MacDailyNews - Where Mac news comes first

Feb 21, 08 - 03:01 pm Comment from: Spark

True Macheads are those that adopted the platform early and resisted the siege of Windows, along with with mass media's constant drone of the death of Apple throughout the '90s.

Apple II's in college 25 years ago, first Mac in '89, and nothing else since.
Ever.

When I was in my teens, I owned an Apple IIe. In the 90's I began my working career and moved to PC's. In the new centruy I got a job that entailed doing some testing on a Mac. It was then I remembered that computing was supposed to be FUN. I started the switch, and you know what I found out? Macs are fun, they are easy to use, they are a pleasure to work on, they are very powerful machines and they are made really well.
I argue with PC enthusiasts all the time about why anyone would use a mac. I have learned one thing about those PC users, they don't care about quality. They put out crap code and crap products calling it good enough, while I care about quality and elegance.
How does a person who only cares what the price tag is even begin to understand quality and elegance and the motivations of the people who care about such things. And likewise, how do we who care about good stuff learn not to turn of our nose?

I guess its the old argument of bad beer. I have friends from college who still drink Bud Light while I am trying the latest Belgium, German and US microbrews. Life is too short for bad beer and bad computing, for them, ehh its just alcohol and a job.

@spark,

That's not really fair. I didn't know anything else when I was growing up and only in the last couple of years did I get a Mac and see what I'd been missing. I think that the attitude of "you're only a fan if you've been here since the beginning" is a bit shortsighted. If you have nothing else around you and have no experience with anything else you can't blame people for being bandwagons and whatnot. If they're meant to see it and be part of the community you should welcome them, not look down your nose at them.

That is all. Back to the previously scheduled smugness.

Apple II - CPM - lack of ease-of-use, no desire to "build" my own computer. Don't do gaming
Been through the mill on the other stuff.
I use Macs to work - make money. Bought first one in 84, bought several dozen or more since. They don't break, just get old. We donate them when they need to be replaced by faster machine. We run 20 some Macs in my office - no IT (I'm as close as it comes to IT). Email, network, server, multiple printers - everything connected.
All easily, quickly, no hassles. Yeah - I'm a Mac head, because they work and as a result, let ME work.

I sure hope they get it right. It's a lot more than a handful of nuts that like the same thing.

I believe it's basically preservation instinct that drives a lot of Mac users. We came close to losing what we know is superior technology... and we'll never let it get to that point again.

There is no ethnic, social-economic, political, religious divide with Mac Users. We are there to help any present or future user. I tend toward the conservative, but would as gladly help Al Gore as I would Rush Limbaugh with a Mac question.

We're all one family. By helping others we know that we ensure our preferred computing experience will continue.

Feb 21, 08 - 03:21 pm Comment from: Rich Apple person

It has been my experience that Mac users are more demanding and are more knowledgeable about computers in general. Apple has a very close community and brand equity that nobody else in the industry can touch. I think Mac users would love to embrace Microsoft products if there were something innovative there but those days are long gone for MS

"He said most Macheads volunteered 'ease of use' and 'design' as reasons for their devotion but this did little to explain how a subculture could develop around a computer."

"He concluded that the core reason for the Mac's unique success was Apple's ability to appeal to people's emotions."

TRANSLATION:
Kobi Shely didn't get the dramatic, sensational answer he wanted, so he made it up!

Started out with TI 99-4a and the Commodore 64 as a kid. Table sized floppies and cassette tapes for data storage. Oh what a world.

Grew up, sk8 boards and drugs were my calling. No computers.

Went to college, meet my first Windows machine. 3.1 and had to use Word Perfect for DOS. What CRAP! I knew computers could be better.

Started classes for media production. Meet my first Mac running OS 7. I was amazed. This computer actually talked to me like a human. It just made sense on a level that 3.1 couldn't even try to reach. This had a major impact on my life. I was to become a mac addict!

For all those who don't understand or see the light, they are doomed to live in darkness.

The Mac is not just a computer. It is a part of me and who I have become in this world.

Way back in 1984 I was happily running my Apple IIe and decided to move up to the flashy new "Business" computer ... the IBM pc, so I took my 11 year old daughter with me to the computer store... just as I was being rung up for my purchase my daughter, Michelle showed me what she had just done on that new little computer in the back ... it was a printout, complete with picture of a heart that said "I Love You Daddy". She had never, ever touched a computer before that day. I was sold, I switched that day & have never looked back, or used anything else ... and I managed to convert quite a following over the years.

