Hang On...Why Am I Still Using Windows?: Page 2

But there’s more to it than laziness. I’ve been administrating Windows systems for years, and over those years I’ve learned an awful lot about the Windows ecosystem. Even if I was highly motivated and could abandon my slothness, getting that level of knowledge and expertise on another platform isn’t going to come easily of quickly. Gaining that level of knowledge in other platforms would mean a lot of work. This means that before I see any time savings, I’ve having to invest a lot of time upfront. I’m happy to invest time as, and when, I can, but that’s the problem.

Whenever I write about any kind of problem relating to Windows or Microsoft in general, I end up having hundreds of people telling me that I should ditch everything Microsoft and migrate to another platform. The idea that, on a whim, that I can just abandon my entire investment in the Windows platform and somehow wander effortlessly over to Linux or Mac is simply ridiculous, and says more about how little the commentator does with their PC than anything else.

When you have a business built around any ecosystem (this doesn’t just apply to IT, it applies in many other areas), making any huge change to how you work take a lot of time, effort, planning and money (and if, like Linux, the product or platform you are moving to is free, there’s an inevitable cost).

The final reason why I’ve not migrated platforms is that I’m not convinced that Linux or Mac represent operating system apotheosis any more than Windows. I’ve handled both platforms enough to have experienced a fair few problems already. I have a sneaking suspicion that those people who tell me that the road to computing happiness starts by switching Mac or Linux are actually either lying to me, or at least not telling me the whole story.

I’m happy to explore different platforms at my leisure, but as to making any hasty move based on feedback from people I come across on the Web, that’s not going to happen.