Paul Murphy writes for LinuxInsider, “What differentiates a Mac user from a PC user, assuming the usage decision is uncoerced by an employer? My wife, a reformed PC user (always the most merciless of evangelists), answered that question with a list straight from Jeff Foxworthy:
– You think virus protection is what you get a flu shot for.
– You actually make a conscious choice in selecting your Web browser and presentation software.
– You have suppressed a smile at the sound of another user rebooting their computer for the fifth time that day.
– You dress up in a black turtleneck and jeans to go out at Halloween.
– You’ve never sworn about a service pack.
– You have a Bush-Cheney sticker on your Volvo.
“OK, one of those is a ringer — but the question itself is interesting: what individual characteristics differentiate the two communities? Listen to the people who made the PC versus Macintosh decision for themselves and it’s pretty clear that the PC people get heavily vested in their knowledge of the machine and whatever Windows variant they have or aspire to, while the Mac people tend to assume the machine and talk about what they do with it,” Murphy writes. “That’s a very big difference, but what’s behind it?”
“One idea is that the Mac user’s focus on the applications is reasonable, and that the PC people whose focus is on the machine or the OS are really suffering Stockholm Syndrome — investing in the machine and emotionally bonding with the PC community rather than the professional one defined by the application as a survival strategy for the persona,” Murphy writes.
MacDailyNews Note: See SteveJack’s seminal article “Defending Windows over Mac a sign of mental illness” for more on how Windows users suffer from Stockholm Syndrome and the related Cognitive Dissonance.
Murphy continues, “Another idea comes from A. H. Maslow’s Theory of Human Motivation (Psychology Review, 1943). His idea was that people act to satisfy the highest unmet need in a hierarchy of needs with the basic physiological needs at the bottom and self-actualization at the top. Thus, his way of looking at the difference in behavior would be to say that the Mac user’s basic physiological needs have been met — after all they can assume that the thing works — and so their focus can move to meeting self-actualization and other higher level needs more closely tied to the person’s professional interests.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Mac OS X stays out of your way, unobtrusively allowing users to get work done, while Windows XP is constantly in your face demanding things, impeding productivity. Users who use both know this is so. Mac-only users surmise it. Windows-only users will scream bloody hell, but that doesn’t alter the truth. And Windows-to-Mac switchers will swear to this as fact in a court of law.
<i>my iMac G5 purrs on my desktop – barely audible.<i>
Nice. Unfortunately mine still has a whining overtone after replacing the midplane assembly and I’ll do that again or whatever it takes ’til it’s quieter. The display’s perfect, which is why I opted for replacing the midplane rather than doing a full DOA replacement. Even while I’m typing this now I can tell how it would sound without the whine and I’ll be quite satisfied with the system once that’s gone.
Btw, sizewell, replacing the midplane isn’t as trivial as turning on a lightswitch. I wouldn’t recommend it for someone who’s “rough/clumsy/careless with hardware, or naively intimidated by it, and we all know people like that. But the lightswitch is still safe with them.
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. . .
Dead right what you wrote about the MDN Magic Word, hywel. And the automatic spam postings had been noticeably increasing for the last month or two. For anyone who’s having too much trouble with the word maybe that’s a sign not to post here it?
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<i>my iMac G5 purrs on my desktop – barely audible<i>
Nice. Mine still has a whiny overtone even after replacing the midplane assembly (which btw, Sizewell, isn’t quite as trivial as turning on a lightswitch) and I’ll do that again or whatever it takes ’til it’s quieter. The display’s perfect, which is why I opted to replace the midplane instead of a full DOA system exchange. While I’m typing this I can tell how it’ll sound without the whine and I’ll be quite satisfied with the system then.
…
Dead right about the MDN Magic Word, hywel. The automatic spam here had been noticeably increasing for the past month or two.
“I gather from your post that you are not a fan of Rush, which is fine, and maybe you’re a fan of Gore, which is also fine.”
If I had a choice of who to go to dinner with, I’d probably choose Gore. I don’t know if that makes me a “fan” or not…
<objective on the subject, you’d have to acknowledge that single handedly transforming AM talk radio, gathering a loyal 15-20 million listener base to a “dead medium” being the number one listened to talk radio host in American history, and challenging and ultimately transforming the way that a lot of America looks at the media is a pretty big deal.”</I>
Okay. But I don’t see how that helps Apple. Yes, it makes Rush a “high-profile Mac user.” But, as I pointed out, there are other high-profile Mac users.
“Apple should happily use any and all comers. Apple should not shy away from anyone who can help get them more sales.”
Well, it does get tricky when celebrities are involved. First, celebrities make money off their celebrity, so for them to publicly endorse a product requires that they get paid. It’s sort of like the whole Carl Sagan mess years ago. While I do think Sagan overreacted, he makes money off of his name and needs to make sure that he, at least, gets some token payment. Like a copyright, if you don’t protect it, you lose it.
“I don’t know why they dropped Apple Masters, was that at the WWDC?
AppleMasters was part of marketing, as I understand it. They would give equipment and support to “an international group of visionaries from various fields: educators, artists, designers, writers, producers, architects, inventors, scientists, business leaders, musicians, athletes and other world-changers.” Yes, I suppose I’d count Rush in that group, though none of the other members were particularly “political.”
Some of the past people I remember include Sinbad, Herbie Hancock, James Woods, Gregory Hines, Bryan Adams, and Tom Clancy. Besides stars of the stage and screen, there was also Donald Glaser (physicist), Louis Herman (marine biologist), and Richard Dawkins (scientist).
The reason I bring up WWDC was that we’d usually get Sinbad, Gregory Hines, and a few others to show up at WWDC and put on a show. Bryan Adams showed up back in ’99. It was pretty cool. But AppleMasters was more than entertaining a bunch of developers.
Like I said, I was sorry to see Apple drop it. A brief article can be seen here.
“I do this myself most of the time.”
twilight, lurn to spel.
Totophe wrote:
“And for the end, I drive an Alfa Romeo, without any stickers, and I’m proud of this !
PS: Sorry for my poor English gramar…”
don’t worry, we understand you! good post!
my iMac G5 purrs on my desktop – barely audible
Nice. Mine still has a whiny overtone even after replacing the midplane assembly (which btw, Sizewell, isn’t quite as trivial as turning on a lightswitch) and I’ll do that again or whatever it takes ’til it’s quieter. The display’s perfect, which is why I opted to replace the midplane instead of a full DOA system exchange. While I’m typing this I can tell how it’ll sound without the whine and I’ll be quite satisfied with the system then.
…
Dead right about the MDN Magic Word, hywel. The automatic spam here had been noticeably increasing for the past month or two.
Re: my iMac G5 purrs on my desktop – barely audible
Nice. Mine still has a whiny overtone even after replacing the midplane assembly (which btw, Sizewell, isn’t quite as trivial as turning on a lightswitch) and I’ll do that again or whatever it takes ’til it’s quieter. The display’s perfect, which is why I opted to replace the midplane instead of a full DOA system exchange. While I’m typing this I can tell how it’ll sound without the whine and I’ll be quite satisfied with the system then.
…
Dead right about the MDN Magic Word, hywel. The automatic spam here had been noticeably increasing for the past month or two.
this is a test
option-esc is another alternative in cocoa apps, while in the middle of typing a word.
Liberal jackass wrote: “You have a Bush/Cheney sticker on your volvo? WTF is she talkin about I equate Mac users with liberals, open minded people thank you.”
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Liberals are open-minded to every single opinion, idea, and lifestyle…WITH WHICH THEY AGREE!