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Apple Books Media Businesses Book Reviews

Macintosh... The Naked Truth 455

Posted by pudge from the i-can-handle-the-truth-but-not-the-nudity dept.
From the opening pages of Scott Kelby's Macintosh... The Naked Truth, I was literally laughing out loud. I am a generally jovial character, so this is not the finest endorsement available, but it is typical of the experience the rest of the book offered me.
Macintosh... The Naked Truth
author Scott Kelby
pages 219
publisher New Riders
rating 7 out of 10 Macsbugs
reviewer pudge
ISBN 0-7357-1284-0
summary Funny, irreverent, but kinda bugged me in spots

The Naked Truth is a book about what it means to be a Macintosh user, in a world dominated by Windows. This should have tipped me off as to some troubles ahead, as I live as a Mac user in a predominantly Linux-dominated world. And I proudly use Linux (and, to a lesser extent, other forms of Unix, not even including Mac OS X) daily. As I write this, I have four terminal windows running in NiftyTelnet, connecting me to Linux boxes at work and at home. I am inserting a 700MB database dump into MySQL, scp'ing some MP3s, restarting some daemons, copying some source code for later porting, and monitoring disk space. I am a Macintosh devotee, and have been for more than 15 years, but I am a geek. A big, preemptively multitasking, geek.

But Kelly takes the perspective that Macintosh is not a computer for geeks, but for creative people who can't be bothered with geek-like things. So when he belittles those "PC users" who like to build their own computers, and I see the Linux box under my desk that I've recently been fiddling with, I just take it with a grain of salt. After all, geeks are allowed to like ease of use and a consistent and usable GUI, too.

This mischaracterization of some Mac users is also evident in his "definitive platform test." The questions, asking for things like a description of your own driving skills, are intended to tell you which platform you should use. On one end of the scale is the Macintosh user ("Average, I'm not a bad driver"), followed by borderline between Mac and PC user ("I'm an excellent driver, very cautious and alert") to obvious PC user ("I obey all posted traffic signs and don't exceed the speed limit"), to "militant" PC/DOS user ("I wish all those idiots would just get off the road!"). But clearly, any sane person would choose the latter response. I don't understand what the problem is. I selected the "Mac" and "DOS" answers evenly, which didn't do well for my overall score. I happily continue to use Mac OS nevertheless.

That said, Kelby is dead-on about many things, like how computer store personnel are mostly clueless (not that this is specific to Macintosh products, but it is more pronounced in that particular arena than in most); how most anti-Macintosh arguments by PC users either don't make sense any more or never made sense to begin with; how Apple has been the primary innovator of PC hardware and OS software; how Apple seems to succeed sometimes in spite of its own management. He tends to belabor his point on occasion (OK, we get it, CompUSA's Apple store-in-a-store is all the way in the back, we don't need you to spend two pages describing just how far back it is), but if taken in the good humor intended, it's a satisfying journey nevertheless.

His most interesting points, perhaps, have to do not with what it is like to be a Macintosh user in a foreign land -- I think everyone on Slashdot can understand these things, regardless of whatever non-Microsoft platform of choice they use -- but what it is like to be a Macintosh user in relation to Apple itself. He has some keen insights about where the passion comes from; why people love Apple; what's going on inside their heads.

But then again, reading his responses to letters written to Mac Today and Mac Design Magazine by PC users are just downright entertaining -- keenly insightful or not -- if you are the sort of individual who likes to see stupid people get smacked around. And who isn't?

Now, being a geek -- and a pedantic one at that -- I did take issue with him on some relatively minor issues, like claiming that Apple changed the name of Mac OS X to "OS 10.1" when it came time to do the first maintenance release; the fact is, the official name from day one was "Mac OS X 10.0," and that nothing has changed at all in that naming scheme. The current release is "Mac OS X 10.1.4." It's the same thing, with an incremented version number. He's absolutely right that this is a point of confusion, and in some ways poor marketing. For the next major release (Mac OS X 11.0? Mac OS 11? Mac OS XI?) there will surely be some more confusion, too. But nothing at all has changed in the naming scheme since the initial release. For now. I just want to make sure everyone is clear on this point. It is "Mac OS X, version 10.1.4," and "Mac OS, version 9.2.2." "Mac OS" and "Mac OS X" are OS names. "10.1.4" and "9.2.2" are version numbers. Got it?

Similarly, he bashes the Newton. Sure, the first release of Newton kinda stunk, but it was the first version. The last versions of the Newton MessagePad, aside from the size, were still by far the best PDAs around for the next several years. Newton still, to this day, has the best handwriting recognition in any consumer PDA, as well as the best (non-color) interface, and it was years ahead of its time in functionality. It was just too big. That was its only problem. Well, and too expensive. But maybe less so if it weren't so big.

And he also called Compaq's PDA an "iPac." And occasionally used poor punctuation. And I think I saw a run-on sentence in there.

But now I am getting worked up. I'll settle down. Deep breath, in, out, in, out. That's the thing about being a Mac user, Kelby points out: passion. Passion for Apple and its products, even the ones that stink, because Apple is more than just a company, it is an organization that changes our lives in important ways, by making products that make a difference to us.

