Like many other people I know I always get that irresistible urge each new year to make a few fundamental changes in my life. Sometimes it feels like I'm cheating, as the decisions I make usually have been boiling in my head for some time. Consciously or unconsciously. This year started off by me saying goodbye to PCs and Microsoft Windows.

If I were an unexperienced brat out for cheap points I would probably have started this column by saying something like 'dear Windows blah blah I hate you blah Steve Ballmer blah blah bloatware blah blah you suck'. Etc. And so on.

But to be honest, I don't have any strong emotional feelings about leaving Windows. It's like a dead pet that I didn't love anyway.

My decision is of a practical nature. To state the obvious, I am a nerd when it comes to gadgets & computers and at the end of the summer of 2009 I found myself working on three laptops simultaneously - and at the same time I was trying to find some use for one of those worthless Asus Eee 900 netbooks. This whole unstructured techmess left me with some kind of allergy to Windows: without much thinking, one day I went into the local Apple shop and bought me a cheap white Macbook. 'Just to try it out', I lied to myself.

If you're prepared for a sermon about the wonders of OS X and the rotten core of Windows, you'll have to look elsewhere. Although I do find OS X more clever than Windows and the hardware beats the shit out of my Very Expensive Dell That Just Is Falling Apart After One Year In Use - this is beside the point.

This was an escape. Start all over again. The BIG reboot so to speak.

Whenever the old My Computer Is Better Than Yours discussion flares up and turns everybody into talibans, there's always someone prudent jockey politely reminding everybody that the computer is just a tool.

Such talk is just rubbish. Most people I know have very personal relationships with their computers. Way more personal than that hammer that lies in my toolbox. The computer is an extension of the mind that can help you create damn fine things if you are tuned together. You're a Windows man? Great for you. You're a Mac fanboy? Go for it. Linux? Kinky - but whatever rubs your kettle.

So I've spent the last nine days creating a structure and installing software that represents almost 20 years of experience of making music with computers. Just creating that essential Windows XP partition took two whole days. Installing the big bag from Native Instruments took one and a half. But I'll be damned if I'm not nearing myself to nerdvana - but this whole setup I'm writing on right now is... let's just say that I'm proud.

But that cleverness obviously took its toll on something else. My upcoming album for my new music project is about 90% done - on that Dell that is slowly moving its way into the wardrobe. Moving computer in the middle of a production is one of the most stupid things anyone can even consider. So I'm topping it with both platform and host. But then again. It's just New Year one time per year.