The love/hate relatio hip with A le

You probably wouldn't be reading this if you did't enjoy working on your A le computer. Now ask yourself, "why?"

The a wers are as varied as the users. Now ask yourself what really irks you about working on your Mac, or A le as a company... Again, we've all got something that grinds our gears,for i tace, A leMatters just put up a list of best and worst Macs. Think you'll see that for Gateway, Dell, or even Sony, with their computers named after robotic serial numbers? As A le's market share and brand name expand we're seeing an increase in A le haters, and they are becoming more vocal. Mac zealots, while becoming slightly le shrill, are also in the mix helping put nothing in per ective. So what's to make of all this? As a user of A le products for almost 30 years I wanted to take a look at the love/hate relatio hip between A le, its fa , and detractors.

In the iPod ace people love to hate A le for the reaso Microsoft tells them to: your choice is limited. You can only use the iPod with iTunes. This is seen as the Mac OS "problem" all over again by people like Dvorak. Personally, part of the reason the iPod sells so well, in my opinion, is that for the average co umer there may be too much choice. The average person doe 't want to search all over creation for the latest brain-dead beats. They want to plug in their doohickey and have it automagically do things (like think) for them. This i 't Think Differently, it's just brilliant execution of the idea that co umers want stuff, and they want to get it easily. Plays for Sure? Whatever. People know if they can't put diesel in their car, and they know the iPod works with iTunes. So far, that's been a wi ing combo.

The Mac platform become a hot topic again way back in the go-go 90's (remember that decade?) after Master and Commander of the Far Side of the Computer World, Mr. Steve Jo , introduced the iMac . We're beyond all the tra lucent plastic knockoff items you used to find in Target, and we're down to this: it's easier to make things on a Mac and it's safer to use a Mac. At least one of these is easily arguable. Granted, if I want to make Machinima, the PC is a better platform. In fact, there is way more software for PC's than Mac's, but how much of it is easy to use? It might sound like a Yogi Bearism, but everything's easy when you know how. Obviously someone who can sit at home in grandma's basement and figure out every little button in WinAmp is going to have an advantage over an iTunes noob. But again, the average co umer can't be bothered with registry hacks and driver i ues. At the end of every day a person likes to put their machine to sleep, secure in the knowledge that all their hard work will be there another day. And that they'll be able to do something about it. Which brings me to the safety i ue...
Are Macs safer than PC's? Well, for now that's true. But don't get lulled into a false se e of security. All it takes is one "freeware makerz" a to filter down the pipe, and get a few hundred Macs "infected" with what amounts to nothing more than a proof-of-concept Trojan horse, and the news will warn us all that A le's claims of safety are invalid. The myth will be busted. In truth, A le made it a little harder for hackers to get in, however, goading would-be hackers into a staring contest with the built-in security of OS X is tempting fate. A security breach will ha en, it's only a matter of time.

Going back to the question of why we hold A le in such high regard; what is that all about anyway? Do we really think this publicly traded US corporation wants to change the world for the better by overcharging for RAM? I see why a lot of younger folks, those without the benefit of the true history of the desktop computer, think A le is "evil." Evil, after all, is a matter of perpective. For that matter, why do we see Microsoft as evil when they have twice made A le stronger? For the record, that's once with Mac a and once with an infusion of cash. Some might say they're still doing us a favor by continuing Office development for another five years.

Obviously this is just one of those weird things in life. People feeling so strongly about a company? Well where I live people feel strongly about their Ford, or GM, or whatever car company, to the point of deriding another car company's product. Who cares? I always tell my students it's not the tool, but what you make with that tool that matters. But here's where the moro start filing past. The ones who can't shake the whole idea that a company might be i ovating, that there might be reaso behind what they see as dumb mistakes or lost o ortunities. Who are these people? Let's call them out, shall we? Please note I'm not bashing them out of blind Mac zealotry (I have a lot of re ect for Windows and Linux, not to mention the zillio of other technologies out there not created by A le). I'm bashing these guys because the things they say are based in fantasy, circum ect reasoning, and outright illogical a umptio or blatant falsehoods.

1. John C. Dvorak. He must be so glad it's a free country. And even ha ier he's got a job. In any other industry he'd have been committed. Imagine an industry pundit claiming "Ford will switch to the hemi in a year." Or "Honda is ditching hybrid vehicles for muffler-free, high-octane SUV's with fi ." Anyway, Rob Hyndman does a great job of parrying Dvorak's claims about A le. John's an easy target.
2. Jim Louderback decided to crank up the flames with his article calling Boot Camp "Boot Chump." Well that's very cute, but I'm afraid Jim mi es the point. Read the article and see how many logical fallacies you can find! It's like a drinking game. Don't try it with anything stronger than beer though, I don't want to put anyone in a coma. What grinds my gears about Louderback is how he paints the "Mac faithful." And his claim that a Mac ru ing Windows can't po ibly be faster than a "real" Windows machine? He can ask C.K. about that one. Facts, schmacts. Those of you working on Macs for the last year or so will also love the a ertion that you've become a total idiot as a result. Yay, name calling!
3. Now the sad tale of a reverse switcher: alcibiades over at O ews. His or her poor pathetic tale, "Why I Will Probably Never Buy Another Mac" will have you weeping in your A le logo coffee mug. Alcibiades (who would likely label me as a zealot for even writing this) is quick to harsh on the hardcore Mac fanatics out there, likening them to racists and fascists. Of course, the Windows fanatics being parago of "fair and balanced" commentary, I gue that's a fair criticism, n'est pas?

Yes, there are lots of reaso to love or hate A le. I love them when they use open source, and not so much when they don't give back. I love the dro ing prices, but not really the lowering of quality that comes with it. OS X was a revelation, but also a curse of many UI's and moving targets for developers. And don't get me started on that iBook of mine... So, we've asked this question before in smaller doses, but what do you love or hate about A le?