“What is it about Apple products and the Mac in particular that inspires a fanatical, almost religious devotion among users? The question has baffled marketers and others outside the Mac cult for years, so Kobi Shely and a band of documentary filmmakers went out seeking answers,” Asher Moses reports for Stuff.co.nz.
“Over their two-year journey the seven-person team interviewed more than 50 “Macheads” for their film of the same name, which is due for release this year,” Moses reports.
“But at the end of their long journey, during which the filmmakers spoke to virtually every prominent member of the Mac community, Shely hasn’t come much closer to cracking the cult of Mac,” Moses reports.
MacDailyNews Take: Guess we don’t have to bother watching it then.
Moses continues, “He said most Macheads volunteered ‘ease of use’ and ‘design’ as reasons for their devotion but this did little to explain how a subculture could develop around a computer.”
“He concluded that the core reason for the Mac’s unique success was Apple’s ability to appeal to people’s emotions,” Moses reports.
“Shely said he was inspired to create the film after witnessing the vitriolic reaction from the Mac community after Apple announced the ability for Macs to run Windows.
The Mac camp showed its typical air of superiority, saying the move would be like a gourmet pizza restaurant starting to serve Domino’s,” Moses reports.
Full article here.
“MacHEADS the movie,” a movie about Apple Mac fans from “Chimp 65 Productions,” online trailer:
Direct link via Dailymotion: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x44l1c_macheads-the-movie-trailer_tech
True Macheads are those that adopted the platform early and resisted the siege of Windows, along with with mass media’s constant drone of the death of Apple throughout the ’90s.
Apple II’s in college 25 years ago, first Mac in ’89, and nothing else since.
Ever.
When I was in my teens, I owned an Apple IIe. In the 90’s I began my working career and moved to PC’s. In the new centruy I got a job that entailed doing some testing on a Mac. It was then I remembered that computing was supposed to be FUN. I started the switch, and you know what I found out? Macs are fun, they are easy to use, they are a pleasure to work on, they are very powerful machines and they are made really well.
I argue with PC enthusiasts all the time about why anyone would use a mac. I have learned one thing about those PC users, they don’t care about quality. They put out crap code and crap products calling it good enough, while I care about quality and elegance.
How does a person who only cares what the price tag is even begin to understand quality and elegance and the motivations of the people who care about such things. And likewise, how do we who care about good stuff learn not to turn of our nose?
I guess its the old argument of bad beer. I have friends from college who still drink Bud Light while I am trying the latest Belgium, German and US microbrews. Life is too short for bad beer and bad computing, for them, ehh its just alcohol and a job.
@spark,
That’s not really fair. I didn’t know anything else when I was growing up and only in the last couple of years did I get a Mac and see what I’d been missing. I think that the attitude of “you’re only a fan if you’ve been here since the beginning” is a bit shortsighted. If you have nothing else around you and have no experience with anything else you can’t blame people for being bandwagons and whatnot. If they’re meant to see it and be part of the community you should welcome them, not look down your nose at them.
That is all. Back to the previously scheduled smugness.
Apple II – CPM – lack of ease-of-use, no desire to “build” my own computer. Don’t do gaming
Been through the mill on the other stuff.
I use Macs to work – make money. Bought first one in 84, bought several dozen or more since. They don’t break, just get old. We donate them when they need to be replaced by faster machine. We run 20 some Macs in my office – no IT (I’m as close as it comes to IT). Email, network, server, multiple printers – everything connected.
All easily, quickly, no hassles. Yeah – I’m a Mac head, because they work and as a result, let ME work.
I sure hope they get it right. It’s a lot more than a handful of nuts that like the same thing.
I believe it’s basically preservation instinct that drives a lot of Mac users. We came close to losing what we know is superior technology… and we’ll never let it get to that point again.
There is no ethnic, social-economic, political, religious divide with Mac Users. We are there to help any present or future user. I tend toward the conservative, but would as gladly help Al Gore as I would Rush Limbaugh with a Mac question.
We’re all one family. By helping others we know that we ensure our preferred computing experience will continue.
It has been my experience that Mac users are more demanding and are more knowledgeable about computers in general. Apple has a very close community and brand equity that nobody else in the industry can touch. I think Mac users would love to embrace Microsoft products if there were something innovative there but those days are long gone for MS
“He said most Macheads volunteered ‘ease of use’ and ‘design’ as reasons for their devotion but this did little to explain how a subculture could develop around a computer.”
“He concluded that the core reason for the Mac’s unique success was Apple’s ability to appeal to people’s emotions.”
TRANSLATION:
Kobi Shely didn’t get the dramatic, sensational answer he wanted, so he made it up!
Started out with TI 99-4a and the Commodore 64 as a kid. Table sized floppies and cassette tapes for data storage. Oh what a world.
Grew up, sk8 boards and drugs were my calling. No computers.
Went to college, meet my first Windows machine. 3.1 and had to use Word Perfect for DOS. What CRAP! I knew computers could be better.