OK, so maybe I am in the target audience after all.

Chapter List

  1. Life after switching to Macintosh
    Using a Mac is easy; being a Mac user sometimes isn't.
  2. "I can't believe you actually use a Macintosh!" and other stupid things PC users say
    Congress should rethink giving PC users freedom of speech.
  3. Things Apple doesn't tell you about owning a Macintosh
    Since Apple's not going to tell you, dontchathink somebody should?
  4. The definitive platform test
    Find out if you're really a Mac person, or just a PC person in cool clothing.
  5. How to resist the overwhelming temptation to strangle Apple's management
    Is "Apple Management" an oxymoron? And is "oxymoron" actually a synonym for a pimple cream for really dumb people?
  6. CompUSA: Your own private hell
    Tips for surviving the visualization of Apple's place in the world.
  7. Why PC users need Apple
    Heere's why they should be kissing Apple's butt (instead of Microsoft's)
  8. "Don't pick fights with people who buy ink by the barrel"
    PC users write me nasty letters, and I give them the public flogging they so richly deserve
  9. Pot shots at Microsoft, the media, and anything else that gets in our way
    Nobody gets out of here alive!
  10. The 20 most important things I've learned about being a Mac user
    There were actually 22 things, but that made for a really clunky chapter title.
  11. The secret of Macintosh
    Here's a hint: it's not Apple's advertising.

You can purchase Macintosh ... The Naked Truth from bn.com. Want to see your own review here? Just read the book review guidelines, then use Slashdot's handy submission form.
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Macintosh... The Naked Truth More

Macintosh... The Naked Truth

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  • *shudder* (Score:3, Funny)

    by klocwerk ( 48514 ) on Wednesday May 01, 2002 @09:23AM (#3442691) Homepage
    All i could think of seeing that title was Steve Jobs naked.

    *twitches repeatedly*

  • Mac users aren't all clueless anti geeks (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Catmoderne ( 249130 ) on Wednesday May 01, 2002 @09:28AM (#3442734) Homepage
    Yes, I've noticed this "Mac users are clueless artsy types with no technical knowhow" slant over and over. Rubbish!

    I'm an admin on Linux and OpenBSD networks AND I love my Mac as well.

    There is no conflict, especially after OS X .

    An elegant GUI is a wonderous thang.

    Nuff Said!
    • i started using Macs in 1989, and continued straight until 1997, when i installed NetBSD on a IIvx. that led me down the slippery slope of x86 hardware, mainly because i couldn't afford a Mac.

      when i finally got a Mac again in 2000, i had forgotten how much i appreciated having a computer that was beautiful, in its designs and GUI. it really drove home the fact that the UNIX desktop is neither consistent nor pretty (usually).

      now that OS X is here (read: now that i can pull up a Terminal window), i can't see a reason to use anything else.
    • I totally agree. I will preface my statement by saying I am personally not a Mac person. However, this makes my point more pertinent IMHO because I am a Unix and Linux person. I have worked in IT almost 7 years.

      Many Mac persons love their computer. Therefore, they tinker and work and enjoy their computers a great deal. This leads to a technical comfort level with their machine that many times matches the equivalent skills for many PC users.

      There are plenty of PC home users that have no clue about how their computers work. They surf the web, get their email and open their Word docs and they are happy. However, there is that other edge of users that tinker, upgrade and know how to manipulate their PC in imaginative ways.

      Saying "Mac users are clueless artsy types with no technical knowledge" is as clueless as saying all
      PC users are clueless Office clones blindly following everyone else's lead.

      The stereotypes on both sides have fatal flaws.

      ________________________________________________ __

  • "And I think I saw a run-on sentence in there." (Score:5, Funny)

    by paranoid.android ( 71379 ) on Wednesday May 01, 2002 @09:28AM (#3442738)
    I know Slashdot isn't -- and doesn't need to be -- perfect in terms of spelling and grammar, but using a sentence fragment to complain about a run-on sentence is a little much.
    • My subject line is a sentence fragment. No verb. "And I think I saw a run-on sentence in there" has a subject and a verb--the "and" in the beginning makes it stylistically suspect, but not a fragment.

  • Get with the times Die hard Mac users (Score:5, Interesting)

    by nachoman ( 87476 ) on Wednesday May 01, 2002 @09:30AM (#3442758)
    I'm sorry, but the die hard mac users are going to have to get with the times...

    Macs arn't just for non-geeks anymore (Arguably the first apples were for geeks, became less geeky...). Mac OS X is the ultimate hybrid to allow both geeks and non-geeks a common platform which both can enjoy and use how they want. Heck, why do you think there is an apple section on /.

    I bought my first mac last year specifically because of OS X. I needed a laptop that I could use for work and school. I wanted a UNIX based system but the ability to run commercial applications if needed (I love OS and Linux, but there is still no MS Office for it and probably never will be... But everyone still sends me .docs).

    I still have people come up to me and say... "you bought a mac??? Don't geeks not like those? They are too colorful to be geeky."

