Life as I Know It; Family; Lifestyle; and Healthy Living!

I can’t understand it. Why is Macintosh so disliked by so many? I used to use the Mac a couple of years ago at one of my jobs. The boss liked Macs and only bought Macintosh. As a PC user at the time and having never used the Mac, I didn’t really feel intimidated by it.

It took me a couple of days to get the hang of it and I actually liked it! There was no big deal to it. After having used it for over three years (my time at that position) I actually loved it!

At my next position it was back to PCs again. Once again, it was no problem to get back with the flow of using it.

I came across some comments recently on a blog site and I can’t believe how much the each person either really hated or really loved Macintosh. I mean the things those people wrote, they got personal!

Is it really that serious? Can’t there just be some people who really, really love the Mac and some really, really love the PC? You know what? I blame that commercial that’s on right now. It’s their fault there’s all this ‘be hating’ around now. That or it just picked at a boil that was always under the surface and have opened up a really ripe wound!

These are some of the comments I read on the NY Times. It was an article that wasn’t even so much about PCs or Macs it was a totally different topic. I won’t post the article itself since it had nothing to do with what I’m talking about here, although it (the article) was interesting, that is for another blog at another time.


__________________-

“Mac users always fail to realize how few they are. It is a pain and expensive to create a parallel system for so few people. Don’t believe the product placement in movies, only 6% of our website’s visitors for example come from mac users (almost 3% use lineux for comaprison).
It would be like demanding MTV translate its site into spanish NOW, but at least there are a lot of people who speak Spanish.
You wanted an expensive white computer, and now you have it. Just don’t expect the rest of the world to jump.
Andrew
www.boomchicago.nl
— Posted by Andrew Moskos”





“macs suck
— Posted by Dom”




“Macs have an influential presence online which makes that 4% feels like 75%.
lonelygirl15 sounds like a show already.
— Posted by Ajit”


“# 1: Trying to mock Mac users by pointing out how few of them there are doesn’t work. In fact, that’s the key to Apple’s cult-like appeal. If everyone really started buying Macs, hardcore Mac users would be emotionally devastated. And if there are so few of them, why waste your breath baiting them, anyway?
— Posted by ted”



“Ted,
As a Mac user, I have to admit you’re right. If everyone’s computers ran an operating system as intuitive, beautiful, and straightforward as OS X, I’d be seriously upset at having lost my elite status.
Now if only we can get Microsoft to redesign the iPod, maybe I’ll switch back.
— Posted by Nick vdK”

“Mac users are very influential, much bigger than whatg they represent online. Only a single digit porcentage of people using Macs (4%) does not mean they are not important or influential. As an example, 45% of Wired Magazine users, a magazine read by influential people interested on advances in technology, life and culture, are Mac users (by the way, Jews are 0.5% of the world population but they account for more than 20% of Noble prizes).
— Posted by Max
“Andrew Moskos” is only partly right: Mac users are numerically a minority, but like “Ajit” notes, we have a disproportionate influence on the culture. We cluster into info. and other related media jobs, which control the mental world of all you PC hacks. Kind of like gay people. Oh, yes, I remember, the word is “elites”: few but strong!
— Posted by Tdawwg”



“August 3rd,
2006
4:36 pm
Mac Users may only be 6% on your site, but we are also better educated, make and spend more money and dominate the artistic and media-driven world. Once you go Mac you never go back.
— Posted by Mark Flora”

Comments (Page 3)
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on Aug 05, 2006
Yikes, I drive an Audi. What does that make me in this metaphor?


if it was a BMW, then you would be an inverted Porcupine!

But Audis? Auf Deutsch, you are a Mercedes wanna be!
on Aug 05, 2006
Zealousness aside. Statistics can be used to anyone's advantage. Massaging of statistics has long been a big companies game. Apple learned & used/uses guerilla tactics to market their product. On the marketing front there is no disputing the genius (asides from the recent campaign) of Apple's marketing & it's excellence in design & innovation. Smaller, faster companies can often accomplish this. If anything Apple's existence raises the bar on all levels.

With that said, many zealots often think that Microsoft wouldn't have existed without Apple...maybe so, but some other company would be there. Apple's best decision is also their most flawed decision. Keeping everything in house. Over the last few years we have seen the number of independent Mac developers increase. However, this still lags behind other platforms.

