“Apple fans have always been pains in the backside, an attitude the company has never failed to cultivate. Posters with Picasso, Einstein and other secular deities underlined the cultish sense of superiority, while the Switcher ads instilled the fervour of the recent convert. It’s a good way to cope with the insecurities that otherwise come with being heavily outnumbered: the more obscure a computer language, hardware platform or other religion, the more ardent the adherents,” Rupert Goodwins writes for ZDNet UK.
“But people, enough already. Today I have had two such encounters, one from a bloke from a record company who asked me ‘Is it true that my Macintosh doesn’t need antivirus software.’ ‘Yes,’ I said. ‘It also leaves you more time to be smug.’ ‘Well, smugger,’ he replied. You see my problem. One’s choice of computer is a personal matter, and I do not seek to judge — how could I, a chap who once nearly bought an Atari ST [Ed — And who has been letting the office know how much he wants a Mac mini…]. I know the joy that well-designed products can bring, and how it’s all the greater when all about you are knee-deep in dreck. But heaven help me — one more simpering, bright-eyed expression of undying love and we’ll be testing the splinter point of white polycarbonate with an industry standard crowbar. That’s one comparison a good old-fashioned ironclad dreadnought PC aces,” Goodwins writes.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Several people that we’ve sucessfully switched from Windows to Mac have been know to tell us something like this, “You know, all those years you were trying to get me to try a Mac, I thought you were a royal pain in the ass. Now, I understand. Thank you, thank you, thank you for being such a pain in the ass!”
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Is Microsoft dying? – February 11, 2005
Several people that we’ve sucessfully switched from Windows to Mac have been know to tell us something like this, “You know, all those years you were trying to get me to try a Mac, I thought you were a royal pain in the ass. Now, I understand. Thank you, thank you, thank you for being such a pain in the ass!”
If I had an Apple stock for every time I haver heard that in the last year I would be a rich man.
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I come back to my same question, “Why do these people feel the need to bash others for being so pleased with their choice of a computer?”
It almost seems the reverse of what the author states is true, it isn’t really about the smallness of marketshare that increases the smugness factor, but the bitterness of not being one of the happy few that comes out.
And not that we can take his article too seriously, but if the best he can come up with is that a standard PC can take a hit from a crowbar better than a Mac, and that’s why you should choose to use a PC, well then, he’s maybe been hit with a crowbar himself a bit too often.
…and so are tech writers who review apple products despite NEVER having used one, or the last apple product they tried was a IIE. Mac fans get frustrated and fed up with continually being blown off by people who think they know better because windows is the way to go. Generally, macs are considered “toys” by business and IT people, which is just rediculous. how can that be a justification to not look at a computer company??? especially when they’re consistently better and more advanced than the rest!
When you follow the herd and you see them all going over the cliff and you make a quick right turn and avoid their fate you have a right to be a smug bastard.
Windows users are so bitter.
When they invented Aspirin it might have been similer.
“Hey friend, you do not need to be in pain, try this product – it will relieve your hurt”
“I do not believe in such cures! Medicine is not the answer – I will continue to pray for my relief!”
“No, seriously, try this, it works great!”
“Oh you and your smugness! Begone with you!”
“Ummm, I’m not being smug, I want you to enjoy the pleasure that I have found”
“SHUT UP ALREADY!!!”
“ok, suit yourself”
This fellow’s life is not going to get any easier. There is a parallel:
Right now, all he is getting are the people who never smoked. Actually, they are usually fairly easy to get along with. However, pretty soon, he will be feeling the smug wrath of the reformed smokers. Those who have converted and feel the inner majesty of their choice. Those whose noses having been finely tuned, and can seek out the smell of smoke at 100 metres on a windy day.
Just wait till they start whaling on him. He should make sure he keeps hold of that crowbar!
Mac people are not nearly a pain in the backside as the Windows eXPerience is.
Too bad for all the people who don’t know any better. I use both PC and Macs so I have a broad understanding of why I like Macs better. For these “professionals”, without Windows they won’t have something to defend.
As far as the posters of Picasso and Einstein, I’m pretty happy that I chose a product from a company that has some identity. In today’s Wal-mart world, it’s nice to shop at the mom & pop’s and be treated like a real customer, not another trouble ticket.
I’d put my aluminum PMG5 against his plastic Wintel box in the crowbar test anyday.
I’m tired of hearing my PC using friends complain about their virus problems and seeking tech support for it. You don’t think Mac people can get tired too?
WTF, 4 ads above????????
You know, when you find something that just is a better experience, sometimes you’re inspired to let other people know about it. Call us “Born Again PC Users”, but it’s the truth. After switching to Mac, I actually look forward to using a computer at home, even after an 8 hour day answering Tech Support Phones. That’s GOTTA say something to ya.
About 20 years ago, I was a non-smoker surrounded by smokers. I had to put up with them for many years. Over the years little by little, smokers switched.