Started classes for media production. Meet my first Mac running OS 7. I was amazed. This computer actually talked to me like a human. It just made sense on a level that 3.1 couldn’t even try to reach. This had a major impact on my life. I was to become a mac addict!
For all those who don’t understand or see the light, they are doomed to live in darkness.
The Mac is not just a computer. It is a part of me and who I have become in this world.
Way back in 1984 I was happily running my Apple IIe and decided to move up to the flashy new “Business” computer … the IBM pc, so I took my 11 year old daughter with me to the computer store… just as I was being rung up for my purchase my daughter, Michelle showed me what she had just done on that new little computer in the back … it was a printout, complete with picture of a heart that said “I Love You Daddy”. She had never, ever touched a computer before that day. I was sold, I switched that day & have never looked back, or used anything else … and I managed to convert quite a following over the years.
Luv, Peece & Maciness yall
It’s absurd really. Kobi Shely would have done far more interesting work by exploring why there is a Cult of Windows: why would large numbers of people devote themselves to absolutely crap technology?
There is no Cult of Mac. Mac simply works better.
This should be interesting. I’m sure the film focuses on the strangest of the breed. I’m sure the film is constructed in such a way that you’d be able to deduce that Shirley McLaine must use a Mac.
I might be considered a Machead. I’ve been an Apple admirer since the time I saw the first Macintosh — everything was so crisp, clean and simple and the packaging was gorgeous. Plus you could pick it up and go. I bought my first Mac in 1999, a Tangerine G3 iMac, shortly after Steve Jobs had come back to rescue this amazing company with its storied history. They’d basically booted Jobs a decade earlier to make the company more like every other computer company, and Jobs had returned the company towards its unique vision of computing, the one with the beautiful fonts, the brain of the scientist, the spirit of the artist, and the simplicity of a child. The iMac just plugged into the electrical outlet. That was all the set up that was required. My friends with PCs had to install discs, drivers, cards, you name it. It took them days to set up a simple computer. The Mac was different, and it did everything I need to do. I’ve never looked back or elsewhere. Sure, I use PCs at work, and they’re not bad. But my heart & soul works like a Mac. And since that first Tangerine iMac, I’ve had a white 12″ G3 iBook, a “white lamp” G4 iMac, a titanium 15″ G4 PowerBook, a black CoreDuo MacBook, and a 24″ gloss iMac. I’m not counting AirPorts, iPods, Cinema Displays or software, but that’s a lot of Macs,and they’ve gotten plenty of use.
Maybe it IS a religious experience!
For me it’s the “it just works” thing. In my print shop we have a variety of machines, and the Macs always get the job done. I make more money using Macs. Thats got to count for something!
The madness that is maintaining a Windows network, and why people dont demand more from Microsoft, that should be a freakin’ documentary…
If this is an ad for Apple users, I own a Dell.
This is like ‘Trekkies’ except without the hot Denise Cosby.
Wow, looks like from her docmumentary preview, Macheads are Jerry Garcia-worshipping hippies! Ooops, I meant Steve Jobs-worshipping yippies!
I started out using computers that used punch cards and digital tape in the Navy on the 1970s, then moved to the Apple II in 1979.
I’ve used only Apple computers since then, the Mac since 1984 and I will NOT even touch a Windows machine.
Apple. Real Intelligent Design.®
Hey there Spark.
True Mac Users adopt Apple because they use Micros**t products and something bad happens. They wander into an Apple store or have a Machead buddy and that’s that.
So the lady starts about her late dad, and a picture of a chimp pops up.
??
I know I know, it’s the production company.
And it’s a retarded name. Does every company have to be ‘Blue Frog’, ‘Nine Cows’, ‘Electric Chicken’, ‘Frozen Mackerel’ etc etc..?
Just a first impression.
I think many of you have it wrong.
A MacHead is really someone that started with a Lisa and migrated to a Macintosh.
I started with Lisa. Actually, the second Lisa in the state of Alabama.
It was converted to a MacXL at a later date.
After watching that trailer..all I have to say is that y’all wear weird clothes.
Just my $0.02
“True Macheads are those that adopted the platform early and resisted the siege of Windows, along with with mass media’s constant drone of the death of Apple throughout the ’90s.”
These “True Macheads” are idiots then. Back in the 90s Apple sold crap. What they had was _worse_ than Windows.
They didn’t have anything decent until Apple bought NeXT and got the BSD Unix/NeXTSTEP technology:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NEXTSTEP
Oh, and when they did that they got Steve Jobs back, too. Jobs had wanted to move Apple to Unix before he got ousted in the first place — smart guy.
This is why Apple is riding high now. It’s not because of a bunch of irritating, emotionally immature Apple-cultists. It had those in the 90s, and it was heading down the toilet then. ***It’s because Apple have good technology***. The iPhone runs on the same software technology as the computers: it’s that flexible.
MAC= More Advance Computer ,three letters says it all.
This is as bad as all the Obama crap.
I am among, the few, the proud, the earliest Cult of Mac members, before it had a name.
Resisting all attacks from the Dark Side, facing near death, praying for the return of Steve Jobs. Believing against all odds (and financial Prophets) that the current resurrection would come, and against all odds—it did.
