I was a longtime MacBook user when Apple announced the touchbar models in 2016. My disappoinment was immeasurable and my day was ruined. I decided I would put the money allocated for a new MacBook toward a gaming PC.
Having never owned a console or a powerful PC, this was the first time I was able to experience gaming outside of the Blizzard franchises. Blizzard was one of the few AAA game developers who made their games for Mac. This investment paid off because WoW and Diablo turned me and many other Mac users into lifelong gamers. While I haven't played either franchise in awhile, they're still very dear to me.
Even though building a gaming PC is mostly just LEGO for "adults", the experience is fun and empowering. It's a great feeling when the system boots and you see the Windows logo. While I don't find Windows 10 to be as elegant as MacOS or even many Linux OSes, for the most part, it stays out of my way.
I was shocked when Microsoft bought Github in 2018. It makes business sense but things used to be different. Fortunately, I haven't noticed anything different in the way I interact with Github since Microsoft took over. I hope it stays that way.
Google search results started getting worse for me so I began finding myself using Bing, especially for images.
The pandemic hit and suddenly I had no use for Laptops and iPads. This was the first time I seriously considered using Windows for software development. And now? My terminal of choice is the Windows Terminal. Windows Subsystem for Linux has been closer to perfect than it has any right to be.
This is the year that Apple capitulated to pro-sumer demands with the release of the 2021 MacBook Pro lineup. They touted huge boosts in GPU performance which, as a gamer, was exciting. But then I realized Windows barely runs on ARM. I prayed Apple had found a way to keep Bootcamp alive. But it was dead. And so was my dream of owning a MacBook again.
Microsoft launched Halo Infinite. Being from Ohio, Halo is in my DNA. I played Halo: CE on my first MacBook in middle school. After that, because I never owned an XBox, I just read the books and kept up with the story. Now, as a newly minted member of the PCMR, I was ready to play some Halo. Ironically, I've learned to use a controller because that's how Halo is meant to be played. I'm a console peasant afterall.
While Infinite lacks content, has a poorly designed monetization scheme, and suffers from terrible desync issues despite being made by one of the world's largest server providers--the gameplay is tight. It is intensely satisfying.
To play the game I needed to dust off my @live.com email address. After deleting twelve thousand spam emails, the outlook app icon was sitting in my iPhone's home screen.
Just a few days ago Microsoft bought Activision Blizzard for ~$69 billion. I think they overpayed by a huge amount, I mean, NVidia was going to buy ARM for ~$40 billion. Either way, I'm rooting for everyone at Blizzard.
Microsoft now operates my computer with Windows, I'm using Bing unironically, my work depends on Github which is now a Microsoft subsidiary, this website is hosted on Github Pages so I'm using Azure, I'm emailing on Outlook, I play Halo Infinite at least an hour every day, and now they own all my favorite game franchises.
I drunkenly stumbled into Microsoft's garden. With Apple, you go to the Apple Store and buy a very expensive ticket to get in. You're Thinking Apple the whole time. I've never once in these past 6 years thought of Mircrosoft as a company I "cared" about. Now I realized they're integral to my lifestyle. Even though I'm this far into their garden, I haven't given them much money. Mostly I gave significantly less money to Apple.
The worst thing about living in the Microsoft garden is not having iMessage on my computer.