A massive, sweeping desktop consumer change toward Apple is inevitable now - if computing trends of the past have anything to say about it.

In this article, we examine how the technologies introduced in the Apple “Air” will influence not only the next several years of computing industry change, but will also likely mean very positive improvements in automotive and aircraft electronics as well.

Apple Mac & Leopard vs PC & Vista

Here's how the Apple line-up stacks against its competition right now. Apple is really pulling out all the stops.

I sent off a quick email to colleagues yesterday lauding this week’s Apple Air announcement because I loved the really terrific form factor of Apple’s latest ulta-light laptop.

Upon reflection, and a more thorough review of this laptop’s features on the Apple website, there are several incontrovertable reasons why this latest MacBook product truly sits Apple out in front of the rest of the PC industry for the next several years.

First, there is the truly brilliant multi-touch track pad.

I think this is the first computer ever to offer an OS-integrated multi-touch trackpad. Apple’s website refers to multi-touch as “genious” and they are not overstating things one bit.

If you have never played with an iPod Touch nor an iPhone’s browser – you’ve missed a real treat. The iPod Touch is very, very fun and it makes the small iPod Touch screen very usable – mostly because of its software and multi-touch interoperability.

With Apple’s multi-touch trackpad, a 13” laptop display can zoom-in to view a browser image or you-tube video at full-screen and then zoom out to the size of 3 or 4 desktops - simply by spreading and then joining two fingers on the touch pad. The multi-touch adopts many of the gestures from the iPhone right onto the Apple desktop - so you can pinch, swipe or rotate by simply moving your fingers.

As Apple uses BSD’s OpenGL graphics engine, their software allows photos to then twist and turn, scale and zoom, effortlessly by spinning two fingers as you spread and join fingers at the same time.

Where is this technology headed? Well, everywhere actually.

Take a look at the Tom Cruise movie "Minority Report". As Tom accesses, zooms, and sorts data on a holographic screen using arm gestures - you glimpse the promise of multi-touch. We’re almost there today with Apple's initial multi-touch implementation in fact.

With a little luck, we should shortly see wildly immersive computer games, new controllers and far more intuitive business applications result. I can’t wait to play WarCraft on a projector connected to a multi-touch controller when appropriate actions are built into the software.

Other logical ports of this interface might be found “down the road” in HUD (Heads Up Display) technologies for our automobiles - or in the cockpits of sophisticated fighter jets.

Multi-touch brings the third dimension to the previous 2D world of human computer interface.

The second, and most compelling reason to switch to Apple from XP or Vista now, is based on pure user experience.

We long-time supporters of Microsoft mourned the loss of our favourite computer company several years ago when Microsoft went "corporate" under the direction of Steve Balmer.

No longer the software leader it once was, Microsoft now works unapoligetically to herd its 95% share of the world’s computer users away from a reliable and fast Windows XP OS - to an inferior prodegy named Vista.

Initially, hardware manufactures loved Vista because computer users pretty well had to dump all of their old PC hardware to run it. Brilliant !@# To cement the deal, you might have noticed that some of the newest hardware - in laptops, bios chips, etc. - the PC will "blue-screen" and not run if you try to upgrade back to XP.

So computer users formerly loyal to Windows are being systematically forced to upgrade to Vista - and so the Microsoft/Hardware Manufacturer “Master Plan” is right on track. Right?

Ummm - Well no. You see Apple got its OS and applications right this time - while Microsoft crippled Vista when it passed on the UNIX OS and OpenGL graphic standards. Now Microsoft has to go back to the drawing board and rebuild their graphics engine to compete with Leopard - which will mean further application integration work as well - all amounting to several years of development work.

If an operating system’s success has always been predicated on its user experience – and Leopard (with multi-touch) is 3 to 5 years ahead of Vista in user experience right now - then I'll spend money there first. Wouldn't you?

According to a 2008 ChangeWave Research survey, 81% of Leopard users are "Very Satisfied" with their choice in an OS. "Vista" users scored an abysmal 15% customer satisfaction rating. The numbers pretty well say it for themselves here.

Click here for more stats from the ChangeWave survey ...

The third place where Apple shines - has to do with its internet browsing speeds. My daughter’s MacBook wireless-n connection surfs at blazingly fast speed’s when combined with a good n-series router and a broadband internet connection.

The MacBook is faster than any hard-wired or wireless connection on any of the 10 XP and Vista PCs in my house and its much quicker than my Core Duo Vista workstation with a 1 Gigabit hard-wired connection.

The reason for this quick browsing response is Apple / BSD’s DNS efficiencies – which shave a full 1 to 5 seconds off the time it takes to resolve IP connections and then take you to the remote website. Vista is also penalized by an array of overheads like virus checks and other time consuming tasks.

The resulting internet user experience is vastly improved on a Mac wireless workstation over that of most Vista PCs. With the Air laptop new n2 network compatibility, connection speeds are faster again? Wow!

The fourth improvement in the "Air" product line is in its 2.1 bluetooth integration. This is the fastest bluetooth available and it allows you to access the DVD or CD drive of nearby Mac or PCs wirelessly. You won’t likely be playing HD-DVDs on your laptop with the same quality as a locally connected DVD drive but considering the raw performance of other wireless devices on these laptops, the MacBook's new bluetooth capabilities will be equally impressive.

And finally, the last reason that Apple is really well positioned to take it all over the next couple of years is more subtle.

My generation (late baby boomers and Gen X’ers) grew up having to “tinker” to make their computers work best. I constantly upgraded cards in my desktops and then installed the latest Windows 2.0, 3.0, Win98, XP and so on. I spent countless hours tweaking drivers – but I didn’t mind because I was assured of enjoying the very best user experience possible – delivered faithfully by the Gates brain trust at Microsoft.

In contrast, younger computer users have grown up with all-in-one computer solutions that just work – computers like X-Box, GameCube and WII. The computer software either didn’t need upgrading or it upgraded itself online automatically - and the new software ALWAYS works with the hardware.

This second model is the one adopted very successfully by Apple as well.

And so, I conclude that the desktop industry is on the cusp of a history altering transition. A massive swing from Windows to Apple desktops appears inevitable - for the home user - and in the workplace perhaps over the next 3 years.

Microsoft won’t go down easily – but they have a lot of ground to make up; they've upset a very large number of formerly devoted customers; and their post-Gates corporate style works against them now.

See you all at the nearest Mac store...

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