Howz that for a cult statement? ; )
I think the longer your a Mac user, the more passion you have, so new users have passion but maybe not as much or as deep as us early 1980’s Mac users. When you have a billion+ people against you for decades, passion keeps you going, keeps you fighting, because you know there is something better than what the status-quo is using. Apple’s “Think Different” commercial says it all:
I started with a CDC 6400 at my university in the 1970’s, punch cards & everything. Then they got a DEC System 10, and the computer science department got a PDP-11/70 running Unix. Professionally, I’ve used dozens of computers since, VAX/VMS, Concurrent, HP, SGI, various flavors of *nix. My first personal computer was a NEC APC III running MS-DOS 2.11 in 1984. Then I bought a MacSE in 1988. I’ve been forced to use various Windows machines at work since then, but for myself and my family, we have only Macs. We’ve had a beige G3, Umax C600, PM 7100, PM G4 (Sawtooth), and I retired my PB G3 Lombard two years ago for a 15″ AlBook. My wife’s business started with a grape iMac, graduated to a 1GHz G4 eMac, and she uses a 1.4Hz G4 iBook. If I had my way, I’d be using my AlBook at work instead of this Dull laptop the company provided.
wow it looks more like a Mocumentary to me. Are some of those people real? the look like they went through a long make up session to look like that.
I think the mentality of using a Mac was onset by Apple back with the famous 1984 commercial. The beauty of that commercial is that it still rings true today. Being a Mac user, to en extent is a bit of being antiestablishment. Not wanting to conform with mediocre half-ass computing solutions. As a graphic designer I was finally free from french curves and clogged rapidograph. I used Windows before and it seems to get in the way of my workflow. I could achieve the same result on a Windows computer, but half the fun is getting their. Windows sucks the fun out of working.
Apple = Quality, and now the world is taking note.
@ Shawn and Steve Ballmer’s Greengrocer
There would be nothing of what is called “The Cult of Mac” or “MacHeads” if not for the early and middle years. If not for the advent of Windows, and MS’s nefarious method of creating it, the psychology of “us against them” would not have come about. So, Shawn, you can be a Machead even though your are relatively new to the platform. I was just saying that the movie producers need to go back decades to learn the genesis of Macheadedness.
And, SBG, your assertion that “they didn’t have anything decent until Apple bought NeXT…” simply illustrates you ignorance of computer and OS evolution. Apple lost focus in the ’90’s but they never sold crap. Using a Mac, even during the ’90s was still a superior experience over Windows.
As a musician/songwriter, using Macs has revolutionized the multi-tracking recording process, effectively eliminating the limitations of analog recording. I now have virtually unlimited potential at a fraction of the cost of recording on tape. And yes, the technology is also available on Windows, but it’s just not the same experience. Most (not all) of the die-hard Windows using musicians I know from the ’90s have switched, even before Apple went to Intel. And most of us are using MOTU Digital Performer, although I may switch to Logic Pro soon.
Why is it that musicians and artists prefer Macs? Aesthetics, ease of use, better software, etc., etc. It’s just a vastly better experience. If the recognition of a superior solution when one is confronted with the evidence makes one a cult member… Enthusiasm should be expected from those freed from the world of Windows.
I don’t see the big mystery. In a nutshell, there are two kinds of companies: There are companies that really care about pushing the envelope and taking care of their customers (like Apple and BMW); and there are companies that are quite content to crank out the same old products year after year (give or take a few new features here and there, most likely copied from trend-setters like Apple) as long as they’re making a healthy profit for their shareholders.
Most companies are of the second kind. All they really care about is the money, which is completely obvious to discerning consumers—especially when a company comes along that really “thinks different.” Enter Apple. The rest is history.
Not to carry the analogy too far, but the difference between Apple and most of their competitors is not unlike the difference between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. One looks toward the future, the other is tied to the past. Apple fans value that difference and understand how rarely one encounters something genuinely new and forward-thinking—either in business or in politics. If the so-called analysts don’t get that, they are either too stupid or too jaded to appreciate the value of excellence and innovation in a world that celebrates (and rewards) mediocrity.
Start with an NCR IMOS, NCR VIRX, Apple IIc, Lisa (Iⅈ), IIgs, Compaq Portable with DOS, Mac IIfx (with I still have and it works too), IIvx, Quadra 840av, Power Mac 9600, NeXT Cube, NeXT station, G4 saw tooth (AGP), G4 quick silver Dual 1.25GHz, Mac Mini Dual Core, a current gen iMac, and Xeon 5400 Dual 4 core. Too many Sun Machines to list too.
I’ve never owned a Windows machine though I’ve worked on Windows Systems at various employers and on various projects using Windows 3.1 through Vista, I know more about MS Windows then I ever wanted to. You want to render a Windows system unusable and unrecoverable all you need to do is delete, one specific registry entry. It’s hose city for that install of Windows. What a stupid ass concept you create a database type file were the OS and every application dumps, reads, modifies and who knows what else all of the critical settings and configuration information. It’s a single point of failure for the OS, how smart is that.
