Apple Computer and the real world
Son,
I watch television and movies and commercials – all the nonsense stuff that entertains me and distracts me from the seriousness of life. One of the things I note is the use of computers and the clever promotion of Apple. All of the movies have laptops that can access any information that might conceivable ever been digitized. And all of the laptops are Apple.
Then I wander around in the real world and I realize that I don’t personally know anyone who owns an Apple Computer. Is that because I am an old man, living in the midwest, isolated from the world? Is this good marketing by Apple? If it was good marketing then wouldn’t I be seeing more Apple Laptops in my everyday life?
Steve Jobs is a master of technology and of image. But if this stuff is so terrific then why do I not see it? Perhaps I should hang around the local university. Those folks in academia like the appearance of being on the front edge of all movements.
I am typing on a Dell Computer, using Microsoft software, talking about Apple Computers. Might we say that Apple is fashionable, but people don’t wear fashion to the office. Fashion is the thing we do on Friday night when we are out and about – seeking to impress the crowd. The real world is dungarees and sweatshirts – stuff that is durable and gets the job done.
Dad
Comment by Ted on 11 January 2008:
It’s a free country, so you are entitled to love your Dell and hate Apple and Apple fanboys all you wish.
I am typing in your blog from a Mac at work, use a Mac at home, and all my family members have Macs. We love them. Most people I know who actually use Macs love them too.
I can only tell you that based on the experiences of myself and the people I know who use them, Macs are good. In fact, I’d say the highest compliment I can give Apple is that most of the time when I am on my Mac, I can focus on doing whatever I got on the computer to do, and forget about “the computer” so-to-speak.
This is in start contrast to the constant interruptions I receive on my Windows machine (also at work) that asks me if I was to allow this/allow that, permanently, never, sometimes, reboot, crash, reboot-again…
These types of things seem to happen less on a Mac. At least for me they do.
Comment by cartann on 11 January 2008:
I guess, its because you don’t know many bright people. 🙂 Just Kidding.
Here in my neighborhood I’m the only one who owns a mac, 5 of them to be fair. I’m only the only one happy!, the only one who never formated my computers in the last 5 years, and the only one who don’t needs help for doing what a computer is supposed to do. I mean, get the jobs done.
All the other people are just so used to see their machines like crap! they do not understand when I say how much I love and care for mines.
I did give up a long time ago to try to explain that for my friends. Who cares anymore?
Comment by Jonathan on 11 January 2008:
It’s not fair to say that Macs are just designer computers that get dropped when people need heavy lifting done — just ask the US military! They use quite a few Macs now, especially for servers (they have whole Xserve clusters). And of course, there are many writers, video editors, and others who treat their Macs like workhorses rather than art installations.
Yes, you’re more likely to have a Mac if you’re young and living on one of the coasts, but they’re increasingly popular — just not uniformly distributed across the country.
Comment by William on 11 January 2008:
I’m 67 years old and live in the “real world” – just look in my closet at the sweatshirts and jeans.
Been using a Macintosh since 1985. Job’s hype has nothing to do with it, the Macintosh is just a superior computer, that is all there is to it.
But as cartann said, “Who cares anymore?”
Have to go, my iPhone is ringing!
Comment by Chris Jones on 11 January 2008:
One wide-spread myth is that Apple is mostly about fashion and marketing. The truth is, Apple is mostly about quality and innovation. It’s true, Apple products are fashionable and the company uses good marketing. But the Big Story is Quality and Innovation
Comment by manovmistery on 11 January 2008:
the price / performance for the new power mac’s are 100% insane.
back in 1998 i bought my first beige mac G3 for $2800
the 17″ crt viewsonic cost me $500 at CompUSA
now you can get an 8core XENON based rig w/ more stock ram than my original hard drive on that old G3
just a thought .. [yes i am an old man]
macintosh computers are out there, just that the users who are getting into them are more urban. hang out at the woodfield mall in schaumburg and you will see even the kiosk vendors in the mall have iMAC’s as cash registers!