    Macs are for geeks and non-geeks alike. For different reasons though (sometimes). Mainstream users will probably figure this out in 3 or 4 years time.
    • I'm sorry, but the die hard mac users are going to have to get with the times...

      I think those die-hard Mac users who still think that Macs aren't for geeks are a (sometimes vocal) minority. They are unhappy with how Steve has now significantly changed "their" OS (without asking their permission!), and some just don't like to see geek outsiders coming into their club.

      I think a lot of Mac users welcome the influx of geeks because it adds some "legitimacy" to the platform, meaning that if geeks like it, then Apple can't be scoffed at as a toy anymore. And it means Apple more or less got it right with the Unix underpinnings.

      Just my thoughts as a long time Mac user.

      mark
    • Macs arn't just for non-geeks anymore
      This is a funny statement to me, since I remember the Old Days when geeks all loved the Macintosh. It introduced all kinds of fascinating, fun, and revolutionary software development concepts, like resource forks, the toolbox, standard GUIs, etc. It was Apple's office politics (and Windows) that dulled the Mac's coolness factor... not the fact that it wasn't a cool computer.
  • ...macs are not evil. Macs are not inherently less of a computer than a PC.
    I made the best decision of my life to move back to Macintosh a few months ago. OSX really does combine the ease of a mac with the power of unix. I hope that one day people will understand that it is not an either or situation with operating systems. I keep my Win box around and boot my mac into Linux all depending on the job I want to do. Quite simply what operating system you use should be determined by the task at hand.
    • My wife, the ultimate technophbe, is now getting her intro into OSX. She loves it. She's a gamer, and will stand behind me and clear her throat, and shuffle around, hoping to irritate me enough so she can play Tony Hawk on my machine. She even knows some commandline commands. She love cal. Prebinding and top makes her swoon. She loves watching the characters flash by.

      I will have to get her her own G4 so she will leave me to my machine.

      There's a geek in there somewhere.

  • Is it just me? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by NickRob ( 575331 )
    Or does it seem like any Mac user could've written this book? Granted, I'm definitely interested in picking it up (Along with Michael Moore's new book) But from what I've seen, it looks like 90% of people in a MUG could've opened up a word processor and typed it out. We all laughed at the blatant rip-off the iPac was. We all got confused around Mac OS 8.0 When the OS's name changed from "System" to "MacOS". Is there any physcological or sociological perspectives or theories about being a Mac user? The notion that we're creative is not new, it's been in countless articles and MacWorld keynotes. Lemme guess, he mentions that thrill of never configuring an autoexec.bat file, right? (While a great number of Mac users actually have, most often for work).

  • Not for me (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Qwerpafw ( 315600 ) on Wednesday May 01, 2002 @09:34AM (#3442780) Homepage
    Nice review. The book seems pretty good, and I might consider it worth buying, except for one fact--

    I already have a personal identity. I know who I am. And I am a mac user. I don't need to read a book to tell me how I should behave, how I should think, or what my personality should be just because of the computing platform I use.

    This point was brought up slightly in the review by pudge's criticism of the "definitive platform test," but it seems the problem would be endemic to the entire book. The author seems to be trying to get all chummy with every mac user out there, though most share the at best tenuous bond of using the same type of computer (and not even OS. Many mac users still use 9!).

    However, this book might be ineteresting to someone who is not a mac user, as it could give some perspective into what "we" (and I hestiate to use the term) experience. But it seems like it alienates and bashes those who don't buy into the "jobs experience."

    So my take on the book would be "don't buy."

  • A PC vs. Mac vs. PC Point of View (Score:4, Insightful)

    by IronTek ( 153138 ) on Wednesday May 01, 2002 @09:40AM (#3442837)
    Based on this review, I do believe this author has been using macs for many years, and obviously is of the "old guard" of mac loyalists.

    What I mean by that, is that they randomly attack the PC, while pointing out the stupid ways PC users attack macs. It's been my experience that mac users of this "old guard" (which is to say, they've been using macs well before OS X was a glimmer in NeXt's eye) are very annoying. Most PC users I know, before OS X, didn't give a sh*t about macs, be they good or crappy machines. Mac users meanwhile wouldn't shut up about how good their macs were...as if they were trying to compensate for...something.

    Now, with OS X, I may actually go buy a mac one of these days. It's UNIX when I want it to be, and a pretty looking OS for the days when I just don't feel like thinking. If I do get one, however, I'm going to mostly steer clear of those longtime mac users and instead find people who got a mac for the same reasons I did. At least then I could get some work done in peace!

    • geez guy ... occam's razor ... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by taniwha ( 70410 ) on Wednesday May 01, 2002 @11:39AM (#3443775) Homepage Journal
      Mac users meanwhile wouldn't shut up about how good their macs were...as if they were trying to compensate for...something.

