It’s been 20 years since I first started using a Macintosh computer as my daily machine, and some of the same myths are still circulating today, along with some brand new ones. So let’s delve into the sea of (mis)information, shall we?
Apple is Dead (I hear they’re about to go under) – This is a favorite mostly because, even in the light of tons of contradictory evidence, there are still those who love ringing the death knell for Apple. So in case you missed it, Apple is now the #1 brand in the WORLD. Apple has $98 Billion in cash in the bank. In the 3rd quarter of 2011 alone, they sold 37 million iPhones, along with 15.4 million iPads, and 4.9 million Macs. And speaking of the iPad, no manufacturer has made a tablet device that is even a fraction as good and the ones that are out there are the same price as the iPad! Finally, lest you think it’s all about iOS devices at Apple, 2011 saw the Macintosh increase in sales 20 percent over 2010.
Macs Cost Too Much – No, they don’t. Yes, they do. Okay, both answers are correct. Macs cost more than some Windows PCs initially. But some Windows PCs cost more than Macs. It all depends on how you load them up with features. The problem is that most $400 Windows PCs are woefully underpowered and underfeatured, meaning that they don’t have all the ports and capabilities to do everything you want to do with them.
All Macs come with everything you could want—Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, USB, Thunderbolt, a webcam and the awesome iLife suite of apps (iMovie, iPhoto, iDVD and GarageBand). Apple doesn’t make bargain basement level Macs. For example, go to Dell.com and look at their desktop computers. There are easily a dozen different models to choose from, ranging from $299 all the way up to $3999. But Apple doesn’t do that; they start their base models at the $799 (Mac mini) price point and go up from there. Why? Because computers priced much lower than that are junk (unless you build it yourself). They’re made with inferior components, a lackluster set of features, and they won’t last long before a component fails. In other words, you get what you pay for.
Many Windows users won’t make it that far, though, because they replace their computers every four years or so. The reason? Viruses, spyware and malware infestation. The Windows platform is an attractive target for most writers of malware and I promise you that most Windows computers on the planet have at least one piece of malware on them right now. Enough of those on a PC will slow it down or make it so frustrating to use that most people just throw up their hands at the three-four year mark and go buy a new PC. Meanwhile, the average Mac user is still using their Mac for work and play, free from the plague of viruses. Mac users replace their computers on average every six-seven years. So over the course of a lifetime, who spends more on computers and maintenance?
You Can’t Play Games on a Mac – True, you cannot play as many games on a Mac as you can on a Windows PC. But you can play many of the most popular titles, such as Portal, Bioshock, Left 4 Dead 2, Starcraft 2, etc. And for what it’s worth, most people use gaming consoles such as Xbox, Wii, and PS3 to play games, so I don’t see Mac’s game cred, or lack thereof, being a deal breaker for most people anymore.
Macs Can’t Do (fill in the blank) – Yes, they can. A Macintosh computer can do anything a Windows computer can do, except run one of the over 200,000 viruses out there, that is. The only limitation of what a Mac, or any computer for that matter, can do, is the software. If someone writes the software to do whatever, then the computer it runs on can do whatever.
Macs Are Good for Graphics – Ah, that old chestnut. What does that even mean, “Good for Graphics”? Shouldn’t ALL computers be good for graphics? Macs are preferred by creative types, but I think that’s because creative types prefer to be creative rather than fighting with their computer or running virus scans daily (yes, I’m looking at you Windows).
Macs Won’t Run Word or Excel – False. As a matter of fact, when Microsoft released the very first versions of Word and Excel, they were for the Macintosh computer. Windows didn’t even exist then! Microsoft has continued to make a Mac version of Office, even though I prefer Apple’s iWork suite of office apps. Pages (page layout/word processing), Numbers (spreadsheets), and Keynote (presentations) are $19.99 each and available from the Mac App Store. Office for Mac 2011 is $199 ($149 w/ student discount).
That’s all the Mac Myths I can think of, so I’ll wrap it up for this month. iPad 3 should be announced in March, so commence drooling!
While we’re at it, we may as well cover some Mac myths on the other side. But first a bit of a rebuttal to those statements of yours with which I disagree:
> And speaking of the iPad, no manufacturer has made a tablet device that is even a fraction as good and the ones that are out there are the same price as the iPad!
This is highly subjective and (in my opinion) plain wrong. There currently doesn’t exist a tablet that fits my particular use case. Nevertheless, the iPad locks you into Apple’s ecosystem. Let’s face it: Vertical integration is very convenient. But I want control of my data. It was hard enough migrating away from my Mac two years ago — I’d hate to imagine how much harder it would have been if I’d owned an iPad. I’m just glad I didn’t buy any DRM’d media in the iTunes store.