If Apple had grown to the size of Microsoft based on their exclusionary practices then they would have definitely broke up for clear anti-trust issues.

Being well educated doesn't make you well educated. Being both educated & wordly with a grasp of reality most likely does.

From my perspective the real inovation going on is amongst independent developers , the open source community, various universities across the world, and of course the customization/skinning community.

If you dig deep enough I'm sure the truly well educated don't care what particular system they use as long as it can accomplish what they want. Most often I suspect this is a multi-platform environment utilizing the best of all worlds.
on Aug 05, 2006
I'm going to let all of you in on a little secret. I work in IT, and all the workstations, and servers that I work with are Windows based. But I lead a secret life, I use a Mac at home. I too was sucked into the world of Windows ever since the days of Win 3.1. One day after I somehow managed to get a virus on a brand spanking self built machine, and even though I had every firewall, popup blocker, and spam software available I decided to look into the Mac. I was surprised to learn that there is a really small percentage of people that use Macs. So I was a little skeptical at first, but thanks to my wife who has been a lifetime mac user I made the transition. At first I was like, "uhhhh ok, where's the START button,and sometimes I'd be a bit confused because I didn't know what this or that was or how to do such and such thing. But all in all there's nothing I can do in a PC that I can't do on my Mac. I LOVE IT! Those are my 2 cents.
on Aug 05, 2006
I'm currently developing my own operating system. It will only work on the hardware I provide, will be invulnerable to electronic virii, and will require a minimum of training in order to use. You'll be able to send mail without fear of spam or electronic virus infection.

Here's a preview:
Link
on Aug 05, 2006
Yikes, I drive an Audi. What does that make me in this metaphor?


hehe I drive an Eagle, so I too dont fit in the metaphor .. but I hear the arguements at work between chevy and ford owners .. it still amazes me the morons really believe the one they drive is superior and that makes them a better man or woman than those who drive the latter... ive seen the same with both sides of the OS battle.

It's sad to say some people really believe an exterior device can improve the person within......
on Aug 06, 2006
I have a Dell. I have a MacIntel Mini (it really is a Mac, 'cuz I watch it load OS X). I have them networked together. They share a common internet router, printers and harddrives. It's really no big deal, this owning a Mac thing, except that it doesn't crash. Ever. Nada. Zippo. It's reliability cannot be equalled by anything this side of Bill Gates own home (and I'll bet he even has one in it!)

You can, quite literally, do everything on a Mac (ok, not everything, there is no OS X SQL Server, but let's not split hairs.) that you can on a WinPC machine. Sun Microsystems (the JAVA folks) have this open source Office suite that can create and read .doc,. .xls, .ppt, .vsd files, so if you have a platform (OS X)that's more stable than one that's perhaps a year from a major upgrade (Vista), why not stay with it. You lose nothing, and you get to be a snob like me!
on Aug 06, 2006

You lose nothing, and you get to be a snob like me!

But what if you want to be a higher-order of snob?....

on Aug 06, 2006
Probably because their most vocal pundits are so insufferably smug and misguided.

The computers themselves are 'fine'...


The first comment is the one that got it right.
on Aug 06, 2006
I can say that the "Apple" store, which is by the University of Washington campus, is a great place to go in and tryout a Mac computer


I noticed a trend with Macintosh, they love university campuses!


getting assimilated into the whole Caucasian community, thus get excluded from being Jewish.


Interesting observation. But for a different blog and from someone more equipt (ie knows more about it), but interesting observation.



Just merge the companies into Macrosoft to get rid of the hate


Oh blasphemy! Could be quite an interesting turn though!



Personally I think the Mac/Pc feud is just plain silly!


Silly and deliberate!


used to drive a Dodge. Now I drive a Honda. Do I feel the need to trash Dodges? Nope. It's just a another car to drive to get me where I'm going.


Chuck, we know it's all just about advertising and getting people to talk. Look how much 'talking' have gone on since those ads came out. People are being more vocal as someone else observed.


don't hate macs, just snotty mac users. (but only the snotty ones).


Bob, I think that's how most people feel. And from what I've read on those blog comments, good grief those people need a life!



But Audis? Auf Deutsch, you are a Mercedes wanna be!


LOL! Doc, you better run for cover, the Audi lovers are gonna get you!



I like the fact that PC's can be cusomized more easily.


This is what most people have said Gid.