      Or maybe they were just enthusiastic about their computer in a way you weren't about yours. Sometimes the truth is right in front of you and not a paranoid conspiricy about people's secret thoughts

    • Re:A PC vs. Mac vs. PC Point of View (Score:5, Interesting)

      by w3woody ( 44457 ) on Wednesday May 01, 2002 @11:51AM (#3443898) Homepage
      Being one of the "old guard" (I've been using Macs since 1984, and writing software for them since 1985), and being a Windows programmer since Windows 2.11(386), I can tell you for a fact that while PC users generally don't care about Mac users, if you had a Mac in your office, you were almost guarenteed to get a deriding comment from the PC user without any provocation whatsoever.

      I never did understand that. That is, when I worked at JPL I had a Mac and a PC sitting on my desk. Inevitably when a PC-only person would walk into my cube, he would immediately comment on the "paperweight", or how overexpensive the Mac was, or how the WIMP interface was for wimps.

      Generally, when comments started flying back and forth in person, it always started with a co-worker making a negative comment about the Macintosh--not because the Mac user went on the attack. And while it was never a big comment, after an entire day of "why do you use that paperweight" or "I thought you were a power-user until I saw your Macintosh" or whatever, it was hard not to snipe back.

      I had a theory about that sniping from the PC folks, by the way: there is a certain expectation that using computers should be hard. That is, sophistication in the computer world is related to difficulty: thus, typesetting documents with TeX is considered sophisticated while using Microsoft Word is not--even if the resulting document looks more or less the same. But now that MacOS X is based on Unix and now gives users the ability to replace Finder with Terminal (for example), people look to the Macintosh as "finally" being a sophisticated operating system.

    • Re:A PC vs. Mac vs. PC Point of View (Score:4, Interesting)

      by jdavidb ( 449077 ) on Wednesday May 01, 2002 @12:53PM (#3444409) Homepage Journal

      When I was in Jr. High there were one or two friends who could never let it go that I preferred Macintosh. I wanted them to not care about what computer I used; I certainly didn't care about what computer they used. So there are people like that on both sides.

      I think the problem is that the Wintel community outnumbers the Macintosh community so much that it's possible for a Wintel user to never notice someone who feels that passionately about it, but most Mac users have encountered someone like my Jr. High friends. And many of us react by responding in Jr. High ways.

  • There were probably a lot less "geeks" in the Mac ranks for the many years this author is basing his book on, so I can see where he'd draw some of these conclusions. While Linux and Windows-based geeks could command-line hack to their hearts content, Mac users have had a wonderful tool called ResEdit. It kinda makes me sad that with Mac OS X, ResEdit is sort of an anachronism sitting in my Classic Applications folder ... but there it is. We have much better hacking cracking and patching tools now :) And the migration of linux and unix users to Mac OS X has brought a surge in the geek numbers, which is good for any platform. When users are pushing limits as well as the manufacturers, progress speeds along nicely.
    I think my original point was to say that there are always contingents of most OS fandom that are NOT geeks, and some that are. Such is life. Variety is the spice and all that.

  • Funny user assumptions (Score:4, Interesting)

    by rjamestaylor ( 117847 ) <rjamestaylor@gmail.com> on Wednesday May 01, 2002 @09:47AM (#3442904) Journal
    I'm sitting here importing client data directly from a client-provided MS Access MDB into a Linux-hosted MySQL database using Linux on my Toshiba Satellite laptop, reading Slashdot on Konq while running another series of sessions on my PBTiG4 550 running OS X. See, I'm on a "working vacation" 1500 miles from home and my Internet connection is not very stable, so I'm moving my server-side development environment from the remote Linux server to my Toshiba and then using my development tools on OS X, which has become my defacto development environment. And, to import the Access (Jet 4.0) database I'm using mdbtools [sourceforge.net] to process MDB files directly from Linux (no need to dualboot, or use Access under Virtual PC on Mac OS X or Win4Lin on Linux).

    So, I'm not the typical user, either, as the author presupposes in his "survey" as you described. But I am a True Convert to Mac OS X and things Macintosh. Funny how OS X throws the old assumptions about Mac users out the Window.

  • Sure, the first release of Newton kinda stunk,

    In the auditorium, Skinner speaks to the children.

    Skinner: Children, the times they are a-becoming quite different. Test
    scores are at an all-time low, so I've come up with these
    academic alerts. [hold stack of cards] You will receive one as
    soon as your grades start to slip in any subject. This way
    your parents won't have to wait until report card time to
    punish you.
    Martin: How innovative. I like it!
    Kearney: Hey Dolph, take a memo on your Newton: beat up Martin.
    [Dolph writes "Beat up Martin" which the Newton translates as
    "Eat up Martha"]
    Bah! [throws Newton]
    Martin: [being bonked on the head] Ow!
    -- Good ol' Apple Computer, "Lisa on Ice"
    (Thanks to SNPP [snpp.com])

  • Tonight on Letterman... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Justen ( 517232 ) on Wednesday May 01, 2002 @09:48AM (#3442910) Homepage Journal
    Top Ten Affects of Die-Hard Mac Users on the World

    10. On a certain day in January and July, Akamai traffic increases... Ten, err, Xfold.

    9. Gap can always fall back on selling black mock turtlenecks and deep-blue denim jeans in an economic recession.

    8. The world's goldfish will always have a place to live. (Today, in the Mac Classic. Tomorrow in the hollowed iMac G4 dome...)

