Mac users are all going to hell 8/6/2004
I handle basic tech support and system maintenance issues at our office, and our ITS department is located in another state. They handle most fixes but I help on this end however they need me to. So today, after we got the network working again (long story), we’re waiting for the windows updates to download and install on someone’s computer, which takes eons for some bizarre reason (or is that normal???) and we got onto the topic of keyboards, and somehow through the conversation I mentioned “my Mac at home.” Boy, some kind of can of worms that was.
Not only had I said a “bad word” but I was going to get a lecture on why it is so horrible to be a Mac user. Hmm, interesting, so you are a Mac user who hates it? No, of course not. This guy has probably never used one for more than ten seconds - long enough to say, “I don’t know how to use this, where is the damn START button??”
Anyhow, he proceeds to tell me that Macs are totally insecurable, which I argue simply from experience and street-knowledge that it is simply not true (like he’ll believe me being a girl and all that). He says he can hack into any Mac network blah blah blah blah. Uh-huh, ok. I then take the “well, I’m very happy to pay more money to use a better computer and have never had any regrets.” He seemed to let it go at that point, surely giving me up to the macintosh gods of corruption.
But really, what’s the big deal!? We simply made a choice to use something different. I cannot for the life of me figure out why that is so offensive. They think we are ignorant and rebellious. Ok, so the latter part may be true, but we are most definitely not ignorant. Most Mac users have at one time had to (yep no other way to say it) use a PeeCee. I, for example, suffer at work on a PC because I have no other choice in the matter. I try desperately to figure out how to do things that I never had to “figure out” at all on my Mac. It just worked. Now I take frequent sanity breaks as my computer and I just don’t “jive” like we could were I using a cooperative, intuitive, virus-free Mac!
There must be some kind of Microsoft bible whose top commandment reads “Thou shalt not use a Macintosh”. The second is like unto it, “Thou shalt refrain from any enjoyment that using a Macintosh might inspire, for this is an abomination to His Highness, Mr. Gates.” The third is, of course, “Thou shalt disdain and outcast any Macintosh user from your sphere of influence for he or she might entice corrupt you and lead you down a pathway to enlightenment evil.”
Yes, that’s us, the evil network of Macintosh users. Admittedly, we’d run the world if given the opportunity, but as far as I can tell, most aren’t aggressively looking for said opportunity. Bill Gates on the other hand…
The person is obviously misinformed. Macs have always been very secure. The US military used to use (and might still use) classic MacOS web servers simply because they didn’t have as many ways to break into them as UNIX servers. No ssh server, no telnet, no FTP, no NFS, etc. The only port open was the web server port. And even if someone did break into a MacOS web server, they were pretty limited in what they could do because the MacOS doesn’t ship with as many tools that make it easy to exploit other systems on the network. Basically, it’s a lot of work to hack through a network via a MacOS entry point.
The new Mac OS X is also very secure, it ships with services disabled instead of enabled, and Apple keeps the OS very up to date with respect to security issues. Mac OS X has had a small fraction of the number of security incidents compared to Windows since its release, and the number of critical incidents is miniscule in comparison. And still 0 Mac OS X viruses.
Why are IT people offended by Macs? That’s simple. Macs don’t require as much maintenance to keep them running, and therefore, an organization that uses Macs doesn’t need as many system administrators to keep everyone working. That scares IT people who only have experience with Windows. Of course they won’t recommend the Mac, because it would probably put them out of a job.
Of course, when you suggest to a person like that that they don’t like Macs because they’re afraid to be obsoleted if everyone used them, they won’t be very happy with you.
Trust me, I’ve done it a few times. 
I disagree, Jim. I think IT people spurn Macs because they are ignorant. They maybe priced a Mac fifteen years ago and saw their outrageous prices. Or they’ll look at the specs of a more current Mac and laugh at their clock speeds without understanding why clock speed ain’t everything. By and large, they’ve never used Mac OS X and may have only ever touched a Mac in school.
I just had a conversation today with some fellow web developers and a technician about Mac security. They were chatting about what sort of spyware tools and anti-virus software they were running on their home systems. Each of them probably had two anti-spyware programs and a fully up-to-date anti-virus program but still had managed to get infected a few times in the last year or so.
I told them that my anti-virus software was Mac OS X. They giggled and I said that I have never had a virus in the ten years I’ve been using Macs. Of course, one of them suggested that it was because no one would write a virus to target the five Mac users out there.
Calmly, I said that the first guy who wrote a damaging virus for Mac OS X would get all the publicity he ever wanted—way more than the Blasters and Sassers of the world—because everyone wants Mac OS X to have a vulnerability.
They conceded my point about that, though the technician said that he thought he’d read about a vulnerability once for the Mac. I told him that there might have been some for earlier versions of the Mac OS, but OS X has never had one. I had him there because he had absolutely no details. I knew exactly to which vulnerability he was referring and I knew that it was merely a proof-of-concept that never made it into the wild.
The things people will believe. I guess that’s why they’re Windows users.
Why’d you do it, Jodi? It’s like politics and religion: you just don’t talk about the differences between Macs and PCs. I like that I can build/repair my computer at whim, and entirely from scratch, for WAY less than a Mac. Apart from that, it’s just that I’m comfortable with it. I’m sure if I would have learned on a Mac, I would probably own one now. The reason why PC folk chide at the thought of clicking around with only one button (yes, I know that you can get two button mice for Mac) is becuase it is the only thing they know. It really is more of a belief than it is a preference … generally. And it’s the same with the Mac users who will undoubtedly proclaim that Windows PCs are laden with viruses. Preference. People don’t like to change.
