Great post, Jeff. Document formats all suck too. 
Well said Jeff,
As a former mechanic i was always inundated with people trying to convince me that âtheirâ brand of car was better than all the others. Usually to convince themselves that they made the right purchasing decision. My inevitable reply was âMeh, theyâre all crap, in their own way.â Essentially they all needed fixing at some point.
My conclusion is that not only do people like to support a team, they like to go to war for their team. It makes them feel part of something.
It also why I hate sport. Its futile.
Meh.
Sorry, dude. I keep forgetting I bloody posted here. Long day. :\
Dave said, âThe mac owners I know need to take their machines in for a genius to install memory, freaks out when a check engine light turns on on their expensive german automobile and thinks power tools are a set of widgets on their desktop.â
My first reaction was to read it and laugh, then move on. As I was reading another blogsite, I got to thinking about the people I know that own Macs and those that own PCs. And yes, those that are Unix zeolots. Dave is basically correct as far as he goes. Mac users, by and large, seem to be the elitist type that brag about their possessions a lot and for whom the Mac seems to be more of a status trip. Most of the Mac owners that I (that is me personally) know, can not even fix or diagnose their own computer problems. Linux users on the other hand seem to be die hard geeks not realzing that the vast majority of the world merely want the computer to be a tool; not wanting to develop a relationship with it. If Linux users were compared to car hobbyists, they would have a hot rod, tinkering with it every night, constantly refining it.
I used to live in Los Angeles, where I freelanced as a Macintosh-specializing technician. I fixed everything from home computers to office computers. I got work mostly from friends who wanted someone they trusted to assist them. As a by-product, I worked with people who were, frankly, affluent. I didnât know a single person besides myself who owned a Mac who didnât have other nice things and live in a nice area. But they werenât elitists. They were very nice people who like to have nice things and like to have a computer upon which they could rely. I sort of resent the whole âMac users are elitistsâ attitude.
I really wish people wouldnât equate Macs to fobbish elitists who have more money than brains. Unfortunately, Appleâs charged so much for them for so long that itâs a difficult image to shake. Especially when they run around basically blathering it being the case anyway. I forget who it was, but I want to say it was Jobs who said that the Apple should be viewed as the BMW of computers. And I sort of resented that, as well.
But me, I use whatever comes in handy for the task. I love my Mac, I love my PC, and I love Linux when it works. I see all sides of the issue as best as I am able, so I guess Iâm sort of a non-standard user. Maybe my opinion counts for less.
But then again, Iâve been a âMac Userâ since 1996⌠so maybe Iâm biased.
I donât know that there can be a right or wrong OS. The amount of talent that posts in here daily, is frankly awesome. But, there is no consensus on which OS is best. If poster A has been programmng for 25 years and is recognized as an expert by his peers and uses a Mac and poster B has the same qualifications and uses a PC, how can either of them be wrong? Looking at the sheer number of computers sold to repeat customers, how can they all be wrong?
This debate always sounds like a Ford versus Chevy arguement to me.
And yes, the elitist comment of mine was a tad out of line, but as I said, it was based upon my personal observations only.
Outrider - I wouldnât say it was âout of lineâ, to be honest. Itâs just a personal observation as youâve pointed out. I just wanted to offer another perspective. I did rethink my comment and I misspoke: I can think of two Mac owners that do not fit into the âwell offâ category. One is a personal masseur (the legal kind) and the other is a former school teacher. Both had older Macs.
I donât count my own father, here, because he abandoned the platform for PC to have greater compatibility between himself and his business partners in Asia. I wasnât around to help him with the conversions, so he had to come up with a viable solution for himself.
Myself, I am not now nor have I ever been âwell offâ. My mother bought our first Apple back in 1996, because she loved the time she spent working with one professionally. It was the first computer I had full-time access to, and the machine on which I learned to program. I have a special place in my heart for Macintosh, but I like to think Iâm not completely blind to the platformâs faults.
All in all, youâre very right: itâs a Chevy versus Ford argument. These days, now that Macs are X86, itâs really more of an in-house debate of which GM vehicle is better. Itâs all the same basic parts, just slightly different delivery.
I, personally, think of my computers as tools and toys. And while I do not believe in the slightest that my computer says anything about my personality, Iâll admit that Iâm more likely to cop to owning an iMac than to the fact that I own a Dell laptop (which I actually like quite a bit).
Great article. But some comments posted here a bit contradictory.
quote Jae:
âAnd I sort of resented that, as well.â
Then you must also resent Appleâs own advertising campaign which sarcastically implies superiority, the âMac Userâ is always better looking, better dressed and appears more well off then the PC user.
They TRY to portray themselves and their customers as entitled.
Even your own comment implies that Macâs are more reliable:
ââŚlike to have a computer upon which they could rely.â
What would make a PC any less reliable? You said you were a technician, as I am sure most of the people who read this blog were or still are at some point in their lives. And the ONLY constant EVER in computers is one simnple fact:
Its always user error. Always will be.
Do I think the Micr$oft machine is any less of an evil?
No.
Does my pride in building my own machines make me biased towards widnows and occasionally linux?
Yes.
Am I the avereage user?
Most likley not.
If you enjoy the interface and the machine, more power to you. Nothing anyone says will change that, nor should it.
The only thing I canât fault Apple on is having pride in what they do, but I can assure you the image they put forth is wholeheartedly false.
It hopes to prey upon peoples ignorance, not their intelligence. That is not to imply geniuses of all tax brackets donât use Macs I am sure they do. However Iâm also sure if they knew more about computers they could accomplish the same tasks with open source or windows applications.
The irnoy there is so amazing if you think about it. They pump their customers full of shit, and make PC users appear stupid, and ânot in the loopâ when the actual truth is:
Its only better if youâre not tech savvy enough to accomplish it in the first place.
