MacSmiley's Profile

USB 2 was supposed to be faster than Firewire 800, and it wasn't. Progress is one thing, but having to buy all new peripherals for a new iMac is NOT going to make me very happy. By the way, I'm sure there are more than a few professionals out there who prefer an iMac to the footprint and cost of a honking Mac Pro.

Ooops.. let's try that again. Here's the complete link: http://homepage.mac.com/mac.zooks/Musings/Personal12.html

Maney wasn't really talking politics here. He was stereotyping all Mac users as members of a cult. But then, even some Mac enthusiasts use the same words. Maney got blanketed by emails from all types of Mac users. I'm sure a certain number of them were from bonafide, poorly-worded Mac zealots. But from forum posts out there, lots of those emails were congenial, sincere expressions of sympathy with a solution. My response was one of them. The contents of my email as outlined: 1) My heart goes out to him and to the personal friends I have whose Windows PCs have been turned into zombie servers by Windows malware. 2) Fellow columnists like Walt Mossberg, David Pogue, David Coursey, Chad Dickerson have been quite vocal about a very healthy alternative: Mac OS X. 3) Even IBMer Gary Booch says he's sick and tired of Windows garbageware and has switched to Mac OS X. I quote a few lines from Booch's blog. 4) Quote an email response from Patrick Kolla when I asked him why he didn't port SpyBot S&D to Mac OS X: "Because you don't need it." 5) Discount the marketshare myth: 25 million Mac user base is not insignificant, and the Witty worm proved that small, specifically targeted computers can be successfully attacked. Real reason for security: Unix. 3) For the sake of his and his reader's sanity, I suggest he give Mac OS X (like taking a G5 model for a spin) for at least a month, then report back to his readers. 4) "You can always go back to your PC later on if you prefer." Here was the automated answer he sent to every Mac user who wrote him: "Thanks, but I do know this already. It's a funny thing -- why do Mac users feel a need to tell others to get a Mac? It really seems cultish, like the Moonies or something. Kevin" A week later, he wrote the article cited above by Steve, in which he writes: "There's a book coming out called The Cult of Mac. It is aptly titled. Loving a product is one thing, but these folks recruit non-believers like missionaries. "There is a computing world where viruses and spyware are unheard of, and the promise of technology making life better is actually a realistic goal," e-mails Michael Bino of New Jersey, using evangelical language that would make Oral Roberts proud. "Try a Mac." "I was in the same position until I saw the light," writes Wilson Gill of Australia. "I am a very, very happy Mac user. Take the plunge, and I guarantee you will never look back." Am I missing something? Do the mushrooms come packaged right in the Mac box?" The man wrote an article that actually acknowledges the apparent resistance of Mac OS X and Linux from malware "for whatever reason". Even though the Mac OS is put in a good light, its users were not. So a piece I would have been proud to share with my PC using friends and relatives was ruined by the cult metaphor. Or maybe it is Gregory Ng who is serious and Kevin Maney who was writing tongue-in-cheek. It's awful hard to tell on "paper". To be sure, an unusual level of enthusiasm and loyalty come with being a Mac user, because the positive experience we have, especially when contrasted with the constant barrage our beleagered "brethren" in the Windows world have to deal with, makes it hard--maybe even unethical-- to keep our mouths shut. And that is a good thing. However, I, for one, do not appreciate being labeled a cult member of any sort. And the last thing we need is Mr. Ng putting words into the mouths of writers like Kevin Maney or perpetually fueling one of the many reasons so many "serious" IT people refuse to consider the Mac. They don't want to join the "cult". The readers of Applematters deserve better-- more tasteful and, in fact, funnier humor. All Mac users deserve better.

I agree with AppleMatters on this one. I was [i]horrified[/i] when I first heard the slogan while watching Steve's keynote. This tag line is ambiguous at best. My first reaction was, Microsoft until I die? Yuck. The next thing that came to mind was how much Microsoft overcharges people for the rest of their lives. That almost made me lose my lunch. Now I'm no genius, but I do have pretty good grasp of the English language and a good understanding of a 2nd language as well. If I didn't "get it", then I'm sure most PC users are not going to either. And considering the idiotic commercial for Microsoft Office currently running on TV, it's a downright embarrassment to have MS Office and iLife mentioned in the same breath.

If you have a wife who you want to stay happily married to you, Vincent, I hope you don't ignore your wedding anniversary! Celebrating the past 20 years of innovations and accomplishments does not negate the innovations and accomplishments of the future. It inspires a desire for another 20 years thereof. Educating the general public about how the innovations of the Mac made the computer a usable "appliance" coupled with a "this is what we've done for you in the past, so imagine what we'll do for you in the future!" is vitally important. Right now, more people think of how the Mac changed the face of Super-bowl advertising than how it literally changed the face of computing. How many PC users do you know that are truly aware they would never have been able to surf, shop, and game on the Internet and instantly communicate face-to-face with their loved ones thousands of miles away if it weren't for the Mac-- the Mac that debuted in 1984 as well as the Macs since then? I don't know about you, but I'm getting tired of seeing Micro$oft commercials touting *their* so-called innovations-- "we create software so you can reach your potential"-- crud. The 20th anniversary is a golden opportunity for Apple to publicize the why-you-need-Apple-NOW factor. Just one inexpensive but cleverly focused ad about how many viruses and worms have proliferated on PCs vs. Macs in the last 20 years, played over and over and over and over...ad infinitum... would work wonders in the mind's eye of the public, and for Apple's bottom line. No, celebrating the past and living in the past are 2 very different things. I expect Apple to celebrate the past and continue innovating in the present and long into the future. Publicizing the 20th anniversary is one very important way to make sure that happens.