    7. Translucent irons, toothbrushes, speakers, mice, cat bowls, and lingerie.

    6. Grandparents. Surfing. By themselves. Ahh!

    5. MacOSRumors. The single largest scam on the Internet, today.

    4. iPhoto coffee-table books. (Trust me: It's the ONLY way "The Osburne's" will ever make it into print... I hope.)

    3. The Trash. Call it what it is, damnit! Recycle Bin my arse: Microsoft trying to please the tree-huggers.

    2. Aquafied slashdot. Whodathunkit?

    1. Grandparents. Unix. AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

    jrbd

  • Above-average book (Score:5, Interesting)

    by JoeWalsh ( 32530 ) on Wednesday May 01, 2002 @09:49AM (#3442922)
    I enjoyed the book, but as a long-time Linux user (and recent Mac convert) some of it seemed overly whiny to me. Sure, it's rough having only a few score software packages for Mac OS in the typical CompUSA, but the total of zero packages for the Linux user makes that seem quite sufficient in comparison. I think he needs to get out more, and realize that there are more operating systems than the Windows and Mac franchises alone.

    As for the chapter where he gives childish replies to childish letters written to him as editor of his magazine, I stopped reading it half way through. I don't need that sort of thing to make me feel good about myself or my choice of computer, and reading such displays of immaturity is just painful. Maybe when I was 12 years old it would have been thrilling, but I've grown up since then. I wish he would have, too.

    The rest of the book was pretty good, though, and some sections were laugh-out-loud funny. He has a good writing style and a sharp wit that comes out best when he's describing everyday situations he's had to deal with as a Mac user (such as the hostile responses from sales clerks and fellow customers when he asks for Mac hardware or software).

    Still, given his whinyness on the one hand, and his vindictiveness toward "pee cee" users on the other, I'm not sure I want to be grouped with him as a "Mac fanatic." I tend to be a lot more forgiving of others than he shows himself to be. If most Mac users have the same extreme siege mentality he does, then I'll be sure to avoid Mac user groups like the plague. I'd much rather enjoy my computer than spend time cutting down others' choices. And I'd much rather let someone use one of my computers and thereby learn what's so great about the Mac than tell them what a crappy OS they use.

    So, althoguh my wife and I own three Macs right now (two quicksilvers and one icebook), maybe we should call ourselves "Apple users" instead of "Mac Fantatics." (This, despite his sneering remark about people calling them "Apple" computers intead of "Macs." As a long-time user of Apple ]['s, I'll probably always refer to computers produced by Apple Computer, Inc. as "Apples" out of habit, at least some of the time).

    -Joe

    -Joe
    • maybe we should call ourselves "Apple users" instead of "Mac Fanatics."

      Reminds me of the MIT Science Fiction Society's t-shirt motto, "We're not fans - we just read the stuff".

      Stereotypically frothing-ever-so-slightly-at-the-mouth enthusiasts serve a useful purpose (reminding people that their topic of interest exists, and selflessly defending it from onslaught whenever necessary), but alas they also make it harder for "normal" folks to admit to liking something, be it Apples, SF, or (fave /. topic) Open Source.

  • Are you kidding me? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 01, 2002 @10:08AM (#3443071)
    I bought a Mac because I wanted a laptop that I could compile UNIX source code on and I wanted a slick user interface that could handle MS Office. OS X fit the bill, so I got it.


    I keep seeing things like, "Smart consumers buy Apples because they're cheaper!" Uh... since when? My Powerbook was $3,000. A comprable PC laptop was $2,200. I selected the Powerbook because it fit my needs better and I was sold on the operating system.


    Macintosh users are more creative? Wow. It must be because they like shiny lollipop colors on their iMacs, a marketing trend that has bled over into everything from cell phones to George Foreman grills. Props to Apple for trying something simple and basic that the stuffed suits at the PC conglomerates never thought of: make the computer available in bright colors.


    I never bought into user stereotypes. I have definately noticed that a TYPICAL pre-OS X Mac user knows far less about how computers in general work than PC users. But I could say the same thing of modern PC users versus the pre-Windows 95 PC users. Anybody remember tweaking your AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS endlessly to coax another 9K of conventional RAM out of DOS? Arranging and re-arranging LOADHIGH instructions to shuffle drivers around in upper memory and going seven rounds with QEMM and the myriad other memory managers to use that extra 2 MB stick you paid $200 for?


    We had no choice. If I wanted to play Crusaders of the Dark Savant I had to find a way to get enough memory. That was how PC computing was. Modern users on average know far less because, for one, there's far more non-tech people who use PCs and for two there's no need. So I don't buy into this division along the Mac/PC line for technical competancy. You learn what is required to learn to operate your machine. The fact that the Mac removed this responsibility from the user 10 years before the PC did doesn't make Mac people less intelligent or more creative.


