Why do Apple customers care so much?
The question inevitably comes up when I meet people and they learn I write about Apple for a living: "So, what's that like?"
I usually answer, "It's crazy." There perhaps has never been a more interesting time to write about Apple and its growing impact on the computer, telecommunications, and music worlds. Unfortunately, it also means that I have to witness (and sometimes join) a daily descent into a pit of mudslinging.
Their size and degree of organization can be debated, and it's usually overstated. But there is no question that Macintosh users are by far the most passionate advocates for their products in the technology industry. And while such passion is remarkable and even moving, it can also be terribly disturbing.
Take a recent story I wrote, "Problems with the Mac promised land." The story was about how Apple sells the Mac as a computer that "just works" in its ubiquitous ad campaign comparing the Mac and the PC. But the Mac, like anything, is not immune to problems from time to time. Anyone who has followed Apple over the last couple of months knows that Leopard early adopters have run into a few issues, which we covered here and here.
Mac users line up to buy a copy of Mac OS X Leopard in October.
(Credit: Tom Krazit/CNET News.com)Nothing in the article suggested that Mac users are revolting against Leopard, or that serious Leopard glitches have knocked the Mac user base offline, or anything even close to that effect. The majority of the discussion in the Talkback section, however, descended into the usual Mac vs. PC flame war. In addition to attacking each other, several people took me to task, saying that since they had never had a problem with their Mac or with their Leopard installation, I was clearly manufacturing problems as part of a sinister plan to either attack the Mac and put Apple out of business at the bidding of Microsoft, or through some naked self-interest of both myself and CNET to generate page views.
This happens just about every time I write about Apple. In fairness, that aggressive behavior is not indicative of Mac users as a whole. But that very noisy, hardcore crowd distorts the issues and inflames the discussion, to the point where a rational look at Apple and its products becomes a quest to decide The World's One True Religion, which never seems to work out so well in the real world.
I think the roots of this zealotry go back to a time when Apple was on the ropes financially and someone who worked on a Mac was ridiculed by other computer users. Ten years ago, Mac users in the corporate world were viewed as rubes playing with "toys" not suitable for getting real work done, and there were plenty of people ready to remind the Mac community in not-so-subtle ways that the revolution promised in the 1980s by the original Macintosh was being fulfilled by Microsoft software.
Apple's response was to change the tone of the conversation, and it deliberately chose a spiritual motif for its message with the work started by Guy Kawasaki in the mid-1990s. Kawasaki originally worked at Apple in the mid-1980s in marketing, and was part of the team that introduced the Macintosh to the world before leaving in 1987.
When Kawasaki rejoined Apple in 1995, the company was probably at its lowest point. On his Web site, Kawasaki describes his role at Apple in the mid-1990s by saying, "My job on this tour of duty was to maintain and rejuvenate the Macintosh cult." There was a dedicated group out there who still believed in the Mac and its promise as an alternative to Windows, but they weren't organized, and their morale was low.
In an inteview this week, Kawasaki recalled signing up 44,000 hardcore Mac users in 1995 on a listserv named, quite appropriately, "EvangeList." "All I would do is disseminate good news," Kawasaki said. He wanted his listserv to be a counterpoint to the torrents of bad news about the Mac, exemplified by a 1996 BusinessWeek cover story about Apple titled, "The Fall of an American Icon." For its cover art, the magazine placed an Apple icon in front of a black, funereal background.
Kawasaki's idea was to give Mac users hope, that they were not alone, and that they were on the right side of history. Hope is a powerful thing to someone at the end of their rope, and while that's perhaps overstating it a bit, that's how many Mac users felt in those years.
"It's almost like a religious experience in that you feel like you have to tell everyone you know in an effort to 'save them.' It's crazy, and I never understood those people but now I am one," said Doug Otto, a News.com reader, vice president of systems engineering for Govstar and a Sacramento, Calif., resident.
Some Apple fans will line up in the cold just to be one of the first to enter a new retail store.
(Credit: Caroline McCarthy/CNET News.com)The trouble is that most people don't like cults; they associate them with Charles Manson or Red Sox fans. Sure, you may believe you have all the answers. But there are a lot of people who automatically tune out the incessant preaching of a zealot. With the rise of the Internet, it became much easier to preach that gospel far and wide and anonymously.