You SAY the iPad is better, but with no evidence whatsoever. So let me give you a few things I really like about other tablet OS’s:
1. Replaceable keyboards. I don’t like the built-in keyboards in iOS, Android or WebOS. In Android, at least (I haven’t used WebOS enough to know if I can), I can replace the built-in keyboard with a third-party one. In fact, some third-party keyboards for Android let me create my own layout, complete with macros.
2. Background tasks. In a way, I understand Apple’s reluctance to allow this, but their usefulness far outweighs their problems. One such example is an app called Locale, which lets my Android-based phone change its settings based on location, available networks, and a whole host of other items. For me, this means I can enable Bluetooth only when my phone’s at home (which, combined with a Bluetooth proximity task on my laptop, means my laptop unlocks when I walk into the room and locks again when I leave), silence my phone completely when I’m in class (it can even change settings based on calendar events), and make it loud when I’m playing sports with my friends. This is impossible under iOS, because apps simply don’t have access to the other tasks.
3. Openness: HP Touchpads can run WebOS (their native operating system) and Android. And you know what? They run pretty well with either. Either way, I can choose multiple hardware vendors and still put the same software on them. Not so much with an iPad.
> Macs Cost Too Much – No, they don’t.
This all depends on use case. For me, a brand new Macbook Pro in 2008 lasted two years and cost me $2000. Today, I’m using a $1200 laptop from System76 that isn’t even available in a Macbook Pro today (the closest would require me to spend over twice as much). For my mom, on the other hand, a Macbook Pro was the best option I could find. But then again, she’s going to Facebook and managing her photos.
> All Macs come with everything you could want—Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, USB, Thunderbolt, [Blah blah yada yada…]
a webcam and the awesome iLife suite of apps (iMovie, iPhoto, iDVD and GarageBand).
If I want to attach an eSATA hard drive to a Macbook (which I do), I have to buy an adapter. USB 3.0? I have to buy an adapter. I want to attach my laptop to my TV? Another adapter. To my old (but still immaculate) 2048×1536 VGA monitor? Yet another adapter. What about if I want a computer without a webcam? Anyone with a military-related engineering job can’t simply take in a computer or cell phone with a camera on it. Then I certainly can’t get an Apple laptop.
> Why? Because computers priced much lower than that are junk (unless you build it yourself).
Funny… Both Dell and System76 make laptops for the same price as (or slightly cheaper than) the cheapest Mac Mini, with the same (or better) hardware. And desktops for the same price? Well… why don’t you look yourself?
Also, how exactly do I go about building my own Mac? That is, legally?
> They’re made with inferior components, a lackluster set of features, and they won’t last long before a component fails.
[Citation Needed] It all depends on the manufacturer…
> Many Windows users won’t make it that far, though, because they replace their computers every four years or so.
Many Mac users won’t make it that far, either, because they buy the next generation of Apple computers as soon as it comes out.
> The reason? Viruses, spyware [blah blah]
Alternatively, they could reinstall (as most smart Windows users do), follow the basic security procedure that everyone should be doing (as the smarter ones do), or not run Windows at all (as many of us do already).
> Meanwhile, the average Mac user is still using their Mac for work and play, free from the plague of viruses. Mac users replace their computers on average every six-seven years. So over the course of a lifetime, who spends more on computers and maintenance?
You’re not making much of a case here, mostly because that’s not at all what I see from the Mac users (or Windows users) I know. In both cases, the computer-savvy ones get new computers every 18-24 months, and most everyone else uses either hand-me-downs or upgrade every 4-5 years anyway.
> You Can’t Play Games on a Mac
Here you and I can agree. This myth is ridiculous and should never have existed.
> Macs Can’t Do (fill in the blank) – Yes, they can.
Your argument about this is ridiculous. You say “the only limitation of what a Mac, or any computer for that matter, can do, is the software”. Yes. That’s the whole point. Maybe the software I use isn’t available for Mac OS. Or maybe it’s a pain in the neck to get it working. There are a whole range of applications that don’t work on Linux, Mac OS, Windows, or any other operating system, because fundamentally, operating systems aren’t binary compatible (this happens to be a great argument for open-source software, though). And to wit, that means they can run all of the Windows viruses available. But, just like a whole variety of other software, not unless they have Windows. This is the nature of running on an x86 chip.
> Macs Are Good for Graphics – Ah, that old chestnut.
This has never made sense to me either. There was a time when Macs had better graphics hardware than most computers, but those days passed in the early 90’s.
> Macs Won’t Run Word or Excel – False.
Again, we can agree. We can even agree that Microsoft Office isn’t the best option out there. But then again, neither (in my opinion) is iWork. I’ll stick to LibreOffice, which, as far as price-to-cost ratio is concerned, can’t be beaten. And LaTeX. Because WYSIWYG word processing is stupid.
