“Oh horrors. Dvorak is using a Mac,” John Dvorak writes for PC Magazine. “An iMac (with a second screen so I [don’t] look like a complete schlub). Hey, I figured since I’m known for ragging on the Mac all the time, I may as well speak from some experience, right? It’s been a couple of months now, so I thought I’d report what I think about the platform from a user’s perspective—specifically, from a PC user’s perspective.”
MacDailyNews Take: In other words, for decades prior, Dvorak spoke of Mac with no experience.
“First of all, the machine is not half bad. It’s very quiet, and it performs as well as the PC on general office applications. Generally speaking, the interface is slicker than the PC’s, and you get the sense that the computer isn’t about to start acting weird because of some virus, spyware, or endless Firefox loading procedure going on in the background and killing all the cycles of the computer,” Dvorak writes.
MacDailyNews Take: “Not half bad?” That’s the understatement of the year so far. Here are just a few reviews of Apple’s iMac:
• Mossberg’s fall computer buyer’s guide: Apple iMac the best consumer desktop computer on the market – October 26, 2006
• Orlando Sentinel: Apple’s 24-inch iMac versatile, seamless, makes working with multimedia a breeze – October 15, 2006
• Computeractive review: Apple iMac 24-inch Intel Core 2 Duo (5 out of 5 stars) – September 20, 2006
• Crave at CNET: Apple’s gorgeous 24-inch iMac should tempt you to switch – September 07, 2006
• Fortune: Apple improves what were already two of best computers on planet with iMac, MacBook Pro – March 14, 2006
• Apple iMac the finest, most reliable, stable, elegant and intuitive personal computer available – February 14, 2006
• InfoWorld: Apple perfects the desktop personal computer with new iMac Core Duo – January 25, 2006
Dvorak continues, “Other than that, I cannot see much of a difference between the Mac and PC.”
MacDailyNews Take: John’s abject myopia is wholly unsurprising. “The Macintosh uses an experimental pointing device called a ‘mouse.’ There is no evidence that people want to use these things.” – John C. Dvorak, Feb 1984
Dvorak continues, “[The Mac] runs the same old applications (more or less), and it gets the job done, albeit somewhat more elegantly. The processes for some things, such as burning CDs, seem convoluted to me. I’m not a fan of some of the navigational concepts. And I have one USB key that the Mac refuses to recognize for some unknown reason. But these are not deal-breakers.”
MacDailyNews Take: Windows is an upside-down and backwards poorly-faked Mac. It takes time to break bad Windows habits. Dvorak’s are so deeply ingrained that “a couple of months” might as well be a millisecond; there isn’t enough time in the universe for him.
“I sense that the OS is more solid than Microsoft Windows, but I cannot say why exactly. I suspect that the modern underpinnings of the Unix kernel have something to do with it. I have no plans to move to the Mac platform for my personal use,” Dvorak writes. “That said, I have noticed that I’ve been recommending the machine to friends and neighbors when they want to know what kind of system they should buy… I have to think to myself, ‘Should I recommend something that will come back to haunt me, or recommend a Mac with its higher price but lower hassle factor?’ The answer is simple. I hate the idea of having to do customer service for people who cannot keep their systems clean, and that’s most people.”
MacDailyNews Take: Dvorak has no plans to move to the Mac platform for his personal use because that would be the logical move. Instead, he’ll illogically continue with the extra hassle of a less solid, less usable, less elegant Windows PC. Stockholm Syndrome is brutal to witness.
Dvorak continues, “The way I see it is that the differences between the Mac and the PC that really matter are minor. The big exception is the usability factor. And, in the end, that’s probably what the majority of users care about. Yes, it’s a sad day for the Mac bashers.”
Full article, Think Before You Click™, here.
MacDailyNews Take: We post this article at the request of too many readers to mention individually, not because Dvorak’s opinion of the Mac matters a whit. Dvorak’s “it’s a sad day for the Mac bashers” comment belies his inflated perception of himself, and while “inflated” is an entirely appropriate description of John, nobody should care what the irrelevant hit-whore Dvorak thinks about the Mac. Positive or negative, he has no credibility or integrity; he’s just trolling for page views, as usual.