"Like anything people are passionate about--sports, politics, religion--there are going to be some people who are goofy about it and don't have that thing in their brain that tells them they've stepped over the edge from 'fan' to 'fanatic'," said John Moltz, the editor of Crazy Apple Rumors Site and perhaps the best source of comic relief in the Apple universe.
Since it's a two-party world, however, many of those evangelists combined their love for the Mac with their hatred of Microsoft, much like Republicans attack Democrats when Democrats are in charge, only to find themselves on the defensive when the sides switch. Windows users, who had almost forgotten about the Mac, initially laughed at Mac users and their intense love for a plastic cube of electronics. But then, as Apple starting gaining market share and increasing respect for its design chops, they started to fight back.
Last year, Moltz created the "Artie MacStrawman" character as a symbol of those counterattacks on Mac users, as an allegory for the "strawman" theory of debate that intentionally exaggerates an opponent's position to make it look more ridiculous. Many of those who criticize Mac users often come back to the whole "those crazy Apple cult people" thing, in that just because one Apple fan "mindlessly worships Steve Jobs" and "blindly buys anything Apple releases no matter how dumb and stupid and dumb it is," they all do.
But let's be honest: we've all seen that person in action in discussion forums on this site and many others. "Windows users aren't put off by the 'depth of passion' that Mac users have. They are put off by the sheer futility of trying to make a rational argument with someone devoid of rational thought," said Ken Webber, another News.com reader.
This "debate" has been polluting the Internet for more than a decade, but Apple is no longer a company to be laughed at. It's selling more and more Macs to first-time Mac users. College campuses and hipster coffee shops are bastions of backlit Apple logos. Even businesses, long the last line of defense against the encroachment of the Mac, are changing their mind as programs like Boot Camp give Mac users a way to gain access to corporate applications developed for Windows. And as we start doing more and more work over the Internet, rather than on our desktop software, the compatibility issue becomes less and less relevant.
Yet the desire to be separate continues. Hank Stuever of The Washington Post bemoaned the trendy Apple user in a December 9 story about the Apple retail experience. "The demi-privacy of it, the clubby feeling--I know that you know that I know that we know and love Macs like nobody else does--is fading away."
Tuesday morning, I posted a short item to my blog asking for contributions for this story. I received about 50 e-mails in about 50 minutes before I had to plead for a halt. The basic question I sent to those who wrote in was, "Why are Mac users so passionate about Apple?"
The responses were similar. Mac users feel an affinity to both their machines and their fellow users that the rest of the world simply doesn't share. For some, it's the emphasis on design, both in hardware and software. For others, it's the way Apple focuses on applications that make it easier for them to be creative.
Allen Paltrow, 13, shows off his haircut in front of the new Apple store on New York's Fifth Avenue on opening day, May 2006.
(Credit: David Brabyn/Sipa Press)"It's hard to put my own feelings into words on this, but that's just it: I have feelings for my Apple computer. Not in the creepy obsessive way or anything, but I genuinely love my iBook," said Ryan Spilken, a News.com reader.
Many see Apple's devotion to quality as a symbol of a bygone era for American business, and believe they have to support that kind of thinking. At some point, according to several readers, American industry became so bottom-line obsessed that it gambled that people would probably buy their products anyway if, little by little, they stripped out the costs, which would lower prices but in a fashion that also guaranteed more profit. We've seen this happen time after time in the automobile, consumer electronics, and computer industries, just to name a few, and while it works in the short-term, it doesn't end well.
But still others see the basic Mac vs. PC debate as the computer industry's version of Ford vs. Chevrolet, or Bud vs. Miller, or Michigan vs. Ohio State: people like to identify with groups and subcultures, and they do all sorts of ridiculous things in arbitrary support of whichever group they've chosen.
Computers are no longer a novelty. Style and usefulness count for so much more these days, since people have had a computer and know what they like and what they hate. And no company does style better than Apple.
Now that Apple has momentum on its side, does this finally mean we're nearing a day when we can have a coherent discussion of the pros and cons of Apple's approach to the computing world?
Probably not. After all, the Mac community has all the momentum on its side, and is unlikely to lift its foot off the gas now that more people are starting to come around to its point of view. And Apple hasn't stopped making Mac vs. PC ads.
But here's a challenge: if Mac users care about quality and excellent design, and Windows users are adamant about openness and ubiquity, let's apply those same standards to the discussion of the computer industry.
There are going to be Macs, and there are going to be PCs. This religious argument is very 1995; it's time to move on.