Now for some of my own Mac myths:
“Macs don’t get viruses”
May I direct you to this article in a local newspaper of mine? http://boropulse.com/2012/05/the-first-mac-virus-is-here/ It’s mostly right, but forgets to mention the other malware available for Mac OS.
“Macs are easier to use than Windows”
After getting her Macbook Pro and going through every tutorial available to her, my mom still couldn’t right-click for two months. It made using her Macbook Pro very slow and painful for a long time. Oh, and what’s with the random dialog boxes that don’t let you use the keyboard to respond?
I often recommend Macs to my friends and family. In fact, I recommend Mac OS far more than I recommend Windows (though with the way it’s getting locked down that may change), even though I find some of Apple’s policies horrendous. But this article isn’t journalism. It’s poorly-disguised Mac fanboyism.
Comment May 11, 2012 @ 8:04 pm
I have to reply to your rebuttal in two ways. The first from the POV of the average tech user:
“I don’t care about being able to put other OSes on my tablet, I don’t even know what an OS is, I just want my tablet to work and my iPad does. iTunes App Store has the most apps and that’s all that matters to me. (I know, sounds exactly like what Average User used to say about Windows!) I don’t need to replace my keyboard, mine works just fine. I’ve never heard of a System76 computer, and what the heck is Ubuntu? Will it run Microsoft Office? Will it sync to my iPhone? No? Then no thanks.”
The second from the POV of myself, a techie and electronics geek:
System76 assembles some nice machines with good tech specs at decent prices. But Ubuntu? I’m sorry, but as far as Ubuntu has come at making Linux appealing to the masses, it’s still not there. Ubuntu looks and runs nicely but spotty hardware compatibility and lack of Microsoft Office is far more than the average user is willing to put up with. Hell, look how long it took the Mac to wrestle a few user base percentage points away from Windows, and Macs don’t suffer from hardware incompatibility and DOES run Office!
The thing you’re forgetting is THE main reason that Macs are so easy to use–OS X. Apple has built a rock solid, powerful UNIX based, user friendly operating system AND they’ve built Macs as a cohesive unit. The software and the hardware are designed from the ground up to work together. That type of integration isn’t easy to do and the cost is built in to the Mac’s price. So it’s not accurate to compare an Apple computer to a Dell, Lenovo, System76, etc. with similar specs without taking into consideration that the Apples all come with Mac OS X and it runs seamlessly with Mac hardware. You simply cannot say that about those other non-Apple brands and their Windows and Ubuntu Linux operating systems.
I honestly don’t see a substantial number making another leap over to Ubuntu. It’s just not in the nature of humans to embrace change. Especially when it comes to a part of their lives that they just don’t care that much about. They don’t care nearly as much as you or I do about OSes and platforms. Microsoft has long ago won the war for the desktop OS, with Apple relegated to a distant second, and there’s just no demand for a third, not for the average user.
Besides, for Average User, I think desktop and laptop computing are going away. Most of them don’t create very much, they consume. And the perfect device for most of them is a tablet computer or a smartphone or a combination of both. So 5-7 years from now I firmly believe that computers and OSes will be left mostly to students, content creators, and tech nerds like us.
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Your List of iOS complaints:
1. Lack of keyboard alternatives on iOS:
A quick Google search netted 10 examples of free and paid Keyboard Apps for iOS.
http://appsnuke.com/542/alternative-keyboard/
http://www.maclife.com/article/gallery/8_alternate_ios_keyboard_apps#slide-0
There are probably more if I were to keep looking. Now if you meant being able to replace the keyboard at the OS level, then you’re right, you can’t do that on iOS, unless you Jailbreak it. And being a tech poweruser I’m sure you know how to do that, so your argument would seem to lose some steam given that option is available to you. And before you say that people shouldn’t have to Jailbreak their iOS device just to change the keyboard let me remind you that most average users won’t want to change their keyboard at all. The key words here are “most” and “average”. That’s not you, so your complaints about those things place you in a very, very small minority. You understand that, right? That you’re waaaaay into this stuff but that most people aren’t? I used to be like you, but then over the years I realized that most people don’t give a flip about tech the way I do. Embrace that fact and you won’t be so militant. Trust me, it wears you out after awhile.
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2. Background tasks.
I don’t care about background tasks and I’m a tech nerd so I’d bet dollars to donuts that most average users don’t care either. But of course, I could be wrong, so I’ll give you that one. iOS doesn’t do many background tasks. I say many because it does do some, iTunes and Pandora come to mind, but nothing like what you’ve described that’s possible on the Droid platform.
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3. Openness: HP Touchpads can run WebOS (their native operating system) and Android. And you know what? They run pretty well with either. Either way, I can choose multiple hardware vendors and still put the same software on them. Not so much with an iPad.
