“I’m a PC,” Steve Johnson proudly and ignorantly proclaims for The Chicago Tribune. “Ignorantly” because in his article Johnson reports that he has zero Mac experience, but we’re supposed to value his opinion anyway, we guess.
Johnson doesn’t let total ignorance get in his way, “For a long time I was fine with that. My computers booted up like molasses on a modest incline and booted down like that same molasses 20 degrees colder and 10 degrees more horizontal. But the software kept ‘working’ from one system to the next, and I knew the rules. But then Apple started that never-ending ad campaign. It employed comic author John Hodgman and a foil to convince me that PC users are doughy glasses-wearers who look like comic author John Hodgman, while Mac users possess long hair that manages to look both clean and kempt.”
MacDailyNews Take: For two and a half years, over 50 ads have been aired by Apple in their “Get a Mac” campaign and Steve Johnson, Chicago Tribune Internet critic, hasn’t yet figured out that John Hodgman is playing the “PC.” He’s not a “PC user,” Steve. He’s the PC itself. A Windows PC, to be precise. To most people, the “Hello, I’m a Mac” and the “I’m a PC” lines delivered by the actors were dead giveaways. How are we supposed to value Johnson’s opinion when he can’t even grasp the simplest, most basic, most obvious, most central concept of the campaign?
Undeterred, Johnson stumbles on blindly, “I started to doubt my innermost self, which, after all, is only a manifestation of the technology I choose. Maybe if I spend $1,000 to get a machine that does less than my current one, but is all white, I thought, I will be able to wear a different hairstyle and stop tucking in my shirt.”
MacDailyNews Take: Yup, that’s the reason why 30 million people use Macs, Steve. Good guess, genius. Steve Johnson, who’s never used a Mac, still knows everything there is to know about Macs. After all, he is a critic.
Johnson flails onward, “But because I am fundamentally cheap, I chose to live with this doubt. It’s the kind of wishy-washy thing those of us with imperfect eyesight do. We also wear short-sleeved button-down shirts and get repeatedly verbally bested by those who own less ubiquitous computer hardware.”
MacDailyNews Take: Yes, Steve, you do. And not just verbally, but in electronic print, too. Only Apple Macs can run the world’s largest software library. Therefore, they do much, much more than any PC. Because, Steve, Macs are not only Macs, but they can slum it as Windows PCs, too. But, hey, don’t let us stop you with the facts. Please continue making a complete idiot of yourself. It amuses us.
Johnson complies, “I am a PC. And that’s OK. Maybe I don’t love it quite as much as these people, but it’s fine. Now Apple is firing back with new ads that make fun of Microsoft for spending so much money on its ads. It’s a tough point to score in what are, after all, the latest in a long line of paid advertisements.”
MacDailyNews Take: Unsurprisingly, as it’s from a guy who can’t even figure out the basic premise of Apple’s “Get a Mac” commercials, Steve gets it wrong again. Stevie, Apple is criticizing Microsoft for spending money on ads to promote Vista instead of first fixing their ill-conceived and even worse-received operating system. Microsoft must think their customers are really stupid. And, obviously, some are.
Johnson proceeds blissfully, “And Apple’s tone is beginning to sound a little haughty, its sneer to look a little more detectable. I’m not sure which people you win over by telling them they’re sheep and idiots.”
MacDailyNews Take: Stevie, until you actually try a Mac — at which time even you will experience a brilliant, forehead-smacking flash of insight — you are a sheep and an idiot. Most Mac users have been stuck with a Windows PC one time or another at school and/or work. Most PC users haven’t really tried a Mac. This is self-evident because if they had really tried a Mac they’d be Mac users like the rest of us. Mac users have made conscious technology choice and are therefore better informed.
Stevie plods on to his conclusion, “And guess what? Hodgman’s got a new book out, ‘More Information Than You Require.’ It sounded really funny when he was on ‘The Daily Show’ promoting it the other night. I looked at him and thought, He’s a PC too (at least a little bit). Cool. Or, if not ‘cool,’ then, ‘OK.'”
MacDailyNews Take: We almost can’t bring ourselves to do it. It’s almost like making fun of the retarded… Oh, okay. Please see this related article: ‘I’m a PC’ guy John Hodgman really an Apple Mac user (September 25, 2006). Because, Stevie, he tried them both and, like the rest of us, the obvious answer is to choose the Mac. Because it’s better, Stevie. Vastly better. So, next time – if there is a next time (after all, newspapers aren’t doing so well lately… wonder why) — write from experience, Stevie, not pure ignorance. That’s what real “Internet critics” do.
Full article – Think Before You Click™, you’ve seen everything of interest anyway – here.
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Poor journalism, but hardly surprising that here’s another one who doesn’t get the ads… I mean, if even Bill Gates doesn’t get them!
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” /> Then there’s those others who genuinely don’t get them. I think Apple underestimated just how many people would misunderstand the personification of the hardware & end up sympathizing with the Hodgman character.
“As usual,”
Don’t give up your day job.
How has Andy Inako not kicked this guys ass yet. Any you’re in Chicago – save me a LONG trip.
Thanks
The ‘Trib sucks anyway. They just changed the entire format so that it resembles the USA Today. Move along Mac users, nothing of depth to see here.
This was Steve Johnson’s reply….
So a Mac cheerleader wrote a really moronic response, willfully disregarding that I NEVER say or imply PC is the better platform? (Quite the contrary- its “habit and parsimony” overcoming frustration.) Pretending to think I don’t know Hodgman is playing a character, even though I explicitly say so?