I was born in 1990.
So it’s not fair to say you are only a fan when you were from the beginning there.
@spark
point taken, thanks for the clarification. I see where you’re coming from, the original message didn’t quite convey that though.
have a good day.
” . . . like a gourmet pizza restaurant starting to serve Domino’s”
More like Domino’s in a post-G.I. tract state.
Apple makes computers for people, not for IT types. Sure, I’m technically oriented, but that has never meant that I want to spend more time working on my computer than I spend working with it!
What I don’t get is why anyone not in IT would buy a computer (Windows/DOS) that is so clearly not made for them. How can so many people have so much trouble with Windows for so long and still not switch???
“These ‘True Macheads’ are idiots then. Back in the 90s Apple sold crap. What they had was _worse_ than Windows.”
Debatable.
Apple had things in the 1990s the Windows users could only dream about. Remember that much of what Microsoft copied from Apple were things that Apple had done.
Interapplication communication via AppleEvents. QuickTime. TrueType, which Apple shared with Microsoft. QuickDraw GX, which had many of the features of Mac OS X’s Quartz. QuickDraw 3D. Speech synthesis and recognition.
Unfortunately, what Apple had was a bunch of great technologies built on top of a creaking foundation of an operating system designed for ten year old computers with 128K of RAM.
a lot of people in here are bandwagon jumpers…
I’ve been using macs since apple IIcs, Centras and powerbook 150s.
Looking back now, those computers sucked ballz, but hey, they beat the alternative. lol.
I find it hard to believe that a movie dedicated to the Mac and the Mac community, which have always had such a strong artistic tilt, would choose such a do-nothing font for the title of their film. The Mac is famous for what it did for typography and they go with … what is that Arial?
If Mac users have the mindset of cultists, then Windows users must have the mindset of full-blown, whack-job, fundamentalists.
Nothing else could explain the irrational intolerance, the mind numbing refusal to face reality, and the rejection of facts that don’t jibe with their perception of how the universe works.
@ Nobodi –
“[…], the mind numbing refusal to face reality, and the rejection of facts that don’t jibe with their perception of how the universe works.”
I don’t know… most scientists I know use Windows.
Personnaly, I’ve always used Macintosh computers because I’m lazy and don’t have the time to learn all the esotetic Windows procedures.
The Apple II sucked. Atari and Amiga and even the C64 were much better.
The Mac is way better than any other OS out there now.
My Past Partners:
Apple ][GS
Commodore 64
…various DOS/Windows boxes (Gateway, Dell, homemade)
…various PowerMac G3, G4, G5
iMac G5, various Intel iMacs
MacBook Pro 15″
Currently running:
MacBook Pro 17″, MacBook Pro 15″, iPhone
—–
And with all that… I still don’t consider myself a Mac Fanatic. When something good comes along, I’ll give it a try. If it’s worth it and it’s time for an upgrade, if not then I’ll stick to what works or what I have.
>nobodi wrote: If Mac users have the mindset of cultists, then Windows users must have the mindset of full-blown, whack-job, fundamentalists. Nothing else could explain the irrational intolerance…
It’s funny how you’re so wrapped up in your fanboyism, that you don’t see the irony in your thinking.
Trillion-dollar corporations, governments, and other entities have used non-Mac platforms to great success, yet your little mind cannot comprehend as much.
Step off the high-horse and open your eyes, Apple and Macs are awesome but it’s the man that does great things. The machine is a tool.
“It’s absurd really. Kobi Shely would have done far more interesting work by exploring why there is a Cult of Windows: why would large numbers of people devote themselves to absolutely crap technology?”
I’ve heard this a lot and have never really understood it. Where are these “Cult of Windows” people, do they have a website like this (it would be funny for a look
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”smile” style=”border:0;” /> )? I’ve met people who hate Macs and use Windows but when I ask them what’s so good about Windows they say nothing, it’s just the best of a bad bunch.
I’m not a Windows fanboy. I switched to Linux when Vista came out and you really have to hate Windows to switch to Linux
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”raspberry” style=”border:0;” />
I’m a refugee from the initial “Switcher” campaign. My first Mac was a Bondi iMac G3- System 8.1 – 1998.
I put it aside for a while until OS X. From there- never looked back. Now- 5 Macs- (still have the Bondi- 10.2.8) – I got it.
I’ve convinced a number of people to go Mac. Even to the point of taking them down to the Apple store and helping them with their first purchase.
I still sleep with Windows users tho.
Cripes, it IS like a religion….
@me,
http://www.windowsdailynews.com/
http://billgates.celebstate.com/
http://www.microsoftisawesome.com/
http://www.windowsitpro.com/windowspaulthurrott/
Not to mention the endless Windows forums on which you can find any number of Mac bashers and Vista droolers.
Documentary puts Macheads under the microscope
“What is it about Apple products and the Mac in particular that inspires a fanatical, almost religious devotion among users?”
THIS IS CALLED THE OBAMA EFFECT.
