Posted on 01/13/2005 12:28:42 PM PST by ambrose
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By Stephen Evans
BBC North America business correspondent
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It's tempting to think that Steve Jobs is some sort of religious leader rather than the chief executive of a rather successful computer company.
And you could be forgiven for thinking that his Apple products are objects of religious devotion rather than mere pieces of plastic enclosing silicon chips.
The Cult of Mac does have some rational basis.
There seems little doubt that the products are very good. Its strong attractions are usability and good looks (though not usually price until this week's announcement of a less expensive home computer).
Inspired behaviour
There is clearly, though, something more to it than mere mundane functionality.
Lots of companies make good products but they don't attract the kind of religious zeal that Mac inspires.
Take the case of John Charlton, for example, who, according to Wired magazine, travels the world with his Newton, the PDA which Apple discontinued in 1998, and has now created a gallery of pictures of the said gizmo in front of various global landmarks from Florida to Munich to Lisbon.
Or the people who cut their hair to show an Apple symbol or who get Mac tattoos or who dress up like Steve Jobs or who trek around the world to the opening of a new Apple Store.
Rebellious streak
It is a tribal thing - the Mac Tribe - and a sociological phenomenon, to do perhaps with a minority who believe they have seen a truth, much like the drivers of VW Beetles would wave to each other in the 60s, knowing utterly that their car was superior, but it was a secret unperceived by the rest.
There may also be a type of person who delights in going against the herd.
Whatever is fashionable for the masses becomes unfashionable for the minority. Manchester City and the New York Mets both have their loyal followers who would rather die than head for Old Trafford or Yankee Stadium. And so it is with Microsoft and Apple.
While the big company dominates the market with its uncool product, Macs offer an alternative to those with a streak of bolshiness and perversity (both nouns are compliments).
Cool dudes?
None of which is to say that Apple and Mac offer style but no substance.
Clearly, the company is getting a lot right. Its devotees (disciples?) swear by their products as being effective and easy to use.
It's just that there's something more to it than that: the packaging and sales-pitch have succeeded brilliantly in conveying a whole life-style and image.
That style emanates from the top.
Steve Jobs is the counter-image of a stuffy businessman. He wears trainers, jeans and black sweaters.
Apple's attitude to the media is actually tight and highly controlled yet the image portrayed is of a cool and easy-going counter-culture.
Pure marketing
Let me declare an interest: I own a Microsoft driven personal computer. It serves me very well. I have no strong feelings about it. Mac may or may not be better; it's just that it's not the route I happened to take.
I get stalked, though, by colleagues who insist on telling me how much better their iPod is than my Dell Jukebox, even as the reviews say the battery life of an iPod isn't the best around. Or how I should throw my PC away and get a Mac.
They may be right.
It's just that some of the message is in the marketing.
We asked you, our readers, if you are Mac followers or loathe Macs, or indeed whether you are simply puzzled by this phenomenon? The feedback printed below reflects the wide range of views held.
I have not got a clue about this issue and i am a loser when it comes to technology.
Hassan Shah, Watford
Not to knock Jobs, but that iPod shuffle round his neck looks terribly unfashionable. Sort of like when you were back in school and you had that teacher with the big glasses and pen hanging round her neck. I for one won't get one until it is covered in zebra stripes and purrs everytime I do something right, like my girlfriend ;-)
John, London
Macs have always lead the way. They are simpler, more intuitive to use and now cost less! They are also better quality.
Jeff Lil, Hull UK
I must admit to being puzzled by the whole Apple cult. I too have had my ear bent by Mac nerds, but I've ignored them because I can't see the point of paying over the odds for an inferior product just because someone considers it to be stylish. Why buy a Mac when you can get a PC that will outperform it in every respect for half the price?
Anthony Jones, Leeds UK
Once again, disappointingly, a report on Apple rehashes the old myth, that Macs are more expensive than their equivalent PCs. Utter Tosh. TCO (total cost of ownership) studies show, time and again, with equivalent hardware and software, that Macs are actually cheaper. Lazy journalistic nonsense.
John, Forfar, Scotland
I like the idea of the Ipod shuffle and also the price but I can't help but feel that they are really taking advantage of new computer users with the mini Mac. They are taking advantage of Mac as a hip brand name to sell a product without a keyboard, mouse and monitor and are marketing it like they are doing the consumer a favour.
People will buy them because Mac is the it thing to have but these will be home users wanting something to look good next to their lava lamps or something. If Mac just lowered the prices for their Macs anyway they would be able to compete with PC no problem in my opinion, I feel we are being slightly ripped off by this mini Mac.
