 Jusqu'où Va T'on Descendre????, Les envahisseurs C |
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 lun. 30 août 2004, 17:47
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SuperHero
Groupe : Members
Messages : 2,724
Inscrit : 17 déc. 01
Lieu : Genève - CH
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Dans le genre rigolo lisez cela, c' est assez drôle, même si cela va faire hurler certains!
spl's soapbox -- mac fanatics
First Written: 2002
Last Updated: 2 September 2003
"fa·nat·ic n. A person marked or motivated by an extreme, unreasoning enthusiasm, as for a cause." (American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language)
"big·ot n. One who is strongly partial to one's own group, religion, race, or politics and is intolerant of those who differ." (American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language)
"zeal·ot n. 1. a. One who is zealous, especially excessively so.
b. A fanatically committed person." (American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language)
Introduction
I am sick and tired of receiving e-mails from Mac fanatics/zealots who act as if they have the world's greatest operating system and anything that is not Mac must automatically be bad. They love their Mac so much that they would have it surgically attached to themselves if they could. Mac fanatics make such fools of themselves.
Some Mac zealots seem to be offended by Haxial "daring" to produce programs that do not conform to Apple's interface guidelines. Oh what a travesty! A Mac program that does not conform to Apple's Supreme Universal Interface Guidelines! Oh what an outrage! How DARE Haxial do something different!
I have a message for all you little Mac fanatics out there:
GET A FUGGING LIFE, IT'S ONLY A COMPUTER!
Apple Has a Small Marketshare
The Mac cannot be the World's Greatest Computer/OS Ever because the vast majority of people prefer to use Microsoft Windows. It is an indisputable fact that most people use MS Windows -- the Mac currently has only about 3% of the market. In response to this, one Mac zealot said, "More people eat hamburgers at McDonald's than gourmet meals at fine Italian restaurants -- does this mean McDonalds is superior?" Yes, of course it does, that is obvious! Myself, I hate McDonalds, but to THOSE people that like it, it IS overall superior (in their opinion), and that is why they choose to eat there. Here are some reasons why McDonald's is better than an Italian restaurant:
• It tastes better (in some people's opinion).
• The service is much faster.
• It is much more convenient.
• It is cheaper.
• There is a big carpark (not all the time).
• You can dump the kids in the playground.
• You know exactly what you will get.
• Some have a drive-through.
Mac zealots will tell us that many people who use MS Windows only use it because they were forced to by their company's IT department, or because it was cheaper, etc. Yes, that is true, but even if I exclude those people, even then there is still a vast overwhelming majority of people who prefer to use MS Windows -- people who, even if you give them a free Mac and let them use it for a month, will still prefer to use MS Windows.
But please, do not make me lower myself to the level of a Mac fanatic -- I am NOT trying to debate which computer/OS is better (I really do not care whether Mac is better than Windoze or vice-versa!), I am only asking you to be open-minded enough to consider that there does exist things which are non-Mac but still good. This is not much to ask, yet it is too much for some fanatics.
"Mac Users Values Are Different
I think that Bryan refuses to believe to what extent Macintosh users are afflicted with a kind of disease -- the everyone-should-see-and-value-things-just-like-I- do disease. And Mac users tend to see and value the high fit-and-finish and design of Apple computers more than the average person. Now many other users might "see" there is higher fit-and-finish in Apple products, however, for them it's not worth the extra cost. As it turns out, only about 2.1% of the computer buying population is valuing Apple's designs and fit-and-finish enough to spend such a high premium on their computers. When it comes to computers, most people place a value on a certain feature set they require to get a job done at a minimum price. And on such a comparison, not only does Apple suffer greatly with their over-priced, slow performing computers, but they will continue to do so."
(from The Mac Observer, 20 June 2003)
Considering that Macs have only 3% of the market, Mac Fanatics should consider themselves lucky that Haxial chooses to produce Mac versions of its products! Most software developers are content to ignore MacOS, and it would be much easier for Haxial to do the same.
You're too Stupid to Know that the Mac is Superior
When Mac zealots claim that their tiny marketshare is due to Microsoft's amazing marketing skills (rather than Microsoft having a superior product), they are basically insulting the general population by implying that people are too stupid to know which computer is better for them. I'm sure the general population really does not appreciate this elitist attitude of Mac zealots.
