Vista, Geek Squad, and the Mac

I came across an interesting article on someone’s blog that I’d like to share with everyone. Click on the link below, give it a quick read, and then come back to this article for a few thoughts I had.

Notes on My Technology Upheaval

Obviously, the main point of the article is that Vista is not ready for primetime, which I’ve written about previously. Had she read my other article about Vista, she would have known how to buy a computer without Vista.

Second, note that she spent “many hundreds of dollars” on Geek Squad visits, yet they couldn’t resolve her problems. She’s not alone. Among my clients that had previously used Geek Squad, they all tell stories of multiple visits, unresolved issues, and huge bills. Had I become involved in a situation like this, I would have almost certainly resolved the problems for a fraction of the cost. If the problems were not resolvable at the time because the vendors’ software or hardware were problematic, I would have quickly determined this. Then I would have taken the time to explain to the client why the problems were not resolvable, again, at fraction of what the Geek Squad charges.

Finally, her experiences with the Mac, and more notably, how happy she is being able to run Windows on her Mac are worth noting for those of you that are resisting switching to a Mac. There are a lot of people who would like to switch to the Mac (or at least, get away from Windows) but who put it off because they feel “tied down” to Windows. The reality is that the Mac can run MORE software than any other platform in the world. This is because it is the only platform that can run all the software made for the Mac, for Windows, and for UNIX.

It’s nice to see other people’s experiences back up what I preach, which is why I found this article so interesting.