If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.
Posted on 10/22/2007, 3:20:00 AM by Swordmaker
My boss just said we're moving to Macs. I don't know if he was serious, but it might really happen -- he's a bona-fide, born-again Mac zealot, after decades of using real computers (he even had his own, successful Windows-centric newsletter).
I joked that I'll switch to a Mac after they pry the PC from my cold, stiff fingers. In reality, I'll just go along with the program and lose about 30% in productivity.
I hate Macs.
I hate everything Apple -- starting with rock star wanna-be Steve Jobs in his black turtleneck and jeans on his big, lavish stage, telling the world every three weeks or so how Apple's newest overpriced gizmo will change the world. Snake oil, anyone? Snarky, sleazy sliminess, anyone?
Oh, how I loved it when he dropped the price of the iPhone after the first wave of slavish acolytes did their lemming-like duty and camped out overnight to boost his stock portfolio another few points. It's a testament to the blind obedience of Mac-boys everywhere that all the geniuses at Apple thought that move would go over OK. "Why would anyone complain? We're Apple!" But hey, good ol' Steve made it up to them -- just jump through a bunch of hoops and you can get credit at the Mac store.
And I hate the products themselves. Overpriced, overhyped and underwhelming. Oh, I forgot, they have such "elegant" design. They just "feel right." All the stubble-cheeked, pony-tailed, black-clad hipsters in the design department get it, but us dweeby drones doing the real work are just out of touch.
Gag me. I've always been a function-over-form guy. I don't give a rat's, uh, tail, if my computer is smooth and white and shiny. I just want to crank out the next project.
And don't give me those phony cost comparisons that try to make the case that, all things considered, Macs are cheaper than PCs in the long run. Just look at the damn price tags. Spin it any way you want, Macs and the other iCrap cost more.
And innovation? My god, take the blinders off. I remember sitting right here several years ago when Apple came out with the great new feature on their iPods called "shuffle." I couldn't believe it. Before then, you couldn't play your songs in random order? I had been doing that for years, literally. But then, I was into MP3s early on -- my first music player was a Rio PMP300, one of the very first on the market. I didn't have to wait for Apple to tell me they were cool. It took them a few years to catch on. Gee, where was the bleeding-edge innovation there?
And here's one for you: the new iMovie. Enough said. Too easy of a target. Wouldn't be iFair.
And what took them so long to jump on the Intel platform? That move (just the latest catch-up-to-everyone-else attempt) was another iShaft of their so-loyal camp followers. Didn't they just release shiny new iMacs or iBooks or iSomethings shortly before that, which instantly became so iYesterday and -- the biggest sin of all -- iUncool?
And, if I've got this right, iPhones use a slow, outmoded network, many iPod Touch players have defective video, and you have to send everything in to the shop just to change the freakin' batteries. And, in this age of openness and integration, iPhones are locked into one carrier, hackers are in an ongoing war to be open them up and use other applications, and songs from the proprietary iTunes can only be used on Apple's iJunk music players. Maybe I'm missing something here. What in the world is the attraction?
Oh, I forgot -- they're "sleek" and "seductive."
If we do make the switch, I'm going to be iSick.
And yeah, I'm ready for your iFlames.
If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.
he doesn’t sound too serious
or even competent, for that matter.
If I could use my mac at work, I would be much more productive.
My Dell PC is a piece of junk. I spend more time rebooting then entering my reports.
Crash, crash, crash.
You’re not going to believe it. I have the TV on, and Jonathan Falwell (Jerry’s son) is giving a sermon on “iTruths”. He’s even got a giant iPod on stage (a monitor they’ve rigged up to look like an iPod). It’s actually a good sermon so far...
My only problem with my mac is that i hate the way that MS-OFFICE for MAC is formatted.
Why not just format it like Office for Windows?
I can’t stand Macs, but after trying out IE 7 I now understand why people HATE Microsoft. Wow that browser is badly designed.
In before some semi-literate nimrod jumps down your throat for hating Macs.
Because then it would work a lot worse. Office/Windows is one of the most horribly laid out things ever.
But, if you must have a work-alike, go download the free OpenOffice suite. It’s a Microsoft Office for Windows workalike. Right down to the byzantine menu structures.
You obviously haven’t tried Office 2007 then... where they hide all the commands you need...
I am use to those Byzantine menu structures.
I was not aware that there was now Open Office for Mac. I will have to check it out.
Not sure why Microsoft wants to force users to do things in their own awkward way, but they do.
That’s like saying “I like being beaten and whipped by a leather clad midget because it feels so good when he stops. And I’m so used to it by now I’d miss the beatings!”
Oh,it’s great. You have to completely retrain most people on how to use the thing.
A number of my clients have taken a hint and rather than retrain everyone have moved to OpenOffice instead.
I am just use to having that tool bar up at the top of the screen all the time no matter what. I hate to have to pull up the tool bar or pallet to do a format change.
I have never used a Mac. My refurbished Dell has served me well, but I hate all those infernal updates and upgrades, I know everytime I let something into my system, I am running a risk of having something go wrong, Java is bugging me to update, should upgrade my Adobe reader, I don't know if I should dl & install flash or not, I just get everything working, and they change it so you have to upgrade whether you want to or not. Real Audio I hate; they keep upgrading to make you pay and I quit so now if it is RA, I can't watch the video.
Right now, I got an external DVD burner, Memorex, don't know if it is any good or not. It comes with Nero6? software. But there are compatibility issues with Roxio cd burner which I love because it is intuitive. If you are going to install Nero, you have to uninstall Roxio. But Roxio's free upgrade won't work, "the burning engine has not been detected". Then there is a Roxizap you are supposed to run because it does not do a clean uninstall. Then if that doesn't work, I go to MS website and print out this awful stuff for backing up the registry (with Win95 I could do a regular backup & restore, not so Win XP), going into dos, restore, sounds like a nightmare to me.
I do a lot of graphics and PS work, and Macs are or were preferred by graphic artists. The problem is that there are more programs for Windows platform than Mac.
I feel for the OP. I really do. I hate constant changes.
For reference, this is Jonathan Ive, Apple's design chief:
And, yes, you are out of touch. Ever worked in a drab gray cube farm? Ever worked in a well-designed office? Remember the difference? Design matters.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.