Andrew Maddock, Harrow, London
I am indeed puzzled. The Mac Mini is lacklustre. The specification are so 2003. And yet people are willing to pay money for that. The iPod Shuffle is even worse.
March Suffot, London
I am always amazed with how intuitive Apple products are to use. Proof: they come with no manuals.
Bav, Brussels
I'm a user of Macs and PCs (and by the way, it's not just a matter of Apple versus Microsoft: Microsoft Office is very widely used on Macs, at any rate in corporates).
I don't have a strong preference as regards the working environment: as an IT professional, I've worked on and supported both platforms (and others). I suppose if I didn't need to maintain my skills on both platforms I'd be content enough with a Mac.
I think, objectively, the interface is generally better, not to mention friendlier for non-experts, and I've happily produced reams using one or other of my Macs. But then, I've done the same on PCs.
However, I do get irritated by the aggressive evangelism of many Mac (and Linux) users: perhaps Mac users really are smarter, cuddlier, safer and more creative than PC users (but I'd like to see some reliable, objective statistics!), but in my experience they're often rude and arrogant.
I suspect that this often shows a deep-seated defensiveness and insecurity. Apple do many things just right (and I'm not just talking marketing either), but they aren't perfect.
Furthermore, Mac users don't live in a vacuum: the Mac experience might be more productive and pleasant if the rest of the online world supported the platform better. The fact that they don't isn't the fault of Apple or the customers (well, sometimes it is: insularity is not an attractive trait), but it isn't an argument for putting all your eggs in the Mac basket, either.
David Harley CISSP, Headley Down, UK
I think that for most Mac users there are a range of factors that influence us. A distrust or dissatisfaction of Microsoft is one factor - in this sense Mac users are similar to people who choose Firefox over IE or Linux over Windows.
In many cases there are also very specific, practical reasons. I use a Mac at work because I have something like 10 years of resources created on Macs (some of which use software unique to the Mac).
I use a Mac to read email by preference to reduce my exposure to viruses (most of which can't damage the Mac OS or Mac files).
Finally, Mac products tend to have a longer shelf-life than Windows PC products and tend to be easier to use. This last point is no longer as true as used to be (Apple has adopted generic PC components in its machines and lowered quality slightly over the years), but I have never had a serious or expensive hardware fault with any Mac I've used at home or for work. This contrasts with the experience of many PC using colleagues at work over the years.
Thom Baguley, Loughborough
Your reporter sounds a bit defensive, insistent on portraying Mac users as "other" than normal computer users. Perhaps that makes him more comfortable with his Windows PC. If he focused on which computers are better for most users, his stubborn resistance to trying a Mac may give way. Oh, the horror!
Ted Rebarber, United States
I have used Macs for almost 20 years and a Windows PC on only a couple of occasions. I don't drive a Beetle (or Bug) but chuckled at the article, agreeing with it and identify with many aspects of it.
It's not a religious thing, just about finding what works best for you ... except you then want to evangelise about the 'great truth' you have discovered, which sort of makes it a quasi-religious thing!
PS. I have already placed my order for an iPod shuffle!
Lester Peters, High Wycombe, UK
Apple has an outstanding Marketing department that could sell rain coats in the desert. As for their products, its all down to hype and marketing. Many companies offer better products at far lower prices.
"Macs are really easy to use" they cry. Anyone who has ever sat down in front of a Mac for the first time will realise that a Mac is very easy to use - but only when you know how to use it!
Phil Templeton, Poole, Uk
As is usually the case with these things, those pursuing "anti-fashion" are the biggest fashion victims of them all. It reminds me of my teenage niece who wants to be "different" just like the rest of her friends.
Matt, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (ex. UK)
If this goes on, in few years time it'll be rebellious not to have a Mac product. So far, I'm doing well, I don't have any! ;-)
Konstantinos M, Athens/London
Everybody knows that Macs are better than PCs. But we all have to use PCs for compatibility, because everyone else does.
Adam, London, UK
Who cares?
Chris, Lincoln
And what happens when the video chip blows? Or the modem, how about the ethernet card?
Back to the factory?
Just kidding...
When the rumor about the cheapie MAC came out I finally figured I would buy one but the damn thing doesn't look like you could add anything to it and where's the 360k drive?
If I could build an Apple like a clone PC, now that would be awesome. Yeah, a dual G5 clone, now that's the stuff. Until that happy day arrives I'll live in my PC world where I've NEVER had a virus, knock on wood, in over 20 years of using various DOS or Windows computers.
LOL!!! So sad, yet true.
Connect it to a monitor, keyboard and mouse. You don't even need Apple's own MKM to make it work. Whatever you have lying around will do.
I think Mac users also tend to gravitate towards the Nintendo Gamecube.
