One of the things I like about XLR8yourmac is the links to interesting articles and opinions Mike posts every day. Recently, I jumped to a link on Macopinion called 'The Squishy Super Soft Apple?' (http://macopinion.com/columns/megabyte/oct98/981015.html) Which I read with some interest, but mostly with a morbid fascination with the not-so-subtle attitude many Mac owners take to their inanimate box. There were some assertions made stating that, in fact, Mac users are the intelligent folks and the PC users are the "Intel Inside, Idiot Outside?" variety.

While I didn't really have an opinion about Apple's latest marketing campaign (I've dealt with their ad agency, Chiat Day on a number of different occasions, and find them to be very competent) I did take issue with this superiority complex, and sent a message to the author saying so. I asserted that making the connection between a computer and intelligence level is absurd and conciliatory, and cited my displeasure with Apple as a company as this has been their tactic for sales for quite some time- 'tell them how smart they are, and they'll buy whatever we sell them at any price'

I won't go into detail about the response I got, except to say that the author wasn't receptive to my point of view, offered to show me 'studies' on how Mac users are in fact smarter, and finished with some less than professional remarks about my own intelligence and the quality of my arguments. I've decided to cease any further discourse with the author, as I see this having no useful purpose.

What does this have to do with cross platform operations?

Many of the barriers, real and imaginary, that exist between Macs and Wintel boxes are kept up and perpetuated by PEOPLE. Normal everyday people, that for one reason or another have made it their crusade to ensure this. The press calls this the FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) factor, and claim Microsoft as being the champion of this tactic. I submit to you, dear readers and Macintosh users, that there are those within the Mac community that have done more to keep up these ideological barriers than ANYONE, Microsoft included. Microsoft has never claimed superiority over MacOS boxes, technical or other. Some Mac users contend this is because Microsoft have nothing to brag about, while the simple truth is that MICROSOFT DOESN'T CARE what Mac users think- just keep buying their Office product.

I think a big reason that many PC users react with much the same disparagement to Macs is because there is an association PC users make between Mac users and zealotry. There are few, but very vocal and attention demanding Mac 'advocates' or 'evangelists' that become the primary spokesmen for the Macintosh as a platform. In their otherwise well meaning 'fight for the Mac,' they give off this incredible arrogance to them, the 'we are smarter than you' attitude. This seems to be fostered and perpetuated by Apple, who is still surprised that most of their sales are to existing users!

The purpose of this column is to dispell these barriers, either by means of information or technology. I suppose that one of the side effects is to also make folks realize that the computers they are sitting in front of are tools, not a religion. I hope I'm not stating anything sacrilegious, although it appears that at least one such Mac advocate is willing to throw me to the lions. Of course the Mac has its advantages! God, I hope that there is a reason that I have all this Mac stuff beyond being a toy freak ;) And we all want to let our friends and family "in" on this secret- but we have to be careful we do not become religious zealots in the process, and our message confused with preaching.

If you like your Mac, and I'm sure we all do- use it! It doesn't become more useful if the guy next door dumps his PC and buys an iMac, particularly because of the active prodding on any of our part. Ultimately, everybody wins if everyone can work together- you can use Craftsman, I'll use Snap-On.

And if it means that you don't associate your IQ with the brand of your computer- so much the better.

[I felt I had to comment on this issue. I'd say there is at least a 50/50 sharing of blame. I remember buying my first Mac, a 128k model shortly after they arrived. Sure I was proud of the machine and how it was more advanced in features and OS than the PC (DOS green-screens and CGA color was the order of the day then). I wasn't blind to its faults however, no 2nd floppy, far too little ram, small screen, etc. but overall I made a better choice for me. I do admit (don't we all now that we can look back) to argueing beyond reason that color was not needed for instance.

Reactions to the Mac were somewhat hostile (at least in business) from the start. Mac owners, being in the minority and trying to spread the word to others of this new invention were seen as troublemakers, almost akin to the religious fanatics that people view as pests. To some extent I think it also was a fear in some people that computers would become so easy to use that they would lose their 'Guru' status (knowing all the arcane commands and hardware tricks, and being the source of hidden and elusive knowledge needed to be productive on PCs back then). I personally saw several cases of this back then and still do. In one case it was a 12 year old that had created a far more impressive presentation than his father who seemed to take offense to the ribbing that the child had produced more impressive output.

You don't need a Guru to support most Macs and that threatens some people I think. I also recognize that both sides keep the platform fires burning with superiority claims that often get out of hand. I don't agree that Mac owners were the cause of the problem however, blame exists on both sides. There are still a lot of PC owners that think Mac users are not 'smart enough' to learn to use a PC for instance. (Don't get me started on that one!)

Although Alex is correct that the Mac has historically been more expensive (all Apple computers in general really), I know without a doubt in my mind that especially in business they are far more cost effective, with less downtime, support costs and in general have resulted in more productive output. There are some tasks they can't do because of available software and they are not the right choice for every job, but overall the Mac's track record for average user productivity is the best of any computer platform I've seen. I've witnessed 5 PC upgrades over the years for every one Mac required on the Mac in the business world, not to mention the manyfold increase in support and troubleshooting costs.

Based on this long history of experience (mine and hundreds of others in a business environment), I choose the Mac where I can to accomplish my work with the least amount of problems and distractions. Does this make me a smarter consumer? I think so. ;-) -Mike]

I welcome all questions and comments at akoyshman@jps.net or designamics@jps.net