    I love my Mac. I hate my PC. But I want to play Dungeon Seige so I need my PC. I think the platform wars should be winding down in the coming years. I think that with OS X, Apple has the BEST operating system available. Sorry Linux people, but Linux is a pile of crap. I do use it, simply because when I set up my web server I wasn't familiar with anything else (plus I got semi-orgasmic pleasure out of reformatting the disk with Win95 on it). But if there were any justice in the world, OS X would be the operating system of choice. Even the ports of MS applications to OS X are superior to the MS versions.


    I'm right because I say so. I read Slashdot! I'm always right! And well-informed!

    • The fact that the Mac removed this responsibility from the user 10 years before the PC did doesn't make Mac people less intelligent or more creative.

      I seem to recall that up until about 2 years ago MacOS 9 users had to manually assign memory allocations? And if you got it wrong, the program would crash?

      I love my Mac. I hate my PC. But I want to play Dungeon Seige so I need my PC. I think the platform wars should be winding down in the coming years. I think that with OS X, Apple has the BEST operating system available. Sorry Linux people, but Linux is a pile of crap.

      More zealotry. Why do so many Mac users insist on giving Apple free advertising? It's not like they don't buy enough TV airtime anyway! And actually, the platform wars wound down years ago, I think you'll find that the open architecture of the PC, for all it's faults, was the winner.

      Sorry Mac people, but saying things like OS X is better than Linux is ridiculous. I for one, will NEVER buy a Mac, not because I'm a poor student (though I am), not because I don't like Apple (though I don't), but because if everybody bought a Mac we'd suddenly be even worse off than we are now. Microsoft showed us what damage a monopoly can do when it controls the standards, a monopoly of Apple would be infinitely worse as they control the hardware too!

      The only monopoly that wouldn't cause massive damage would be a monopoly of PC/Linux. Nobody, but nobody, should control the OS/Hardware. I don't give a damn about the software on top, if I want to pay MS for Office then I will, but the OS and hardware are too key.

      I hate people who get modded up for saying "I love the good looks and UNIX core of Mac OS X". It's redundant. We don't care. So you like your new Mac, good for you, I guess we just have to hope not everybody is like you, cos if they are then we're screwed all over again.

      end rant

    • I never bought into user stereotypes. I have definately noticed that a TYPICAL pre-OS X Mac user knows far less about how computers in general work than PC users. But I could say the same thing of modern PC users versus the pre-Windows 95 PC users. Anybody remember tweaking your AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS endlessly to coax another 9K of conventional RAM out of DOS? Arranging and re-arranging LOADHIGH instructions to shuffle drivers around in upper memory and going seven rounds with QEMM and the myriad other memory managers to use that extra 2 MB stick you paid $200 for?

      So tweaking your autoexec.bat means you 'know how computers in general work'?

      Thats the funniest damn thing I've read on Slashdot in awhile :)

      Using a PC doesn't mean you know squat, other than how to use a PC. You don't magically know how to program all of the sudden, or how to design a PCB, or even how to swap out a PCI card (you think the vast majority of PC users ever even open their machine's case? To them its a commodity, more akin to a toaster oven than to a personal hobby.)

  • "changes our lives in important ways" (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Argyle ( 25623 ) on Wednesday May 01, 2002 @10:33AM (#3443269) Homepage Journal
    I quote the article:

    "But now I am getting worked up. I'll settle down. Deep breath, in, out, in, out. That's the thing about being a Mac user, Kelby points out: passion. Passion for Apple and its products, even the ones that stink, because Apple is more than just a company, it is an organization that changes our lives in important ways, by making products that make a difference to us. "

    What is he talking about? Are we supposed to understand exactly how Apple has "changes our lives in important ways" without him mentioning how? Look, I've got PCs & Macs running Windows, Linux, and Mac OSs. They each have their good and bad points. But none of them have something so special that they "change our lives in important ways". They are all jusy fscking operating systems. We'd all be doing fine if we were using OS2 or Amiga or Be.

    It's what people do with computers that makes a difference.
    • I can't agree with the author's rhetoric, but I do think Apple has changed our lives.

      Introduced the PC with the Apple I/Apple II, in a serious way and not just in a hobbiest homebrew way.

      Introduced the mouse to computing.
      Introduced the 'window, icon, mouse, pointer' pardigm.

      Introduced the WYSIWYG concept.

      Introduced color managment. Publishing industry.

      Introduced audio and video, via Quicktime, to home computers.

      You know, things that today you take for granted, Apple helped popularize.
  • Let's have a group hug. Today I feel all warm and cheery so I'll use my Orange Mac. Yesterday I skipped my meds and felt all purple and shit.

    If only my Mac was a person just like me and I could talk to it and marry it and have sex with it.
  • I use my Newton MessagePad 2000 every day. Anyone who bashes ripe (MP 2000+) Newtons obviously has never seen or used one.

    It's amazing what bad PR can do to a product. Remember 'The Simpsons' episode where the Newton handwriting recognition totally screws up?

