 I saw my first "real" computer in 6th grade. In science class, they decided to teach us some basic BASIC programming, and they set each of us in front of diminutive monitors and keyboard set ups. The "computers" were Commodore 64s. The Graphic User Interface didn't exist. There was no point and click. Everything was hunt and peck "by hand" entry. The internet barely registered as an entity, and that was only to military and possibly higher-powered colleges. The year? 1982.
When I was in the 7th and 8th grades. My father worked as a math teacher in a nearby high-school. These years, I would go with him to the school on the weekends while he worked (grading papers and such). Sometimes I helped him, and sometimes I got to play in the teachers' computer room. This is where I met my first computer love: Apple Macintosh
Most people who read this won't understand the thrill of meeting the GUI for the first time. In fact, when I eventually got to high-school,
IBMs (IBM made the first "PC" boys and girls) still used command-line interface. In my early years of supporting computers, I used to joke "I've been working on Windows ever since it was called 'Macintosh'". While I'm not exactly a guru, I've had the experience of working in both the PC and Mac worlds. For years (more than a decade) I touted Macintosh as the superior product, because the fact of the matter is that it WAS the superior product. Please note the word "WAS" it will become important later.
Now, I'm sure anyone who reads this will be savvy enough to have watched a little TV and seen the "I'm a Mac and I'm a PC" commercials. They're clever, funny, and they do exactly what I used to do - tout Mac for being the superior product. I like these commercials, because they point out the pitfalls of Microsoft's operating systems by doing simple comparisons with a Mac OS, and no one denies that the comparison is accurate. Not even Microsoft.
Now, we will take a quick shift to the left and break through a little wall of accepted belief: You believe (and logically, I might add) that something is superior because it works the best - the highest quality of output = superior: Ergo "The Best". You have been misled. Superior is not determined by how well something works.
At least, not solely by this axiom.
Follow me for a minute. You look at those words in the last paragraph again. Call me out. Challenge the point and say to me "if the highest quality isn't superior, what is?"
Good question.
Now we move on to a fact: the most prevalent operating system on the planet is Microsoft's Windows (in some version or other). This is a FACT, people. Microsoft Windows has more cracks and hacks, holes and failures each day than Mac has ever had.
"See there, PROOF of superiority", you say.
"Scoreboard", I say.
Look at it purely by numbers. There are more PCs than Macs. There are more Windows PCs than any other type of PC (all other types of PCs combined, even).
Why are Windows PCs so successful, when we know their inferior?
Here's a challenge for you: Stop Thinking of Windows as "inferior". Sure, they're crap, but they've got advantages over Mac - and it's the advantages that sing true to Microsoft's superior business model.
"Oh, Advantages over Mac? Tosh!" you say.
"Scoreboard", I say.
I began to see a number of things happening in the mid 1990s:
1.) Microsoft pushed forward in the number Windows PCs being used because of PC open architecture.
Open Architecture allowed large companies to build many basic computing units with all the necessary components for people to work, using the most cost effective parts, then buy the Microsoft OS business "god" licenses and image a complete Windows OS onto cheap hardware built by their internal IT groups
--- With Mac, you bought Apple's proprietary hardware from Apple, and had the software preinstalled at Apple's premium ("superior") pricing.
2.)
While Windows 95, 98, and Millenium were "Crap", they worked "well enough", which had the overall effect of lowering the price-point to Businesses, and when the businesses came on board, PC computing became even cheaper for the home user.
--- With Mac, the price-point barely changed, the effect of which is that businesses don't use Mac because it's too high-priced, and the average consumer looks at Apple as a prestige class of computer, a computer for the savvy "few".
3.) Software became more readily available for Windows PCs than for Mac. Programmers/programming companies saw the writing on the wall, the numbers tilted decidedly in Microsoft's favor, so third party software vendors coded for PC first, and then Mac (but not always).
---With Mac, some extremely powerful and useful proprietary programs were created and quickly knocked offs were created by Windows programmers.
"Scoreboard", I say. "I'm NOT a Mac."
I'm not a Mac, not for the desire to be a PC. PC is crap; HOWEVER, PC is inexpensive, flexible, and does more than Mac (even if it does it half as well).
What I find sad is that Apple knows all of this.
I found the proof of it Sunday.
For reasons I will not go into, I acquired a 3rd Generation iPod. I had a 50% chance of it working, so I bought a USB charger cable, hooked it up to my PC to charge it. I could get into the File system, I even pulled off the music sitting on it. After letting it sit for several hours, I unplugged the cable, and tried to turn it on. It didn't.
"No worries", I thought. "I'll go to an Apple Store and get the battery replaced." I figured, it's Apple, so it's proprietary, and so's the battery.
So, I went to the Apple Store the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend. I walked to the back where I saw the fabled "Genius Bar". I didn't remember being in an Apple Store before (I know I had been, I just didn't remember the experience). I looked around and saw the tables set up with plethora of MacBooks attended by customers, walls covered with iPods, wood floors, white walls, and for some reason I got the feeling I was in a high-tech nursery.
As I approached the "Genius Bar", I saw two guys behind it in blue shirts helping a couple of customers. No problem, I had time, I could wait. In fact, there were several empty stools at the bar where I could sit if I chose. Walking in a determined manner, it must have been clear to the girl in the orange shirt next to the bar where I was heading.
Orange-shirt girl stepped forward with her iPhone and clipboard. "Do you have an appointment for the Genius Bar?"
Appointment? Como se, HUH? "Uh, no. I acquired this iPod off the internet, and I think it needs a new battery. I can connect to the file system and download stuff, but after charging for hours it won't turn on."
"Well, they can look at it to see what's wrong. From your description it's probably needs a battery like you say," she pointed out with a smile. I always like feeling vindicated. "So, what they'll do is offer you a refurbished model for $99, or you can trade this one in for a 10% discount on a new one."
OK, at least it was both shoes at the same time. "They can't just replace the battery?"
"Oh, we don't carry parts or have the tools to fix it here."
I told her I'd have to think about it, and as I turned around I finished that thought which was "how pretentious. I'm never coming back to an Apple Store again."
Apple knows exactly how popular their "toys" are. They know that the drooling "elite" will scamper to buy their next i-this or i-that. I can't wait for their bathroom computing line to come out. I expect it to be called the "iShit".
Now, you might think from the way I've written it that I am upset at the girl at the store. I'm not. She was just doing her job. She was pleasant and courteous. I'm upset at Apple for being a bunch of snobs. They're too good to be able to replace a battery - A Freaking Battery! Batteries die all the time. They're a part GUARANTEED to fail over time. They don't want you to be happy with what you've got, they want to put you onto the next link up their chain. They want you to be in thankful to them for allowing them to screw you.
Apple loses my business, not because they don't have a better offering. Mac OS is arguably the best working OS on the market. No, they lose my business because they want to force me to buy equipment I don't need or want in order to get that warm Apple Mac experience.
My opinion here is this (in case it wasn't clear): Apple hasn't figured out that the future of computing is in software, not hardware. They haven't figured out that iPod is only special to people who believe the marketing that iPod is special and not just another MP3 player.
I'd like to be a Mac. I'd like to have an OS that doesn't freeze up when you look at it funny. I'd also like to be able to install it myself, and build my own system to work with it. So, I guess in the end, I'm NOT a Mac.
Sorry, Apple, no sale.
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and bugs are soooo fun, except for when they are in your bed!