[Tabacco Company] was one of most powerful lobbyist in Washington D.C. Today it is still a powerful entity, but has changed into a food product company.
g/non-smoker/s//Mac user/
g/ smokers/s//Windows users/
g/\[Tabacco company\]/s//Microsoft/
Is it time to save the file yet?
The biggest problem today is the bureaucrats of the IT industry can’t fathom that Microsoft’s grand plan to place a Windows PC on every desktop in every office and every home has failed. What I don’t understand is; why do these people carry such an arrogant attitude that everyone should use Windows and just be happy? Isn’t freedom of choice the most important thing here??
Imagine every market carrying such a poor attitude; everyone will drive Fords, wear Levis jeans, eat hamburgers (at McDonalds mind ya), use Windows PCs and listen to Briteny Spears 24/7. Forget about having a mind of your own and making your own choices, these bureaucrats say that “hey look, everyone uses Windows, drives Fords, eats McDonalds hamburgers and listens to Britney Spears and they have the biggest marketshare so why choose anything else?!” Luckily, this type of closed-minded attitude only exists in the Pro-Microsoft driven (though badly influenced) IT industry.
Add my manager to the converted. Never understood why I thought OS X was God’s gift to OS’s, but after using a dualie 1.8GHZ G5 with OS X 10.3 goodness, he went out and bought the iMac 20in. =)
This sounded all very tongue-in-cheek to me. I have a feeling he rather admires the Mac and wishes he could be so “smug.”
while watching “The Aviator” last night I couldn’t help but think of Microsoft as the Pan Am of the computing world trying to establish a stranglehold on the industry while it was in it’s relative infancy. What happened to Pan Am? They became just another player in a market dominated by a healthy variety of airlines. The same should happen to the computer industry.
Great movie, by the way…
Suck my dick Goodwins..
If PC users weren’t so damn ignorant, we wouldn’t have to be so obnoxious.
Of course, GAMING is the top priority for any well-adjusted computer buyer, so macs a relegated to a pathetic marketshare.
“what’s that? Total cost of ownership? hogwash! I don’t need that bullshit cupertino math..”
Goodwins has to take into account the level of jaw-dropping ignorance that is contrasted by the incredible sophistication of the Mac platform..
Imagine driving a Porsche and having your neighbor ask you when you’re gonna get a new car, cuz that piece of junk is on it’s last legs.
You would show him the car, you would try to take him in the car and show him how fast the thing is. You would turn it on and let him hear the engine purr.
You would, ironically, turn into a real jerk, just to get him to see reality.
Question: What’s worse… and idiot(neighbor) or an asshole(porsche owner)?
This is the dilemma we Mac users find ourselves in. We find ourselves fighting off the most ludicrous bullshit (Macs can’t run THE INTERNET?! Macs can’t read Windows-compatible EMAILS?!…MS OWNS APPLE?) that we end up looking like argumentative pricks. Oh yeah.. and snobs.
You know.. cuz we have Porsches.
Reverse phsycology works well with PC diehards…. its like they’re little children.
However one must note the difference between a PC diehard and a PC user.
Hey stevem
I agree about people blowing things off about which they have no understanding. It happens all the time in the technology world… everyone seems to think they know everything, enough to make judgments without any real basis in fact. I get into the same arguments with computer science majors about the superiority of Lisp over their stupid C# or Java. People are too quick to dismiss. It’s fine to love one thing, but you should reserve your dismissal for things until you know you are right.
The only PC diehards I know are simply Mac rejectionists. Why? Because what the author is saying is true for many. We are are an annoying turnoff. Sure someone has to speak up, but it seems you are either with us or against us.
My wife loves her PC despite the fact she can’t run it if anything goes wrong and resents that I keep trying to switch her. Maybe I should switch her. With another wife! That’s what a REAL Mac lover would do.
The editor said the author really wants a mini. He can want a mini AND think we’re annoying too. They aren’t mutually exclusive you know.
I don’t see how this is related to “is microsoft dying?”.
A buddy of mine has been thinking I’m a pain for the past year because when the subject turns to computers all I talk about is the mac. He is into IT and CIS at the local university, so he keeps using the marketshare excuse. He saw my iBook in action this past Sunday at church (using Keynote 2 to run announcements and sermon notes) and the first words out of his mouth were “that kills powerpoint”. He also didn’t make any cracks about the Apple. He was actually complimenting me on it. I think I have a potential switcher on my hands
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It’s the incredible ignorance that gets Mac aplogists. Many people still believe an Apple is an LCII. Good grief. I had a friend tell me that he was going to buy a PC to manage his digital photos, music, and movies. Wanting to tear my hair out, I didn’t know where to start. Sometimes you just have to walk away because you can’t argue with the willfully deaf. Meanwhile, I run ilife on Panther, virus free, spyware free, popup free, malware free, and system crash free on the most beautiful laptop in the world, the G4.