…that inspires a fanatical, almost religious devotion among users?
That’s spurious hyperbole, (and I’ve got plenty of that) only perpetuating a myth for the sake of marketing a video, that I admit I have not seen, but my dispute is not with the video, as it is all too easy to distill and extract information about something in a way that provokes public interest and excitement, at the expense of accuracy.
Why Mac users get a raw deal and labeled zealots!
When you have been kicked down or marginalized for so long, you either take it or you stand up for yourself and for what you believe in. You speak out.
Apple Mac users are without a doubt a minority, we all know a minority is a relatively small group of people, esp. one commonly discriminated against in a community or society, differing from others in race, religion, language, political persuasion or in this case their choice of a computer OS.
The majority, are not as well informed as the like to think they are, in reality they are often vacuous, ill-advised and ignorant in regard to the thoughts, sentiments and experiences of the few. thus some minorities tend to fight back and take a stand against the persecution and subjugation.
The MS Windows protagonists had perviously preached the MS Windows party line through the printed media, and this did not offer Mac users the potential to correct the innumerable lies.
The internet has brought a superfluity of erroneous, fictitious, ill-founded and uncorroborated reports about Apple, Apple Macs and Apple Mac users from the MS Windows apologists.
However, the internet with its immense power and reach has allowed the playing field to be leveled and the record set straight. It has allowed Apple Mac users who care about such things, the ability to confront, challenge, dispute and argue against the FUD.
Today, thanks to sites like MDN, RDM and the Small Wave to name a few, when an offending article is posted either by peddlers of MS propaganda or ignorant writers, articles that contain falsehoods, deception or just ludicrous twaddle, it is methodically and clinically deconstructed, not only by the likes of MDN, RDM and the Small Wave – but more significantly by numerous Mac users who post in the supplied replies or feedback columns at the offending site, Mac users who are fed up with the constant lies perpetuated by the shills, now have a “voice”.
These thousands of ‘acts’ of ‘protest’ and ‘dissent’ by supposed “fanatics” and “religious” Macheads are responsible for opening the eyes of the sleepy majority to the verisimilitude … to the actuality of the Apple Mac OS.
—
MPC Guy – as usual you don’t get it. You are entitled to sit back and let life wash over you and skulk at the back of the room, but please don’t come here with your holier than thou’ attitude.
Apple Macs are what they are today, due to Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and all the brilliant people at 1 Infinite Loop, Cupertino, California, Apple is also a “heady” mix of all those people and it’s users, users who have been loyal, faithful, dedicated, true, staunch, trusty, resolute, unwavering and uncompromising alongside the company. Users who will criticise and castigate it when necessary, but will endeavor to stick it out through thick n’ thin, who share a certain camaraderie. If we care to feel bound by this common loyalty, why is it a inconvenience to you? Why do you have to drag it down?
“Our wretched species is so made that those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road.” ~ Voltaire
I’ve been using macs since windows 3.1. I made the switch in 1993. I’ve never ever thought about going back. I can’t say I agree with everything that Apple does but then again there are only a few things from Microsoft that I can agree with. I mean do I really want a computer with Vista, or are there any reasons that I’d ever buy a Zune (shudder)?
I don’t think most Mac fans are fanatical about Macs – they’re fanatical about the things they do with Macs. Apple simply gets credit for facilitating people’s passion for design, communication, photography, music, video. Those of us who love doing these things love Apple for helping us do them. For people who don’t love what they do, good enough is good enough.
Aperture is a perfect illustration of Apple’s amazing dedication to getting their products right and supporting their users’ creativity. Even though I’ve been a Mac fan since 1992, as a professional photographer, I was blown away by Aperture. Apple had never done a professional photo application (no, iPhoto doesn’t count), and they came out of nowhere with an application that worked the way real professional photographers work, or want to work, and blew imaging titan Adobe out of the water. Suddenly, Adobe products looked like Microsoft products – designed by engineers without regard for real users’ needs. The attention to detail in Aperture’s design shows that Apple went out to lots of working photographers, asked tons and tons of questions, listened carefully to all the answers, and then built an app around the way real pros actually work. Adobe responded with Lightroom and leveraged its imaging processing strengths. But even now, two years later, Aperture still shows that Apple understands its users better. Amazing.
I have always been pro-Apple even if I did not have a Mac. My first computer was an Apple IIc, a wonderful engine. My father had at the same time the first Mac – it was an incredible machine, the only computer back them to look and feel like computers do today.
Then, I was a kid so for me computers were only video games platforms. So at the end of the 80’s I moved to Amiga, and in 93 to my first PC. I always wanted to go back to Mac one day (the day I saw MacOSX the first time, I was dazzled), but between the video games problem and the non-compatibility with a windows/msoffice world, I was afraid. When I heard about bootcamp, and then Parallels, I made the jump – and do not use these programs at all now !
I started using MACs when the switch was made to NEXT because I used to be a UNIX Sys Admin at Bell Labs and always wanted my very own UNIX computer. I never liked Windows but was forced to use it and have gotten pretty good at fixing and tinkering with that piece of dog awful crap. Windows is a challenge and pain in the butt. When I want to have fun I use my MACs.
