I can remember the days when there was a distinct line between PC users and Apple users. It was a simpler time really. It was a time when Apple users loathed Windows and Windows users despised Macs. PCs had the power and Macs were just plain chic.

Over the years that line has been getting a little blurred. Mac users are dual booting Windows and OS X, while Windows users are conceding that Macs are a viable alternative to PCs. I can think of a few reasons why this may be the case. PCs have moved away from the conventional beige box look to more sleeker designs. Even Windows got a coolness upgrade with XP. I need not mention the arsenal of apps that run on Windows. On the flip side, Macs have been beefing up their performance and are now in direct competition with the once all powerful PC. Especially now that they are using Intel’s Core Duo processor. More and more third party companies are writing applications for Apple’s as well. Gone are the days when a program would only run on Windows (including games).

As a PC user, sometimes I feel like I fell fast asleep, and when I woke up, I was the only one without a Mac. What happened to our hardnosed “Macs Suck” attitude? To tell you the truth, I never thought Macs sucked. I never really had any opinion on them at all, but I have always been curious about them. Have you ever asked a Mac user how they like their computer? Do it, and then watch the result. Their eyes gloss over and they begin telling you all the fabulous things about their beloved Apples as if they’re talking about their very own children. Steve Jobs must be doing something right to evoke such a reaction.

So I figured it was time I gave OS X a spin. That’s right, I’m jumping on the band wagon. Okay, maybe that’s not the only reason. With the impending demise of Microsoft over the next decade (yes, that’s right, impending demise), I thought it would be a good idea to tuck as many operating systems under my belt as I can. I’ve already mastered all the various versions of Windows (toot toot), and I’m fairly proficient with Linux — OS X just seems like the next logical step. Not to mention Macs are just so damn cool looking.

I didn’t want to dive into a $2000 Apple. Luckily, a friend of mine was able to commandeer me an older iMac G4. I plan on beating the crap out of this thing. The first thing I noticed when I booted it up was how closely OS X resembled Kubuntu (a version of Ubuntu (a distribution of linux) that uses KDE instead of Gnome). I realized that OS X is basically a pretty version of Unix (BSD, in fact), but what I didn’t realize was how much of the functionality is the same, let alone the visual aspects. Needless to say, I was extremely happy to see this, familiar ground and all.

Oh, and one last thing. I am in the market for a new, slightly more portable laptop. I currently have a Dell Inspiron XPS. I love it. It’s fast, it’s powerful, and it’s huge. It’s way to big to lug around. So I decided to take a look at some of Apple’s notebooks, only I couldn’t justify spending all that money on a laptop that I wasn’t sure I would even like. The iBooks are nice and small, but again, I don’t know if I could justify buying a new laptop with just OS X loaded on it. The Macbook Pros look nice and they can dual boot OS X and Windows XP (sweet), and I really like Intel’s Core Duo, but they’re still a little larger than I actually wanted. Enter the Macbook. It’s about the size of an iBook, with the dual boot capability of the Macbook Pro. Nice, huh? The problem is they don’t exist yet. The rumor going around was that Apple was going to announce it’s new laptop two days ago. Alas, no such announcement has been made. But hopes are still high that an announcement will be made by the end of this month. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.