“There perhaps has never been a more interesting time to write about Apple and its growing impact on the computer, telecommunications, and music worlds. Unfortunately, it also means that I have to witness (and sometimes join) a daily descent into a pit of mudslinging,” Tom Krazit blogs for CNET.
“Their size and degree of organization can be debated, and it’s usually overstated. But there is no question that Macintosh users are by far the most passionate advocates for their products in the technology industry. And while such passion is remarkable and even moving, it can also be terribly disturbing,” Krazit writes.
“I think the roots of this zealotry go back to a time when Apple was on the ropes financially and someone who worked on a Mac was ridiculed by other computer users. Ten years ago, Mac users in the corporate world were viewed as rubes playing with ‘toys’ not suitable for getting real work done, and there were plenty of people ready to remind the Mac community in not-so-subtle ways that the revolution promised in the 1980s by the original Macintosh was being fulfilled by Microsoft software,” Krazit writes.
“Windows users, who had almost forgotten about the Mac, initially laughed at Mac users and their intense love for a plastic cube of electronics. But then, as Apple starting gaining market share and increasing respect for its design chops, they started to fight back,” Krazit writes.
“Mac users feel an affinity to both their machines and their fellow users that the rest of the world simply doesn’t share. For some, it’s the emphasis on design, both in hardware and software. For others, it’s the way Apple focuses on applications that make it easier for them to be creative,” Krazit writes.
“Now that Apple has momentum on its side, does this finally mean we’re nearing a day when we can have a coherent discussion of the pros and cons of Apple’s approach to the computing world?” ” Krazit asks.
“Probably not. After all, the Mac community has all the momentum on its side, and is unlikely to lift its foot off the gas now that more people are starting to come around to its point of view,” Krazit writes. “And Apple hasn’t stopped making Mac vs. PC ads.”
Full article – we recommend reading the entire article, as it contains other points we have not excerpted and are not addressing below – here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Ampar” for the heads up.]
MacDailyNews Take: What’s really disturbing is how Krazit blames the sometimes — okay, oftentimes — vitriolic online Mac vs. PC debates nearly totally on Mac users. Windows PC users get a free pass from Krazit, even though they are the ones who are almost always arguing from a position of ignorance. If you believe that Krazit is really “terribly disturbed” by Mac users’ passion, then you probably said “Wow!” (geniunely, not sarcastically) when you saw Windows Vista.
We contend that the majority of Mac users have used a recent vintage Windows PC (and considering their “preferred” OS is the over 6-year-old Windows XP, the term “recent” is as laughable as it is debatable). Mac users are often forced to suffer 8+ hours with a Windows PC while at work or for some period of time in a school classroom. Certainly, most Mac users have ample opportunities to be inflicted with Windows in Internet cafes or at friend’s and relative’s houses. We also contend that the majority of Windows PC users have not used a Mac recently, or at all, for any meaningful period of time. If they had, of course, they’d already be Mac users.
The point is: Mac users have used both Mac OS X and Windows. Most Windows PC sufferers*, in our experience, have little to no idea about the Mac. But, for some reason, that doesn’t stop them from contributing every fallacy they’ve ever heard about the “MAC” or castigating “them Apple users” for “wasting their money on pretty Apples” when “PCs are cheaper.” Etc., etc., etc. Don’t blame Mac users when they get frustrated with idiots who know little or nothing about which they are writing.
Imagine someone lived in, oh, say, Singapore all their lives. One day, they decide to surf on over to L.L. Bean’s website and begin commenting, very confidently and often quite vehemently, on the qualities of — and even questioning the need for — winter coats, ski pants, hats, and mittens. It wouldn’t take long for those with actual experience to blast Mr. Equator a new icehole, now would it?
Krazit acts as if Windows PC users just woke up and just now starting to “fight back.” We don’t know which discussion boards Krazit’s been reading, but you’d think he’d try some of CNET’s, wouldn’t you? There are many years and millions of examples of “iceholery” on CNET alone, not to mention the rest of the Web. Where’s Krazit been all these years?
In our experience, many Mac users don’t like being told to use Windows to access a service that’s supposed to be open to paying customers. We don’t like being told to use Internet Explorer to access websites that are supposedly open to the public. Many consider Bill Gates to be a thief and a liar, not a genius and a saint. We think of Windows as a Mac cloning experiment gone hideously wrong: all upside-down, backwards, and deformed due to myriad quests to satisfy legal loopholes, instead of satisfying the needs of its users. Microsoft is a follower. Apple is the leader. We all use Macs today, whether they’re the real thing or the clone-gone-wrong. After over two decades, many Mac users are tired of hearing the same old uninformed, tired myths from sufferers of poorly faked Macs. Excuse us if we get snippy from time to time.
The bottom line: Most Mac users have used both Macs and Windows and made an informed choice. Most Windows PC sufferers have not. A rock and a hammer are each “only tools” and “just a personal choice” when all you’ve ever used is a rock. Hammer users just have to laugh. And, Krazit’s right, these feet are never coming off the gas.
Krazit actually says it all with, “Mac users feel an affinity to both their machines and their fellow users that the rest of the world simply doesn’t share.” You’d think that non-Mac users would stop there for at least a second and ask themselves, “Why is that? What am I missing here?” Sadly, many of them just bang straight to the comments section and begin doling out their “wisdom” as usual.
*We use the term “Windows sufferers” in order to try to wake up certain people and draw attention to the fact that it’s possible to suffer even if you’re unaware of your condition or are unable to recognize that there is simple and elegant solution available to alleviate it.
[UPDATE 3:59pm EST: Added “Windows sufferers” explanation.]