Apple Works is even better than MS Office. You've got a full set of cool integrated software for every application on OSX Panther. What more would you need?
Nor am I. I have a couple of each and then some. I'd have to slap myself around constantly.
Bigots are bigots, no matter what they are bigoted about. And bigotry is usually a sure sign of ignorance.
Have been a life-long PC user (does my Commodore 64 count?) but recently had two straight duds from Dell. Switched to a beautiful but expensive Powerbook. Three months later I am still figuring out how to use the damn thing. Once I figure out how some feature works, however, it tends to work a hell of a lot better than my PC did. Might switch back to a PC if cost became a real issue (e.g. need to buy a half-dozen for an office) but I would make sure that I uninstalled IE on every single one of them. Mozilla rocks.
That would about sum it up for me. If I could find the realistic flight sims and the military strategy games I'm used to running on WinXP I'd consider switching to Mac. Back in the late 80s-early 90s that would have been possible. Not anymore.
Such failures are very rare. In using computers since the Apple II and the first IBM PC (cassette version), I've only had one such "blow" (modem card).
Yes, in that rare case it's back to the factory - just like a notebook computer, or a great many desktop machines which also have nearly everything on the motherboard.
You're stretching for a complaint.
Here is a simple question for all to answer why when comparing Apple to PCs'.
Which of these systems would you rather have?
Apple G5
Dual 2.5GHZ Processors
1 Gig of DDR400 RAM
160 Gig 7200RPM Hard Drive
ATI 9800XT Video Card with 256MB of RAM
8X DVD-R/CD-RW
Apple 20in LCD Monitor
Keyboard, Mouse and Operating System
$4419.00 (Price from the Apple Store)
PC
Enlight Mid-Tower Case
Fortron 500watt Power Supply
AMD Athlon 64 4000+ Processor
Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe Motherboard
2 GIG of Geil DDR400 RAM
ATI Radeon 9800 PRO Video Card with 256MB of RAM
2 X Western Digital Raptor SATA 74Gig 10,000 RPM Hard Drives
1 x 200gig Maxtor IDE 7200RPM 8MB Cache Hard Drive for Storage
Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS Platinum Sound Card
Lite-On 16X Dual Layer DVD-R,DVD+R,DVD+9R, CD-RW
Lite-On 16X DVD-ROM
Floppy Drive
Viewsonic 20.1 in LCD Monitor
Windows XP Pro
Logitech Wireless Keyboard and Mouse
$3383.25 (Prices Newegg.com)
Of course the PC will run Circles around the MAC, but every MAC user will still prefer to pay over $1000.00 more for the MAC
What, in particular, bothers you about your Mac?
"If we were talking about motorcycles instead of computers, Mac users would be the "Harley" riders, and the critics would be getting their little weenie asses kicked for offering unsolicited opinions."
Please don't insult us HD guys. The HD is a low-tech machine for people who like to tinker with their motor and customize the bike. It has tons of aftermarket add-ons. I would say that a generic PC better represents the HD crowd. We build our own computers from parts.
A Mac would be a model that doesn't have many modifications to make. It would have cutsie colors and lots of bells and whistles. It wouldn't have very many aftermarket parts available. It would be way overpriced. It wouldn't be as versatile as other bikes. I'm thinking a BMW sport bike or maybe a Kawasaki Ninja 600 would be much closer.
"You're stretching for a complaint."
Not really. Just replying to a flame.
Personally, if I could afford one (or someone gave me one) I would probably use it, even if only for experimenting!
Like I said earlier. I have a few different 'emulators' and didn't care much for the graphics.
It was probably just a shortfall of the emulator software itself, but still, not impressed.
I'm always open to experimenting and if I'm convinced I probably would switch.
I was a 'PC' tech for years and switching over to MAC would be a big step for me. But, you never know.
One criticism I have of the thing is that there are only two USB ports. Potential uses for USB include external drives, printers, the microphone/audio-in, mouse, keyboard. Two more (or four more) wouldn't fit on the back, so for the sake of aesthetics, only two were provided (why not four more on the side?). Of course one can use a hub, but where's that vaunted mac elegance in that?
You needed a language warning for that IMHO...
Do Not Curse and S*** and D*** are not good either.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1070896/posts
Keep it clean please...
The Mac mini is extremely interesting, but let's be honest about the PC: right now it's transitioning from tower to laptop, SFF, and HTPC.
Now if only I wasn't a poor college student, I'd pick up not only a Mac mini with a RAM upgrade, but Sharp's 32'' TV.
Ah, to be able to buy gadgets...
" Which of these systems would you rather have? "
I'd spend about $800 on a good Dell and buy an antique Triumph motorcycle with the remaining cash.
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