  • great... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Sebastopol ( 189276 ) on Wednesday May 01, 2002 @10:58AM (#3443473) Homepage
    ...more ways to divide people and make enemies.

    do we constantly have to make it 'us' and 'them', the other side always claiming moral highground?

    this is just one more thing for people to get angry at each other for. like dads beating each other up at hockey games, or fans beating each other up at sports arenas...

    does it fucking matter? are we so superficial as to group each other by the types of computers we use? this is sad, sad, sad.

    :

    and by the way C64 rocks, you all suck. ;-)

    • Re:great... (Score:4, Funny)

      by w3woody ( 44457 ) on Wednesday May 01, 2002 @11:42AM (#3443811) Homepage
      Well, the world has always been divided into those who believe the world can be divided into two groups, and those who do not.

      As you do not believe the world can be divided into two groups, you're one of *them*.

      Be gone from my sight, foul demon!

  • Sounds like another "Macs are great!" book... (Score:3, Troll)

    by mttlg ( 174815 ) on Wednesday May 01, 2002 @11:57AM (#3443962) Homepage Journal
    Just what we need, more propaganda to sweep under the rug in 10 years with all the "We don't need a CLI!" and "Who needs more than one button?" nonsense. People who don't like Macs won't care about this, and people who do like Macs will feel smug for a little while until they too don't care. I guess I just don't see the need for all the back-patting anti-PC rhetoric.

    I would like to see a pro-Mac book that actually addresses the shortcomings of Macs instead of pretending that they don't exist. Instead, we get David Pogue saying stuff like "Who needs to be able to encrypt files when your entire computer is password protected?" in his Mac OS X Missing Manual book. Why hasn't anyone addressed the spatial information deficiencies in Mac OS X? Why aren't there any articles about how horrible iPhoto really is (Apple's own discussion board on iPhoto is almost entirely composed of usability complaints, with no comments from Apple staff)?

    It gets frustrating seeing the stupid "love it or leave it" mentality used to defend Macs in the absence of a critical but fair analysis of Apple's hardware and software. While I can't imagine using anything but a Mac as a general purpose computer, I don't see why Macs should be exempt from reality.

  • Lighten up! (Score:4, Insightful)

    by macaddict ( 91085 ) on Wednesday May 01, 2002 @12:08PM (#3444058)
    The review left out the subtitle--"An irreverant, off-the-wall, PC-slammin', totally biased look at what it's like to be a Macintosh user in a Windows-dominated world." This book never claims to be a fact-based investigation of the life of a Mac user. People are taking this book waaaay too seriously.

    That "definitive platform test" is a joke. I mean, come on! If you score 20-40 (militant PC user), his advice is to "...put your hands on your head, walk out the front door of your home directly toward the officers, and listen carefully to their instructions. Keep your hands clearly in sight and don't make any sudden moves." Yup! That sounds like a serious platform quiz to me!

    Kelby's humor takes a little getting used to and his over-exaggeration of Mac and PC user stereotypes wears a little thin, especially in the era of OS X. There is some useful info in here--covering the obstacles you're probably going to run into and what to do about them (if you want lots of games, buy a Playstation), but for the most part the book is meant to be fun (usually at the expense of Wintel users). In the last chapter, he reveals the true origins of the Cult of Macintosh (and a lesson in media manipulation). General Burkhalter? Go fig! ;-)

    Buying advice--if you prefer MacAddict over Macworld, you'll probably enjoy this book.

    Sara

  • "creative" Mac users are geeks, too (Score:4, Informative)

    by j09824 ( 572485 ) on Wednesday May 01, 2002 @12:58PM (#3444460)
    I find this constant refrain of the "creative people" that can't be bothered with technical intricacies silly. People into typography, color, graphic design, photography, etc. are every bit as geeky as, and no more "creative" than, your geekiest C programmer. And when it comes down to it, those "creative people" spend inordinate amounts of time fiddling with their Macs, installing extensions, installing little add-ons, tweaking the color, experimenting with different network settings, etc.

    The Mac has a shallow (=good) learning curve and makes it easy to get started. And OSX is now (finally) a robust and powerful Macintosh operating system, and that is great. But anybody who spends significant amounts of time with computers will naturally learn a lot of arcane trivia, and that's no different for Mac users.

  • Another Book is Required (Score:4, Insightful)

    by micromuncher ( 171881 ) on Wednesday May 01, 2002 @03:00PM (#3445580) Homepage
    Another book needs to be written because the religious user debates do not really explain why Apple has a 3% market share.

    I would call this book "The Rise and Fall of the Mac Developer."

    In this book, I would enumerate all the things that Apple has done to drive truly creative developers from the platform. Of course one can argue "semper fi", but where is Guy Kawasaki today?

    In this book I would have the following chapters.
    1) The failure of Marketting/Evangelism
    Yes, I'd have this in the book. I spent five years promoting the use of Macs in enterprise and engineering. Apple could never keep these positions well stocked, and when they did find people, they gathered a self-delusional-reinforcing clique of groupies that denied that Apple was pooching NOT attempts to enter the space, but pooching toeholds they had in the space, and telling developers trying to build products that their applications were not "killer apps." Is there an engineering killer app? For five years Apple reps announced at WWDC the same thing: We will foster development and awareness through VAR incentives. That's right... No help for people building products - but give a salesman who doesn't know a Mac from Adam a T-Shirt and he'll promote a product into an Oil company without ANY SOFTWARE to make it useful.

