Macintosh is Iceland
Chris Hill’s ubergeek.tv presents this hillarious Apple Switch parody. On Apple, he comments:
What really gets at me about Mac is how they propagate this lifestyle, Mac evangelists eat it up, and art students with no clue about computers go,’oh, my art teacher uses a mac and they’re really pretty so if I want to get a job being a REAL artist you have to use a Mac.’
I can’t count the number of graphic designers I’ve heard say that.
I’m still considering the switch to Mac, but Chris’s animation has me asking what I’m really buying into.
Comments
I don’t see how his beef with Macs is any different than my beef with PCs in grade school. Kids who know nothing about computers go, “Oh, my school and teachers use PCs and they’re really smart, so in order to make it in the computing world, I have to use a PC.” Same argument, different circumstances.
Thing is, there will NEVER be an end to the argument over which is best. Both have strengths and weaknesses. Both can be used to do the same things. It’s a matter of what suits your particular needs better. What you’re familiar with. What works best for you.
I’ve tried Windows 95, 98, NT and XP. I’ve also tried Linux. There are things that are nice about them, but in my opinion (notice the keyword of opinion), Mac OS X is all around better. Especially once 10.2 comes out in August. For me, the choice came down to what was easier to use and easier to keep running.
What you have to do is go out to Circuit City or someplace like that and play around with XP, Linux and OS X. Kick their tires. Ask people who use them why they chose to use them. Then make your decision.
Chris on 20 Jul 02
You’re right, there really is no difference between his art student argument and your grade student argument. However, I don’t think it’s so much who’s using the computers as much as it’s the lifestyle that they propagate.
When I think of Mac, I think designer, swanky, sophisticated yet simple. When I think of Windows, I think… nothing. I think that a lot of people who buy Macs buy them for that very reason: they’re just cool. But those who buy Windows PCs usually do so out of utility. Windows is the common person’s OS, whereas Mac belongs to the elite. These aren’t ideas that I believe; they’re just what I hear. If money was no object and you didn’t know any better, what social group do you want to be a part of?
Joshua on 20 Jul 02
To help out… I bought my TiBook because there were not other laptops that could match that the Apple could offer as I wanted a solid machine that I could program for UNIX and still share documents with Windows users and test applications on Mac. I got a whole lot more. I no longer have the Windows headaches that seem to stem from a mediocre operating system that is filled with security problems and bugs that are a result of poor QA. I had heard the legends of Steve Jobs’ attention to detail and perfection, but you know it creates an OS that is solid and very usable. I don’t care who else uses Mac or the image it has, I just can not figure out why people would settle for imperfection (at best). I not have an OS that gets out of the way and lets me get things done, create, and relax. I am now trying to figure out how to finance replacements for the two PC desktops that my wife and I use occationally.
The choice may be image, but it is also how you want to use your computer and spend your time. It is all about what make you happy.
vanderwal on 20 Jul 02
“But those who buy Windows PCs usually do so out of utility…”
But Joshua, the utility of Macs is (as you sort of allude to, yourself) of a much higher order than PCs. And high as it is, it’s about to explode exponentially, with the new suite of iApps in Jaguar.
I hate sounding like a glassy-eyed Jobsite, but there it is: your “machine for the elite” is a productivity tool of a many-times-more-advanced order…for the rest of us.
Adam on 25 Jul 02
“Utility” alone probably wasn’t the best word to use there. I actually meant something like… barebones utility.
But you’re right, Adam. No matter how cool they come across, the utility of Macs really is of a much higher order.
Joshua on 25 Jul 02