Mac zealots like to use the old "VHS vs Betamax" case to support their claims that they are superior but the world is too stupid to realize it. They claim that Betamax was technically superior to VHS, but ultimately lost because of more aggressive marketing by the VHS companies. This is a myth. An Urban Legend.
Firstly, in terms of the image quality, when these formats were viewed on the average TV that existed at the time, the average person could not see the difference between VHS and Betamax.
The real problem for Betamax was that its cassettes could hold only 1 hour, not enough for a movie. When JVC produced VHS in 1976, its bigger cassettes could hold 2 hours, and this advantage of VHS was crucial in the demise of Betamax. Betamax tried to catch up, but at the same time VHS also extended, and VHS always had longer recording times. VHS won because it was better overall. Anyone that claims that Betamax was a victim of marketing apparently has not researched the issue.
There is also a related Urban Legend which claims that Betamax is what the professionals and TV/broadcasting industry use/used (this legend is used to demonstrate that Betamax is superior). You need only research this claim to discover that it is a blatantly false myth. BetaCAM is what the professionals use. Do not confuse Betacam with Betamax because they are quite different formats. The broadcasting industry would never use Betamax because the quality is too low.
Part of the confusion arises from the fact that Betacam tapes are identical in size to Betamax tapes and can be used in Betamax machines, but at this point that the similarity ends. Betacam is a high quality format based apon the component video standard, unlike Betamax. Betacam was launched by Sony in 1982, and is a successful format.
Another example is the old "Qwerty vs Dvorak" case. The claim is that an early typewriter company was having trouble with their typewriters jamming because people typed too fast, so they designed a purposely inefficient key layout that would slow down typists to prevent jamming, and unfortunately this standard stuck despite the invention of modern unjammable computer keyboards. Dvorak is claimed to be a superior, faster and more ergonomic keyboard layout, but despite its superiority, it has been unable to overcome Qwerty because people do not want to learn a new method.
Again if you research this case, you will discover that it is an Urban Legend. The arrangement of the Qwerty layout WAS intended to address jamming in typewriters, but by reducing the tendency to jam and not by slowing the typist. The Qwerty layout was designed to separate commonly-occurring letter-pairs so that they could be typed more quickly without jamming. The reason that the Qwerty layout persists today is very simply because no competing keyboard layout has offered a significant advantage.
In other words, the story that the Mac is vastly superior to MS Windows but misses out on the marketshare due to better marketing by Microsoft is actually an Urban Legend much like the "VHS vs Betamax" and "Qwerty vs Dvorak" legends.
If Mac zealots were not so arrogant and elitist, maybe they could learn from these Urban Legends and realize that just maybe, possibly, the reason they have only 3% of the market is because they don't have the god-like ultra-superior computer and operating system that they thought they did. And in fact, overall the Mac is not significantly superior to MS Windoze (or vice versa). It is time for Mac zealots to start eating humble pie.
If you would like more information about these Urban Legends, have a read of the article "Typing Errors", by Liebowitz and Margolis, published in the June 1996 issue of Reason magazine. It is long, but very well researched.
After reading that article, I cannot stop myself from wondering, who looks stupid now? The general population or the Mac fanatics who made claims without even bothering to research them?
Apple's Monopoly
Mac fanatics complain about Microsoft's monopoly, and their complaints are legitimate, however they are also somewhat hypocritical because Apple also plays the monopoly game, albeit not in the same way. If you want to run MacOS X, Apple forces you to buy a computer from them. You have no choice in the matter -- it is buy from Apple or nothing. Apple has a complete monopoly on computers that are capable of running MacOS X. This monopoly also extends to all software programs that require MacOS X. If there is a program that you want to use but it requires MacOS, then again you have no choice, you are forced to buy a computer from Apple.
This monopoly is no accident or coincidence. Apple deliberately maintains this monopoly by making MacOS require the presence of a proprietary ROM in the computer. Other manufacturers cannot copy this ROM due to copyright laws, and they cannot purchase ROMs from Apple because Apple does not sell them. Apple did have a licensing scheme for a brief period of time (remember the Power Computing and Umax clones?), but they canceled it in 1997 when they realized that it was much more profitable to have a monopoly on MacOS-compatible hardware.
