|
Salon – Farhad Manjoo – March 18, 2008:
|
I’ve suffered this first hand. Whenever I think about purchasing an Apple product and attempt to discuss the pros and cons with an Apple-fan, I’m always attacked. Even the suggestion that there might be a con is seen as an act of war from me. Reminding them that I might want to buy does not calm them down in the least. “Might” just isn’t good enough for them. You’re either 100% behind them or you are an enemy. I think I’ll stick with reason and logic versus blind-faith when purchasing tech, if the fanatics don’t mind. |
|
1
Support the Blog — Buy This Book!
For Kindle and with free ePub version. Only $9.49 Great reading.
Here is what Gary Shapiro CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) said: Dvorak's writing sings with insight and clarity. Whether or not you agree with John's views, he will get you thinking and is never boring. These essays are worth the read!
Put this ad on your blog!
Syndicate
Subscribe to Main Blog feed here:
Subscribe to Comments too (below):
Junk Email Filter
Sounds like a religion, except I’d rather have a Mac than a religion. At least I can sell the Mac.
I wonder if the Apple fanatics recommend buying AppleCare. Why would you need it since Apple products never break?
When windows fanboys attack
Not a religion, a cult, The Cult of Steve. Now STFU and drink your cool-aid.
What kind of effed up emotional life do these people have that they can make such a deep personal commitment to a brand of consumer product?
And it is not just the Apple fanbois, either, although they are the most handy example.
Euhh. Some people are just so dam proud of themselves for taking the road less travelled.
It was cheap PC’s that built the internet and made it viable.
hey pedro all I am saying is that it’s lonely at the top, and people love to throw mud at whoever doesn’t follow close to their beliefs. It’s the same at people who boo when videogames go to different consoles. Oh sony your screwing us by letting your game go to the xbox. WAH!. Feh, it’s just crybabies trying to justify themselves spending $600 for a first generation PS3. I mean honestly who would it bother someone who doesn’t even own a xbox care what games they got?
anyways I personally prefer Apple to Windows. So what? I’ll always say I prefer A to B. I’m just not one to write from my 30 different e-mails to try to beat the drum. Some people are
The Doctrine of Insufficient Adulation applies to tech fanatics, religious fanatics, political fanatics maybe even sushi fanatics. Universal applicability.
The point: if you’re feeling like someone else isn’t adulating your favorite whatever, consider that your adulation might be misplaced. Nothing’s perfect.
Sounds about right. Mac fans feel they have to justify spending all that extra money, for features such as being able to see the chips inside the computer.
The famous “Reality Distortion Field” envelopes some more completly than others !!! Some apparently dwell within all the time and believe that Steve is the Messiah !!! Cult, indeed !!!
#10
“The Doctrine of Insufficient Adulation applies to tech fanatics…”
Don’t forget the #1 modern fanatic; the Sports Fanatic!
http://tinyurl.com/2lbpjd
The excellent stuff white people like website explains it well.
[Please use TinyUrl.com for overly long URLs. – ed.]
So Apple fans are like scientologists ™ scary…
I don’t understand it myself, and I would consider myself a Mac-fan.
The true sign of intelligence is to hold two opposing thoughts at the same time.
John,
I know where you are coming from. I bought a Macbook Pro last year. It does have problems. When I brought it to the local Mac repair shop, the told me that I was wrong. The Mac doesn’t have problems.
So I must be imagining things when I have to reboot my Mac every day so I get through a day of work. Apps just die all the time, it won’t wake from sleep, it often just locks up for 5-10 minutes of beach ball with no explanation, etc, etc.
Nope… it must be me. I wish I could find a Mac expert who isn’t such a prick and would listen to the customer.
For every Mac fanboy there is a windows fanboy that has to put down everything Apple. Just check any of pedros post.
Just human nature. Always fun to watch people make fools out of them selfs, that’s what Dvorak.org/blog is all about.
Isn’t it sad that there are people who have such a hole in their lives that they have to fill it with consumer products such as a Mac, Ferrari, etc.
My wife sometimes says to me, why do you still drive that car? Why don’t you get something REALLY NICE?
My answer, because it’s a CAR. It’s job is to get me from here to there, and that’s all it does. It’s not a part of what I am, it’s not a statement, it’s a tool.
Mac’s are a tool. Windows is a tool. Linux is a tool. It’s not an extension of who I am no more than a wrench or screwdriver.
I really feel sorry for those who don’t get it.
rather high number of comments in a short time 😉
Technically, I used to like the Apple stuff, but today, it’s lead over other people’s software is dwindling.
Now Apple rules by selling as an advantage what is commonly known as “user lock in” and people are buying it like there is no other. Seems like choice isn’t so hip amongst the crowd.
It’s actually very simple: there are a few iconic products in the market. Products that give the owner some of their image. For us mere mortals, that would be a BMW, a Boss suit, a few others and.. . an iPod / iPhone / iMac (with the iPod and iPhone being more valuable as you carry it around for poeple to see).