Luv, Peece & Maciness yall

It's absurd really. Kobi Shely would have done far more interesting work by exploring why there is a Cult of Windows: why would large numbers of people devote themselves to absolutely crap technology?

There is no Cult of Mac. Mac simply works better.

This should be interesting. I'm sure the film focuses on the strangest of the breed. I'm sure the film is constructed in such a way that you'd be able to deduce that Shirley McLaine must use a Mac.

I might be considered a Machead. I've been an Apple admirer since the time I saw the first Macintosh -- everything was so crisp, clean and simple and the packaging was gorgeous. Plus you could pick it up and go. I bought my first Mac in 1999, a Tangerine G3 iMac, shortly after Steve Jobs had come back to rescue this amazing company with its storied history. They'd basically booted Jobs a decade earlier to make the company more like every other computer company, and Jobs had returned the company towards its unique vision of computing, the one with the beautiful fonts, the brain of the scientist, the spirit of the artist, and the simplicity of a child. The iMac just plugged into the electrical outlet. That was all the set up that was required. My friends with PCs had to install discs, drivers, cards, you name it. It took them days to set up a simple computer. The Mac was different, and it did everything I need to do. I've never looked back or elsewhere. Sure, I use PCs at work, and they're not bad. But my heart & soul works like a Mac. And since that first Tangerine iMac, I've had a white 12" G3 iBook, a "white lamp" G4 iMac, a titanium 15" G4 PowerBook, a black CoreDuo MacBook, and a 24" gloss iMac. I'm not counting AirPorts, iPods, Cinema Displays or software, but that's a lot of Macs,and they've gotten plenty of use.

Maybe it IS a religious experience!

For me it's the "it just works" thing. In my print shop we have a variety of machines, and the Macs always get the job done. I make more money using Macs. Thats got to count for something!

The madness that is maintaining a Windows network, and why people dont demand more from Microsoft, that should be a freakin' documentary...

If this is an ad for Apple users, I own a Dell.

This is like 'Trekkies' except without the hot Denise Cosby.

Wow, looks like from her docmumentary preview, Macheads are Jerry Garcia-worshipping hippies! Ooops, I meant Steve Jobs-worshipping yippies!

I started out using computers that used punch cards and digital tape in the Navy on the 1970s, then moved to the Apple II in 1979.

I've used only Apple computers since then, the Mac since 1984 and I will NOT even touch a Windows machine.

Apple. Real Intelligent Design.®

Hey there Spark.

True Mac Users adopt Apple because they use Micros**t products and something bad happens. They wander into an Apple store or have a Machead buddy and that's that.

So the lady starts about her late dad, and a picture of a chimp pops up.

??

I know I know, it's the production company.
And it's a retarded name. Does every company have to be 'Blue Frog', 'Nine Cows', 'Electric Chicken', 'Frozen Mackerel' etc etc..?

Just a first impression.

Feb 21, 08 - 03:43 pm Comment from: Brian Allen

I think many of you have it wrong.

A MacHead is really someone that started with a Lisa and migrated to a Macintosh.

I started with Lisa. Actually, the second Lisa in the state of Alabama.

It was converted to a MacXL at a later date.

After watching that trailer..all I have to say is that y'all wear weird clothes.

Just my $0.02

"True Macheads are those that adopted the platform early and resisted the siege of Windows, along with with mass media's constant drone of the death of Apple throughout the '90s."

These "True Macheads" are idiots then. Back in the 90s Apple sold crap. What they had was _worse_ than Windows.

They didn't have anything decent until Apple bought NeXT and got the BSD Unix/NeXTSTEP technology:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NEXTSTEP

Oh, and when they did that they got Steve Jobs back, too. Jobs had wanted to move Apple to Unix before he got ousted in the first place -- smart guy.

This is why Apple is riding high now. It's not because of a bunch of irritating, emotionally immature Apple-cultists. It had those in the 90s, and it was heading down the toilet then. ***It's because Apple have good technology***. The iPhone runs on the same software technology as the computers: it's that flexible.

MAC= More Advance Computer ,three letters says it all.

Feb 21, 08 - 03:58 pm Comment from: theloniousMac

This is as bad as all the Obama crap.

Feb 21, 08 - 04:00 pm Comment from: MacRaven

I am among, the few, the proud, the earliest Cult of Mac members, before it had a name.