Tom Krazit writes about the ever-expanding world of Internet search, including Google, Yahoo, online advertising, and portals, as well as the evolution of mobile computing. He has written about traditional PC companies, chip manufacturers, and mobile computers, spending the last three years covering Apple. E-mail Tom.
It personaly is one of the reasons I have had litle intrest in MAC, its not about performance, Function or stability. Anyone who has been around long enough understands both have there plus's and negatives. For me the reason I do not personaly own a MAC (have not replaced one since 1999) is that advertising.
It's that the Add's don't tell me what the OS can do, does not tell me what the features of the OS are, they don't even show me the OS. All they do is try and poke fun at PC's. And reality is most PC users, as well as Mac users know at the core the ad's are misleading and just truly about humor.
It reminds me more of Furniture company advertising vs Technology advertsing.
I personaly prefer ad's that tell me "What you have" and allow me to make a decision based on perfomance capabiltiy and function. This is something that is missing from the Mac AD's and may be one of the reasons that MAC has not been able to advance there market penetration as fast as there Rival that they keep attacking.
decision not on whether A really is better than B, but whether or
not you like the advertising for the product. That seems like a
strange way to decide what to buy, but to each his own.
Personally I usually find the ads humorous. And having used
Windows for many years before buying a Mac I have found a
certain amount of truth to the ads.
And you are more than likely in the minority. Most people do
not want an ad that is based on the technical merits of a
product. Here in the US we prove that with every election. 30
second sound bites get more votes than a discussion of the
issues. And it pretty much works for selling any product, be it a politician or a computer.
For at least a year, every time I walked through the Powell street BART station (one of several main downtown subway stations in SF) - every single one of the billboards, from one end of the station to the other, were 100% iPod ads. Meanwhile the highest cost outdoor billboards all along the freeway were similarly dominated, and many still are.
Similarly when they launched a version of the PowerBook several years ago, they took over almost all of the high-fashion huge kiosks on Market Street, with an ad in each one.
You've never seen a campaign on anything close to the typical Apple scale from Dell or HP. Or Microsoft (they just use lawyers to assure their dominance).
Much of that "fanaticism" is simply defiance in the face of a lot of hostility from Apple-haters, most of whom have never used a Mac, or maybe tried one during the "bad" Performa years.
There are two sides to this coin, but only one side seems to get all the blogage. Why is that?
Alternatively the hostility is the result of Apple fanaticism. See it works both ways. In fact you could take your entire post and reverse it and it would still work.
I like Macs. They're great machines. The problem is the (vocal portion of) Mac users that puts me off.
reflecting on Apple zealotry and questioning it.
My question is: Why do Apple users care at all?
If Windows die-hards don't get it, then forget them (they're a lost cause).
If Apple users don't like the fanatics, then ignore them.
We pay way to much attention to what other people think about us.
After a while microsoft users get tired of it and attack back. The other reason is because the apparent inability to acknoledge any other product. Any time an article is writen about the zune, there are comments about "zune sucks, Ipods are better" (wich is not true, zune2 has a lot of nice features that the ipods do not."
It gets really annoying to see the apple fanatics aeverywhere.
*oh snap*
Seriously, I find the whole thing hilarious. I make fun of my friends who use Apple products or Linux. With Apple, I love poking fun at what is supposed to be "intuitive". Seriously, what is intuitive about using a PC? So much of the interface is different from anything else, you end up having to learn a new UI when you start on a PC. You may think point and click is easy until you have to teach it to someone who is over 60 and never touched a PC in their life. Intuitive their ass.
My friends all know that I'm really just poking fun at the hype that makes people buy things without looking at their needs first. If an apple product would fill a need that I have perfectly, then I'd use it. Right now, thinkpads fill my need for a convertible (tablet + laptop) and windows xp tablet is currently the best tablet pc OS out there. There is no question. Yeah, linux has support but at the moment, it's not quite up to the MS level. Does that mean I'd never use linux? No. Does that mean I hate it? No. I just use what is currently best.
If your reason for buying an item is "it was on sale" then I will poke fun. If you were going to buy it, then took advantage of a sale, that's quite a different thing. So, if your usage of a Mac or whatever is motivated by it's fitness to your life, more power to you.
People who do that are always able to articulate their decision to use one product over another. These people always clash because they never want to address the issue of, "what's best for me" Maybe because if they did, they'll find that there is nothing really to discuss. A mac works fine for the people using it and a windows machine works for those who use it. end of discussion. Haha, we just like arguing.
