I love the 4th of July. The bunting, the fireworks, Art in the Park, the Chili/Chowder Fest, the sno-cones, our parade, the tribute bands on the waterfront, and the fireworks (I mentioned fireworks twice because I really like fireworks). Although it’s not popular with certain ex-country singers who’ll probably be doing a concert somewhere in Europe this weekend, I am thankful for our country and believe that, while certainly not infallible, there’s none better on God’s green earth. I’m celebrating that this weekend. Your results may vary.

Let me suggest a tech-oriented declaration of independence you yourself can make this year. You don’t need a big table, or a powdered wig, or a feather pen to do it. I’m talking, of course, about declaring your independence from Microsoft Windows.

There were those among our forefathers who viewed our independence from England with fear and trepidation. It’s in our nature to be apprehensive of change, even when we know it’s for the better. Folks I talk to about shedding the shackles of Windows tyranny have fears that turn out to be unfounded when we really explore their wants and needs.

There’s never been a better time to declare your independence from Windows, and move to the Mac. As a first step, just repeat after me.

“I declare my independence from viruses, Trojans, and worms”. Get a Mac, and your fears of getting infected the moment you first connect to the internet are gone. No more virus-sniffing programs running in the background, robbing you of precious computing cycles. No more paranoid pop-up windows, reminding you that you’re “infected”. No more “taxation without representation”, known in today’s Windows world as paying “protection fees” to keep your antivirus software up to date. In the over-five-years since Apple released Mac OS X, there have been zero viruses “in the wild” for Mac users to contract. That’s zero, zilch, nada, none (or “aucun”, for our friends in France). Although Windows apologists attribute this virtual immunity to “security through obscurity”, the Mac’s operating system has a lot to do with it as well.

“I declare my independence from spyware and adware”. No more spyware-sniffing programs running in the background, robbing you of precious computing cycles. No more worrying that websites you visit are stealing your personal data or logging your keystrokes. No more yearly (or more frequent) weekends spent reformatting your hard drive and reinstalling your software, because the system is so full of junk that there’s no way to clean it.

“I declare my independence from disposable computers”. No more rock-bottom quality to support rock-bottom pricing. No more hours and dollars spent on memory and video cards so the computer you bought two years ago can passably run the operating system of today. As I’ve mentioned before, my five-year-old Mac desktop makes the current Mac OS X “Tiger” purr, and it’ll run Apple’s new “Leopard” system later this year or early next year. The same cannot be said for a five-year-old PC and Windows Vista, when (and if) it appears in the same time frame.

“I declare my independence from incompatible/un-integrated software”. No more software you thought would meet your needs but didn’t, leaving remnants that linger about, causing conflicts with the new software that you’re in the process of finding out won’t meet your needs as well. Try to put together Windows PC programs equivalent to Apple’s free-in-every-Mac integrated iLife digital lifestyle suite, and you’ll spend hundreds of dollars more.

There, see. That wasn’t hard. Go get your hands on a new MacBook notebook computer, described by a MSNBC columnist as “the best I’ve ever used”, and strike a blow for computing freedom.

© 2006 Peter F. Zimowski