I wish you would continue writing Windows, to be extact, Vista. As you said, there isn’t much more to said about WinXP.

Since you have joined the Macintosh camp, how about some coverage on Mac. I know you have done some in the past, but not much news lately.

I too use a Mac, but I also use Vista. So I am 50/50, not quite like you, but I would love read a newsletter on Macintosh from you.

Cheers,
Dixon Mak

A number of people have sent me emails of late saying “Hey, since you just switched to the Mac, I’m going to stop reading you.” One of the hazards of being a blog/newsletter author is that it’s easy to forget that even though you have written something 14 times two years ago and 7 or 8 times since, that when you say it again after six months, it’s still the first time for some people.

But I wanted to put it out there that it’s a mistake to assume that my Windows coverage is about to stop!

I switched to the Mac in Sept. 2006. This isn’t news. I wrote about the switch very, very publicly from Sept. 2006 - March 2007. Notice that my delivery of the software firewall decision was unimpeded by my switch to the Mac.

I’m just about to start testing Kaspersky 2009. And I’ll be writing about some of the Windows security takeaways that I learned from my recent security challenge. It’s all Windows oriented.

Nothing has changed but the amount of time I have to give the newsletter/blog. My focus is the same. I have been covering multiple OSes since long before I made the personal switch from Windows to the Mac.

– Scot

All that said, I think what you can expect to see less of from me is hands-on, how-to, tippy stuff — the sorts of things I was forced to unearth for my own productivity. That change has been dictated as much by my current job as it is by my switch to the Mac.

Dyed in the wool Windows folks may be less satisfied in the amount of Windows coverage they get from me. But that might have happened whether I’d switched to the Mac or not. Next year I might switch to Linux for all I know. I don’t think my choice of OS should really matter. But it depends on what you’ve been reading my stuff for. Some of my readers just enjoy the ride. Others are looking to glean specific tidbits. I have always written about what I felt like writing about, what I’m passionate about. That really hasn’t changed. What’s changed is what I’m passionate about. And it will likely change again. Nothing lasts forever.

So it depends on what you want.

I tell you, comments are a good thing. For years I’ve been writing stuff like what I just wrote in email, but only one reader at a time had access to it. I think this is better.

I appreciate your explanation of what you’ve been up to these past several months. Given your obvious distaste for Windows Vista, is it practical for us Vista users to expect we’ll get much more out of your newsletter/blog? You’re one of the best technology professionals and writers I know and I’d miss your advice on Vista, but I understand you have to use the computer that makes you most productive. I have too great an investment in PC software and hardware (five PCs) to make such a change so my most productive option is to stay with Windows. Take care!

I am redoing my ancient condo bathroom, visiting family at my mother’s little seasonal place on weekends, and I’m also at a new job. And I am thinking through converting my old laptop to Ubuntu, but just don’t have quite the time for the backups, etc. So far iffy.

I can appreciate you going “Mac” on us Windows troopers. Wish I could do that too. I purposely got my current machine last year with XP. Prices of Macs and 20+ years of habit is hard to break, though. Maybe going Ubuntu on my old laptop will help wean me from my Window-ness? Of course there is work, which being a large institution changes slower than even glaciers now. I will not be Win Free any time soon!

I am also plagued by a less than stellar Host for some of my activities, nothing critical, but others do have links. They dropped their spam filters, and it is really annoying. I have put-of switching, but I need a better and cheaper host. They are unresponsive, after having essentially sold out to a larger entity. Ten years, so no real surprise I guess. BTW, Cloudmark is pretty good, but it does slow Outlook to a crawl with 8 email addresses over 4 email hosts. Yes, I could switch, but Outlook at work, and years of archived ‘.pst’ files slows me down.

You can send me an email alert any time.

Grins.

RW
aka Bob