Never heard of sourceforge.net?
Never compiled a program before?
Incapable of troubleshooting?
Yea, it must be the machines fault.
Better get on line for the next big white shiny thing, just bring pleanty of lubricant for the ungodly act that is about to commence on your wallet.
And donât get me started on iPods having to reencode everything into their formats. The Zune is just as bad with the .wmvâs. Theres no reason all players canât read aviâs and other basic common formats like my Creative Zen can.
The real reason Apple hasnât gained more ground in the home computer market is as avereage users become more tech savvy, they realize they arenât missing out on anything and donât understand the huge jump in price when they know what the numbers on the sticker on the side of the case or laptop actually mean in the store.
And again please donât take my comments as all pro microsoft, Vista clearly steals tons of things from osx, and osx is very well optimized and has its advantages. Thats not the debate im trying to make, but I get enraged when I have to see an Apple advert on TV because the irony makes steam come forth from my ears.
-Mike
Couture is what couture does.
A friend of mine bought his sister-in-law a computer from some local turbo nerds who sell white box computers: they got a nice clean install of Windows XP with the crapplets youâd get from *ell or HP.
She was quite distressed when she couldnât explain to her friends what kind of computer she had. She was hoping she could say âI have a Dellâ or âI have an IBMâ, and have her friends have a glowing feeling of understanding.
She was even more distressed that Time Warner Cable was unable to install crapplets on it. (We got Windows XP in the first month that it came out, and Time Warner hadnât ported the crapplets over yet.) She was getting ripped off, even though my friend demonstrated that he could browse the web, check e-mail and download video files.
She and her brother downloaded crapware from the internet connection that âdidnât work.â It got worse and worse over a few months until it was impossible to log in. She canceled her internet connection and was indignant that Time Warner didnât give her a refund because they didnât deliver on all the crapplets that they promised.
And thatâs the problem.
Computers mean different things to different people.
Some people use computers as creative tools. Other people use them to consume media. For some people, the great joy of having a computer is installing the Bonzi Buddy and clicking on those âPunch the Monkeyâ ads. For other people, itâs a tool you use to do a depressing data entry job, filling out reports on heart pacemaker malfunctions.
All computers suck ⌠Thank you Lord!
Thatâs one of the big reasons many of us here make lots of money, no?
âPeople who can master their computers master those who cannotâ
âEverything is a PC now.â
Everything has been a PC. Including Macs. 
âScrewdriver v Carâ
Wasnât the point of this post about getting over stupid debates?
Great blog, I have learned so much here. As a daytime âIT guyâ and nighttime woodworker, I like the yin/yang betwix the two. After a day of BSODs, I go home and hit the âstartâ switch on the bandsawâŚit just works - every time. But just like computers, the tools are useless unless they are kept sharp. If someone spends $$$ on a nice handplane and never takes the time to keep it maintained they think it sucks. Not so - the thing requires maintenance. If you donât get the Zen of the maintenance, perhaps you should try something else. Maybe pay someone else to do it. Woodworkers also spend too much time arguing the same things - hand-cut dovetails vs. machine-cut dovetails. Yikes! They both work, okay!
Thanks
Mike â Thatâs a mouthful, but then again so have been my posts.
To put it in short terms: Yes, the âIâm a Mac, Iâm a PCâ ads do make me grind my teeth. I look like a cross between those two. I wear business casual.
When I say that they wanted a computer upon which they could rely, I was speaking about their perceptions. Iâm not going to say one was more reliable than the other, but they perceived it as such and I didnât really argue it with them. I was just there to install the printer and show them how to use it, the email and their dial-up.
âComputers do have one strong suit: theyâre unparalleled tools for writing, photography, programming, composing music, and creating art.â
I disagree, they are horrible tools for writing, photography, composing music creating art.
Writing, photography, composing music creating art used to be diverse activities, each with their own sensual pleasures: the feel of a fine pen on rich paper, the isolation of the darkroom, the feel, smell and sound of a musical instrument in your hands, the smell of paint, the feel of clay, of chipping stone, etc â all have now been reduced to sitting in front of a cramped screen, pecking at keys and clutching a mouse.
Our horizons have been broadened, our abilities enhanced, but our lives have been impoverished.
Phillips screwdrivers donât slide out the end of the slot and are much easier to engage and drive with automated tools. But flat screwdrivers can apply higher torque without rising out of the slot and rounding off the head, plus the blade can be reshaped with a simple file.
Weâre lucky so few computers are built with Torx, hex or some other âŚx screws which are better than either of the more popular screws.
And I am once again reminded why I subscribe to your RSS feed.
I just washed my hands of another Mac v PC debate â Iâm just done arguing. I rather like Vista, and I rather like OSX. No, I still hate X-11. Er⌠what I mean is that if I defend one, I get blasted by the other side. Then, when I defend the other side I get blasted by the side I just defended.
Youâre right. Theyâre tools, and they all suck.
But they also all rock. Otherwise we wouldnât sit at them all day.
Good point,⌠butâŚ
pc vs. mac, linux vs. windows, open vs. closed source, black vs. white, soccer vs. football, women vs. men, gay vs. straight ⌠I think it is quite normal to have stupid discussions like that. People love itâŚ
For me the problem is more ⌠what happens when I cant work on your screws with my screwdriver⌠then we have a problem.
Great post. I try to tell people all the time that they all suck but I donât think I say it as well as you haveâŚ
This is probably the best article I have ever read on this subject. I have never owned a Mac, and for the last year have run only linux on my PC. Does that mean that I hate Windows? No. Windows does some things very well, as does Mac and Linux.
The key is picking the right screwdriver for the job. And having specialized screwdrivers is actually a good thing. Ideally, using the right tool for the right job makes things easier doesnât it?