Been an egomaniac much?
Just because I use a PC doesn't make me dumb or stupid as is depicted in the ad.
The ads are for Mac fan boys and girls to help them argue in the playground (or on YouTube) (as I did about 13 years ago for the Mac).
It is time to grow up Apple. Job's, get over the fact that MS has been more successful than you at the "business that is software". Learn from it, and sell in the ads what makes you better WITHOUT pointing the finger.
At the end of the day, this PC user wants to buy a Mac in the near future, so STOP offending me.
if you are that easily offended you learn how to use it.
Personally, I find the ads amusing.
And for me the ads are not so much poking fun at the PC users,
but rather poke fun at MS. I don't watch the ads and think what
a stupid user the person is. I watch them and laugh because
many of the design choices used in Windows actually are that
stupid.
mean it seems to be more preaching to the choir than anything.
No sir, I don't think Macintosh users deserve that sort of reputation. I would think they would do better to represent the Macintosh platform as a serious machine and not so much as a toy for children.
dullards.
Apple is talking about the OS and sometimes the computers them
selves. If you like XP/Vista then have fun with that but I like my mac
and I intend to keep it that way.
backing them all the time, or put it differently backing your
decisions with your very life. Steve Jobs in particular has put his
life on the line. It is a very special kind of finality that has huge
convincing power. Dramatic, theatrical, larger-than-life, and yet
? True. I believed from the very beginning, and I do now that
Apple is honestly earning each of their dollars and contributing
to the good of the whole civilization.
IMHO Apple is among the very few "things" that Americas have
truly good, lifechanging and worth buying.
My story is kinda typical. I saw Apple computer first in Dad's
workplace, a chemistry lab in 1984. I bought my first Apple II VX
in 1992. And I have been with Macs ever since.
The outrage or passion boardering upon hysteria stem from feeling like Donald Sutherland in Invaison of the Body Snatcher where the pod people screech at you for not becoming one of them. Competition from Apple in the long run helps Microsoft. If M$ loses market because of Vista, you can bet their next iteration will be better. If the sheeple don't move to greener pastures, how can they expect a better product in the future?
As a computer design professional I have felt for years that I
need both windows and mac machines. That is what I have for
many years now, side by side, everyday. I have built my own pc's
from scratch. Using them both side by side every day I get work
done in peace and general beauty with the mac....trying to do
something in the overblown, ugly, useless windows interface is
frustrating and there is lots of cursing when I am using windows.
I liked Windows 3.1, but since then I have found the process of
actually doing a days work between the two platforms that with
the mac everything goes smoothly, with the windows, nothing,
not even the most simple task, goes as smoothly. I plug things
into my mac and they are ready to go. I plug something new into
a pc and I have to get updated drives, deal with system crashes,
calls to rechnical support services and lots of web pages to get
everything working. I have a couple of very old macs that still do
a days work when needed. An old pc is just a piece of high tech
trash. I have tried to be fair with appreciating both platforms but
on a day by day, side by side work basis there is no question
which system performs the most quickly, efficiently and
smoothly. For me it is a simple matter of what tools do the work
best, and that has always been the mac. Having said that, I do
not believe Jobs has shown nearly as much care and attention in
the new Intel macs as he could have and should have. I have an
expensive Macbook pro 17 inch laptop that makes me crazy with
its problems, crashes and a multitude of other problems with
the finder, super drive stops working and so forth. I think that
first model, the Core Duo, is one of the most poorly made
products Apple ever produced, and they quickly moved on to the
Core 2 Duo. The same thing happened with the first G3 mini-
tower, which was very faulty, and Apple moved on to the next
model very quickly leaving mini-tower owners in the dust. They
did the same thing with the Macbook pro Core Duo, so Apple
has recently shown a complete indifference to its loyal
customers by such behavior and I think that this indifference is
going to grow as Apple really seems to be the iPod company
more than a computer company to me in these days. This is my
feeling at the moment. William.
Is the 17" macbook pro that you have a coreduo? Mine's a 15". Finder worked fine for me back when I ran OSX. I switched it over to gentoo linux about 7-8 months ago. Now I know that if something is screwed up, it was probably my fault.
using them both professionally in a dual platform environment
since 1986. Concerning the OS, Apple was always on the
leading edge and pretty much could show you what would be
out on Windows in the future. As far as hardware goes, I think
the problem is that Apple is pretty much going with all
mainstream manufacturers now. Even though they are good
companies, things are just being built of cheaper quality these
days. Nobody is immune. Unless Apple went back to building
their own branded hardware components instead of off the shelf
stuff we are stuck with this way of life. It has its advantages and
disadvantages.