Now think about it. If those people define some of their ego through those products, how will they feel if you you are looking for weaknesses in the product? They will feel attacked. Very simple. Personally attacked, for it’s their ego choice that you’re scratching at. So they shoot back. Try it with someone who owns a 3 series BMW. It works exactly the same way.
The rule is: YOU MUST NOT CRITICIZE MY EGO BOOSTER
pj
# 14
http://tinyurl.com/2lbpjd
Right on! You beat me to it!
Apple fanboys hate the PC because it has all this great software available they can’t use on their second rate machines.
Apple makes great laptops and iPods, and that’s just about it. Oh… and an iPhone for dweebs. They have no desktops to speak of (the mini is a joke, and the $2700 starting price of their ‘real’ desktop is a different type of joke). Their peripherals are so overpriced and limited that nobody in their right mind buys them.
Mac fans rave about the included software, but always end up suing something else besides what is included.
The hardware is just as unreliable as any similarly priced laptop.
They charge $200 for the same memory upgrade that I can get for $50 elsewhere, and fanboys are stupid enough to pay it at the store.
They are always cutting edge, but always with the wrong choices. For example Firewire has been abandoned. No eSATA to be found anywhere.
You get the same response when talking to an open source or web 2.0 zealot. For them or against them – there is no middle road and no plus and minus tally to consider.
Just move on and forget them.
Dan
I’ve seen this back in the pre OSX era (version 8 or 9). I supported a QA lab – mix of Windows 95, Windows NT 4, Mac and some other stuff. Watched people reinstall MacOS on a daily basis and talk about how much they loved their Mac and it was so much better than Windows. While the Windows devices had their challanges, doing DAILY OS reinstalls was not one of them.
Anything that breaks everyday would never get my endorsement. I decided these people liked fiddling with their PC more than doing their real job.
#26, Awake:
all those facts don’t change a thing.
Lifestyle products are bought for one reason and one reason only: ego.
Actually, the buyers will tell you exactly why they’ve bought that product: to make others envious.
Oh they won’t tell you so in direct terms, but just go ahead and diss Apple, BMW and the likes in a crowd where there are owners. Sooner or later, you’ll hear “oh you’re just envious that you can’t afford one yourself”. Here you have it. Plain and clear. That’s their thinking: if you don’t own one, you must envy those who do. And being envied is quite good for the ego, as we’ll all agree.
So leave those poor souls alone. If they feel better for what they own, good for them, good to lower the suicide rate, good for Steve Jobs and, ultimately, good for us.
pj
#2, Please tell me you are being sarcastic about “Apple products never break”.
Trust me they do, I have a rack full of them (G3s & G4s),that I’m working on right now (well after this morning break).
The laptops are nasty little boogers to take apart, lots and lots of screws.
# 25 pedro said, on March 24th, 2008 at 7:07 am
#14 & #22 That would make me black then?
Yes. Obviously, everyone is either white or black.
I don’t care what hardware anyone uses.
I do have a question, why woud anyone buy a device like a phone or a MP3 player where you cannot change the battery without taking it to the apple store?
I just don’t get it why people by things that become extinct just because the battery cannot hold a charge any more. Would you buy a car that you would have to take it to a car dealer once a year to buy a new battery which can only be change at the dealer? The out cry would be huge, but apple lovers do this every day.
#31, Dan,
the battery case really isn’t a very good one.
There’s tons and tons of such devices where you cannot, without some skill, replace the batteries. That’s just a result of miniaturization.
The one thing that always amazes me is: why do you go buy a product (iPod) that you know you’ll have to use this second product from the same company (iTunes) to use it and with this second product, you will only be able to shop at that same company’s online store (iTMS) or you buy a phone (the iPhone) where you know that you will only be able to get Apps from that same company etc. etc. etc.
Apple has built what Microsoft has always been trying to and is currently shred to pieces by the European Union. And despite the fact that this all is very consumer unfriendly, most consumers happily buy the stuff and applaud!
That, not the batteries, is the real limitation of Apple’s product line.
pj
#6 – Euhh. Some people are just so dam proud of themselves for taking the road less travelled.
People should be proud of taking the road less traveled. It’s just that buying into marketing hype and being a rabid consumer is hardly a less traveled road.
After changing over a couple of years ago, I can at least start to see where they are coming from. I do find that if someone asks me what kind of computer to buy, I do get a little annoyed when the come back with a Compaq instead of the iMac that I recommended. The thing is, I know that I’m going to be the one they call every day with “hey, this little thing popped up from my Norton telling me something is getting ready to cut my penis off and take away my birth day, what do I do?” I’m going to be the one spending several hours every month or so cleaning out spyware for them or trying to find out why Vista keeps freezing.
That said, people that have purchased Macs on my advise DO have issues too. Always hardware related. A lot easier to deal with though, and not nearly the volume.