Resisting all attacks from the Dark Side, facing near death, praying for the return of Steve Jobs. Believing against all odds (and financial Prophets) that the current resurrection would come, and against all odds—it did.

Howz that for a cult statement? ; )

I think the longer your a Mac user, the more passion you have, so new users have passion but maybe not as much or as deep as us early 1980's Mac users. When you have a billion+ people against you for decades, passion keeps you going, keeps you fighting, because you know there is something better than what the status-quo is using. Apple's "Think Different" commercial says it all: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=No1MxAnHuJM

I started with a CDC 6400 at my university in the 1970's, punch cards & everything. Then they got a DEC System 10, and the computer science department got a PDP-11/70 running Unix. Professionally, I've used dozens of computers since, VAX/VMS, Concurrent, HP, SGI, various flavors of *nix. My first personal computer was a NEC APC III running MS-DOS 2.11 in 1984. Then I bought a MacSE in 1988. I've been forced to use various Windows machines at work since then, but for myself and my family, we have only Macs. We've had a beige G3, Umax C600, PM 7100, PM G4 (Sawtooth), and I retired my PB G3 Lombard two years ago for a 15" AlBook. My wife's business started with a grape iMac, graduated to a 1GHz G4 eMac, and she uses a 1.4Hz G4 iBook. If I had my way, I'd be using my AlBook at work instead of this Dull laptop the company provided.

Feb 21, 08 - 04:05 pm Comment from: GranitW

wow it looks more like a Mocumentary to me. Are some of those people real? the look like they went through a long make up session to look like that.

Feb 21, 08 - 04:08 pm Comment from: Mac-nugget

I think the mentality of using a Mac was onset by Apple back with the famous 1984 commercial. The beauty of that commercial is that it still rings true today. Being a Mac user, to en extent is a bit of being antiestablishment. Not wanting to conform with mediocre half-ass computing solutions. As a graphic designer I was finally free from french curves and clogged rapidograph. I used Windows before and it seems to get in the way of my workflow. I could achieve the same result on a Windows computer, but half the fun is getting their. Windows sucks the fun out of working.

Apple = Quality, and now the world is taking note.

Feb 21, 08 - 04:10 pm Comment from: Spark

@ Shawn and Steve Ballmer's Greengrocer

There would be nothing of what is called "The Cult of Mac" or "MacHeads" if not for the early and middle years. If not for the advent of Windows, and MS's nefarious method of creating it, the psychology of "us against them" would not have come about. So, Shawn, you can be a Machead even though your are relatively new to the platform. I was just saying that the movie producers need to go back decades to learn the genesis of Macheadedness.

And, SBG, your assertion that "they didn't have anything decent until Apple bought NeXT..." simply illustrates you ignorance of computer and OS evolution. Apple lost focus in the '90's but they never sold crap. Using a Mac, even during the '90s was still a superior experience over Windows.

Feb 21, 08 - 04:16 pm Comment from: trex67

As a musician/songwriter, using Macs has revolutionized the multi-tracking recording process, effectively eliminating the limitations of analog recording. I now have virtually unlimited potential at a fraction of the cost of recording on tape. And yes, the technology is also available on Windows, but it's just not the same experience. Most (not all) of the die-hard Windows using musicians I know from the '90s have switched, even before Apple went to Intel. And most of us are using MOTU Digital Performer, although I may switch to Logic Pro soon.

Why is it that musicians and artists prefer Macs? Aesthetics, ease of use, better software, etc., etc. It's just a vastly better experience. If the recognition of a superior solution when one is confronted with the evidence makes one a cult member... Enthusiasm should be expected from those freed from the world of Windows.

Feb 21, 08 - 04:29 pm Comment from: alansky

I don't see the big mystery. In a nutshell, there are two kinds of companies: There are companies that really care about pushing the envelope and taking care of their customers (like Apple and BMW); and there are companies that are quite content to crank out the same old products year after year (give or take a few new features here and there, most likely copied from trend-setters like Apple) as long as they're making a healthy profit for their shareholders.



Most companies are of the second kind. All they really care about is the money, which is completely obvious to discerning consumers—especially when a company comes along that really "thinks different." Enter Apple. The rest is history.



Not to carry the analogy too far, but the difference between Apple and most of their competitors is not unlike the difference between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. One looks toward the future, the other is tied to the past. Apple fans value that difference and understand how rarely one encounters something genuinely new and forward-thinking—either in business or in politics. If the so-called analysts don't get that, they are either too stupid or too jaded to appreciate the value of excellence and innovation in a world that celebrates (and rewards) mediocrity.

