First of all, my apologies for the bland and uninspiring decor. I’ve just moved into this new blog pad (thanks again to the gracious folks at WordPress), and I’ve still got lots of boxes to unpack and pictures to hang. Hopefully, by the end of the week, this space will look nice and homey.
A friend of mine sent me the following link to a parody web page, which presumes to unveil Apple’s latest invention: the iProduct. WARNING: This page contains some offensive language, which is rather annoying to ol’ Biceling, because the page would be just as funny had they left out just a few choice words.
Now, I, for one, like Apple, and I appreciate a lot of the neat products and ideas they’ve created over the years. I have an iPod, and I enjoy learning any news about Apple’s Mac OS X operating system. Leo LaPorte’s MacBreak Weekly is quite a hoot, and the great Maha Rushie himself is an avid Mac user.
Still, I can sympathize with much of the sentiment in the article. Mac (and Linux for that matter) seems more of a cult sometimes than simply another product. Personally, I have little use for zealotry when it comes to consumer products. I’d rather just use the product that suits me best. Right now, on my PC that happens to be Windows Vista (although I also have another PC where I run Ubuntu Linux from time to time). People always ask me, “Why don’t you switch to Mac?”, and I answer, “Because I don’t really have any use for it right now.” They look at me like I’m an axe murderer.
Note I’m not saying Macs are completely useless – not at all. It’s just that the choice of a operating system is really a personal one. Not everybody is the avid PC gamer and hardware enthusiast that I am. Not everyone cares if you can’t buy a Mac that has a NVidia GeForce 8800 GTX in it. Mac users like to use their PC as an appliance. They don’t care if they don’t have the freedom to change out every single component of their computers like I do, and that’s fine. But everybody has their own preferences and criteria, and I certainly have mine.
And yes, I know of the evils of Microsoft, of their support of the Trusted Computing initiative, their support of Digital Rights Management (DRM), their laughable claim of Linux violating patents, and other such antics. But really, I’m not worried about such alleged claims of Microsoft taking over the world. There are other dangers in the world that are much more important to be aware of. Besides, Microsoft is being kept in check. Apple is not going away any time soon, and neither is Linux.
And that’s one thing I do admire Apple for – ever since Steve Jobs returned to the company, it has really turned itself around and put a lot of pressure on Microsoft. I LIKE seeing Bill Gates get upset at the Apple TV ads, and I love seeing Steve Ballmer sweat over Linux (and believe me folks, Microsoft is scared of Linux, or they wouldn’t be making claims of patent violations that they won’t dare elaborate upon). As long as Apple and Linux keep turning up the heat, Microsoft will have to work harder to make sure they don’t lose me as a customer. After all, although I enjoy using Windows, I also enjoy reading news about Microsoft’s competition.
No doubt most of you have heard about Microsoft’s new MP3 player, the Zune. I currently enjoy my iPod. Why don’t I buy a Zune? For the same reason I don’t buy a Mac: I have no use for one right now. I don’t want a MP3 player with wireless capability. The place where I work will grudgingly allow the prescence of iPods, but wireless network devices are forbidden. And DRM is annoying enough on the iPod. I don’t want to deal with it on the Zune, where it is much stronger. Guess what? Despite Microsoft’s entry into the market with the Zune, the iPod is still number 1. Why? Because many other people like myself don’t like annoying DRM features and don’t want useless wireless features that could keep them from using their MP3 player at work. This is an example of choosing a product simply on the basis of whether it has the features you want or need, and not on the basis of politics or zealotry.
And choice is what it’s all about about anyway, right? I say to Apple, keep up the good work, and keep giving us other choices! And even if I never buy an operating system from you (might would help if you’d allow me to buy Mac OS X without having to buy Mac hardware with it), then keep making Microsoft sweat! For that matter, have you all seen the video of Steve Jobs demonstrating Apple’s new Leopard desktop? I can’t wait for Microsoft to copy it so that I can use it in the next version of Windows. 
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