But as the title suggests where not talking about just Mac computers.
The ipod and iphone have brought a ton of new zealots into the Apple fold that never use Mac's at all. My wife loves her iphone and ipods but she hates the Mac Os and won't touch it. Windows is the end all for her.
Some of try to write it off simply as advertising and the like.. but thats not it either. There's something about Apple products that people just like. Something about them that spur the imagination.
Sure there are products with more features than the iPod and iphones... but Apple has always been good at showing companies WHERE THEY CAN GO... and then others run with it.
1. The first iMac - first mass produced computer with USB ports and no scsi connections. Also to not have a floppy disc and came in a ton of colors. Soon everyone followed suite getting rid of the floppy drive, adding USB.. and adding color. During that time period... how many OTHER products had Apple inspired colors (though I'm glad that's over)?
2. Apple introduced the iPod. I remember reading on CNET when it first launched that it "was a nice product but nothing that's gonna change the world". By were they wrong. Yes there were MP3 players before the iPod.. but the where either big and clunky or a pain in the butt. To use. Apple came out with a product that just worked and now everyone's making mp3 players.
3. itunes store came at a time when nobody could figure out how to correctly sell digital music. Sure there were digital music stores before the iTunes store but they were really crappy. Apple was also the first to get the major labels aboard.
4. The iphone. The way it works the touch screen, etc. The iphone made the previous cellphone hit, the Rzar, seem like nothing. Now everybody's racing to get their touch screen smart phones out.
The thing is that yes there are competing products with more features than Apple's but it's easy to come out with a product and add more features AFTER being shown the way.
Why didn't the Zune come out before the iPod? Why didn't the Voyager come out before the iPhone? Why didn't Amazon do a digital store before iTunes?
Where is the innovative thinking at these companies? Why do they seem to wait for someone else to come out with something before having to play catch up?
Apple latched on the the fact that majority of the buying public likes "sexy" products that just work while all the geeks are worried about where just "features".
Apple II? And where was Windows before Mac? Where did they
get the keystrokes, the menus, etc...
If you think it was Xerox, then you need to read up on that, they
didn't even have overlapping windows.
There is not ONE COMPANY anywhere that has 1% of the
innovative DNA that Apple has in spades.
Also, Hypertext, this is the key to the 'net. This was a big deal
in hypercard, in the 80's. They were so close to the WWW with
that, had it only been based on open standards as is everythihng
Apple does now. And the web? Created on a neXt cube, not
on a PC.
What has Microsoft invented by contrast? Bob? That would be
about it.
Also, touch screen cell phones were already out. Apple just made it cool, which is what they are good at.
I've always found with Macs that it's Job's way or the Highway. Because of that they are supposed to "just work" but, in my years of administering a laboratory with about 20-25 mixed users, Macs are just as buggy. I also hate the one-button mouse, really. I honestly have never seen a blue screen since Win 98 years ago and never had any real problems, even with Win 95. It has all just worked well. Over the years, the lab has gone from 100% Mac to about 90% PC/10% Mac (2 users), reflecting the real world situation. People are given their own choice, and that is how they go. Really, it's just about getting work done, and much as you might hate it, Windows/Office and the few specialty programs for labwork integrate well and work everyday.
I run in to a lot of Mac fanboys, and I still never get why they are that way. Remind me of Red Sox Fans. Maybe they are insecure and looking for respect. The old underdog syndrome. I still don't get why they need to be standing in line though. That conjures the very image they were fighting against in that famous 1984 ad. Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss, eh?
emotions. It's never about how much faster you can do a
spreadsheet, it's about cataloging your life.
could do a spreadsheet. BTW, you can do spreadsheets before
Excel came along. M$ killled Lotus, the true innovator of
spreadsheets.
But if Apple changed the world, it changed the world for the worst. Terrorism, wars, offshoring of technology to Asia, big gap between the rich and poor, AIDS infections on the rise, higher taxes, health insurance problems, and the youth growing up to be sociopaths and going on shooting sprees.
Think Different, indeed! Think again!
