!)

  4. Hello Drew – after 23 years with DOS and then each successive version of Windows I switched to OSX on a Macbook on March 16.

    The trauma lasted 5 minutes maximum – everyone should do it. I believe my experience is typical. If in doubt just read David Pogue’s Missing Manual Switching to a Mac.

    Hope you are coming to Bluebeard/Erwartung

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