Section 2. Ooohs and Aaahs

2. Ooohs and Aaahs

My friend Phil has an iMac on his desk, along with an Apple wireless keyboard and mouse. To the untrained eye, the iMac looks like nothing more than a sleek flat-panel screen on a stylish stand. His Windows-based co-workers can't believe their eyes. "Where's the big box that goes under your desk? And where are all the snaky cables?"

Not long ago, I sat down at a coffee shop in Clayton, Georgia, and started answering email. In the course of an hour, four strangers paused at my table, nodded at my Mac, and said, "Nice."

At a family reunion, my tech-savvy nephew borrowed my Mac. When he minimized a window, it curled up and slid sensuously down to the lower edge of the screen. He raised an eyebrow and whistled. "Very cool."

Mac hardware is sexy. Mac software looks great onscreen. You spend several hours a day staring at a little box. Shouldn't that little box make you oooh and aaah?