Mamis and Microsoft

I've come to a life changing decision in my life. It has not been easy and it certainly has not gone without certain judgments from family and friends alike. The truth is, I've had a hard time talking about it.  I don't want to continue to explain myself or even feel the need to give someone that probably has no idea what I'm even talking about, an explanation.

I ran into some pretty cool people at the Blissdom conference in February. One of the things that came of it was that I saw some things that I'd given up on a long time ago. And it renewed hope in me that I could fall in love all over again.

So here I am. Trying to figure out how to tell you and how to tell the world. That, I'm going to be giving up my Mac and purchasing a Windows laptop.

Go ahead and judge me. I don't care. When I saw Windows 7 and heard about Live Journal and how it could make my blogging life easier, I got a little jealous.  Then I was reintroduced to OneNote and SkyDrive and I began to expand my mind a little. Today, I use those tools extensively to keep me organized and my schoolwork always at the tip of my fingers no matter where I'm at.

When Kludgy Mom talked about Windows 8, I was wowed.  But it wasn't until I started shopping around that I realized the old misconceptions of Microsoft, Windows and Office no longer hold water.  And then when I walked into the first Microsoft Store in the state of Florida this morning, I just knew I was making the right decision.

This isn't about one brand vs another or whatever social justifications you want to give for why we buy one thing over another. For me it's simple: I need to do A, B, C, D. Can I do it with a Windows laptop? Will it ease my workload and let me work smarter? How much will I pay as opposed to getting iMami replaced with a newer model? All these things are considerations.

I'm not working full-time. But I do everything on a computer. From attempting to not drown in Business Law as I make my way to an MBA in Social Media to this blog I am typing up and everything in between.  I cannot afford for iMami to go without having a replacement. And, if I'm replacing it, the questions above are serious considerations that this single mami has to make.

I ran into an old co-worker at the store this morning and I am going to totally steal the line he threw out at me as we chatted: this is the year of reinvention for Microsoft. MAN! I wish I'd thought of that. Reinvention indeed.  And I'm excited for them. And for me. Because had I not been open to seeing something I thought I'd already seen and knew about, I wouldn't be here today (sit on that and mull over the life lesson there, will you?).

I am MOST impressed by Microsoft's ability to reinvent itself. To make the products sleek and sexy and align themselves with companies that do the same (I'm thinking here about the Asus Zenbook that I was drooling over at the store).  To invest in the communities where they are placing their brick and mortars (here, they gave grants to the Junior League, Boys & Girls Club as well as the YMCA).  But, you can do all that and if you don't have a good product you still fail, right?

This tech mami strongly believes that the quality of the products that are being put out there by Microsoft are probably the best they have ever been.  Not just on the outside (have you checked out the Arc Touch mouse?!) but also on the inside.

I'd love to get a chance to tell you about all that's on the inside. Perhaps I will in future posts. What you need to know right now is:

This Mami is backing Microsoft, she is in love with the Asus Zenbook UX31A, she cannot wait for Sprint to pick up the new Windows Phone (and I'm sad that I got my pants handed to me in the phone challenge) and tonight she will sleep a little better (okay, I'm done with the third person talk, what am I an athlete?!).

And I will sleep better not just because I'm working on 3 hours of sleep and daydreaming of hitting my pillow as soon as humanly possible. But because I think I'm making some pretty awesome decisions these days!

If you have any question as to what I'm talking about, head on over to the nearest Microsoft Store. If you are in Central Florida, RUN over. They have some ridiculous specials this weekend so if you'd like to buy me that Asus I desperately NEED, you get like 20% off! See, I'm always looking out for you.

But seriously, they have all the fun stuff for you to play with. The atmosphere today was that of a party. Each and every employee that I spoke to (and believe me, I made sure I got a chance to chat with at least a half a dozen of them) were enthusiastic about being there and knowledgeable about the products. You know what else? They were passionate. And I believe that left an impression with everyone today.

So tell me, are you working smarter with tools that will propel you forward day in and day out? I am. And I couldn't be happier.

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Disclosure: I wasn't paid for this post but I believe that when something excites me this much, I should be open and tell you what I'm thinking/feeling. This wasn't an easy decision for me to come to but, it's what is best for me in the long run (why do I feel like I'm writing a breakup letter to iMami?).