No, really - I mean that.
I grew up on DOS and Windows 3.11. For the rest of you, that may not mean much, but I could boot to a 3.5" floppy drive, edit a few .ini files and the next time you turned the computer on, the monitor would do backflips if that's what I told it to do.
Today, I still expect comptuers to bend to my benevolent will. Every version of Windows thus far, aside from Vista does what I want it to, when I want it to and how I want it to. Some of those operating systems were better than others, but Windows 2000 was a break-through for Microsoft. Then came the OS that will not die. Windows XP is just like Windows 2000, but it got a shot of steriods, a master's degree and a tuxedo. In my opinion, Windows XP is the James Bond of operating systems.
But, we're here to talk about Mac. Many of you Mac folks are a cult. Let's wade through the shit swamp that is Mac OS, one step at a time, shall we?
"I never have a problem with my Mac." Bullshit. How many people have I heard say "I didn't install Leopard because it was full of bugs?" A lot. I've talked to people that worked on Macs for a career. Programs won't launch, computer won't boot, faulty hardware (That costs nearly $1000.00 to replace.) It's a machine, people. And it was build by humans, running software that was built by humans.
"It's intuitive" My fat ass, it's intuitive. On a windows computer, I have two mouse buttons that always do the same thing. One left click selects an item. Two left clicks open an item. One right-click brings up a menu of everything I can do with that item. That's intuitive. On a Mac, I have to hold down the apple/command key and then click to open a menu. How's that intuitive? I would have never figured that out if someone hadn't shown me.
Further more, on a Windows computer, if I'm accessing a network resource I see something intuitive in the address bar, like file://myserver/MyShare/MyFolder and in the window, I see (you guessed it) MyFiles - all of them. On a Mac, I have to remember that wacky "intuitive" command-click, only this time I have to do it on the title bar. And what do I see when I do?? >MyMacbook Air>Share Name. Nothing - absolutely nothing - indicates that I'm accessing a network resource. If I'm copying pictures back and forth between my MacBook Air and my Networked computer and both of those folders are named "Pictures" - how the hell do I know which folder is which? Well remember, it's Mac so I have to look at the bottom of the window where it shows me drive space and free space. Since I know my network computer has more free space, I can identify which folder is on which computer. Tell me, how the hell is that intuitive?
I was told at a local Mac shop that "You find Pictures in the 'Pictures' folder. You find Movies in the 'Movies' folder. You find Documents in the 'Documents' folder." Guess what, buddy, Windows has done that shit for 10 years now too. But on to what makes this funny: I copied a movie in .m4v format to my MacBook. I put it in the movies folder. I opened it. What the hell did the computer do?! I copied my damned movie from "Movies" to "Movies\iTunes\..." How the hell is that intuitive? Now I'm either forced to do it the iTunes way or find a way to turn off that wretched feature. But Apple, what the hell are you guys thinking? For someone that didn't know any better, they'd end up with copies of everything all over their hard drive. That's anything BUT an intuitive, efficient use of storage capacity.
Just for the record, guess what happens when I double-click on a Movie from Windows XP. It does what I expect it to do - it (intuitively) plays the damned movie. That's it. Nothing more. Nothing less.
Price and availability. I challenge any one of you Mac Cultists to find me a new Apple computer that includes the ability to create/edit/view word processing documents, spreadsheet documents, slideshow presentations, webpages, publications, greeting cards that you can actually print on your own printer, connect to a groupware server like Exchange, do very basic photo editing and management, etc. for under $1200.00 out the door. I'M FROM MISSOURI, "SHOW ME." Naturally, I intend to do the same:
HP Business Desktop dx2450 with 1 year warranty ($400.00)
64 bit dual-care 2.5Ghz processor
2 GB of memory
160GB hard drive
Gigabit ethernet
Windows Vista Business Licensed / Windows XP Pro Installed
Additional, internal 1TB hard drive ($100.00)
MS Office Professional ($300.00)
AVG Antivirus (Free!)
A Beautiful ViewSonic 26" Wide Screen Display ($400.00)
External Western Digital 1TB Hard Drive ($130.00)
What's the cost of this beauty? $1,330.00
And my friends, that's an expensive "wintel" PC that will kick the shit out of anything you can buy from Apple for under $2000.00. In fact, I can give you dual 20" monitors for about the same price. So, "Show me Mac cult, what can you give me for under $1,400.00?" Please, do compare this to iMacs. Remember, that $1,700.00 price tag for your 24" iMac doesn't include iWork, MS Office, Antivirus software, etc. It doesn't include two 1TB drives - one to store all of your media on and one to back it all up to. It may include a single 1TB drive, but remember, this PC has 2 internal drive. One is 160GB for all of your programs, Windows, etc. So you get to use the whole 1TB drive for the stuff you care about.
Now don't get me wrong, I don't hate Mac users. In fact, this little MacBook Air is the coolest damn thing since sliced bread. It will sleep for days and it's ready to roll by the time I get the lid opened. I entertain myself just by attaching & detaching the magSafe power connector. It's light, it's got awesome battery life and for it's size, it's relatively fast.
And the Mac OS/Mac software isn't the devil, it's just got some quirks that I don't care for.
However you, "Windows users are stupid, you dont' get it, buy a Mac" freaking cultists can kiss my fat ass.
Oh and we were supposed to talk about Vista. So, let's do that: Microsoft, what the hell were you thinking???