Apple learned & used/uses guerilla tactics to market their product. On the marketing front there is no disputing the genius (asides from the recent campaign) of Apple's marketing & it's excellence in design & innovation. Smaller, faster companies can often accomplish this. If anything Apple's existence raises the bar on all levels.


Good points!




But I lead a secret life, I use a Mac at home.


Oh the horror Pichin! Say it ain't so! Couldn't resist!LOL!


I LOVE IT! Those are my 2 cents.


Thanks!


I'm currently developing my own operating system. It will only work on the hardware I provide, will be invulnerable to electronic virii, and will require a minimum of training in order to use. You'll be able to send mail without fear of spam or electronic virus infection.


M you're such an idiot!LOL! I love it!



but I hear the arguements at work between chevy and ford owners .. it still amazes me the morons really believe the one they drive is superior and that makes them a better man or woman than those who drive the latter...


It's amazing that we humans argue over stuff like that. When you think about it, this is exactly what these companies want. That's why they will keep building and producing better, faster, stronger (and in the case of some cars, they are NOT stronger) products for us to want and keep buying. Don't get me wrong, having an improvement is good, technology is fantastic, but when we start fighting over which is better and who is better than whom, and some people take this stuff pretty darn seriously, this is where we should question, what's the fuss about?


You lose nothing, and you get to be a snob like me!


A happy snob by the sound of it!





The first comment is the one that got it right.


I guess you're right. Although it was said by a few others too. They all got that right! Of course if they were only happy snobs like Peter! We could laugh with them!
on Aug 06, 2006

Those new Mac commercials explain it well.

You've got some pompous jerk pimping the Mac acting like the PC can't do all the same things as the Mac.  That's the image Apple is intentionally projecting and it's the image we have of Mac users - a bunch of smug, elitist dweebs who are clueless about what you can do on a PC.

And they completely ignore their own problems:

Mac user: "So, I just got done using my new Mac to edit a totally rad DVD."

PC user: "Me too."

Mac user: "Yea, but is it as good as iDVD?"

PC user: "Well, in the sense that my camcorder is one of those new MiniDVD camcorders - which are totally awesome btw, it is better. Can iDVD handle MiniDVDs?"

Mac user: "Well..um no but MiniDVs - the tapes - are better for that kind of thing anyway."

PC user: "Yea, back in 1995 they were. Welcome to the 21st century."

 

on Aug 06, 2006
    
on Aug 06, 2006
The pc vs. mac thing really is not as serious as everyone makes it out to be. People really shouldnt try to sh*t on someone and put them in a category just because they chose a certain type of computer.... They had the pc vs. mac debate on Attack of The Show and some dude was like.."look at all the pixar animation films, i'll bet you their done on a mac."
who cares?!...thats great...but should everyone go out and buy a mac even if they can't afford one just because pixar does their cg on them?...then another guy said..."i refuse to buy a mac because of what it says about me and how people will look at me"....who cares how people look at you?!...if you want to purchase a mac then do it...theres no need to put people in categories just because of the computer that they prefere...its stupid and imature...everyone uses computers for different things...i have a pc right now but i wouldnt mind owning both a pc and mac...
on Aug 07, 2006
As a PC user for most of my little life * 12 years ...yeah when I was 8 * I continue to like pc's and learned how to deal with them. I rarely find myself working with a mac because they are simply few and far between.

They are intresting and make things fairly quick and easy but... thats getts a bit boring for me and annoying when I want it to do a particular function.

In the end they are both fun and easy to use if you know what your doing, I still have yet to understand how to work with linux but I will keep trying.

Security issues? If someone wants your info they will get in one way or the other.
on Aug 07, 2006
I've been aware of this rivalry as my brother, a long time Mac user, is constantly trying to bait me into a 'mine is better than yours' arguement just cause he's an antagonist. The reason I user PCs is because it is what I learnt to use. I have used Macs in the past without any problems but the environments I've always worked in have been PC.

Having said that, I do like the look of the new Mac laptops. It could be very handy for my music applications.
on Aug 07, 2006
My reasons for disliking the Mac Operating System.
(1)It Only runs on a computer that you can not customise.
(2) There are no snazzy fans or anything for it unles you want to personaly customise it.
(3) your pretty much locked out when it comes to fiddling.However for the new user that realy has no idea
what they are doing it is probably for the best.
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