Comment by Adam on 11 January 2008:
Before buying my first Mac, this friend of mine suggested a Pc , I told him PCs are for guys with shirts and ties whereas a Macs are for guys who wear jeans and Ts. I have been using Mac since the LCs and love the experience and I wish you well on yours.
Peace
Comment by Luke Smith on 11 January 2008:
Growing up with an Amstrad I found it enjoyable working out how its primitive word processor functioned, but it was when I was 13 that I came into contact with the Mac in school. I was entralled – clearly every part of its user interface had received a great deal of thought. Ever since I have been a close follower of what has been released, especially since OS X with born in 2000. Although my company uses Windows XP on its desktops – with all the daily hassles that entails – I am surprised to see several workmates over the last year buying Macbooks. This is a sign that Macs are going mainstream.
Comment by cartann on 11 January 2008:
Sorry, but I like to complement here ( Nice one Willian! I envy you , all steve allow us down here is to have an Ipod Touch by the way my second love.)
Talking about real world. I never got a virus, I’m in love with macs since 1984, and since then all I see is my PC friends bitching about their problems with their machines! How many apple owners do that? I saw them bitching about a price drop for the Iphone! how weird is that? Why, ho why those crazy Mac owners are so happy with their machines???? I live and work in a real world, a happier one maybe. But its not my fault the peoples lack of knowledge about
a better computer and a better OS. I like to think about my Imac like a Ferrari that I could afford to buy. I wonder why are so few Ferraris in the street?
Must be because they are not “real world” cars? Ok, there are plenty of beetles.
Comment by roger on 12 January 2008:
Hi Dad,
I am old, live in the midwest and do computer support. I personally gave up on Windows after Win 95 came out. I know quite a few midwest Mac users and they have all done quite well without Windows or Dell. But I am glad people use Windows as it pays my bills.
Comment by Mario on 12 January 2008:
Actually, “Dad,” my experience with Macs since 1994 has been exactly what you say in your last line: “… stuff that is durable and gets the job done.” My first two Macs were both pre-owned and had already been working for four years and I still got another two years out of each. I passed one of them on to a friend who used it for another two years as a video editing workstation. That’s durability if you ask me.
My current computer is a first generation Intel iMac 20″. It’s the only one I actually bought new (Summer 2006). I expect to get a solid five years of use out of it if all goes well, and I’ll probably pass it on if/when I outgrow it. I definitely don’t buy Apple computers to be fashionable, I buy them to be productive.
Ted, stop drinking vinegar. The author made an observation that is a tough one to answer. I didn’t read any “hate” in his entry; however, the second post (“failure of marketing”) is a bit harsh. As a Mac user, I’ve been asked that many times by all sorts of people: “If they’re so good, how come hardly anyone uses them?” It really boils down to whether it is the best tool for the job you need to do. Personally, I’m glad I have a choice.
Comment by Claybert on 12 January 2008:
I often have to stop and remind myself that many computer users today, old and young alike, have never used a Macintosh. All they know is WIndows. Many if not most don’t realize that the Mac was introduced in 1984, and it took ten years for Windows 95 to answer it (the WIndows 3.1 interface was nothing more than a limited graphical shell over DOS, so to me it doesn’t count). The Mac has a long history, with much evolution and improvement, but from the beginning they made so many good decisions in the design of the GUI. It was truly inspired. Windows is so often almost the exact opposite in its design, seemingly twisted that way because Apple got there first and chose the best way to do something and Microsoft had to take second best to avoid exactly duplicating the Mac interface, which they were blatantly trying to copy. The consensus is, and you can find many comparison between the two interfaces that support this, that Mac OS is more elegant, intuitive, aesthetically pleasing, and as others here have stated, gets out of your way and lets you work or play with minimum cognitive dissonance.
