A sign of Macs to come

Nearly three years ago, my company had no Macs. When I joined, I insisted on getting a Mac, and for nearly a year I was the lone Mac user within our small company.

Two-and-a-half years later, we've grown nearly tenfold, and 70 percent of the company uses Macs. Nearly all new employees choose a Mac, and even those who stay with their comfortable Windows box (ThinkPads, mostly), within a year they are asking to swap out for a Mac, too.

Macs are contagious. But they are much more so now that Apple has given its advocates convenient ways to "sell" the Apple experience.

Businessweek wrote recently about the rise of the Mac within enterprises, quite possibly driven by the "iPod/iPhone halo effect" that pundits have long mused would drive Mac sales.

The iPhone and iPods are definitely helping to drive adoption of Macs, but I think the reason is actually more nuanced: These consumer-focused products give Mac advocates like me a convenient selling point when promoting the Mac.

Will it be hard to use?

No, it will be just as easy to use as your iPod.

Does it work well with Microsoft Office?

Yes, you can run Microsoft's Office for Mac natively on the Mac, and it actually looks better on the Mac than on Windows. It works as well on the Mac as iTunes works on Windows.

And so on.

Apple advocates have always promoted the Mac as a better computing platform. Now, however, we actually have "gateway drugs" to get people hooked on the beautiful aesthetics, ease of use, and coolness of Apple technology through the iPhone, iPod, etc. We take our friends and family to the Mac store. We immerse them in the Apple experience.

And they like it. To an ever increasing degree, they like it.

Also, check out how Apple compares to Google, Microsoft, and open source in terms of industry interest.