Guess you don’t have to be all that smart – at least in the realm of reading comprehension – to be on the Mac team.
Also, it’s gotta be a little embarrassing to write for something called Mac Daily News and be such a rabid booster. That’s not news; its PR.
Anyway, thanks for sharing.
I don’t think the Get A Mac ads are designed to give you a punchlist of reasons why to get a Mac. They are designed to cause folks to question certain assumptions and preconceptions that they have, and perhaps visit an Apple store to check out the alternative. So far, it seems to be working quite well. The ads would have a completely different tone if all they said was “Get a Mac – they do all this stuff better, and cost less to maintain, and are practically immune to viruses, and”
Can you say, “hit whore”?
Some people really deserve to use Windows!
“And Apple’s tone is beginning to sound a little haughty, its sneer to look a little more detectable. I’m not sure which people you win over by telling them they’re sheep and idiots.” This sir has been one of the basic premise of Macs since day one – refer to the original ad run during the Super Bowl way back when and the “Think Different” ad campaign run a few years back. People may not be sheep and idiots but many simply lack critical thinking skills.
I bought my original Mac within a year of their introduction and did so because they worked like a real tool. I saw and continue to see Windows (and DOS before that) as a hammer where the head keeps flying off. Flying hammer heads are what keeps a whole mess of technical types in a job and arrogant about how the world requires them. The loss of productivity and cost to the economy as a result of the use of Windows (the flying hammer heads) would absolutely astound people if it were ever calculated. I came from a facility where we were primarily a Mac house to a facility that is Windows based (except for the iMac on my desk) and from my experience we spend at least 20 times the amount of money for support for the same number of work stations. There are various reasons, some admittedly not the fault of Windows, why that situation exists but the bottom line is that Windows is a royal pain and unless you are a professional hammer head repairer, it has little to no redeeming value. Having Windows is like owning a British sports car in the 50’s and 60’s – the only people who really made out were the auto mechanics. Hmm, was Windows actually written by people from Lucas?
“Stevie Johnson, meet your new asshole. New asshole, this is Stevie.”
MDN is so giving of new orifices.
“The article is making the point the the Mac ads don’t give you enough reason why you should by a Mac. And he is right. “
What the ad campaign accomplishes, aside from increased exposure to Apple’s ecosystem, is confirming that same old snide, misplaced elitism that people associate with Mac users since time immemoriam.
>Instead of griping amongst ourselves, why not complain directly to those who perpetuate myths, etc.
>I just sent this to Mr. Johnson. . . .
Actually, I wouldn’t be so soft on him. I would go for the jugular.
Instead of just emailing the author (which he can choose to ignore at his whim), email the author AND his direct editor AND the editor of the paper. Also mention that recently it’s known that Microsoft has been paying people to shill for them and inquire whether Mr. Johnson is double-dipping.
Look up slander in a dictionary. If you know how to use one.
Johnson sounds like a dick….
look up ‘by’ also…
I think MDN is seriously overreacting on this one. I read the whole article and while he wasn’t exactly nice to Mac users, he wasn’t terribly insulting or anything. More of a personal musing about himself than an attack on Apple.
I’m a big supporter of Apple for the most part and have been since the beginning, but he has a bit of a point about the “get a Mac” ads as well. They are funny for Mac users, but also insulting to the purported “switchers” they are at least partially aimed at.
Worst of all, the “Get a Mac” ads are just tired and old at this point. I’m getting as sick of seeing them as I was of that goddamn Energiser bunny before they finally killed it off.
Advertisers always beat that dead horse until the flesh is completely off the bones. I don’t think I am alone in thinking that I’d like to see something new for a change. Apple hasn’t had a genuinely new idea in it’s advertising for over two years now, and if you leave out the “Get a mac” ads, they haven’t done anything new for more like five years.
It’s not a Holy War people.
If PC users are too stupid to try something else and wish to keep abusing themselves with Windows and $500, under powered, plastic junk with 2 year old processors, let them.
Nature has a way of eliminating the unfit.
Steve Johnson emailed me back and this is what he said:
“Mac daily news flunks reading comprehension”
That’s funny… he wrote and unintelligible, unresearched, unsubstantiated, hyperbloviated article, and we flunk reading comprehension?
If this guy were a movie critic, he’d be telling us about movies he’s never seen.
My new MacBook Pro with it’s revolutionary Multi-Touch glass trackpad makes my Windows laptop (yes, I must still use one–thank you for your sympathy) seem like a Smith Corona manual typewriter.
Jeremy,
Your theory is simply not supported by reality.
You, like Johnson and many others, need to learn the difference between anecdotal and actual measurable evidence:
Measuring Apple’s ‘Get a Mac’ viral video response to Microsoft’s ‘I’m a PC’ campaign
Check out the comments below the article… CRIKEY!!! Are people ever misinformed and spreading FUD!! They’re as bad as the journalist!
eyerhyme
sounds like their community needs better organizing….
Do you think he consulted Andy Inatkho [sic], before he wrote his hit piece?
Why would he consult Andy? Andy is a freelance journalist for the Sun Times. He lives in Boston.
Microsoft: “Here, Mr. Johnson, your $15,000. Would you like a copy of Vista with it? OK, in that case, it will be $14,550”
Steve Johnson: “Duh! Kewl!”
MDN: you should not be so mean to people with mental disabilities like this poor Steve Johnson.