Osama bin Laden and family own a large part of Apple stock:
http://www.kingdom.com.sa/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_Holding_Company
Osama bin Laden is from the royal family in Saudi Arabia, each Mac or iPod or iPhone sold, part of the profits go to support Islamic terrorist networks through fake Islamic charities money laundered through Kingdom Holdings.
So why is it that if I was to buy a Mac Pro or a Macbook Pro I only get an insulting one year warranty as standard. Yes I known all about Applecare, but I feel that your corporate policy is out of line and taking the **** out of your existing customers and potential customer.
People forget that most Computers are still bought by Businesses and the Governments.
So Philip Schiller as boss of Marketing don't you think I have a point. And wouldn't this help you break into HP and Dell corporate accounts in the long term.
Mac OSX has some superb technologies and Apple produces some very cool hardware designs. But the warranty policy on your higher end is an insult.
pay for the 3 year warranty. Check the prices--the same spec
computer is actually CHEAPER from Apple in many cases, so long
as you are buying top of the line equipment.
Wiht the HP/Dell you are getting a generic computer. Also,
AppleCare covers far more than the Dell/HP warranties do.
And, you can go and talk to a real person in the Apple store or a
US help staff on the phone. Try to get help from Dell or HP!
You are talking to someone in India who can barely speak
English, and when they do, it's mostly to blame M$. Call M$
(it's impossible to get through, but you can TRY) and they will
blame HP/Dell.
What's that warranty worth?
Plus, I have yet to line up for anything, except maybe a movie ticket.
be a Mac user. I still get a lot of flak for being a Mac user. Hell, it
was only last year when I got an account here at c|cnet just so I
can stop the spreading of the lies when some Troll makes a post.
tend to constantly say stupid things when it comes to using Macs . .
. like they can't print, can't connect to the Internet, can't run M$
apps, and the list goes on. I usually just remain silent, there's just
no line of reasoning that could possibly make sense to many PC
users. And I just love the Microsoftians that still say to me, ``I just
hate Mac.''
detail in the OS and software. I don't care about looks; my eMac
was the homeliest thing I've seen. However, I'm working on
something and I think "It would be neat if...." and I try it and they
had thought of that too. With OS X I switch back and forth between
interrelated tasks and they just work so well together. Its like
jamming with another musician: even if you don't know them too
well, a connection or attachment is made in the process.
Did you know that Mac is a bad mod-job of an 80s BSD version ? BSD gurus say that Mac is the worse of the kind. And, why does it "just work" ? Because, it works on a "Mac" and nothing else.
Apple is smart enough to design their hardware to make the software on top of it(Mac) to "Just work". It won't perform well in other hardware. Fundamentally because the OS is not that good.
And, even if they say its better than Windows in security. It isn't. Its just that there are too many threats for Windows machines. And, go on and ask a hacker and they'll tell you how easy it is to rip down a Mac.
I'm not a Windows fanboy, ok ? I used to have a Mac around. Got tired of it. Sold it for whatever I can get. And, installed Linux.
Its flexible, stable and safe. Linux and Mac are distant cousins. But, Linux is the better of the pack with the latest and greatest kernel and the freedom to mod your OS to suit you style.
And, if you really miss the "Mac-looks", here's something you need to see : http://techroach.com/2007/10/30/how-to-make-linux-look-like-mac-leopard/
What do you think ?
After hearing good things about Apple service from Consumer Reports and PC Magazine, I went down to the Apple Store and bought a Mac laptop. 2.5 years later the wireless wouldn't connect to the Internet. I walked into the Apple Store and spoke with a "Genius". It was a bad wireless card, they replaced it and I walked out. NO CHARGE. They even thanked me for my continued support of Apple.
Based on support would you rather own? let's face it, both do the same thing. I'm very happy. Is that somehow cultish?
The problem with the various OS fanboys (Mac, Microsoft, Linux) is that they assume that everyone is going to have the same experience that they have and that any problems reported are fake and deliberately made up to attack their OS.
As a programmer, I can tell you there will be problems with any software (whether system software like an OS or application software like an office suite) that is more complex than the "Hello World!" app.
It's good that Mac works for you; however, for some of us Mac will not work.
http://blog.wired.com/business/2007/05/pc_world_editor.html
Let me sum it up for you.... The Editor-in-chief wanted to publish an article which had some not-so-good views about Apple, when their CEO killed the story, because "product reviews in the magazine were too critical of vendors, especially ones who advertise in the magazine, and that they had to start being nicer to advertisers"
The story goes on "when Crawford was working for the Mac magazine, Steve Jobs would call him up any time he had a problem with a story the magazine was running about Apple"
So all you crApple fanboys, you should check the facts before you start pointing fingers at Cnet accusing the authors here being biased in favour of Microsoft.
