“To enter the Apple store in Manhattan is to enter a temple. Beneath its high vault, swish thin young men and women dressed from head to foot in black. They hold objects in their hands, strange white and silver objects, objects of devotion which they present to lay visitors, to the uninitiated who wander in from Prince Street seeking retail solace,” Stephen Evans writes for BBC News. “At the top of a set of broad stairs in the sun-lit store is an auditorium, a circle of seats much like those in a chapel, where one of the black-clad priests stands and delivers an encomium to the objects. There is reverence and a sense of being part of a movement.”
Evans writes, “Part of a cult, in fact – the cult of Mac. Devotees of the products from the stylish, small iPod that holds music to the sleek Powerbook computers seem like a tribe. Perhaps, many of you who use the rival Microsoft computer system will feel as though you are stalked by zealous colleagues keen to convert you from your foolish ways to the higher virtues of Mac.”
“It all stems from the top,” Evans writes. “Every year, the chief executive and founder of Apple Computer, Steve Jobs, addresses the faithful in what’s known as MacWorld in San Francisco… Now, there’s no doubt Apple products are very good and it’s not just a triumph of style, though style is clearly important, but, it seems to me, at least, that these gatherings do exude smugness.”
“But there is a global sociological phenomenon going on – to do perhaps with a minority who believe they have seen a truth. I suppose there may also be a type of person who delights in going against the herd. Whatever is fashionable for the masses becomes unfashionable for the minority. Manchester City and the New York Mets both have their loyal followers who would rather die than head for Old Trafford or Yankee Stadium. And so it is with Microsoft and Apple,” Evans writes.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: For us, it’s not about being different just to be different. The simple fact is that most people who’ve really used both the Mac and Windows platforms know the Mac is designed for the end user, not some rumpled engineer who wants and likes (and needs) to fix things as they break.
“Windows is designed by people who know a lot about computers. Macs, on the other hand, seem to be designed by people who know a lot about people.” – Nigel Kendall.
To use Windows XP, for someone who has really used Mac OS X, is to be assaulted with mediocrity. Windows users who have only used Windows just don’t know any better. Windows XP seems like a wonderful operating system to them. Yes, ignorance is bliss and we Mac users know better. If it makes you feel better to call us smug zealots who believe they have seen the truth and blah, blah, blah, so be it.
We probably wouldn’t be half as smug if the rest of the world wasn’t rolling in shit and proclaiming it to smell “good enough” all while making fun of the freshly bathed.
But, seriously, Windows XP is a fine operating system and using a Windows machine is a fine way to do things with a personal computer — until you’ve used a Mac. This is why Windows-only patchers think Mac users are cultic nuts and why “Mac users who’ve used Windows” pity the patchers stuck using Windows. And what of the few Mac-only users who’ve never touched Windows? Lucky bastards! They really are a tribe unto themselves. By the way, if you’re wondering, there is no such thing as a Windows user who’s really used Mac OS X — they all become “Mac users who’ve used Windows” as described above (except, according to their emails to us, they pretty much all wish they could kick themselves for waiting too long).
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Red Sox and Apple vs. Yankees and Microsoft – October 29, 2004
Defending Windows over Mac a sign of mental illness – December 21, 2003