Three Reasons (At Least) Why Mac Users Need to Cool the Smugness and Condescension

As a 20-year Macintosh user going back to when the machines didn't even have hard drives, I confess to being a big fan of Apple and the Mac OS.

I also confess to being a nearly-insufferable Mac evangelist (some would say "delete 'nearly'") until about seven years ago, when, as a result of Windows 98, the differences between Windows and the Mac as a platform for the average user became so small that they didn't matter. Those differences remain small, despite the exceptionally cool advances in the Mac OS through Jaguar, Panther, and Tiger.

Also cooling my ardor for the Mac is the remarkable air of condescension still present in "the Mac community," which is pretty amazing considering Apple's puny market share. I believe that the attitudes of too many current Mac users prevent a lot of those who might consider ditching Windows from doing so, simply because they don't want to be seen as joining what has almost become a cult (some would say "delete 'almost'").

So, in the interest of knocking Mac users down a peg or two, I offer three reasons, based on news of the past week or so, that we in "the Mac community" should cool it on the arrogance. At the same time, I'll knock down three myths about the Mac and its users (bolds are mine in all three reasons).

REASON 1--Exploding the myth that Mac users are so much more civilized than the rabble who use PCs:

The pool of computer users has always been composed of 10% competent users and 90% clueless people.

Microsoft has how many judgments against it for predatory business practices? It is high time for them to held criminally liable for the total lack of security of XP and 2,000. These software products were so poorly conceived and implemented that they have turned the web into a cesspool of spamzombies, worms and virii. You can argue mac/PC all you want but you can't escape the simply fact that Windows 98, XP, 2000 have cost the US economy multiple BILLIONS of dollars in lost productivity and revenue.

I have empathy for average users you were suckered by Microsoft into buying a PC thinking it would be a cost saver over a Mac. A year later, they're a few hundred dollars poorer in security software subcriptions and Rube-Goldberg security layers, and saddled with weekly maintenance chores to ramain viable on the net. Even then, every few years a non-technical PC user will be crushed under such a weight of corruption that their tech support or "computer guy" advises them to toss their perfectly good hardware in the trash and "just get a new machine and set it up properly."

If Microsoft competed on ideas rather than extortionist business practices we all wouldn't be in this sorry state today.

REASON 1–Exploding the myth that Mac users are so much more civilized than the rabble who use PCs:

While some of them might have been driven mad by their experiences in the Windows world, I would argue that the rabble in that crowd were not Mac users... they were Mac user wanna-bees. They had not yet experienced the liberating and calming ambiance of the Macintosh environment. ;^)>

As to the Henrico County School District's having culpability by offering the computer at $50, you presented as evidence a link to eBay purporting to show that $50 is not so far out of line for a 2001 500MHz iBook. I ask you how you can compare an iBook BATTERY for $68, some 2001 iBook AC Adapters for $25, some 2001 iBook Car Adapters for $37, and some $105 iBook RAM modules to the eBay completed auction listings for 500MHz 2001 iBooks that closed with sales prices varying from $265 to $535 each! Sorry computer parts do not compare to the complete computer.

I would say that offering a working Macintosh iBook computer for one-fifth to one tenth its value is a stupid thing to do.

REASON 2–Busting the legend that the Mac OS is soooooo secure:

Better than half of the fixes in the 2005-007 security update from Apple were fixes for components of UNIX or other applications included with OSX... and were issued for all UNIX installations (and those other apps), not just Apple's OSX. Included in these non-Apple updates were Kerebos, Bluetooth, MySQL, and Apache, etc.

The Safari issues were minor.

CVE-ID: CAN-2005-2516 related to the ability to parse a Rich Text File from withing Safari.

"Impact: Clicking on a link in a maliciously-crafted rich text file in Safari could lead to arbitrary command execution." - First you have to open a RTF file in Safari... then click on a link that was maliciously crafted. When was the last time you saw a RTF based website? The file would most likely exist on your own computer or network. The security update PROACTIVELY FIXED THIS VULNERABILITY BEFORE ANY REPORTED EXPLOITS!

CVE-ID: CAN-2005-2517 deals with passing information intended for one website to another. Were you aware that this particular vulnerability was demonstrated on EVERY browser except Internet Explorer because it is a feature of standard HTML code which Microsoft does not use in its non-standard MS-HTML. It required that one input sensitive information and then immediately, in the same window, navigate to a malicious website. Odds of this happening? Between none and zero. However, Apple again, PROACTIVELY CORRECTED THE VULNERABILITY BEFORE IT WAS EXPLOITED.

Computer security is an ongoing effort between user and providers. Apple is endeavoring (as is Microsoft) to be proactive instead of reactive.

Now when you can come back and show an EXPLOIT in the wild, maybe something like the exploit that brought down over 400,000 Windows 2000 computers last week, rather than discovered vulnerabilities, then we'll talk.

REASON 3–Exposing the misguided belief that OS 10.4 Tiger is as near-perfect as an OS can be, and the fantasy that Apple’s techie geniuses are really on top of things.

HAHAHAHAHHA! Reason 3 is a "Straw Man" argument because no one claims that OSX.4 is "as near perfect" as an OS can be. Obviously if it were there would have been no need for OSX.4.1, or OSX.4.2 and, as you point out, an eventual release of OSX.4.3... and .5... and .6. etc.

We Mac users have long been aware that one should not upgrade ontil at least the first decimal is achieved... now the second decimal in OSX...

As to the "Fix of a fix" it was purely an inadvertant error by the person who put together the update package, who neglected to include a 64bit library update in the final release. The problem was fixed in less than 24 hours when the few people running 64bit apps noticed the failed to run.

I might point out that Albert Einstein who got tired of people pointing out that he was wearing socks of different colors, solved the problem by the simple expedience of ceasing to wear socks... Ergo, just because one is a genius does not mean they don't overlook things.

As to your second point in "reason 3" shall we discuss the myriad of minor fixes Microsoft regularly releases to repair small incompatibilities in third party apps? Shall we discuss the math error MS made in an earlier incarnation of Windows that could have resulted in the deaths of innocent people??? Now that was a serious error.

While some of them might have been driven mad by their experiences in the Windows world, I would argue that the rabble in that crowd were not Mac users... they were Mac user wanna-bees.

Rrrrrrright. Take a hit. Hold it in. Yeah, that's it. Hollllllllllld it in...

Better than half of the fixes in the 2005-007 security update from Apple were fixes for components of UNIX or other applications included with OSX... and were issued for all UNIX installations (and those other apps), not just Apple's OSX. Included in these non-Apple updates were Kerebos, Bluetooth, MySQL, and Apache, etc.

So what. An OS is the sum of all its parts -- and what it ships. If these had been flaws in Notepad or IE or whatever, you guys would be all over Microsoft like a cheap suit.

HAHAHAHAHHA! Reason 3 is a "Straw Man" argument because no one claims that OSX.4 is "as near perfect" as an OS can be. Obviously if it were there would have been no need for OSX.4.1, or OSX.4.2 and, as you point out, an eventual release of OSX.4.3... and .5... and .6. etc.

Yeah, rrrrrrrrrrright. This guy is a 20 year Mac veteran. WTF does he know, right?!? He couldn't possibly converse with other Mac users... /sarcasm

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