“Hell hath no fury like a Mac user scorned. Run an article about Apple and you usually get a steady trickle of reader comments. Run one that questions or criticises any aspect of Apple strategy, products or leadership and the trickle becomes a deluge. And the accusations of ‘Mac bashing’ soon follow,’ Seb Janacek writes for Silicon.com.
“Apple has a fiercely loyal fan base that would be the envy of any other company on the planet and which helped sustain the company’s fortunes through the dark days and into its current age of relative plenty,” Janacek writes. “Mac users have traditionally viewed themselves as being separate from the rest of the pack and renown for ‘thinking different’. Within the fan base exists a highly vocal minority which tolerates no criticism of its beloved company and attacks any real (or indeed imagined) slight of Apple in online fora with savage intensity.”
“It’s this minority that seems to be under some form of mass hypnosis – perhaps some far-reaching extension of Steve Jobs’ ‘reality distortion field’ – thinking that Apple can do no wrong and is a panacea for all the IT wrongs in the world,’ Janacek writes. “The collective moral outrage does Apple evangelists, and by extension the company itself, no favours. The vitriol seems particularly misplaced in online forums read worldwide by thousands of senior technology professionals and business decision makers holding the IT purse strings.”
“With its new products, overflowing coffers and über-brand, Apple has the best chance in years of making serious inroads into the corporate space,” Janacek writes. “Apple has grown up, one can only hope that this particular vocal minority of its fans can follow suit. Peace. (And for the record: Made on a Mac)”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: In our experience, legitimate criticism of Apple, where the criticism is based on facts, is well-received by the majority of the “Mac community.” It’s the criticism of Apple based upon myths, outright untruths, and ignorance that elicits venom from Mac users. Regardless, a well-thought-out and reasoned response is usually the best tack to take if you want to be effective and convince someone that they’re mistaken. But, where’s the fun in that? 
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Dismissive Dell CEO not impressed with Apple Mac mini, calls iPod a ‘one-product wonder’ and a ‘fad’ – January 17, 2005
IT bosses claim Apple ‘irrelevant’ to businesses – January 19, 2005
And what about the arrogace of IT “Pros” who exclude/lie about the mac…. are they not worth writing about… I’m tired about hearing about the “Mac faithful” I want to hear about the IT cult who continue to recommend Wintel in the face overwhelming evidence of its high costs and dangers…
“He’s a witch!”
MDN’s take is EXACTLY what I was thinking.
Example, Anandtech.com and their recent Mac coverage has been very fair highlighting the Mac’s strengths and weaknesses. The reader feedback never includes the wrath of Apple fans but does include suggestions when Anand misses a point.
Now when a journalist spreads FUD…
Who pissed in this guys Cherrio’s?
Seriously, when did he write something bad about apple and have the brotherhood decend upon him with rightous fury?
The real truth about the IT world, as I have had it whispered to me from many IT execs, is that they WILL NOT support Macs, as they now that it will cost them their jobs.
PCs break, all the time, which means IT jobs. They know that if they implement Macs, then over half of their work is gone, as are their jobs.
My magic word was quality, as in IT refuse quality to keep their jobs.
That’s the problem with all the Cupertino Kool Aid types that go overboard. It’s one thing to write a well thought out note when someone is wrong, but the bashing is just childish.
First of all, if someone writes a negative article about Apple or the Macintosh, it is sometimes to get the reaction. You can say to your editor, “Gee boss, look at all the response my articles get, and that’s just Mac users!”
Second, you only make the writer determined to prove you wrong.
Third, that crap is embarrassing and it perpetuates the “Mac user as cult member” image.
This vitriol comes from both sides as it turns out.
Salon.com wrote a very flattering account of the new Mac mini recently and their letters column is full of hatemail and misinformation from Mac bashing Windows/Linux knuckleheads.
The Cult of IT announced today that anyone who thinks differently than anything already recorded in the holy Redmond book, will be strung up in the server room with ethernet patch cables. A senior ITer was quoted saying “Where enterprise is concerned, of course we take things serious; IT enterprise is always serious, and we intend to ensure that the Microsoft standards of daily crashes, mal-ware installations, (government sanctioned) virii, and daily IT calls are maintained. We can’t have the common employee figuring out how to manage a computer and becoming more productive now can we?.”
