Recently I've been hearing some mac bashing going on. Probably with the hype around the iPone and the WWDC boredom I should seen it coming. I've become accustomed to this because, like Christianity, being a mac user is not without it's persecutions. But it seems like I've been hearing it more than usual. I never really have fancy answers for these people when they crack on macs, because usually these people know A LOT more about computers than I do, with the exception of the fourth grader who sneered at me while I used my laptop at Barnes and Noble the other day. I wish I had some cool answers but I usually don't. So I had to take a good hard look at my mac usage and wonder why I do it. I think here are some reasons why.
My mother runs an iMac and a Dell Laptop. She was a tech coordinator in one of the first 'computer in every classroom' test high schools which were based on macs. She's been running mac since back in the day, and now she works for the "A-Site" which is the tech hub for all the schools in Northwest Ohio. She uses windows at work, and she doesn't really complain because she knows that's what they need to get the job done over there. The people that run that place know what they're talking about, and so do all the tech people I've ever met who use windows. Buy why does she still come home every night and use her mac that she has to climb a spiral staircase to get to, instead of sitting downstairs on the couch to use her Dell? And trust me, we have wireless...I think we're up to three access points in our house now.
I run a mac laptop to make videos. My boss runs, or used to run, what I was told was a server grade desktop PC to make videos. Mine always works, and he's on the phone with tech support at least twice a week trying to figure out what his computer did to him. Most of the time, I would consider him a more proficient computer user than I am.
I also run my mac laptop to access the internet wirelessly, somebody else in my office runs one of those Lenovo laptops to do the same thing and they're hardwired. Mine works, and they can rarely even get on the internet. My computer has dropped the access password a few times...but I'm hardly having the trouble they're having.
I also use my mac for the internet at home. Again...wireless, and so does two of my roommates with PC's; one with a Toshiba laptop and another with and older Dell. My internet workes fine, and theirs drops the connection every twenty minutes or so. They'd assume that I could fix theirs since mine was working, but I have the faintest idea how to fix that stuff.
This may be a bad thing, but my roommate since replaced his old Dell with a new iMac, which he loves. He can't get over the whole front row remote and how that all works. But when he got it, the day after he finished importing all his music and photo's, the logic board died. It was one of the certified re-used macs, and I guess maybe there is some danger in buying those after all. But he sent it back, paid no postage, and had it back...I kid you not...the next day, and he didn't loose any of his information. Even after all that fooling around, he still prefers his mac to his PC.
I run a macbook pro...and I've got a powerbook in my living room, and some desktops in my closet. None of them have ever given out on me except the 9 year old one I used to keep in the bathroom to watch movies in the tub. Apparently steam and technology are not good friends. They all still work, I just update because they perform better. I realize that you can't really upgrade macs, and you can with PC's, but I'm gonna be honest, I wouldn't have the slightest idea how to do that anyway. If you tickle me right, I might know how to upgrade my ram...and I've been working with computers for a long time. I couldn't build my own computer. I must've missed that day in high school.
I'm not ashamed to say this, but I like the way mac's look. Does it get scratched and dent easily? Ya, probably. I haven't really been throwing it around to notice though. I can't shut my old powerbook because the latch cracked, but I still like the way it looks. And I'm not going to apologize for that either. It's part of the human experience to like the asthetics of something. I don't buy my clothes simply based on the longest eduring fabrics and stain/water/life resistant coatings. I get clothes I'd be happy to wear and be seen wearing. I guess I can throw a little psychology into the mix.
I guess what I'm really trying to say is this. I'm not a computer expert and none of the people I've talked about are either. But all of us ARE people who rely on computers to get our work done. If we can't get our computers to work, we can't work. I don't know what makes a computer technically superior to another computer so I really can't speak to what's better than what. But what is DO know is that if I'm going to have to spend my entire day on a computer, I want it to be on one that I enjoy. I understand the interface on a mac better, and it's more visually appealing to me. The little frilly things that mac does to make it's interface 'cool' is just something to write off. It makes computing a little more enjoyable, and when you spend your whole day on the thing, that little bit of fun helps. I would also argue that mac is more universally accessible than PC's in terms accessibility for people who are slightly visually impaired and people with poor motor skills. I realize that there’s probably a great reason for why most networks are run on windows. The tech guys at my job are all over that stuff. In my opinion, GCC’s tech team is the best I’ve ever seen. They’re helpful no matter what side of the debate you fall on. Actually, for the complete opposite opinion of mine, you can read my friend
Ed's post about his mac experience. And as he said in his article, I'm sure I'm opening up the floodgates for comments on this one. Thing is, doesn't really matter what you tell me. Tell me mac stinks all you want. I've had 15 years of happy computing on my Mac ever since that first Apple IIe was brought into our house. And for the brief 3 months I was forced to be a PC user, I couldn’t have been more bummed to boot that thing up every morning. I'll continue to be a loyal mac customer as long as they perform like they always have for me.
The one thing I will say that I will accept my criticism for is this. It irks me a bit when people complain to me about things not working on macs when it's a third party program that wasn't written correctly. As I'm typing this, I had to switch over to firefox to post this because, for some reason, blogger doesn't work very well on Safari. People, let's not act like that's Mac’s problem. It's not like mac is some start up company that just tried to join the market last year. Mac has been around just as long as PC's have. Any good web programmer will tell you that's blogger fault for not programming their site well enough, not Safari's problem. It also bugs me a bit when people complain about mac to me like I can call Steve Job's up and have the problem addressed the next time he and I do lunch or go to the new balance outlet store. I’ll just clear the air now, I don’t know Steve Jobs. I don’t know anyone who works for apple, and I don’t think I ever will.
Choose the computer that you like. If you have to spend as much time on one as I do, you better have one you enjoy using. Happy computing!
I cruised over to his blog/company home page to see what was happening in his life. I was greeted with a story about his time spent in Greece as a guest speaker at Greek Blogger Camp. You can read about his adventures here. I don't think I'll be going on any free vacations earned by my blogging skill anytime soon. Darn!
