Apple or Microsoft or Google AAARG
Simplifying my tech life is incredibly complicated
I’ve got a great idea. I’ll make my life simpler. Less things, less stress, right? I’ll start with electronics ecosystem. After all, I spend most of my time on computers of one type or another. So which ecosystem will I land on? Apple or Microsoft or Google?
Okay, so most of my clients prefer Google because of Google Docs. That makes sense. Google is great with collaboration. Should be simple, right?
Nope. My family is all-in on Apple. My wife and kids have iPhones, we have an Apple TV and an Apple HomePod. I have a Macbook Air. I really like Mac. I love how simplistic and synchronized and minimalist the whole Apple ‘thing’ is.
So obviously it’s Apple. Easy.
Nope. My college is all-in on Microsoft. I’m going for a graduate degree in journalism and digital communications and I require a Windows PC with a dedicated graphics card. Mac won’t cut it. Chromebook won’t cut it.
Then there’s my Oculus Quest 2 VR that I got for my birthday. Total superfluous luxury first-world toy, but man I love that VR. It only works with my Alienware gaming PC.
Which do I use? Aaaaarg!
Why Simplify
Lots of people say “Use what works best for you” . Of course they also say “Treat people how you want to be treated” which is simply a cop-out for Karens, bigots, and CEOs to get their way in life.
Forget that. Besides, the last time I followed someone’s advice I ended up married with children and that’s NOT what I wanted in my life!
So with kids and advice swirling around in my head, I have decided to simplify everything in my life. Well, as much as possible. Those damn kids aren’t going anywhere for at least 15 more years. Feet, meet Lego.
Simplification makes life easier. Take wardrobe as an example. Steve Jobs had a full wardrobe, but it was all the exact same outfit. Black turtleneck and blue jeans. I can picture his walk-in closet just lined with hundreds of black turtlenecks on hangers. He never had to think about what to wear tomorrow. Simple.
Look at the minimalism movement. You don’t need half the stuff in your home. Most of it is useless and is more a symptom of consumerism than actual utility. Minimalists say keep whatever brings value to your life, whether its something functional or something that makes you happy when you look at it. That’s all you need. Extreme minimalists live out of a backpack. No mortgage, no loans, no furniture, no maintenance, no cleaning. Simple.
I envy those people. I used to live like that. Then I got married, as I said. Yes, that’s a sore point for me. But my wife is most definitely not a minamilist. She is a collector. She has decor and plants all over. She grabs things every week to add to the household. It drives me nuts. I can’t find anything at home. Not simple.
So I turn to the one place I can control. My digital life.
Tech Ecosystem Matters
The tech ecosystem I choose matters. It’s where my contacts live. It’s where all my notes and photos reside. The ecosystem is where I’ll send and receive emails and determines what computers I’ll use for work and play. It even determines where I’ll listen to music and read books.
The ecosystem determines what headphones I’ll purchase to listen to music, and how my minimalist space in my otherwise cluttered home will look. So yes, the tech ecosystem is extremely important.
But which one do I choose?
I Love The Apple Ecosystem
I’m not an Apple fanboi (TM) although I do love Apple stuff a lot. I used to be Android. I even loved the old Google Nexus line of phones. When Google killed them I jumped to iPhone, where my wife was already comfortably nestled. That was around the same time as the big Tim Cook vs FBI privacy battle in 2016. Yay team Apple!
When I made the switch to a MacBook I was sold. Don’t get me wrong, I love Windows and I love what Windows 11 looks like. I was always a fan of Windows 10. But it’s not Mac.
The Mac
I fell in love with Mac because I love Linux. Weird, I know, but hear me out.
Back in 2010 I was teaching English in Moscow, Russia, and a Russian friend of mine had a cool desktop operating system called Ubuntu. “Why pay for software?” he asked in his very Russian common-sense way. I took the plunge into Linux.
It’s so much smoother and cleaner than Windows. Files aren’t nested in files. Tags and a dedicated search system finds pretty much anything. Programs are just there, right where I can find them. I don’t have to dig through weird random folders to access weird random scripts when the speakers suddenly don’t work.
The terminal is awesome. Google a command, tap it into the terminal, and BLAMMO the computer does exactly what I wanted. Mac is similar. In fact, Linux is based closely on the UNIX system that powers Mac. Haha Windows.
Ya, I love Mac. It literally just works. I download a file and I can find it again. I put files in my documents folder, slap a tag on them, and I never lose them again. Heck, I don’t even have to think about them.
The iPhone
Then there’s ye olde iPhone. I love iOS. I mean, I don’t like that iOS won’t let me rearrange my apps wherever I want on the screen, but that’s about it. iOS has beautiful widgets, and now that it has man app drawer it’s much more simplified.
But there’s more to it.
My iPhone acts as more than a phone and a computer. It’s my 2FA key. I’ve set up most of my accounts so they can only be accessed once I approve an authentication message on my phone. Nobody in some weird country is getting access to my account.
That same iPhone is my personal assistant, and I use it to set timers, tell me the weather, control the lights in my home, and more. Of course, Android can do that. But here’s the clincher: Android can’t do that on the phone AND on the laptop.
I can open a Note on my Mac, take a picture of something with my iPhone, and with a flick of the screen the image will drop into the note…on my Mac.
I replaced Evernote with Apple Notes, Google Maps with Apple Maps (which has such a nicer interface when driving), ToDoist with Apple Reminders, Kindle with iBooks…you get the idea.
The Apple Ecosystem
That’s all because when you buy Apple, you don’t just buy devices. Well, ya, you do buy devices, but you’re actually buying into the ecosystem. Each device is merely a peripheral orbiting around iCloud. What you’re actually buying is iCloud, and the devices are the tools that you use to interact with it.
