Minority Report: Why I am a Mac user

Mac users are certainly not the only evangelists of computing products. I've listened to many ThinkPad users wax lyrical about their machines and with good reason.

Similarly with Sony and Toshiba fans, the passion for the technology - laptops usually - shines through.

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Not that I didn't enjoy using Windows. My formative computing years with the GUI were with Windows 3.1 and 95.

Back then, the malware threat wasn't really on the horizon, especially as online time was low - broadband in west London in the mid- to late-1990s was scarce, to say the least.

Following what my wife refers to as my Damascene conversion to all things Mac in 1998, there's been no exposure to the threat from viruses. That bugbear has passed me by.

While I'm keen this doesn't turn into a Windows-bashing article, there is one good example of Windows silliness that sums up why I don't use the Microsoft OS.

The last time I installed XP on a desktop machine the operating system provided two system messages the first time I booted the computer following install. The first informed me - following a little popping sound - that my computer was at risk. OK.

As soon as this was dismissed, the second little bubble popped up and informed me I had unused icons on my desktop. This again was factually correct as technically I hadn't used anything other than the mouse button to close the icon.

This fundamental stupidity summed it up for me. Since then it's been Macs all the way.

Besides, as soon as you start using a Mac the form factor becomes irrelevant and it becomes all about the OS and the I/O.

The best user experience I've had with a Mac is with the latest OS iteration, which is ironic given that Leopard is probably the buggiest version of OS X I've used since the OS X public beta back in 2000.

This is mostly down to the long overdue improvements to the Finder - the Mac version of Windows Explorer.

Pre-Leopard, Mac OS X was a curious mish-mash of different look and feel system elements and functionality. Some windows had a matt grey finish while others sported the much derided brushed aluminium look or even pinstripe.

It's only since Leopard that the Mac's neatest trick has made itself most apparent: invisibility. System messages are kept to a minimum and you notice the interface less since its design unification in Leopard.

So in use, there is no form because it turns invisible. The form is the bit that sells; what you use is the invisibility. A pretty neat disappearing trick. Form over function? I'll take both, thanks.