Yes, Microsoft plays dirty. However, it is naive to think that Apple does not play dirty too. Mac fanatics see only 2 extremes -- they think that Microsoft is absolute evil incarnate, and Apple is an angel with a halo. The reality is ofcourse much more complex than that.
Apple Copies Ideas From Microsoft
Mac fanatics enjoy ranting about how Microsoft copies ideas from Apple and about how Apple is the "innovation department" for Microsoft. They are correct in saying that Microsoft copies ideas from Apple. However, the reverse is also true: Apple copies ideas from Microsoft. It is a 2-way street. Here are some examples:
• Sticky menus. Originally, if you clicked on a Mac menu, it appeared and then disappeared as soon as you released the mouse button. Microsoft had a better idea -- you can release the mouse button without the menu disappearing. From MacOS 8 forwards, Apple changed their menu behavior to match MS Windoze.
• Apples TextEdit program in MacOS X produces files in RTF format, a format developed by Microsoft.
• In MacOS X, next to the time there is a little sound icon, same as Windoze.
• The way that you sort columns in a file list has changed to the Windoze way -- instead of the ascending/descending triangle being in the right-top corner like MacOS 9, now in MacOS X it is actually on the column itself, like Windoze.
• Apple copied the idea of showing a little arrow on aliases/shortcuts.
• And the idea of arrow cursors with an extra symbol added, such as arrow and a plus sign (copy).
• A major idea that Apple borrowed from Microsoft is Context Menus.
• In MacOS X, when you move the mouse over the close box in the window titlebar, it shows an "X" for the close box, a dash for minimize, and a plus for maximize, just like MS Windoze.
• And then there is the Dock in MacOS X. It's a suspiciously similar idea to the Start/Task Bar in Windoze -- the things you have open listed horizontally on a bar across the bottom of the screen.
• MacOS X also has the "Computer" icon, like the "My Computer" in Windoze.
• MacOS X is shifting towards using file name extensions ("myfile.doc") instead of Mac type/creator codes.
• For a long time, MS Windows could update your clock for Daylight Savings Time automatically, whereas Mac users had to do it manually. Apple eventually realized that automatic updating was a good idea, and copied the idea.
• Apple noticed how well the .DLL (Dynamic Link Library) idea worked in Windoze so they copied the idea and produced their own version of it called a "Shared Library".
• Let's not forget the many hardware technologies that Apple borrows from the Wintel (x86 PC) world. For example, PCI, AGP, IDE/ATA/UDMA, USB, PC100/PC133 RAM, DDR RAM, etc.
• Also worth mentioning is that Apple copied GUI ideas from Xerox PARC.
• And this is not a complete list of copied ideas, but I cannot be bothered spending more time to make a comprehensive list.
So as you can see, if Microsoft is "guilty" of copying ideas, Apple is also "guilty" of the same "crime" and thus Mac fanatics are being hypocritical. However, it is not a crime, nor is it illegal. There is nothing wrong with Apple copying ideas from the Wintel (x86 PC) world. Companies copy ideas all the time and it encourages competition, technological progress, and improved products, all of which benefit the consumer and society.
My point is that Mac computers incorporate many Wintel technologies and ideas, and really one has to admit that both the Mac and Wintel worlds have helped each other to improve. As one Haxial user put it, "It doesn't matter who did what first and it doesn't matter which OS is 'better' because it's just a matter of opinion. Companies swap ideas, it's about improving their products, it's not a test."
Some Mac users have written to me to say that Microsoft copied some of the above ideas from other sources. So Apple copied ideas from Microsoft who copied ideas from some other company. I really do not care, that is irrelevant! They are missing the point. I repeat: It is hypocritical for Mac fanatics to complain about Microsoft copying ideas because Apple does the same thing.
Mac's Are Basically "PC's" Anyway
PC means Personal Computer, and the Mac is a personal computer. Furthermore, there is not much difference between the hardware in a Mac and the hardware in your average x86 PC.
