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Old 02-01-2007, 07:56 PM   #22 (permalink)
cyrnel
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Location: In my angry-dome.
I find users can be more compatible with one or another platform. It doesn't necessarily follow the "artistic rebel" stereotype often attributed to Mac owners, but that can play a part. Some swithchers have a sort of post traumatic stress disorder from problems on one platform and just need a change. I usually see this going from PC to Mac, but it's a two-way street. Other users just have a better support community in one or the other world. For most non-computer-professionals/hobbyists, that's usually the best reason to switch in either direction.

Easier? Depends on the job and what's installed. My own experience says there's a bit more consistency in the Mac world if you don't stray far from the Apple brand, largely due to the single-vendor integration already mentioned. That can be good or bad depending on how much you want to make these things a hobby. The vast landscape of Windows products tends to complicate every decision. That's good if you're into it, but I run into customers daily who just want the damn things to work. It's discouraging to them when they leave for a month and don't know how to answer the 30 "please update me" dialogs that now litter their screens. Both platforms share this complexity problem but Mac is a bit better at being an appliance.

The religion/pomp/complex of any user is a separate factor. Not much different from nationalism, it's usually based on too little experience with "them" and not a little frustration or fear. That never helps understand the strengths & weaknesses of each. I take exception to anyone with years of experience applying their own preference to another user's needs unless they'll end up as the support community for that user. My own experiences over too many years has almost nothing to do with what any particular user should choose, though it may help me to help them decide.

Finally, about the "PC" complaints way up above: recall that IBM co-opted that term with their PC back in '81. Lots of us were offended. IBM was the new kid on the block and we'd used the term generically for years. Such is life. Though its use can depend on context, in platform discussions it is shorthand for the wintel world. I have a tough time believing anyone posting in this forum hasn't already been through plenty of "PC vs. Mac" discussions. Pick a better target. Like, hasn't the average PC guru moved beyond the 80's, button-down, IBM geek, stereotype? God, I hope I don't look like that.
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There are a vast number of people who are uninformed and heavily propagandized, but fundamentally decent. The propaganda that inundates them is effective when unchallenged, but much of it goes only skin deep. If they can be brought to raise questions and apply their decent instincts and basic intelligence, many people quickly escape the confines of the doctrinal system and are willing to do something to help others who are really suffering and oppressed." -Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media, p. 195
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