You are right, it is an OLD story. Similar charges have been thrown around about Microsoft. Disparaging potential revenue sources is something I imagine every magazine struggles with, be it with Apple or Dell or Microsoft or whatever. Your tin-foil hat might be a little too tight.
computer for no charge when I reported a moniter problem; the
old computer was well out of warranty. I have rarely paid for
customer service; when I have problems; I get to talk to people
(in fact, Apple's phone number is easy to find!), and I always get
a solution.
Another reason I stay with Apple is because I am not a computer
afficiando-- one button mice make sense to me; fewer clicks to
get somewhere means a lot; not having to update anti-virus
software and "clean" my computer every 18 months saves time
and worry.
Apple treats me and others as a consumer, not a commodity.
There is not a little difference between Apple and other
technology companies, there is a big difference in products and
customer support. Paying a few extra dollars for a lot less grief
imakes sense.
the old G4 made terrible noise inside of OSX 10.1
made the mac what it is. It's a great product and it has its flaws I
will admit... zealotry kept Apple alive.
If you've never had someone from Apple call you up and tell you
Steve Jobs or someone working for Steve Jobs got your email and
they are going to fix your problem than thats you don't
understand why Apple customers care so much. Trust me if and
when you get that call you will be freaked out that they care so
much.
I just hope Apples popularity doesn't cheapen the product... I
think the build quality of the PowerPC Macs are better than the
current generation.
He also tells me the heat issues with my core duo macbook pro are all intel's fault since apple consulted intel for cooling design. Funny the sea of third rate trash makers can cool their laptops properly while the supposedly superior apple cannot.
I bought the core duo model 2 months before the release of the core 2 duo model and even though there were substantially design flaws in the core duo I cannot even get at least some trade up value for the improved one. I must shell out another $3K or keep sending the crapbook back to apple under apple care.
The apple hibernation file process was causing panics also. There is a way to change the behavior from unix terminal but apple support "wasn't allowed to discuss it with me". Why not a gui checkbox?
Now I type from a $2500 toshiba x205 and love it.
Interestingly, I'm watching Windows users who have bought iPhones and iPods begin to experience the Cult as well. They deride those who choose another MP3 player and complain about NBC's decision to pull their iTunes content. Some, of course, are looking forward to making the switch but others are still faithful Win users. And lets not forget that the vehemence goes both ways.
I was reading the other day about Apple purposefully deleting threads from it's discussion forums if they contained anything that remotely criticized their products or their policies. They just want to paint a rosy picture to their blindfolded fans... thank the lord I am not one of them.
"zealot" who will pursue people and try to convert them.
Does Apple delete threads? Probably, as any moderated board
should. But it's definitely not to keep negative opinions or
comments out of view.
Don't believe it? Go to any of the discussion threads on the
support site (like this one, chosen randomly: http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=1191).
Seriously--go look. It's anything but rosy, sanitized; it's a
complex chatterbox with complaints, worries, inquiries, helpful
feedback, and grateful conversants. Look for yourself.
Blindfolded fans? What an idiot. If you want to see why it can be
hard to have a rational discussion about Apple, don't just blame
Apple lovers.
purposefully deleting threads from it's discussion forums", but I
actually read and participate in those forums. If someone
"remotely criticizes" an Apple product that is not usually grounds
for deletion of the post. Usually it is the nasty troll posting lies
and FUD that gets deleted.
Deletions of such posts happen all over the blogosphere, not
just at Apple.com
- It hasn't really changed ... Mac has always been better
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by nbvail
December 12, 2007 7:05 AM PST
- Back in 1985 I used a Tandy, was impressed until I used a Mac for
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- And so what?
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by GreyClaw
December 12, 2007 7:53 AM PST
- My own computer is more impressive too!
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Showing 1 of 6 pages (349 Comments)the first time, bought one and haven't looked back. They have
always been better, just now more people have finally found the
light. My commitment has been reinforced not only by my positive
present day Mac experience but also each day when I used a HP at
work. The HP at work is much less impressive than my Tandy was,
but my new Mac is just as impressive as my first Mac.
Comparing your personal PC with the machine that your job provided for you to use is like comparing a pair of shoes that you chose and bought, with the rentals kept at a bowling alley.