Many technologies were developed in the Wintel world, and then later "borrowed" by Apple. For example, Wintel got AGP first, ahead of Apple. Then it got AGP2x first. Then it got AGP4x first. Wintel got ATA-UDMA/33 first. Then it got ATA-UDMA/66 first. Then it got ATA-UDMA/100 first. Wintel got PC100 RAM first. Then it got PC133 RAM first. Then it got DDR RAM first. These technologies are developed in the Wintel world, and then Apple later adopts them. The current Macs are full of x86 PC technologies, they basically ARE PC's, except that they have a different CPU -- the PowerPC.
IBM is traditionally associated with the x86 PC world for their role in creating the "IBM PC", but who designed the PowerPC CPU that is used in Macs? Yes, the brain of the Mac is in fact an IBM design, the so-called enemy! Oh the irony! Ofcourse, Mac fanatics conveniently develop amnesia when this is mentioned.
Apple Depends on Microsoft Products
The dominant "Office" suite (word processor, spreadsheet, presentations etc) on the Mac is Microsoft Office. This is one of the most important programs in a computer -- practically everyone who uses a computer needs to use a word processor program. And yet, this program is supplied by Microsoft, which demonstrates that Apple depends on Microsoft products.
Crazy Mac Fanaticism
Mac fanatics are rude, insulting, and ostracizing to people who do not deserve to be treated that way. For example, have a look at this Kim Komando article of September 2002. As you can see, Mac fanatics go crazy when someone criticizes the Mac, even if it is constructive criticism. It is really quite bizarre -- these fanatics are emotionally devoted to the Mac, they practically worship it! Come on, it's only a computer!
Here is another example of a Mac user displaying astounding bigotry.
Some Mac fanatics have told Haxial, "why don't you stop developing for the mac". This is exactly the sort of attitude that drives software developers away from the Mac. Considering the way that Mac fanatics treat software developers, and anyone who thinks differently to them, the 3% Mac marketshare should be no surprise. At one point, Apple's advertising compaign was "Think Different". But if anyone dares to think differently to Apple's way of thinking, then the Mac fanatics go nuts, not even realizing their hypocrisy. Have a look at some of the amusing hate mail that Mac fanatics sent me in response to my article about the PowerMac G5.
Mac fanatics do more harm to Apple than good. Mac fanatics hurt the very thing they worship. How blind is that? If you want to support the Mac, that is all good and fine, but being fanatical about it does not help the Mac, it in fact hurts the Mac and causes its marketshare to sink even lower.
Mac Fanatics Versus Mac Users
Please note that when I say "fanatics", I really mean fanatics, not users. I do understand that there is a big difference between Mac Fanatics and Mac Users. The main difference is that fanatics are irrational whereas users are rational. I also think that most people who use Macs are nice people. It is only a vocal minority that are insane. So, Mac users or rational Mac fans should NOT feel insulted by this article because I make and have no criticism of them. In other words, I am criticizing Mac fanatics/zealots/bigots, NOT Mac users in general.
A Mac Fanatic/Zealot is an person who is religiously/emotionally devoted to the Mac and blind to its flaws. People should look at the Mac *objectively*, and NOT religiously or emotionally.
As a matter of fact, I actually use a Mac G4 most of the time. I like Mac. Macs are good. Fanatics are not. Haxial also supports MacOS -- Haxial produces MacOS versions of its programs to run on Apple Mac computers.
Summary
I like Macs, I think Macs are good. But being fanatically devoted to the Mac is foolish and blinds people to the facts. Furthermore, Mac fanatics with elitist attitudes are more harmful to Apple than beneficial.
Answering the Mail
Have you ever wondered why Apple-users are fanatics?
Why they lover their Mac so much?
I've never seen a windows-fanatic (except you)
A good lawyer can turn every lie into an apparent truth.
So I think you're a lawyer, isn't it?
I hope you will send me a reply
What the hell am I supposed to say in reply to that? Are you on drugs? Your e-mail is incoherent, and you crucified yourself. In the first and second sentences, you say that Apple users are fanatics, and in the third sentence you seem to be suggesting that there is only 1 windoze fanatic in the world. Considering that you call me a liar, I assume you are pro-Apple, however you say that Apple users are fanatics and windoze users are not (except for me), which is even more insulting towards Apple than MY article is!
[ spl.haxial.net ]
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