Going to the Dark Side…or not

Warning: if you use a Mac, don't try to buy a cell phone that takes pictures. According to Telcel, there are no cell phones that can upload photos on a Mac.

Yesterday I went to the Telcel office in Guaymas yesterday to try to trade in the cute little pink LG phone the Capt and I bought three weeks ago, for a Nokia or other brand name that would work with my MacIntosh. We were told there's nothing that would work, and furthermore, I can't get a refund on the LG.

I can take all the photos I want, but I'll never be able to share them or look at them enlarged or print them out unless I use a PC. I don't have a PC.

I could blow big bucks on a MacIntosh iPhone and it would work in Mexico but I'd have to buy a contract instead of using phone cards, and I don't want to tie myself down to monthly payments. I'm not so compulsive that I need a phone I can use to check my email, surf the Net and blog. I found a website that says there's a software called FonLink 2.0 that's compatible with Sony-Ericksson phones and will upload files, music, photos and videos to a Mac. That would be fine, if I wanted to buy the software and yet another phone.

I'm getting closer to considering buying a PC, if only for cell-phone photos, Internet and Word (which I need for editing books since authors are sending me manuscripts written and formatted in Word). And those tiny Acer laptops, only slightly larger than a paperback, weigh less than three pounds, come with Windows XP instead of the universally-loathed Vista OS and are $350 at Costco. How liberating it would be to carry something that small and light next time I travel!

My son the webmaster long ago went to the Dark Side and now seldom uses his Mac. My first computer (in 1985) was an IBM, back when you actually had to learn DOS, but I always preferred the Mac OS and still feel a lot of resistance at the sight of a PC screen. After 25 years using computers, I feel grumpy at the prospect of having to learn a new system and a little sheepish about abandoning the Brotherhood of the Mac.

But maybe I'm just being mulish and I need to just get over it. Or maybe I'll just forget the whole thing and keep lugging my camera.

Any of you PC people want a cute little pink LG phone that takes photos?