Nobody Reads This

Gamer, Blogger, Student

James Reynolds

jamesr87[.at.]gmail.com

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I just came from a heated exchange on a Tech Blog where Apple and Windows fanboys berated each other and compared e-penis specs all the while having a good laugh at the newest ‘Laptop Hunter’ ad. I certainly like to think I’m above such petty fanboy nonsense (Unless it’s for giggles…) but I do definitely have a point of view. I don’t like Apple and I don’t like Macs and let me tell you why.

 

Microsoft is a software vendor who sometimes get’s too big for their boots. They produce software and a few other bits and pieces (like the 360, for all the $ that has made them…). Their primary audience is people who got on board when they were the only viable platform and they continue to market directly at them, they also retain a huge market share over businesses (As it’s a standard prereq for working in IT whereas Apple s/w is not).

Apple is a hardware vendor at best and a gadget vendor at worst who have made their billions by using innovation produced elsewhere and being a reseller portal for it. That seems pessimistic but even should you disagree this isn’t my primary gripe anyway. They utilize current trends (and often set them) and laugh all the way to the bank with their brand premium which is affectionately known as Apple tax.

Microsoft thinks they rule the world but everyone more or less just laughs behind their back as their market shares slowly reduce in every market. User friendly linux distros (May as well read OSX) as well as Mac OS (May as well read linux distros) stealing their OS market is the big problem. They have had a bad 5 years with Vista being an overwhelming failure but XP (even with its faults) is still sturdy as a rock.

Now here is where I start to lose interest in Apple … They behave like a church and I’m 100% sure there are people who believe Steve Jobs is the second coming of Christ. Apple fans believe that Apple have and will never do any wrong; that OSX is the best thing Apple has ever produced and that using anything other than an iPod, iMac or iLife is pure nonsense. I know you are probably thinking that this is the fanboys not the company but Apple have created this culture and nursed it to become nothing but an exercise in milking the proverbial tit.

The second thing that I despise is that whilst the Apple culture is a fairly abominable group of narrow-minded individuals the people in their financial/pricing department are even worse. Just like any church you are required to mortgage great sums of time, money or energy (sometimes all three) just to be a ‘real’ member. In Mac culture there’s nothing wrong with using a 5 year old Mac but you are still inferior to the chap with a Macbook Air (even if your specs trump his). If your iPod has a mono-screen then I wouldn’t even get it out in public and God (read Steve Jobs) forbid … Should you get out a Non-3G iPhone.

I hate rabid fanboy’ism on both sides but supposed PC fanboy’ism is usually nothing but Mac hate. I hate Macs and I might say it but the false assumption from the other side of the fence is that I love Microsoft and I fucking don’t! If there was a working alternative that ran 90% of my software there is no way I would by another licence of Windows ever again. People can do everything they need to do on both systems, if not from an embedded stand point then from a Virtualization one.

You have to wonder what the Linux professionals think to all this … Laughing at your Apple tax and laughing at your faulty Windows installation, whilst they run a new Linux Distro with all the same features capable of emulating both and likely more efficiently. Ultimately if you think one platform is truly any better than another from a spec POV then you deserve what you get on those hate threads. Let’s all grow up and realise that there is no one-size fits all solution but also that you don’t just have to wear one.

Regards,
James.