Related articles:
Dvorak: Apple iPhone will be duplicated by others within a couple of quarters – June 07, 2007
Dvorak trolls: ‘Apple should pull the plug on the iPhone’ – March 28, 2007
Nike to make all running shoes iPod-compatible by year end – March 26, 2007
Dvorak: ‘I personally do not like the Mac; Windows Vista’s ‘Mac-like’ qualities may spell its doom’ – January 24, 2007
Dvorak on Apple iPhone: ‘I think Apple can do wrong and I think this is it’ – January 13, 2007
Apple sells 450,000 of Dvorak’s ‘nutty’ Nike+iPod Sport Kits in under three months – September 13, 2006
Dvorak tries damage control – June 20, 2006
Video: Dvorak admits to baiting Apple Mac users for hits – June 10, 2006
Dvorak thinks iPod+Nike Sport Kit is ‘nutty’ – May 24, 2006
“Burning CD’s is convloluted”
Yeah, drag files onto the CD, then click “burn” icon in the Finder, or select Actions > Burn.
Yep, to a PC user I can undestand how he might find that convoluted.
John, the Mac is a PC (Personal Computer). Buckethead.
“hit-whore”. I like the sound of that.
I think I shall use it in at least one sentence per hour tomorrow.
My calendar says July 26th.
Are you sure you haven’t been holding this back since April 1st?
Whoa. Twilight zone.
Are you sure his column didn’t get hacked or something?
I’ve been using both Mac and Windows for 15 years, and the gab between them is smaller than ever. Windows definitely has it’s advantages over the Mac.
It’s not as bad as it used to be. The Windows ME experience has faded away from my world, at least.
gap, not gab.
@macmaven
There are two definitions of “PC”. He’s using the Windows definition.
Butthead.
Actually, usually when I see “think before you click” it makes me annoyed that I’m being told what to do.
Actually, that’s the one thing I don’t like about my mac. It seems that at times I’m always being told what I can and can’t do. It tried to mollycoddle me at times… very protective. I know this means it can remain more secure, but at times, it irks me.
he also writes:
Now that I’m thinking about it, perhaps I should rethink my use of the word “elegant” when I describe the machine and the way it functions. See, most people use this word because they love the often-gimmicky stuff, such as the bouncing icons and sweep-away window minimizing. It’s all very interesting but superfluous.
I just looked out the window and saw pigs flying!
“I just looked out the window and saw pigs flying!”
And the sky is turning red…
Where’s MacDailyNews’ posting of the YouTube video of Dvorak where he talks about baiting Mac users? Please post this in conjunction with this article!
” …the differences between the Mac and the PC that really matter are minor. The big exception is the usability factor.”
The differences between filet mignon and a hammer that really matter are minor. The big exception is the edibility factor.
Does he even think about what he writes?
Geez that guy is pathetic.
That drunk clown of a writer probably has used a mac in his personal life for years. No one would know, because no one will visit him.
> “The Macintosh uses an experimental pointing device called a ‘mouse.’ There is no evidence that people want to use these things.”
Did he really say that in 1984? When I read that before on previous MDN takes, I always thought it was a joke.
Thankyou MDN, that was a good laff, I feel a bit guilty, perhaps he really cant help being stupid
My dogs are sleeping with the cats
My roosters are sitting on eggs
The rabbits are chasing foxes
And no matter what he does, or says, or writes
Dorkvat will always have his head up his ass
Bless his heart, he SHOULD stay with Windows
Hate the thought of him being on ‘our side’
Would force us to re-think how to Think Different™
BC
(thought about doing a whole bit on him finally ‘coming out of the closet’, but he was only peeking through a crack in the door, then quickly ducked back in … oh well)
@.-estimations-. You must stop posting to MDN.
Besides I like it when my Mac, Bella Edna, I call her mollycoddles me, often with a nice cuppa tea and a plate of biscuits in the arvo, a shoulder rub every now n’ then or even a subtle word of advice, passed on with care, affection and WISDOM. Sure, I like the cosseting, that’s why I buy Macs.
.-estimations-. you must do as you’re told!!
Dvorak is still a duche bag.
@coolfactor
One word: Bootcamp
OMG..Nooo! Get it away from him & give it to the poor & needy.
Big John used to be a Mac pundit. He has always used Macs.
His trolling for hits even pre-dates the internet. His first target was letters to the magazine he worked for praising or flaming his outrageous articles. He went from everyone’s favorite Mac writer to everyone’s most hated Mac writer in a matter of months. The hatred was so bad that the parent company moved him from a Mac magazine to a PC magazine because they were taking a big circulation hit.
Oh, one other thing. He hates Steve Jobs. He sunk a big part of his nest-egg into the Be OS thinking that Be OS was the best option and Apple would have to buy it. He thought he would make a lot of money on the deal. Apple bought Next and they threw in Steve Jobs for an extra $1 a year. Be OS became worthless overnight and John lost his shirt and his pants. Eeewww!
He has blamed Steve and Apple for his stupidity ever since.
Dvorak is no more “inflated” than the MacDailyNews Take is… think about it.