    2) Starve the Developers for Development Tools
    First tell developers they must pay for expensive development tools, and delay on providing those tools. [The developers want free tools to write product to sell your platform.]

    3) Jerk the Developer Chain through Legalese
    Have developers wanting to support new technologies sign incomprehensible NDAs and technology agreements. [The developers must wait months to actually get there hands on the technology.] Then announce that certain specs for internal hardware will NEVER be released.

    4) Remove the Reason for Start-ups to Use Macs
    Any developer incentives like the hardware purchase program must be abolished. [It is more likely small start ups that cannot afford 200%+ mark up will support fringeware.]

    5) Run in Circles and blow the Developers Credibility
    Get new technologies out, convince developers they must support them, and kill them a year later. [Copland, OpenDoc, QD3D...]

    6) No Support for You
    Put a barrier between your core developers and technical resources that do not know the technologies and claim every bug you report in the Software is a support incident requiring the DEVELOPER pay for it.

    7) Close the Playing Field
    Make sure that any attempt to support CHRP and get other Vendors making Macs is pooched.

    8) Kick your Developers in the Groin
    Never return the phone calls of a developer known as a Doubting Thomas. Make sure the development teams that do have tight contact with developers ignore advice from the seasoned ones because it illustrates design flaws, or points out missing key parts of a strategy, or because the developer said after stating factually why something is stupid, resorting to saying "The Idiot Who Did This Should Be Short" must be threatened with LEGAL ACTION.

    9) Lie To The Developers
    In 1996, WWDC, "Apple will be the Number One Java Development Platform." Apple FIVE YEARS LATER delivers a functional Java implementation.

    10) Creativity Must be Stiffled
    Kill ATG, research, and disclosure because Microsoft delivers the cool thing you saw at WWDC the previous year.

    11) OpenSource this
    Don't forget to kill mkLinux because you might eat into your OS X sales. But wait - OS X won't run on older hardware. F**k ADB and NuBUS - who uses old Macs [except every die hard Mac developer I know.]

    Unfortunately most of the things that Apple has done right, they did long, long after it would make a difference. Think different? I don't think so.

    p.s. Tim, f**k you for breaking all the UI guidelines making iWhatever look and feel like consumer products. A skin should be a choice... and Apps should be consistent.
    • Speaking as an ex mac developer, A-fucking-men!

      Of course, now I'm considering buying my first mac in a decade, but maybe because I'm actually making money for once, and it's not by being an Apple developer!

      Goddamn OpenDoc. I still have the t-shirt I got for writing one of the first demo parts.
  • the whole MAC vs PC debate is about as worthwhile as starting a fire with your powersupply.

    A: to those who say Macs are NOW cool because of MAC OS X having unix underpinngs

    --Shut up. LOL... MAC OS has always had the tools for power users... and to think it was just some kids computer until X came around is to ignore VPC, LinuxPPC, Terminal apps, Hexediting and the whole kit n kabbodle

    B:to those who say PC's have are supirior, or macs arent tweakable.

    --i have taken my rev b imac apart installed a scsi/video card... upgraded the processor, added firewire, upgraded the ram/HD/and video ram, and installed my own internal cd-r. AAAll of this in a All in one case.... uhm.... thats a great deal of tweaking in my book. If it wasnt for the fact that linux reads so many disk formats macs would be the only real good IT computer... but no-one in IT realizes that... sigh... misunderstandings will continue till the end of time...

  • Generally jovial character? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by gsfprez ( 27403 ) on Wednesday May 01, 2002 @05:23PM (#3446672)
    OMG. sorry.. but Pudge calling himself "jovial" would be up there with hearing Tom Daschle calling himself "professional bullshit artist" - accurate, but hearing it from him, you'd swear you'd entered the Twilight Zone.

    You all should see how "jovial" pudge is when he's beating the stuffing out of some poor college freshman's poor argument. Its like watching a 800 pound gorilla tackle a miniature poodle and stuff it into a thimble. Its so awful, you can't help but watch in glee (i mean, doesn't everyone find glee in the idea of one of those horrible little poodles being stuffed into a thimble?)
  • MacOS-X.I.IV release
  • Kelby is dead-on about many things, like how computer store personnel are mostly clueless

    Yesterday, I was in a computer store and over heard a sales guy say to a customer inquiring about RAID, that "Seagate drives don't work in a RAID setup, because they're just too fast. Trust me, I know, I've tried at home! I've spoken to Seagate about it and they acknowledge the problem." He also stated to the customer that Seagate does not make anything else but hard drives.

    I was'nt really in the mood to interupt and tell of my RAID setup at home that has been working nicely with Seagate drives for about 3 years now.

    Sometimes helping out other customers with correct advice in the presence of these nit-wit sales types can be fun though.

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