Source Jockey

From as far back as I can remember until mid-2002, I hated Apple products.  It didn’t matter what they were, it didn’t matter what they did–they were enormous piles of crap.  I remember fixing them in high school, and scoffing at their goofy designs in undergrad.  Their performance was terrible.  OS 9?  Not even true multi-tasking!  Come ON!  Who’d spend thousands of dollars more on a Mac?  Then they starting saying how they were FASTER–but it sure didn’t seem that way, what, with all the crashing and other issues…

Then something happened.

I was at Washington Mutual at the time, doing computer work; Windows XP had just come out around that time, and boy, it was KILLING the Macs.  I decided to buy a 20 GB iPod; I had outgrown my measly 4 GB Creative Nomad; and it was DOG slow.  I opened my new, EXPENSIVE iPod.  It was sleek.  Attractive.  Solid.  Perfect.  I was amazed at the quality of the product.

After a month or so, I decided to leave WaMu to get my masters, and one of my colleagues told me to buy a Mac. “They’ve changed,” he explained.  So I read up on it.  Sure enough, OS X had gone through two iterations by that point, 10.0 and 10.1, and 10.2 was coming out that week.  I still had a bad taste in my mouth from the Macs in high school, though.  So I sauntered across the street to the Northridge Apple store where I purchased my iPod, instead to check out the Powerbooks.  Visually, they were stunning.  Titanium case, striking screen, gorgeous layout.  One mouse button.  Hmmm.

The salesperson (Specialist, as I came to know), told me about the machine.  I mentioned that I had been in IT, and that I wanted everything laid out to me technically.  He obliged, “It’s a 15 inch screen, 800 MHz G4 processor. It’s fast, though–faster than its Intel counterparts that are twice the clock speed.”  I was doubtful.  I didn’t like the dock.  I didn’t like that there was no “Run” command in the Start menu.  I didn’t like that there was no Start menu!  I could have (and I think I did, at some point) make a list of all the things I hated about it.  Then he showed me the Terminal.  And it had everything I needed.  I played with that computer for over an hour, and by the time I was done, I was convinced.  This was the computer for me.

So I walked out with a brand-new Powerbook.  A new Apple.  My worst nightmare–I had become what I hated!  For a month afterwards, I hated on the laptop as much as I could.  I told everyone who’d listen, “I’m the only Apple owner who hates the computer.  I hate it!”  Meanwhile, I had two major problems with the computer that resulted in Apple replacing it with a VERY upgraded model…  A gigahertz processor, bigger hard drive, better graphics, a DVD burner…  Amazing customer service.  I had problems with Dells, HPs, Compaqs, and Sonys before…but no one handled the problem as well as Apple.

I used the computer for another month, hating it all the while…when suddenly, I realized I didn’t miss the features I wanted to have so badly.  Sure, I couldn’t customize the size of the text in the title bar–but I found I didn’t need to.  I didn’t need the Start menu, and the Dock works great.  I became a convert.

So the years have passed, and I’ve owned a few Macs.  I now use a 15″ Macbook Pro, and while I love it, I wish I had held out for the 17″.  Nevertheless, it’s a beautiful system that I love to use.  And I wish more people would consider Macs.

Hopefully you’ve read this far, because the story above is merely background to what I actually wanted to talk about…  Microsoft is, as usual, attacking the Mac.  Rather than spending time improving their operating system, they’re still trying to make Apple look like the bad guy.  The first tried by making non-sensical commercials with Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld.  Then, they made “I’m a PC” ads with lots of people (which turned out to be made on Macs.  Oops).  Then, they put ads of little 4 year olds using the PCs.  No comment.

Now, they’re getting people to go out and buy a computer under $1,000.  They’re asking them to pick a feature that is important to them, and then get the computer.  If the computer costs less, they’ll pay the difference.  So far, a woman wanted a 17″ screen.  She ended up with an HP model because it was $699, versus Apple’s $2,799 Macbook Pro.

Not a bad idea, actually.  They’re essentially telling people that Macs are more expensive than PCs.  Except for a few little things.  Obviously, there is an enormous price discrepancy in the example above.  $2,100 is nothing to sniff at.  Except that they’re very different computers.  I won’t get into details…but the HP has a slower processor, less RAM, a smaller hard drive, worse WiFi, no Bluetooth, a MUCH worse battery, no Firewire ports, a SIGNIFICANTLY (and this is very important) worse display card, and a few other silly things that don’t matter much (ie, the mouse, lit keyboard, etc.)  I’m sure the HP has a memory card slot.  But their screen is worse, too–lower resolution, and terrible viewing angles.  They’re comparing a Porsche to a Chevy Aveo.  Similar size, different animal.

Anyway.  I don’t really have much of a vested interest in this (I think I own three shares of Apple), but every time I see someone switch to a Mac from a PC, they’re happy.  And Vista…well…it’s not that bad…it’s just not good.  Compare it to OS X, especially 10.5 (the current version), and…wow.  Apple’s more efficient, reliable, easy-to-use, and FASTER!

Ok–I’m getting off of my Apple soapbox.  I didn’t intend this to be that long, I’m sorry.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 27th, 2009 at 10:00 am and is filed under Rants. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.