OK. Enough already. I’m sick of hearing about how it changed your life. I’m sick of hearing about how great it is. I’m sick of having it rammed down my throat. I’m sick of having to justify my beliefs to you. I’m sick of the stickers on the back of your cars. Praise it all you want. Worship what you like. Stop trying to convert me. For the final time, I’m saying it to everyone. I do not want to buy a Mac computer!
Forget religion and politics. If you really want to start an argument, tell a Mac user that you prefer your PC.
They can’t believe it. Why wouldn’t I want to be saved? Why would I want to spend eternity being frustrated by a clunky operating system and a looking at a user interface that isn’t ‘pretty’? Why wouldn’t I want to be ‘cool’ like everyone else? Has the Dark Lord Bill Gates taken my soul?
No. I just don’t want to buy a Mac. It’s that simple and I refuse to be swayed by what I call “The Mac Delusion”.
The Mac has become the choice of the hip and the powerful. It has become quite an elitist tool, which I find weird because Apple, the company, was started by hippies with good intentions to create a better computer. They were the repressed underdogs battling to keep their faith under the weight of the IBM and Microsoft oligarchy. They had a small but loyal following that remained faithful. Then gradually, over time, new Mac shops started appearing. The salespeople became slicker and more charismatic. The old OS was given a new, more accessible look. Suddenly thousands started flocking to the Mac. A new generation of followers, lured by shiny new cases and groovy interfaces was born. Visions of Macs were mysteriously appearing around the world on TV shows and in movies. Computers were becoming cool. This created a new type of computer user, a new social phenomenon; the fundamentalist Mac user. They are dogmatic. The awe and wonder they bestow upon their machines and their constant need to try and convert ‘non-believers’ borders on the fanatical. Their faith cannot be swayed. They believe they have the one true platform and all others are to be denied. But it does seem to cost them a lot of money.
I always question why Mac users have to give so much money to Apple. They tell me it’s so that Apple can continue its good work. They happily pay the money because the Mac works so well for them. Sure they work. You pull it out of the box, plug it in and there it is, ready to go. The all-in-one solution. And so it bloody should work? This isn’t a miracle, it’s a reasonable expectation. My friends who have ‘seen the light’ and converted to the Mac always have the same story. After battling unhappiness with their PCs for many years the Mac offered them ease and simplicity, peace of mind.
Fair enough, but not one of them stopped to realise that they only spent $1000 on their PC and just spent $2500 on their Mac. The truth is, if they spent the same money on a PC, it would work too. And if you only use Microsoft programs on your PC it will stay stable as well. But people don’t. When they buy a PC they abuse it and treat it badly. They fill it with sins. Downloaded games, cracked and pirated software, shareware and four billion email attachments. No wonder it jacks up and flips you the blue screen bird.
When people finally buy a Mac they treat it much better. They have to. They can only get certified programs to run on it and it costs them a fortune. Buying into a Mac means shutting out all that bad stuff so it never gets in. The computer remains pure. But it automatically denies alternatives. What if there are better ideas out there? Why close yourself off from all other programs? Who says you have all the computing solutions? Do you really want to live in your ‘safe’ little world forever?
‘Oh, but you can run Windows on a Mac now’ is the automatic defence. You can? Wow. I can run Windows on my PC too. What’s your point?
To be fair, the PC isn’t a perfect solution either. I, like most PC users, think Bill Gates deserves to spend eternity in the fires of Hell being taunted by a giant paper clip that just keeps saying ‘it looks like you are trying to write a letter…’
For now I’m happy in the PC world. I have no need to convert and at the end of the day I just want a computer to do the tasks I want it to do. It doesn’t need to look cool or be ‘fun for the kids’ and it certainly shouldn’t keep costing me money. It just needs to do the job. If you want a fashion accessory, buy a purse. But please stop trying to convince me that I need to spend thousands of dollars to do the same thing I’m doing now, but look cooler doing it.
So make up your own mind. Don’t be lured just because someone tells you there is an ‘easier’ or ‘better’ way. Compute your way. And remember, the reason we are all here, in this mess in the first place, is because Eve was tempted by an Apple.