Damn expensive devices, that’s for sure.
But they’re simple. And that’s why I love them. But holy crap I wish it would work with my VR.
My Love/Hate Relationship With Microsoft
You know who else is building a powerful cloud-backed ecosystem? It’s Microsoft. And they’re quite good at it.
XBox and OneDrive. Edge. Teams. Outlook.
Or is it Windows Mail? Wait, why are there two OneDrive apps on my computer? There’s also two versions of OneNote. That’s weird.
All told, Microsoft under Sataya Nadella has become a company on the edge of technological progress. They’re also quite an ethically sound corporation, all things considered. That is, they pay their taxes and work really hard to be up front and honest with their partners and developers.
But Microsoft isn’t simple. My gaming PC is ALL about numbers. For instance, I’ve got this packed into my machine:
- 10th gen 6-core Intel i5
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 GPU
- 16 GB RAM
- 250 GB SSD
- 1 TB HDD
Do you know what’s in my MacBook? One M1 chip. Simple.
Microsoft? Not so simple.
Forget about OneDrive not syncing instantly across my devices. Or the mulitple different menus that seem to have random UX styles. Some windows are from Windows XP, others are Windows 10. Weird.
But something keeps me on a Windows machine. Two things, actually. I’m too lazy to go back and rewrite this entire paragraph.
College Office 365
I went back to college full-time in September. During the lockdown, I thought long and hard and came to the conclusion that I hate my current lot in life, and that I needed to change it. Also, I should go back to college.
So I enrolled in Journalism school. After all, I’m already a writer. Now I’m learning podcasting, interviewing, graphic design, publication, investigation, etc. The college gave me a free Office 365 account. Boom. Looks like I’m using Microsoft.
My ecosystem is fractured. Now I’ve got Apple AND Microsoft on my hands. That’s not simple.
VR
Virtual Reality is my other problem. Apple doesn’t play nice with others, particularly Facebook. Oculus, which made my VR headset, is owned by Facebook. I can’t use my Oculus Quest 2 with my MacBook.
My Oculus does play well with my PC. I can sideload programs onto my headset, and I play games like Phasmophobia and The Forest with my brother and friend in VR, using my computer as the graphics driver.
Were I to ditch my PC, I would be out of VR.
Once again, my ecosystem is fractured. Despite my love of Apple crap, my college life and my hobbies takes place with Microsoft.
Argh.
And Then There’s Google
But wait, there’s more! I’m looking at you, Google.
I used to LOVE Google. I still WANT to love Google. No other company represents the power of the internet better than Google. I know they’ve dominated it and turned the internet into a profit-making machine with all of us plebs as nothing more than commodities to be sold, but that’s cool.
The internet with Google at the helm is awesome. Also, Google does some great stuff with artificial intelligence and cloud computing.
Photos are smart, Google Calendar is super smart, and Gmail is just waaaay to smart. YouTube. Sigh. I love thee, YouTube.
I remember the first time I got a Gmail account. I still have it. It’s where I send spam. It’s really good filtering out all the spam so I basically don’t get any. But I use Apple Mail because, you know, ecosystem. I don’t like Apple Mail. It’s so barebones and it doesn’t filter spam at all. It doesn’t organize my emails. Gmail does all that.
Why don’t I use Gmail?
Ecosystem, remember? Simplification!
Google Assistant is pretty darn great too. The only problem is that I can’t use her anywhere. She doesn’t work with iPhone and you can’t use her on a Windows computer. She basically only exists on Androids and Nest speakers.
Why Not Use All Three?
I’m not tech stupid. I know a lot about all of these things. I browse Github, for crying out loud. But ecosystems are killing me.
I love Apple Notes. It’s superior to all the others as far as I’m concerned. None of them have a great reminders system although Google Calendar does a good job of implementing reminders into their software.
I also love Gmail. Heck even Outlook is better than Apple Mail. Google Calendar is hands-down the best cloud-based calendar out there.
But here’s the thing.
When I get an email in Apple Mail that has an appointment in it, the system automatically adds it to my Apple Calendar. I can even set a reminder straight from my email. Then, on the day of the appointment, my calendar will open Apple Maps, while taking driving time and traffic into consideration, and direct me to where I need to go. It draws all that data from the email that was sent to Apple Mail.
Nothing else does that.
If I were to switch to a Microsoft ecosystem, I’d have a computer and VR, but I would be missing out on functions that simplify my life the way Apple does. If I go all-in on Google, get a chromebook and a Nest and a Chromecast, I would lose function, VR, AND college. So ya, that’s not happening.
What’s A Grown-Ass Man To Do With His Toys?
I’ve got a few choices.
Ditch Apple and go all-in with Microsoft. There’s college and VR. When it comes to work, MS is really productive.
But I’d be missing out on maps and iMessages. I could replace Siri with Amazon Alexa, who plays nice with Microsoft.
Or…
Keep Apple and ditch Google and use Microsoft until school is over in a few years and then ditch Microsoft.
That means eventually I’d have one coherent, streamlined, ecosystem. But that’s years away. I’m going after a graduate degree here. Plus it means ditching my beautiful VR headset.
Or…
Live in a fractured ecosystem and stop worrying about completely unimportant things.
No. I refuse. This issue has plagued me for the past year and I need closure! I need to know what to do!
Apple or Microsoft or Google? I just don’t know! Aaaaarg!
I’ll keep you posted as I hash this one out. My phone is actually ready for an upgrade, so that will help decide. If I get an Android I can just say screw Apple and stick with Microsoft for the time being. We’ll see.
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