Dustin, I didn’t at all try comparing the differences. I simply mentioned that I used one. You’d have thought I had told the guy I was using cocaine and prostituting myself in Columbia for the way he reacted (of course in that case he would be showing that he actually cared about me). My point is that as a Mac user, I understand that others will choose PC’s - whatever their reasons, and not all of them bad. But I spent the remainder of the conversation having to defend my choice. And what can I say, I’m a woman who speaks her mind.
Jim and Bill, thanks for the information. Too bad I have such a crap memory and probably won’t remember it for the next time someone says something stupid to me about Macs being shit. Must. learn. these. things.
Dustin, the overwhelming majority of Mac users do not buy them because they use one button mice. I think the guy that orders the mice at Apple might be the only guy left that doesn’t like multi-button mice.
Mac users have been using two-button mice since the day they were available.
I have been using PCs basically as long (and it’s safe to say more than, given work requirements in the past) as I have Macs. Yes, it’s a choice I made because I’m more comfortable with Macs, because Windows has caused me so much pain. I don’t understand how people can accept a computer that is so prone to getting viruses and spyware that people buy and load multiple programs to remove them, make their use a part of their daily routine, and don’t plan for a future without them. Price has to be a big part of it, because people don’t drive rustbucket cars if they can afford better either. Games has to be a big part as well, because while the Mac gets all of the top-tier games, it doesn’t always get them right away, and most Macs aren’t upgradable enough to make them last as long for games.
But the Mac is an important part of my life as a computing professional because it doesn’t cost me time. I don’t have to deal with viruses, or spyware. I don’t have to think, ‘how long since I reinstalled XP, it might be getting close to needing to re-install because the registry is getting so messed up’. I don’t have to worry about installing new video card drivers and having something stop working. It lets me get my work done, and doesn’t enslave me into admin’ing it until the day it’s decommissioned. I’m working on the same Mac OS X install that I did back in early 2001 when Mac OS X 10.0 was released. I’ve installed each upgrade along the way, but never once had to re-install from scratch. And in the 3 years before that that I was using MacOS 8 and 9, I never once had to install the OS on the iMac or PowerBook I was using. Even my work computer, a G4, has never seen a re-install in the 2.5 years I’ve been using it for development. Another way it doesn’t cost me time: since both of my parents stopped using PCs and started using Mac OS X, I have not had to go to their house on a weekly basis to spend hours re-installing Windows, Eudora, cleaning viruses, making Office work again, or any of that nonsense. I helped them get set up initially, but since then they have been entirely self-sufficient. My dad even made an interactive DVD all by himself without my help, something I haven’t done before myself. Oh, and since it’s been so long that I’ve used PCs on a day to day basis, I am no longer the free sysadmin for my friend’s PC… one of our other Windows using friends now gets the honour of being on call to clean up the viruses everyone gets.
Yes, the Mac is a belief as well as a preference, but do not assume it is a belief not grounded in experience and knowledge. There aren’t many Mac users that have never been subjected to using Windows, and their choice to avoid it speaks volumes for how good the Mac is that people would use them.
Oh, and I’m writing this on a PowerBook that is 4 years old. It’s a 500MHz G3 with 1GB of RAM. At the Vancouver Python Workshop last weekend, friends of mine were complaining they needed to replace their notebooks that were now totally obsolete and missing important features… notebooks purchased only 18 months ago! My PowerBook has built-in 802.11b, Firewire, ethernet and S-Video out (among other things). Not only that, it’s still a usable machine for development, and I expect it will be a usable machine for browsing and email and word processing for another 2-3 years. Looking at it that way, Macs are downright cheap!
Jim, you’re exactly right. My family uses a PowerBook G4 (2001) and a iBook G4 (2003), but we’ve passed along an iMac (1998), Performa 5400 (1996), and a Performa 575 (1994) that are still in use by family. My mother-in-law still has her Classic (1986) and runs her business off it because that’s where their years of accounting data is.
How many Windows users do you know that keep their computers that long? Or can? Sure Macs are more expensive, but when you think of spreading that cost over 10+ years, they’re actually dirt cheap.
You’ve said it all!!
All I can add is how thankful I am for a son and his wife (fiancée at the time?) who nudged me into getting my first Mac, the Original iMac. Thanks, Jodi! Thanks, Steve!
Great points, Jim. Yeah, I’m not saying anything bad about Macs at all. FYI, I’m writing this on a 550Mhz Celeron with 190MBs of RAM. And this is my “upgrade” that a friend gave to me. We gave our old Pentium MX (like 200Mhz)/32MB RAM to a friend who really needed something. My server is only a 1.7 with 256 MB. Microsoft has come a really long way with their OSs with the release of 2003 server and XP, in my opinion. However, in support of the spyware/adware/virus point, I had XP installed for just over 2 days and found some dumb little spyware that I had to remove. At any rate, thanks for not actually flaming me. From the way Steve was talking about it, I thought for sure I was dead meat. I’ll come back and post some more sometime.
[...] e me for a moment while I yell awhile. < Rant > Our ITS Department, despite their bad attitudes, generally work hard to keep things working f [...]
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