Making My Move (Back) to Mac

From PC to Mac to PC and back, the cycle continues

Life truly revolves. Everything new becomes old – and then becomes new again.

I realized how true this is when I recently switched from being a P.C. user to being an Apple Macbook Pro user.

Many years ago, I lived in a world where PC’s were all that existed. I cut my journalistic teeth on one as an undergrad at Ole Miss back in the late 70s. When I started my professional career as a news reporter at the Grenada Sentinel-Star, the PC was all that I knew. Everyone I associated with used the same type of computer as I did. Since most of my time was spent writing, I was largely unaware of developing technologies, which offered the ability to do much more than that.

Even after I left the newspaper to become a public relations practitioner, I used PCs. So did most of the people that I worked with. Though I wrote articles for publications, I rarely associated with people in the design and layout arena – all of whom were Apple users.

Years later, I accepted a position as managing editor of “REJOICE!,” a gospel music magazine published by the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at Ole Miss. My career move immediately placed me in an Apple environment. It was a huge transition. Surrounded by publications designers, I quickly adapted to the software and culture. I was no longer using just a word processor; I was now using design software as well. The process of learning how to effectively use a Mac was very enjoyable.

Unfortunately, the unforeseen demise of the publication brought about another career move and a return to the PC-dominated world of academia. For the better part of 20 years, I was once again immersed in n environment where Mac was the exception, not the norm. Even when I switched from teaching journalism back to Ole Miss Public Relations, I was surrounded by PC users.

But over the years, my professional colleagues became younger and younger. Soon, I found myself virtually surrounded by Mac users. Furthermore, my PC gradually became obsolete. The combination of factors created the perfect storm for me to make my move back over to Mac.

I had expected the transition to be a lot more difficult that it actually has been. Honestly, my experience has been quite the opposite. With my PC gone, I no longer have wires running every which way underneath my desk. I never have to worry about my Mac running low on memory or threatening to crash. My mouse, keyboard and screen are all conveniently located on a computer roughly half the size of the old PC. The Mac allows me freedom to move about as needed. And there are so many apps!!

So, in the words of Jack Nicholson’s character in movie “The Shining,” “I’m baaaaacccckk!!” Hopefully, the MacPro and I will be together for the duration of my tenure at the University of Mississippi and beyond.