My co-workers at Chase frequently razz me about being a ‘hold-out’ Windows user. Why would I continue to use Windows when you could use a Mac or Ubuntu Linux. Incidentally, my laptop is set to dual-boot Windows XP and Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon. My standard answer is that I have too much software in the Windows platform for a full switch to a different platform. My other answer (oft unspoken) is that there is a learning curve (and I’m lazy).

My brother-in-law was asking me about what I thought about Macs the other day. Personally, I think they’re pretty cool. Steve Jobs and the gang has built a Marketing Machine around a simple aesthetic and a powerful platform, and he is going to win over the 20% on the outside of the technological bell curve. These people are both the new users who like what Macs look like and don’t have enough experience on Windows to lose experience points from their ‘learning Windows learning curve’ by having to learn a new OS. The other people that Jobs attracts are power users, in particular those who are involved in developing media–Designers and Programmers of different types.

Jobs will probably never get the middle of the market, the average business user, and therefore students will continue to use Windows, because they will eventually have to use it in the office someday. It’s a self-perpetuating cycle that will not slow down for a really long time, unless Bill Gates does something really bad (perhaps another Windows Vista :).

So, it looks like I’ll be staying on a PC, and laughing at the Mac commercials for a long time, at least until I go from the top 85% to the top 90% of the user bell curve.