Binary Rescue

Summer of Mac Love

July 7, 2008 – 9:42 pm

They came from every corner of the United States, descending upon San Francisco in never ending waves until they could be ignored no longer. Individually their voices where drowned out or simply ignored. During the Summer of Love they would be ignored no longer. As one irrepressible voice they shouted their disdain in an act of cultural and political rebellion. Their actions left a mark on a society ripe for change. Forty years later time our lives have been forever changed by the personal computer and the growth of the Internet. Just as the hippies gathered around San Francisco in a effort to better both their lives and society as a whole, a movement has been brewing across the Internet. Fed up with the shortcomings of Windows, countless thousands have gathered around the idea that there has to be a better way. The numbers don’t lie. This movement has a gathering place. That gathering place is the Mac platform. Eventually the hippies became targets of ridicule and now the Mac faithful are commonly abused. A few years ago when the first iPod came out people could not say enough good things about it. Today the natural order of things has given rise to another counter-culture who now vehemently oppose everything about Apple.

The heat of summer is once again upon us. Many of us will pass the time at back yard barbecues or lounging by the pool enjoying a cold one. I have another plan. After months of reading comments and articles floating around the net, I have developed my own heat source. I have silently stood by and read the comments of the aforementioned counter culture repeatedly expressing their hatred for all things Apple. Many of these same people talk about the superiority of Windows and Microsoft products as compared to Apple’s offerings. The discussions have all the hallmarks of fanaticism. Unsubstantiated “facts”, boisterous claims with no supporting evidence, and outright name calling are common place. There have been times when these discussions make me wonder about our (American) future as a culture. The Internet has become the mouth piece for the uneducated, lazy and just asinine. Few things get my blood boiling as fast as displays of idiocy and irrationality. My plan is to spark a discussion that ends all of this. Call it my Summer of Mac Love.

The premise is this. The Apple OS X platform is, as a matter of fact, the best personal computing platform currently available. The Windows advocates and apologists are simply wrong. My evidence is based on the following criteria:

• Capability: Does the tool perform the job?
• Availability: Is the tool available and working correctly when it is needed?
• Usability: Is the user able to intuitively work the tool?
• Efficiency: Does the tool perform the job with as little effort as possible?

Before the flame war (meaning idiotic and irrational comment diarrhea) begins, let’s review the ground rules. Facts require observation and measurable proof. A statement by itself is not a fact unless it can backed up by empirical evidence. The comments will be moderated. I will not suppress any dissenting opinion provided that you can back up said comment with proof, that means including both empirical evidence and references. If you spot an error in my reasoning and objectively prove me to be wrong, I will happily admit my error.

Each week I will offer one element of the OS X operating system that is superior to it’s Windows counterpart. I will also provide the evidence for this assertion. There are eight weeks left in Summer, at least unofficially. For purposes of this series of articles, Summer concludes on the last day of August. So here we go, let’s get started with week one.