update: it’s not so much macs, but the people who use them
I want a Titanium PowerBook as much as any self-respecting web designer, but this quote from a News.com story about the opening of the Apple store (QuickTime) in Washington D.C. gave me the creeps:
More than 500 zealous Mac fans lined up as early as 4 a.m. EDT for the chance to be the store’s first customer and to support Apple Computer’s retail experiment. The crowd–which earlier broke into chants of “Apple! Apple! Apple!”–roared when the stored open at 10 a.m. EDT.
These people have clearly not read Brave New World.
The whole Apple cult is an interesting phenomena of which I used to be a member. Back when I first decided I had an interest in doing graphic design, I bought ‘the computer designers use’, an Apple. To save money, I bought a clone, a Motorola StarMax 3000/200, still about a $1000 more than a comparable PC. I bought an Apple (albeit a clone) for no other reason than that’s what graphic designers did.
A couple interesting things I learned about my Mac:
Graphic designers laughed at me because my computer wasn’t a _REAL_ Apple. I’d always get an “Oh… a clone” when I’d show someone a piece of my work on my Mac. It always baffled me that the box my computer sat in wasn’t good enough for the distinguished Mac crowd.
I used a PC for some work when I had my Mac. It performed graphics tasks almost as quickly or as quickly as my PC. Anything the PC lacked in graphics power, it made up for in file management, browser speed, software availability, and stability. Even Windows 95 was more stable then MacOS. I’ve tried Mac OS X which is pretty cool, but it still lacks many features for productivity that Windows XP has.
I guess my way of looking at it as the same as rational Nathan Fredrickson, “I want my computer to be transparent so I can focus on what i’m actually trying to do”. For me, a Mac just wasn’t as good of a tool as a PC. If a better system comes out, I’ll be the first to switch to that too.
As a big fan of “the whole apple thing” I will only say two things: I’m not much of a chanter. And I have read “Brave New World”.
Dave, maybe now would be a good time to plug your new venture. I saw your sign for the new Little Mac Shoppe. When does it open?
In a week– but the “grand opening” will be on Saturday June 2nd. Trouble is we’ve run into a snag with a few of the Apple Indocrination Ceremonies. The Humane Society is all in a tizzy about this blood sacrifice thing… don’t get me started. Plus inventory has started to arrive and I once I clap my rhuemy eyes on to those sweet slabs of industrial design I find I just don’t want to sell them… Jesus, I don’t know what I’m gonna do. Renew my soma prescription, I guess. Sweeeet, sweet soma!
shawn, i know you didn’t ask me… and i admit my opinion on this subject is now tainted with the stench of self-interest but let me say objectively as i can… if you have to make your living on a mac (which i do) using applications which are not OSX native (and not many are)– don’t change. don’t upgrade. don’t even install it on your machine for fun. this i have done on a “work machine” and now regret it (kinda, ‘cos it wasn’t really MY work machine.) That said… let me refrain from hyberbole like “The Future of the Personal Computer”. You know that old joke: the perfect computer would have Unix for operating system, Mac for GUI, and Windows for Solitare. Well OS X is the first two. It’s Unix with a Mac GUI. And everything that implies.
I recommend blindly upgrading with no regard for functionality.
If you want to see the true perfect OS, take a look at BeOS if you can take the time to download a copy. It has the best and smoothest user interface i have ever seen – and the best guts ever done.
Too bad there are almost no applications. Actually, i guess that disqualifies it from perfect OS status. But i remember seeing this thing copy half a gig of files, and play four quictime movies at the same time, without stutturing or slowing at all, on a P133.
This is the operating system Apple should of bought for OSX – too bad Steve Jobs was part of Next.
It’s funny. Computers. Here, we have two groups of human life forms (Mac users and PC users)on opposite sides of the river tossing stones at each other. Can we give peace a chance? Seriously. In answer to Nicks rant, it is true- about 90% of the Graphic Design/print industry is Mac – based. Why? It’s all in the history. Designers are not computer programmers. They wanted to buy a computer that was ‘user-friendly’. Fifteen years ago, PC’s were not. Than along came Jobs and his ‘enlightened PC’ – the Apple. The industry invested heavily into the ‘Mac thing'(and I mean heavily! They were fucking expensive pigs!), and truth be told – when you spend a lot of money on something, you’re pretty well married to it. Much the same with PC users and Windows. So, that’s it in a nutshell. Are Macs better than PC’s? Yes. But it depends on what you’re using it for and what you need. When it comes to Graphic Design layouts/printing, Macs are excellent machines to use. But that’s it. Macs simply replaced the T-Square, the triangle, the wax, and the rolls of typesetting, the process camera, etc, etc…When it comes to Graphic Design, I’d recommend three things: a)A good working knowledge of design theory, (including type, composition and colour) and prepress: b) a good pencil (I prefer HB, it’s soft yet hard): and c)a sketch book. Without this three fundamental things, Graphic Design on ANY system, be it Mac or PC is just plain, good old- fashion horseshit. It stinks.Sorry for the rant.
BTW. Back to the thing that started all this… And at the risk of being labeled (maybe fairly) as a wanton materialist, I got one of those G4 Titanium Powerbooks in Friday. Two words. 1. “Ooooo” 2. “Baby”. Sincerely, dave “buymorestuff” moses