Moses distorted my answer, for my response is posted at the film’s blog http://www.macheadsthemovie.com
Yesterday the Sydney Morning Herald wrote an article about MacHEADS. I gave an email interview to reporter Asher Moses, he writes in his blog “… the issue at the documentary core – why do Mac users love their computers so much – is definitely something many outsiders, myself included, struggle to comprehend.” The article reveals some very interesting details about the film making process and it’s core issues. MacHEADS do confront the question of the phenomenon and as I wrote to Asher there is more than one reason for the creation of the Mac culture, and MacHEADS goes into great length exploring the hidden territories of the Mac community to form a cohesive thesis. I didn’t go into much details because my belief as a film maker that the narrative should speak for itself. Once the film will come out I’m sure that there will be a lot of productive discussion that will share more light on the Apple Phenomenon.
Kobi Shely
Moses distorted my answer, my response is posted at the film’s blog http://www.macheadsthemovie.com
Yesterday the Sydney Morning Herald wrote an article about MacHEADS. I gave an email interview to reporter Asher Moses, he writes in his blog “… the issue at the documentary core – why do Mac users love their computers so much – is definitely something many outsiders, myself included, struggle to comprehend.” The article reveals some very interesting details about the film making process and it’s core issues. MacHEADS do confront the question of the phenomenon and as I wrote to Asher there is more than one reason for the creation of the Mac culture, and MacHEADS goes into great length exploring the hidden territories of the Mac community to form a cohesive thesis. I didn’t go into much details because my belief as a film maker that the narrative should speak for itself. Once the film will come out I’m sure that there will be a lot of productive discussion that will share more light on the Apple Phenomenon.
Kobi Shely
OK everyone get a grip here. It wasn’t until OSX and the offering of a true multi-tasking operating system was it that I was willing to make a move to macs. If you don’t understand what I just said stop reading…you are a mental midget who will never fully utilize the power of OSX. I do love mine now.
However, open your friggin eyes to the fact that Apple has a whopping 7% of the market. Microsoft bailed them out by injecting cash into Apple otherwise you’d still be working on outdated computers by a defunk company. It was all but dead until Bill stepped up and injected cash. Heck if it wasn’t for Microsoft and PCs you wouldn’t’ see computers in most of the homes in the US because they wouldn’t be able to afford them. Mac’s are insanely expensive for the average US consumer. So I guess windows/linux and PC’s are doing an injustice to those people too cuz if they can’t feed the ego of Apple they shouldn’t be allowed to own a computer.
There are features of the iPhone that windows mobile has been doing for years now that Apple is touting as wow no one has done this before. I agree the interface is better than windows mobile, but the concept was proven long before the iPhone. I love portions of the iPhone and have a Touch, but seriously get off your there is only one company etc. Without Sony portable music wouldn’t have existed.
Without the open platform of PC’s we wouldn’t have seen the explosion of technology because we would be pigeon holed into single solutions by Apple with no variance available to push the limits. There’s a reason why Apple is known for stability. Any time you minimize variables and suppress the potential for options in your product line you can solidify quality and ensure that the minimal hardware line you offer is ‘bullet proof’. Open it up so you can create the ability for other companies/people/inventors to expand your line and you will see a certain amount of compatibility/quality issues. But you will also see expansion in innovation rather than acceptance of what limited line is offered. Ahhhh enter the iPhone. Let’s take a great product then let’s lock it so everyone has to come to use if they want applications and we can force them to use only the stuff we say is OK. Make sense? If not you need to take some business courses and E D U C A T E yourself so you can bounce into reality.
I have had hardware issues with Mac’s just like PC’s. So don’t give me the Apple quality and they never break or lockup BS. If you are a power user of any sort you know you can push the box past its limits and make it surrender period. I’ve had 2 Macbook Pro’s that took a puke. I’ve seen PowerMac’s cause trouble and die. You WILL see as Apple gets bigger and volumes start to increase more and more there will be quality issues that will arise. Nature of the beast. We’ve seen it in every industry including technology and automobiles.
Bottom line. There are reasons and places for multiple platforms. They all have their place. They all have their goods/bads. I could debate all day about various positives and shortcomings of each operating system. None of which is a silver bullet for everyone. If you are that shallow to not see that you really need some mental help.
What’s next here should we start a Star Wars vs. Star Trek war? Why not its another pointless argument built to feed someones mental shortcomings and inability to lead by example rather than hide behind a keyboard.
My Rant.
>SKY LARK wrote: as usual you don’t get it…but please don’t come here with your holier than thou’ attitude. Why do you have to drag it down?
Look. I’m in no way bashing Apple or Macs. If you bothered to read my posts, you’d see I’m actually a huge fan of Apple and have bought many of their products. However, I don’t find the products make me better than anyone or make it okay to bash other people, especially when they’re being perfectly polite even in disagreement.
There are many respectable, intelligent, and open-minded people on this board. But there are multiples more whose comments are completely absurd, rude, and outright offensive.
