A Question of Faith
by Mitch Stone, the Accidental Expert
I drive a Dodge.
I've owned the car for five years now, and I'm pleased to report, it's provided me with reliable and comfortable transportation for the entire time.
For the seven years before that, I drove an eminently useful Plymouth minivan. I still miss its capacious hauling ability.
So count me as one of the Chrysler faithful.
You say you've never encountered a member of the Chrysler faithful before? Well, come to think of it, neither have I.
Okay, check this out: I've owned only three TVs over the past 15 years, all of them Sonys. They have a nice picture, good features, and a decent repair record. That's why I keep coming back to Sony.
Clearly, I'm a big-time Sony zealot.
What, you've never heard of a Sony zealot? Me either.
Now, get this: I've used Macintosh computers since 1985. For my time and money, the Mac is significantly easier to use and more reliable then the alternatives. So you've got to know, I'm a Mac crazy.
Well, now we're getting somewhere. Mac crazies we understand.
We've been hearing about them for years now, most recently in fact in last week's Tech Times column by Dave Wilson. Dave took great pains to characterize Apple's loyal customers as goofballs, if for no other reason then they are, well, loyal Apple customers.
What, like we need a better reason?
Apparently not.
Both Dave and I attended MacWorld Expo 2001 in San Francisco earlier this month. But in our haste to escape the chill and bluster outside, I'm convinced we slipped into different buildings.
The Expo I attended was packed full of regular people toting shopping bags, elbowing around the caverns of the Moscone Center, gaping at products. From the bulges in those shopping bags, they were gaping and buying. In other words, it was your typical trade show.
Dave seems to have wandered into a sort of tent revival of glassy-eyed Mac-thumping freaks. From his report, it sounds like they were nabbing Windows users off the street and converting them to the Mac at the point of a keyboard.
I regret to report, I didn't witness a single such moment of proselytizing at MacWorld. Maybe it was in one of the "Pro User" sessions I missed.
Unlikely.
No, this is simply a daily journalist occurrence where Apple and the Mac are concerned. The impulse to type "Mac" and "faithful" in the same sentence is just too powerful for many technology writers to resist, like "moth" and "flame." You see, I just did it myself.
But we're just scratching the surface of the vast Mac cliche gold mine.
Apple, not Microsoft, is the real computer monopoly, we're told, because only Apple can make a Macintosh. Sure, and if that sounds logical, then Chrysler must also be a monopoly. You don't see anybody else selling the PT Cruiser, do you?
The things we can learn from reading the papers.
And of course, compared to Windows, the Macintosh really isn't any easier to use. Maybe at one time maybe it was, but certainly not now, with all those recent advances from Microsoft.
As if.
As if anyone really cares about a columnist's personal preferences. I'm still waiting for a technology pundit willing to advise readers to employ the classic try-and-compare method -- and to choose the computer they fancy. What a novel concept.
I'm not holding my breath. When it comes to technology, it's seemingly more comforting to belittle people who fail to subscribe to a particular product flavor -- to paint them as being a bit zany, or worse.
Of course, one alternative to abnormalizing Mac owners is consistency. No matter which product we choose, be it TV, car or computer, we can say it's theology, not personal preference, that guides us. I don't know about you, but I could learn to enjoy it.
Say, you're not one of the Windows faithful, are you?
19 January 2001 |
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