Fred Reed bites the Apple

His thought processes concerning his next computer are entertaining, if not, in my opinion, even remotely convincing:

I had no particular feelings about the Mac, for or against. I knew
that people who had them also had a peculiar emotional attachment to
them. It worried me, about the people, not the computer. I mean, a
carpenter doesn’t bond with his claw hammer. A friend once described
the MacIntosh as “a fashion accessory for the conforming
nonconformist.” Well, yeah. On the other hand, Mac-heads were usually
well on the bright side.

I was not interested in abnormal psychology, but in
computers, so I resolved to ask practical-minded friends, not
Mac-heards, about these fructiform machines. Actual Mac-users had the
chill objectivity I associate with Salafi terrorists. I started with a
buddy who does networking and data-base manage for medium-sized
companies. I knew he had a MacBook Pro. Did he like it?

He said, “It’s cute, well-designed, and I’d buy another one,
but when I have work to do, I need a PC.” Ah. Why? “Because the
network analysis software I need doesn’t exist for the Mac, and their
data-base and spread-sheet applications are toys.”

Hmmm. I didn’t want to analyze networks or fiddle with data
bases, which left “cute and well-designed.” Nothing wrong with that….

Meanwhile, I talked to a few more of the Salafi terrorists. It
didn’t help. If you want intelligent thoughts regarding the Mac, it is
better to talk to people who don’t have one. Attempts to probe the
consciousness of Mac-heads usually went like this:  Mac-head: “Mac is better.” Me: OK, how is it better? “It
just is.” Ah, I see. How is it just is? “It’s easier to use.” How is it
easier to use? “It just is.” “How is it just is?” Round and round the
mulberry bush.

They said things like “The Mac’s hardware is better than the
PC´s.” At this point I realized that most Apple cultists didn’t know
much about computers. For example, they didn’t understand that the
Macintosh is a product, while PC is a specification. Only Apple can
make a Mac. Anybody can make a PC. Thus on one hand you have
manufacturers on a level with back-alley abortionists who use cheap
power supplies that smoke like the audience at a Grateful Dead concert,
and hard drives with a Mean Time Between Failure of five minutes or
until next Wednesday, whichever comes first. On the other hand, you
have solidly built PCs such as Delll’s Latitudes, serious boxes aimed
at businessmen.

Give him six months and he’ll either be parroting the very cultists he mocked, or, like Spacebunny and a few others of my acquaintance, he’ll regard his brief period of Macintosh ownership as being the techno-analog of surviving cancer or a stint in a concentration camp.  But Fred is right in discerning that there is no one correct and objective answer, because it completely depends upon what one’s individual requirements and preferences are.

None of this should be in any way taken for a defense, much less endorsement, of Windows 8, you understand.