I admit that I can do better to be gentler in my commentary, but while I attack ideas, I do not attack the person behind them.
So when you accuse me of portraying myself as holier-than-thou, keep in mind that that you’re the one who persistently attacked me on a personal level. I did not return the favor. That’s hardly being holier-than-thou, just being reasonable and respectful.
>Spark wrote: True Macheads are those that adopted the platform early and resisted the siege of Windows,
If so, what about those who started with Apple. I never owned one of the first machines, but I did start with the ][e and bought a ||gs.
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But you got me, I’ve used Windows quite a bit in addition to Macs.
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@ justified
Thanks for the links, I had a look through a couple of them and they were very funny
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I have no doubt that the people running those sites are Windows fanboys or they’re being paid by Microsoft (if they’re not that’s really sad).
The only problem is that I only found a couple of comments on each site. What I’m really looking for is a Windows site like MDN.
After all if there were more Windows fanboys they’d be camping out for Vista
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@SKY LARK
You’re joking right??? Please tell me you’re joking???
btw I heard that they were rounding up Mac users and putting them in concentration camps, better look out!!
I went from an a2+ to dos-based machines, running wordperfect. then an a2gs with wordperfect. win 3.1 -> 95 -> 98 -> XP, still using wp 8 (from 1997) until last year. my experience with pre-OS X macs was that they were ugly, crash-prone (with meaningless error messages), 3-5 years behind windows in software, had no right-click on the mouse, etc. I would never consider buying one, then or now. then I started doing web development & working with unix, around the time os x first came out. got an imac g5. replaced my xp powerbook with a macbook. now i’d never consider a windows machine. but it’s os x, not the mac per se, that brought me over. and there’s still no mac word processor that comes close to a 10-year old copy of wordperfect for windows.
You obviously haven’t used pages. The only software for Windoze is bloatware. You may be a recent switcher but Mac has always had the best software.
http://www.apple.com/iwork/pages/
I don’t know what universe you’ve been in but Mac OS has NEVER been 3-5 years behind windows! When you say things like that you sound like a fool.
At best you’re ill informed,otherwise you’re a Winblow fanboy and you can get the hell off this site!
Re: windowsdailynews.com
Their lead headline is “Upgrading from Vista to XP.”
LMFAO! Oh man, that is priceless.
Macs facilitate the desire to create and explore new ideas. You can do these things on a Windows PC, but my experience is that most people typically don’t. That has something to do with the types of people who choose Macs rather than the capabilities or limitations of the computer platform and associated software. But it is more than that, because I have personally witnessed the difference in the ways that my children use the new iMac that I bought last November versus the Dell PC that I inherited from a relative. The kids played games on the PC, and occasionally used Word to write a story or a letter. They play games on the Mac, as well, but they also create movies and music for fun. One daughter has produced some quie decent Garageband tracks and another produced a very nice five minute family video integrating photos from iPhoto and music from iTunes including various pan and zoom effects. These girls are 8 and 9, and I gave them absolutely no help or guidance. They found the capabilities on their own and figured out how to use them. the iMac is becoming an increasingly important tool for the entire family – email, calendar, internet, homework, fun/entertainment, creativeness… That is why I own a Mac.
Mike said…
“I think the longer your a Mac user, the more passion you have, so new users have passion but maybe not as much or as deep as us early 1980’s Mac users.”
I’ve actually experienced the opposite. In my computing youth, I was grasping at the multi-colored Apple stickers that I got from my tech-teacher in high school and was finding places to put them. But a couple months ago I decided to remove my lovingly crafted white Apple logo magnet from the rear-center of my otherwise unadorned car.
Why? Honestly, many of the comments that I read on Mac sites like this repulse me and I desire to distance myself from the seemingly mindless devotion. The nameless editor(s) of MacDailyNews only encourage this behavior, and anyone who doubts this need only harken back a couple months to the smug reports of Apple reaching an all time high stock price *again*, as though the stock will never fall.
I continue to be a Mac fan, but I tire of being labeled a Mac fanboy when I am not. Just today at work I was literally labeled a fanboy when I said I don’t like Alienware PCs because “they weren’t Macs”.
I’m just tired of the whole thing.
MPC Guy – If you are going to quote me in a reply, I think that would be in order for you make sure it is presented correctly.
Sorry to be trite and sanctimonious but, you just wrote –
…”but while I attack ideas, I do not attack the person behind them.”
Yet, earlier in this thread you personalized a reply to poster nobodi –
… “you’re so wrapped up in your fanboyism” …
…” yet your little mind cannot comprehend as much.”
…”Step off the high-horse and open your eyes” …
–
You can’t run with the horses and the hounds, it’s one or the other
By being capricious, you dilute and obscure your point of view.
I believe in your right of reply, and mine.
@me
I assume that you are thinking about this part in particular –
“Apple Mac users are without a doubt a minority, we all know a minority is a relatively small group of people, esp. one commonly discriminated against in a community or society, differing from others in race, religion, language, political persuasion or in this case their choice of a computer OS.”