Burn Him! Burn the Witch!
He turned me into a newt
Has anyone talked about killing this guy?
I was IT Manager in Sydney’s oldest law firm (was Mac based, 350 staff). What I heard was not that IT Managers would lose their jobs by introducing Macs, but that their position of power would be reduced if they only commanded 20 people in their IT department rather than 100. In that section of IT universe is all about POWER, not technology.
Now I prefer to use Macs to turn small businesses into big Mac-based businesses!
The Dirty Little Secret(s) of IT
1 Most desktop intallations of Wintel boxes are used as a basic Office Suite setup with Internet access and sometimes UNIX terminal emulation (Rumba, etc. on a PC- native on a Mac running OS X). You could esily switch desktop clients and, after an hour class on the interface, be running.
2 The legendary FUD about the difficulty of Windows-Macintosh interoperability is mostly from System 7-9 days and is long gone since System X- especially 10.3x. This is going to get even better on Tiger- due in the next 90-120 days.
3 The availability of enterprise-level system admin tools for Mac OS WAS an issue in the early days of Mac OS X- but not now.
4 Most IT staff at smaller companies are trained not in IT or computer Science, but in Windows System Administration. LINUX, UNIX and Mac OS represent a challenge to them in the form of learning something new. It’s easy to dismiss (or fear) something you have little training or knowledge of.
5 The known lower admin overhead of Mac systems is well-known and represents a threat. A more stable and user friendly system requires less support, and therefore fewer IT staff. Many times your pay grade is based upon how many people work under you. How many of you are willing to allow you staff (and maybe your pay and budget) to be reduced?
That said, there are IT people who are willing to deploy Macs. The problem is that their boss will take a LOT of selling. You can call that putting your job on the line. Dork an OS transition and your job as an IT admin is in dire jeopardy. So are your future prospects for employment. The status quo is so much easier.
I’m about as big a Mac fan as it’s possible to be (OK, I haven’t gotten an Apple logo tattoo yet, but I am thinking about it!). I’ve been using Macs since 1984 and an Apple IIc before that, but if they mess up, I’ll call them on it (I’m actually a bit perturbed by iMovie 5’s failure to post photos to my Homepage right now – fix it Apple! I’m a new Dad!). They’re not perfect, but they certainly are the closest thing to perfect in the tech world.
If these writers would do some actual research instead of just towing the Redmond line, they wouldn’t be on the receiving end of the Mac faithful digital hellstorm. That being said, some of our colleagues do take it a bit too far at times.
Lastly, what are all you people talking about with regards to MAWPUP? I’m not seeing anything strange at all. what browser are you using?
Sephamore Jones— you made me laugh out loud. Quite a feat since I’m holed up in a rather sterile, darkened psychology lab.
I dunno. I’ve been flamed pretty hard on this forum for suggesting that Apple alter some of its policies. I guess some people think Apple can do no wrong. I wish those people would pitch the $1000 it’s going to cost to fix our DP G4 with the faulty logic board.
NoPCZone, you hit the nail on the head on all counts. I’ve always found IT people’s lack of interest in learning new things puzzling. I’m a Graphic Designer, and when i graduated from college there really wasn’t much a graphic designer could do except print. Now I’ve gotten into web design, video, DVD authoring, and I’m learning 3D animation. I love learning new media and technology, but when I talk to most IT people, they have absolutely no desire to even look at something if it didn’t come from Redmond. As I told a co-worker yesterday, there are a lot people happily doing their jobs and hobbies that are completely Microsoft-free.
“But how do you know (s)he is witch?”
“Because (s)he turned me into a Newt!!!”
but i got all better!
Peasant, I can see you got much better!
OK, you gotta admit that some of us get a little carried away with criticism.
http://www.dilbert.com/comics/dilbert/archive/dilbert-20050127.html
ndelc..
Congrats !! …. Heres hoping Mom and Child are doing ok….
and Dad gets some sleep..(once in awhile !)
It’s not a Cult… It’s a club.
does anyone else have an apple tatoo?
great article and one that most Mac users should read.
ndelc,
You want to post photos to the web with iMovie 5. Are you thinking of iPhoto?