James White is a “Switcher”
Yesterday l learned that James White, director of Alpha & Omega Ministries is a “switcher.” That is how people who come from the Windows world are popularly known when they get a Mac. In the first five minutes or so of a recent Dividing Line broadcast, he shares how he was literally forced to move from a laptop with Windows Vista to a 15″ MacBook Pro with Mac OS X. Why? “Because Vista is unreliable.“ Again, in his very words, “Now I have a true computer… I have seen the light… the brainwashing that I experienced decades ago has finally broken way to the truth… It’s good to be with a real computer… it’s night and day“.
I can see some of you nodding your heads and asking yourselves, What’s all this Windows bashing got to do with Bible software? Well, for one thing it is not Windows bashing. It is simply stating the fact that there is life beyond Windows (read Mac OS X and Linux, among others), and a better life at that. Secondly, as I always like to say, remember that Mac does Windows, and that, in fact, my best PC is my iMac. Thirdly, it bears directly on Bible software, come to think of it.
Generally speaking, I believe the single most important reason why more and more people are switching to the Mac is the iPod + iTunes bundle (and, from now on, probably the iPhone). More so than decades of “Mac Evangelism” and the more recent Get a Mac campaigns. But more specifically, many Bible software users have been drawn to the Mac world because of a killer application like Accordance, and also because they are beginning to realize that even their cherished Windows-based Bible software runs better on a Mac than on a PC.
In closing, I would like to say that whenever I read someone say they could not take into account a certain Mac or Linux application as part of their review of Bible software packages because they only use Windows, it makes me feel sad. Sad for them and sad for their readers. They are really missing out! Granted, that might have been a real issue 10 or 15 years ago, but not now. Today there are no excuses anymore. An Intel Mac is the kind of environment where all Bible software programs (whether Mac OS native, Windows or Linux) can feel at home. Believe me, I know it full well. If it weren’t so, then Bible Software Review would be YAWOW (Yet Another Windows-Only Website). 
August 15th, 2008 at 8:07 am
I don’t know that it’s true that all bible programs are equally at home on a Mac. VMware is a resource hog and performance killer that you wouldn’t want to use unless you have little choice. Rebooting via bootcamp is hardly a compelling option.
James White is a big time Bibleworks user, and I think Libronix also. I have no idea what his plans are with this Mac. If he runs VMware or bootcamp he hasn’t escaped the unreliability of Windows. Whether he knows it yet or not, these options will be a world of pain. I hope he buys a Mac program before he gets frustrated down that path.
August 15th, 2008 at 7:45 pm
I agree with Chris above; but then again, I live on smartphones and a Linux-based tablet PC so I’m apparently a switcher to (though I went from Mac to Windows to Palm OS to Symbian S60 + Linux, hehehe).
As a mobile device evangelist/user and journalist, it almost shouldn’t matter what the OS is; it should matter that the tools work. In most cases, UI and UX is assumed to be one in the same and developers do their thing where they are easiest – which is usually some variant of Windows.
Nevertheless, computing happens and we adjust. Whether we like the MacOSX ecosystem, or something more modular like Linux’s flavors, we just want to get into the Word simply.