There’s been a lot of criticism of Apple these days, which as led some to reconsider Windows. Not surprisingly, I’m on bearish on the notion and not just because I prefers Macs. I also use Windows on a gaming PC, and my experience has been middling at best. That said, I know my use of Windows is colored by my preferences and situation. Luckily, Brent Rose over at Wired done his best to give switching to Windows a fair look¹:

That was nearly a year and a half ago. Maybe you’ve been thinking about making the jump too. Well, I am here to tell you about all the good things, the bad things, and the ugly things you can expect if you’re switching to Windows after many years in Apple’s walled garden.

So how’d it go? Hardware-wise, not bad.

The laptop was fast and responsive, the screen was sharp, and the keyboard was easy to type on. Having a legacy USB port proved to be invaluable…

He loves the touch screen too.

As a user, there are zero disadvantages to a touchscreen. Zero.

But what about Windows?

There is no way of getting around it: Windows just doesn’t have the same level of polish as macOS

Inconsistencies [with keyboard shortcuts] abound: Sometimes Control+F4 closes an application, and sometimes it’s Alt+F4, even in Microsoft’s own programs. How does that happen?

On the third day, I somehow managed to infect my browser with some adware.

The software available for macOS is just so much better than what’s available for Windows.

Even basic things like two-finger scrolling through a timeline in Adobe Premiere are completely borked.

I hear random chimes all the time. Each one signifies an error…

The list goes on. Brent’s experience with Windows mirrors my own. It’s nice to have a variety of hardware options which can also lead to lower costs, but Windows is still Windows. Of all the very real improvements Windows 10 brings, there are still many more that are purely a thin veneer over decades old idiosyncrasies.

So what’s Brent’s conclusion? I don’t want to spoil it so instead I’ll end with a personal anecdote. I once knew someone back in college who decided to pick up smoking even though everyone told him it was a dumb idea. I still remember watching him cough uncontrollably after each inhale.