Feb 21, 08 - 04:44 pm Comment from: Demon

Start with an NCR IMOS, NCR VIRX, Apple IIc, Lisa (Iⅈ), IIgs, Compaq Portable with DOS, Mac IIfx (with I still have and it works too), IIvx, Quadra 840av, Power Mac 9600, NeXT Cube, NeXT station, G4 saw tooth (AGP), G4 quick silver Dual 1.25GHz, Mac Mini Dual Core, a current gen iMac, and Xeon 5400 Dual 4 core. Too many Sun Machines to list too.
I've never owned a Windows machine though I've worked on Windows Systems at various employers and on various projects using Windows 3.1 through Vista, I know more about MS Windows then I ever wanted to. You want to render a Windows system unusable and unrecoverable all you need to do is delete, one specific registry entry. It's hose city for that install of Windows. What a stupid ass concept you create a database type file were the OS and every application dumps, reads, modifies and who knows what else all of the critical settings and configuration information. It's a single point of failure for the OS, how smart is that.

I was born in 1990.
So it's not fair to say you are only a fan when you were from the beginning there.

@spark

point taken, thanks for the clarification. I see where you're coming from, the original message didn't quite convey that though.

have a good day.

Feb 21, 08 - 05:28 pm Comment from: Ampar

" . . . like a gourmet pizza restaurant starting to serve Domino's"

More like Domino's in a post-G.I. tract state.

Apple makes computers for people, not for IT types. Sure, I'm technically oriented, but that has never meant that I want to spend more time working on my computer than I spend working with it!

What I don't get is why anyone not in IT would buy a computer (Windows/DOS) that is so clearly not made for them. How can so many people have so much trouble with Windows for so long and still not switch???

"These 'True Macheads' are idiots then. Back in the 90s Apple sold crap. What they had was _worse_ than Windows."

Debatable.

Apple had things in the 1990s the Windows users could only dream about. Remember that much of what Microsoft copied from Apple were things that Apple had done.

Interapplication communication via AppleEvents. QuickTime. TrueType, which Apple shared with Microsoft. QuickDraw GX, which had many of the features of Mac OS X's Quartz. QuickDraw 3D. Speech synthesis and recognition.

Unfortunately, what Apple had was a bunch of great technologies built on top of a creaking foundation of an operating system designed for ten year old computers with 128K of RAM.

a lot of people in here are bandwagon jumpers...

I've been using macs since apple IIcs, Centras and powerbook 150s.

Looking back now, those computers sucked ballz, but hey, they beat the alternative. lol.

I find it hard to believe that a movie dedicated to the Mac and the Mac community, which have always had such a strong artistic tilt, would choose such a do-nothing font for the title of their film. The Mac is famous for what it did for typography and they go with ... what is that Arial?

If Mac users have the mindset of cultists, then Windows users must have the mindset of full-blown, whack-job, fundamentalists.

Nothing else could explain the irrational intolerance, the mind numbing refusal to face reality, and the rejection of facts that don't jibe with their perception of how the universe works.

@ Nobodi -
"[...], the mind numbing refusal to face reality, and the rejection of facts that don't jibe with their perception of how the universe works."

I don't know... most scientists I know use Windows.

Personnaly, I've always used Macintosh computers because I'm lazy and don't have the time to learn all the esotetic Windows procedures.

The Apple II sucked. Atari and Amiga and even the C64 were much better.

The Mac is way better than any other OS out there now.

My Past Partners:

Apple ][GS
Commodore 64
...various DOS/Windows boxes (Gateway, Dell, homemade)
...various PowerMac G3, G4, G5
iMac G5, various Intel iMacs
MacBook Pro 15"

Currently running:
MacBook Pro 17", MacBook Pro 15", iPhone


-----

And with all that... I still don't consider myself a Mac Fanatic. When something good comes along, I'll give it a try. If it's worth it and it's time for an upgrade, if not then I'll stick to what works or what I have.

>nobodi wrote: If Mac users have the mindset of cultists, then Windows users must have the mindset of full-blown, whack-job, fundamentalists. Nothing else could explain the irrational intolerance...

It's funny how you're so wrapped up in your fanboyism, that you don't see the irony in your thinking.

Trillion-dollar corporations, governments, and other entities have used non-Mac platforms to great success, yet your little mind cannot comprehend as much.

