I am very amused at the moment. I am a PC user, have been since day one. I am not one of those PC users that has something against Apple however. When I first started using computers, I actually wanted a Mac. My brother-in-law thought I was crazy, but I wanted the cool, boutique system. The thing is, at the time I was but a poor boy. OK, not poor, but Faith and I could much more easily afford a PC at the time.

Then, of course, came the software. In those early days, I could have switched from PC to Mac very easy, I was not doing anything with the computer except surfing the net and doing the occasional word doc.

Things changed as I started to use the PC to work on music and dabble into what we now call “New Media”. I started to get some high end software on my system, at some serious expense.

As I progressed and started to earn my living on the computer, I had to make a choice. Start all over from scratch and purchase new programs, go through the new learning curve, or stick with what I know and not go through the extra expense. I chose to stay with the PC, and here I am today. Happy I may add.

So, what does this have to do with whining? Well, as a PC owner, the stigma of the PC is crap while Mac just works has always been present. There were always challenges to owning a PC that seemed to escape the Mac user.

Well, that has shifted a bit. After a troublesome launch of sorts, Vista has actually turned out to be pretty stable. It has improved security over past Windows operating systems. Is it perfect? No. Was there a bit of pain in the adoption? Yes. As a matter of fact, I was forced to upgrade software and things that I was not wanting to upgrade just yet. But now, the system is humming along OK.

Now, on the other front, the Mac front, the opposite seems to be happening. Not that Macs suck, but user grumbling is at an all time high for the once unassailable Mac.

Apple has been drawing in a lot of new users through it’s Mac and PC ads and also through other technologies such as the iPod and iPhone. A lot of these new users are not the typical Mac loyalists, but ordinary folks that bought into the message that Mac just works.

Well, over the years, Mac has become a little less user friendly. There is more of a learning curve these days. This has some people grumbling as they were ready for an out of the box easy user experience. This has caused some of the new grumbling.

If that were all, it would not be so bad. New users to any technology will have growing pains. A lot of this will go away as the new converts get comfortable with the Apple way of doing things.

The larger problem for Apple, is that some of the users that have been on Macs for quite a while are grumbling now as well. The upgrade to Leopard was not as easy as expected for some. One well known tech and Mac enthusiast has just purchased a new iMac and it was dead on him the first night of setup.

Are these long term problems? No. Actually you could argue that there is no problem. The point here is, looking at the streams in the social networking world, this is the first time that I have ever seen the grumbling of the Mac users drowning out the sounds of upset PC users. It is kind of refreshing in a way.

You gotta love it!

The whining has shifted, at least for a while. I for one am enjoying the peace and quiet being a happy Vista user. He he.

Truth is, if I had the extra couple of thousand right now, I would get a Mac for Faith and I as an extra computer. I have no problem with Macs. Just keep that damn iPhone away from me. I can’t take that.

Cheers!