To stop mid-rant and sum up – if you have never used a Mac, you simply do not know what you are missing. WIndows is a sad, sad place to be – all the more sad because the people stuck using it (most people) have no idea that things could be better. Well, the word is starting to get out. People are getting it. It won’t be long before you spot your first MacBook in the real world. It isn’t about mere fashion, which implies Mac users don’t actually think about their choice. It’s about bucking the herd mentality and making an intelligent, informed choice to use the pinnacle of personal computer design to date. For all Apple’s faults, at least they have given us that.
You only live once, so why settle for second or third best technology when you spend so much time with it. You can’t get all that time back that Windows has forced you to waste.
Comment by Lou wheeler on 12 January 2008:
Fashions come and fashions go, Dad. Wintel is the old fashion.
The reason that young people are buying Mac’s today is that they are less set in their ways. They are willing to try something new. But, that new thing has to deliver. That is what the Mac does.
This is not about advertizing; Apple has good word-of-mouth. All the neat kids say, “Boy, is that pretty. And it is fast. It has plenty of software: it even runs Microsoft Windows. And it cost about the same as a Dell.”
All the neat kids say that, like me, who recently turned 65.
Comment by bryan on 12 January 2008:
I use an HP, and Windows, but the Mac people make me smile.
I am 33, and have been using a PC my whole life, from a Commodore 64 when I was about 6 or 8 years old to my current machine.
Change is hard.
Comment by John Davis on 12 January 2008:
I’ve noticed that if you buy a certain make and model of car or motorcycle, it’s amazing how many you see of that make and model when you drive around in it. They haven’t suddenly proliferated. There were there all the time, you just didn’t notice them.
Also, there is a longevity with Mac hardware. I remember going into a hotel in a very remote area of Japan and seeing the hotel manager running his hotel, bookings, invoices, his whole business, on a really ancient Mac running System 6. He bought it 20 years ago or so and saw no reason to upgrade or change it. It did what he wanted and he was happy with it.
They are there. You just don’t see them.
John Davis
Comment by KenC on 12 January 2008:
Midwest, so I’m at O’Hare airport, that’s in the midwest, over Thanksgiving. I walk down to the Starbucks kiosk, past about 8 gates. I count all the laptops out. There are 25. 13 Macs, and 12 Peecees. That’s the real world too. You could say there were more students, who might skew the sample towards Mac, but then again, there were also more business people, who certainly skew the sample towards Peecee, so it’s a bit of a wash.
Honestly, you should get out more, cause I see increasing amounts of Macs, all over the east coast, and I travel up and down once a month.
Comment by Mr Roberto on 13 January 2008:
Hah. I love blog comments that begin with “It’s a free country and you can use whatever computer you like…” and then immediately after that follow it up with why Apple is Teh Goodness and How It Will Save Civilisation and just underneath all the smugness you can just about detect the hint that if you choose to use a Dull or Windoze out of preference then you can’t be fully human.
Comment by Mr Roberto on 13 January 2008:
PS, life is never Dull when you have rabid apple fans around to correct you when you’re, um, “wrong”.
Comment by Happy Mac on 13 January 2008:
Why even try to educate the the loosers still stuck in Windows mentality.
It’s survival of the fittest after all. The smartest move to Macs and the truly bright have always used Macs, so why sully the breed by diluting it with the dullards who can’t think for themselves much less have the discernment to choose the best.
Ya I’m elitist so Dick Cheney you drones who can’t think for yourselves.
Comment by cartann on 13 January 2008:
Sorry, Mr. Roberto it is not the case of being “not human” just because someone uses windows… For what I saw in all the comments, we Mac users have this “love” for our machines. Why is that? I’m not a “fan boy”, That means I have to be a HP fan boy , just because I love my HP 12C calculator? They are excellent machines, always working , never have a problem with them, they are what make my job pleasant and easy. Never lost one single song, never got corrupted data, never sent anyone of my machines to fix something. Got to love those things. If your windows machine do the same, ok. Be happy too.