Step off the high-horse and open your eyes, Apple and Macs are awesome but it's the man that does great things. The machine is a tool.

"It's absurd really. Kobi Shely would have done far more interesting work by exploring why there is a Cult of Windows: why would large numbers of people devote themselves to absolutely crap technology?"

I've heard this a lot and have never really understood it. Where are these "Cult of Windows" people, do they have a website like this (it would be funny for a look )? I've met people who hate Macs and use Windows but when I ask them what's so good about Windows they say nothing, it's just the best of a bad bunch.

I’m not a Windows fanboy. I switched to Linux when Vista came out and you really have to hate Windows to switch to Linux

I'm a refugee from the initial "Switcher" campaign. My first Mac was a Bondi iMac G3- System 8.1 - 1998.

I put it aside for a while until OS X. From there- never looked back. Now- 5 Macs- (still have the Bondi- 10.2.8) - I got it.

I've convinced a number of people to go Mac. Even to the point of taking them down to the Apple store and helping them with their first purchase.

I still sleep with Windows users tho.

Feb 21, 08 - 11:38 pm Comment from: NCIceman

Cripes, it IS like a religion....

@me,

http://www.windowsdailynews.com/
http://billgates.celebstate.com/
http://www.microsoftisawesome.com/
http://www.windowsitpro.com/windowspaulthurrott/

Not to mention the endless Windows forums on which you can find any number of Mac bashers and Vista droolers.

Documentary puts Macheads under the microscope


"What is it about Apple products and the Mac in particular that inspires a fanatical, almost religious devotion among users?"

THIS IS CALLED THE OBAMA EFFECT.

...that inspires a fanatical, almost religious devotion among users?

That's spurious hyperbole, (and I've got plenty of that) only perpetuating a myth for the sake of marketing a video, that I admit I have not seen, but my dispute is not with the video, as it is all too easy to distill and extract information about something in a way that provokes public interest and excitement, at the expense of accuracy.

Why Mac users get a raw deal and labeled zealots!

When you have been kicked down or marginalized for so long, you either take it or you stand up for yourself and for what you believe in. You speak out.

Apple Mac users are without a doubt a minority, we all know a minority is a relatively small group of people, esp. one commonly discriminated against in a community or society, differing from others in race, religion, language, political persuasion or in this case their choice of a computer OS.

The majority, are not as well informed as the like to think they are, in reality they are often vacuous, ill-advised and ignorant in regard to the thoughts, sentiments and experiences of the few. thus some minorities tend to fight back and take a stand against the persecution and subjugation.

The MS Windows protagonists had perviously preached the MS Windows party line through the printed media, and this did not offer Mac users the potential to correct the innumerable lies.

The internet has brought a superfluity of erroneous, fictitious, ill-founded and uncorroborated reports about Apple, Apple Macs and Apple Mac users from the MS Windows apologists.

However, the internet with its immense power and reach has allowed the playing field to be leveled and the record set straight. It has allowed Apple Mac users who care about such things, the ability to confront, challenge, dispute and argue against the FUD.

Today, thanks to sites like MDN, RDM and the Small Wave to name a few, when an offending article is posted either by peddlers of MS propaganda or ignorant writers, articles that contain falsehoods, deception or just ludicrous twaddle, it is methodically and clinically deconstructed, not only by the likes of MDN, RDM and the Small Wave - but more significantly by numerous Mac users who post in the supplied replies or feedback columns at the offending site, Mac users who are fed up with the constant lies perpetuated by the shills, now have a "voice".

These thousands of 'acts' of 'protest' and 'dissent' by supposed "fanatics" and "religious" Macheads are responsible for opening the eyes of the sleepy majority to the verisimilitude ... to the actuality of the Apple Mac OS.

---

MPC Guy - as usual you don't get it. You are entitled to sit back and let life wash over you and skulk at the back of the room, but please don't come here with your holier than thou' attitude.

Apple Macs are what they are today, due to Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and all the brilliant people at 1 Infinite Loop, Cupertino, California, Apple is also a "heady" mix of all those people and it's users, users who have been loyal, faithful, dedicated, true, staunch, trusty, resolute, unwavering and uncompromising alongside the company. Users who will criticise and castigate it when necessary, but will endeavor to stick it out through thick n' thin, who share a certain camaraderie. If we care to feel bound by this common loyalty, why is it a inconvenience to you? Why do you have to drag it down?

"Our wretched species is so made that those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road." ~ Voltaire