The day has finally come.

No, this is not a "switch" campaign ad. It's more like an "add" campaign kind of thing.

Why? Because the world is not all black and white. It's all sorts of shades of grey.

Just like the world is not simply blue vs. red - it's all the hues in-between.

And so it goes that the world need not be PC vs. Mac - and there's no need to make it all about "switching."

In my geeky world, one that's been mostly populated by PCs, it's really all about adding the Mac to my computer inventory.

How it happened...

The fact of the matter is, I have always considered Macs to be kinda cool, but not for me. Until about a year ago. That's when they started to grow on me. I saw Garage Band, and honestly that's the first thing that caught my eye and made me take a serious look at the Mac as something I might be interested in. Eric Rice is the one to blame for that - he amazed me with Garage Band at Gnomedex in 2004.

Then in January Apple announced the Mac mini. Cool, I thought. I can use these PC keyboards and monitors and stuff that I have sitting around the place - on a Mac. That's tempting.

At the same time, a company called Gratis Internet - they're the ones that do the freeipods.com site and a bunch of others - came out with their freeminimacs.com program. I signed up and added a simple banner to my weblog site, and there it sat for a while. As part of the deal, I signed up and paid for a marketing offer (the blockbuster.com online DVD rental one - I like it a lot). Over the next few months people clicked on the banner on my weblog and signed up for the program just like I did. Eventually enough people (ten) signed up for me to get the free Mini. And thanks to all the people who did.

Last week I realized I had enough referral credits to order my Mac mini. So I clicked and filled out a form, and patiently waited a couple more days. Gratis then approved my request (they have to verify the referral orders are all valid), and a day later sent the order to the fulfillment center. A couple more days later (two days ago) the order status changed to "shipped." And today the box arrived at work.

I was home on vacation, but my neighbor and coworker Mike picked it up for me and brought it home.

"Switching eh?" he asked, as I opened the carton.

"Nope, not switching," I said. "Adding is more like it."

And that's how I became a Mac owner.

I haven't set it up yet, probably tonight. But here is what I have learned so far:

  • Gratis Internet and their "free" offers are for real

  • The Mini is definitely mini, and it looks very sleek and cool

  • Apple "gets" packaging, without a doubt - but when you control the hardware and software I guess you can do that

  • It's going to be a fun weekend

I hope it comes with Garage Band! (Update: It does. Also, it comes with OS-X Panther, not Tiger, and the guy who answered my call when I called Apple to ask about it was a bit of an ass and was completely unhelpful... I've had better conversations with Dell... Not a great first impression. Oh well.)

So - Anyone have any newbie Mac suggestions?