I came across an interesting blog post from Don Dodge, who recently transitioned his electronic life to Google and Apple platforms after spending five years working as a Windows evangelist for Microsoft.
Dodge dumped his Windows PC, Outlook email client, IE browser, Office suite, Windows mobile phone and Zune music player in favor of a Mac, Gmail account, Chrome browser, Google Apps, Android phone and iPod. Dodge is now a developer advocate at Google (could it be he’s just eating his own dog food?) and it appears he’s happy with the switch.
“We humans are creatures of habit,” he writes. “We get comfortable doing something and resist change.”
I’ve been thinking about this lately, the whole notion of switching from the familiar to what ultimately might be better, but could require an initial learning curve. Three years ago, after hearing endlessly (from Apple advertising, mostly) about how easy it was to switch, I took the bait and bought a Macbook.
The first few weeks were torturous. There was virtually no documentation provided with the computer, and I was often left scratching my head about how to do simple tasks. I do like the Mac but even now, three years later, I still occasionally have to refer to “The Missing Manual” (a version written specifically for switchers) to figure out how to do certain things.
A few weeks ago, fed up with slow performance and constant hang ups, I switched from IE to Chrome. I’m still learning my way around but I’ve determined that it is better, more intuitive, definitely faster.
And I’ve used Open Office. I still like Word better for document creation, but do I like it enough to justify the Office premium? Probably not. So Google Docs might be in my future when I replace my PC.
I mention all this because smartbooks, too, will represent something different. But we think that the learning curve will be shallow. After all, the heart of smartbooks will be Web-based apps, social networking and browsing. What gizmo-loving citizen isn’t already intimately familiar with that?
The question will be what, if anything, will smartbook buyers be switching from? Will they replace a netbook, laptop or desktop with a smartbook? Or will smartbooks add to the mix as another digital weapon in their arsenal? We just won’t know until they hit the market.
We do know, though, that they will be easy to use and (unlike the iPad) always connected. And that may make switching an easier choice.
Lisa