NO, I am not joking, I was
What’s wrong, did I draw too long a bow for you, can you not interpret the candid parallels illustrated.
Do you think that I am honestly trying to equate the way Mac users used to be treated in the late eighties and through the nineties in a world of MS Windows business’s and users, to the plight of people who suffer from real iniquitous and abhorrent discrimination issues.
Discrimination is discrimination regardless of the level applied, all intolerance and prejudice is to be despised.
Your – “btw I heard that they were rounding up Mac users and putting them in concentration camps, better look out!!” – is a typical reply from a MS Windows user who has never reflected on the circumstances I mentioned, I’m sure for you it was all beer n’ skittles, as you were confident you were on the chosen path.
Maybe you are now or were a Mac user in the late eighties and through the nineties, if so you have not made this obvious, so I am convinced that you can not be empathetic to my post. Hows the Linux going?
As for cult Windows sites, I do not think you will find any like MDN as MDN was in all probability driven by the issues I mentioned earlier … it’s a place for some of the minority to express their views.
“NO, I am not joking, I was”
Excuse me, my mistake, scrub the – I was – bit.
</i>What is it about Apple products and the Mac in particular that inspires a fanatical, almost religious devotion among users?</i>
It’s not Apple is that good, it’s that products from others are that BAD.
Once you find something that does work, you tend to latch rather passionately onto it.
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Anyway here’s betting that the documentary will get it all wrong. If you really need to explain Apple to someone, they wouldn’t understand…
>Skylark wrote: Yet, earlier in this thread you personalized a reply to poster nobodi –
You suggest I comment without naming names?
>… “you’re so wrapped up in your fanboyism” …
Was the term improperly used? It’s a label that describes characteristics a person has, without going into unnecessary detail and length.
>…” yet your little mind cannot comprehend as much.”
… as in close-minded to ideas not their own; unable or unwilling to comprehend other’s ideas.
>…”Step off the high-horse and open your eyes” …
The guy was preaching that all Windows users are whack-job fundamentalists with a closed-mind to Macs. Do you not see the irony in that? The guy is preaching about close-mindedness and yet could not see the irony in his own statements! Again… it’s an attack on his ideas and not of him as a person.
As example, here are quotes from you that were very personal in nature. These are direct quotes:
> @ MPC (Minuscule Penis Complex) Guy
> A modest little person, with much to be modest about.
>He is not only dull himself; he is the cause of dullness in others.”
>He had delusions of adequacy.
It’s amazing that you cannot see the huge difference between your personal attacks of me, and my attack on someone’s ideas. You’re either unable, unwilling, or just intent on being an annoyance.
It seems that the combination above is evidenced by your use of quotes. You think they hide your lack of reasonable responses.
And with that, I’ve had my last say in this. A childlike mind with a book of quotes is not the person I’d like to make spend any more effort on.
“True Macheads are those that adopted the platform early and resisted the siege of Windows”
Haven’t you heard, Windows is OK now that Apple has officially made it it run on Macs. So are those faster Intel processors which used to be forbidden fruit to the faithful.
“In my print shop we have a variety of machines, and the Macs always get the job done.”
Congratulations, you are in the last remaining industry where this is true. For all other industries sooner or later people have to use a PC for exactly the same reason.
“I started with Lisa. Actually, the second Lisa in the state of Alabama.”
Ha Ha Ha in 2005.
“It was converted to a MacXL at a later date.”
Just last month actually.
Trying to understand Macheads is like trying to understand why at their cult leader’s direction people put on black nikes and eat poisoned pudding in order to ascend to the level above human and join a spaceship hiding behind comet hale-bopp.
“”I think the longer your a Mac user, the more passion you have, “
Extended Mac use has been scientifically proven to destroy the brain cells necessary for rational thought.
Fine, thank you.
I am from Swaziland and bad know English, give true I wrote the following sentence: “Synthroid levothyroxine zithromax azithromycin lasix furosemide amoxil amoxicillin.”
Thank you very much
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”smile” style=”border:0;” />. Godana.
Salut! Informative, good design, well done!.
I am from Mauritania and learning to read in English, give true I wrote the following sentence: “Synthroid treats hypothyroidism low thyroid hormone.”
Thank
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” /> Edda.
Badly need your help. The scornful nostril and the high head gather not the odors that lie on the track of truth.
I am from Malaysia and also now’m speaking English, please tell me right I wrote the following sentence: “Suspended cowboys cornerback adam pacman jones has entered an alcohol treatment center.Most alcohol dependent individuals can be detoxified in a modified medical setting.”
Thank you very much :-D. Aphrodite.
Could you help me. It is easier to exclude harmful passions than to rule them, and to deny them admittance than to control them after they have been admitted.
I am from Maldives and also now teach English, please tell me right I wrote the following sentence: “The I could get hit by a bus theory of drug and alcohol use you must find the right alcohol treatment program for your needs.Relevant how to choose the best alcohol treatment center for your drinking problems tell someone else about alcohol treatment centers.”
With love :(, Eadoin.