You’re probably in the 10-20% of users who want compete control over every aspect of their computing experience. Good for you, rock right on and do that, you know how and that’s what you prefer. But the other 80-90% or so don’t know how to do all the techie stuff and customization that you do, and they don’t care to. So to give them a toolbox with a ton of tools that they don’t know how to use will only frustrate them. (And after 20 years of Windows, haven’t they been through enough?)
Let me use an analogy — Not everyone needs Photoshop, with all its hardcore features and abilities, to edit their photos. Most people just want to brighten their photos, maybe do some red-eye correction, and possibly crop here and there, so why must that person be given Photoshop when Preview or iPhoto (Mac) or Windows Live – Photo Gallery or Picasa (Windows) will do what they want without all the bells and whistles? Ever hear the saying Keep It Simple Stupid? That applies, in spades, to the average tech user, keep it simple and get out of the way so the user can do what they want to do without having to go through 6 weeks of training.
The most powerful computing device for the masses is the one anyone can pick up and begin using without much instruction. That’s Power, when a person can just grab it and get busy using it. That kind of power is far more useful to Joe and Jane Average than multiple software options, CPU clock speed, RAM size, number and type of ports, etc.
I used to be less forgiving of the average user. I wanted to teach everyone how to do all sorts of cool things with their computers. And I couldn’t understand why most people were resistant to learning what all they could do with them. Over the years, though, I’ve come to realize that most tech users aren’t like me. They don’t give a shit about every little thing that their tech can do. They want to do the same mundane tasks over and over, daily. And you know what, that’s OK. And I came to be OK with the fact that they weren’t as into tech as I am. So now I spend my days helping people do what THEY want to do with technology and not trying to show them what I think they should be doing with it.
Multiple OSes on your tablet? Are you serious? Again, that’s for you and a handful of other techies. I promise you, my mom, sister, uncle, (and probably yours too) don’t know or care about alternative OSes. They want to pick up a device and use it, period. They don’t know from WebOS or Ubuntu or Windows Mobile. They know iPad and they know Android. The new Windows phones have a nice OS with an interesting UI but it’s struggling to grab marketshare in the mobile OS arena. Why? Because there are already two big players and I don’t believe there’s room for a third. (See the whole Windows/Mac/Linux contest for some perspective on this.)
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Your List of Mac complaints:
1. Macs Cost Too Much/Don’t Have The Ports You Want/Can’t Be Used in Top Secret Environments
If I want to attach an eSATA hard drive to a Macbook (which I do), I have to buy an adapter. USB 3.0? I have to buy an adapter. I want to attach my laptop to my TV? Another adapter. To my old (but still immaculate) 2048×1536 VGA monitor? Yet another adapter. What about if I want a computer without a webcam? Anyone with a military-related engineering job can’t simply take in a computer or cell phone with a camera on it. Then I certainly can’t get an Apple laptop.
You also can’t buy many Windows-based laptops or Droid phones and tablets either, as many of them now come with built-in webcams. But with Skype and other video chat systems becoming more and more popular, your average user wants a built-in webcam. If you have a high security job, or a military gig, then by all means forego any device with a built-in camera. But again, the number of people we’re talking about that this applies to is terribly small. The average user wants a webcam (for some reason that I don’t fully understand!)
eSATA? Most all laptops DON’T come with that port, so what you say about MacBook Pros not having it is equally true of most other brands of laptop.
USB 3.0? I’ll give you that one. Apple has backed the faster and more flexible (it’s bi-directional) Thunderbolt I/O for their high end laptops. That said, strong rumors suggest that the impending refresh of the MacBook Pro lineup will include a bump to the 3.0 spec for the USB ports.
Connect to your TV? Again, I’ll give you this one. As many non-Apple laptops now come with an HDMI port.
VGA? OK, Macs dropped the aging VGA port a loooooong time ago. My only question is when the hell are PC manufacturers gonna drop this dinosaur port too?! But then it took them a decade longer than Apple to finally ditch the floppy so I’m not holding my breath. But seriously, I expect toaster manufacturers to hang onto old tech forever, I expect computer manufacturers to push the envelope!
Apple has gone with the Mini DisplayPort and now the Thunderbolt port. A multi-purpose port, if you will. So instead of wasting precious laptop real estate trying to include every possible port you might want, they went with multipurpose ports. So get the adapter or adapters you need, connect it, and get on with your life. Personally I prefer one port that can perform multiple functions and interface with multiple types of devices. It just seems more, oh what’s the word I’m looking for, Open! Yeah, that’s it!
> Why? Because computers priced much lower than that are junk (unless you build it yourself).
Funny… Both Dell and System76 make laptops for the same price as (or slightly cheaper than) the cheapest Mac Mini, with the same (or better) hardware. And desktops for the same price? Well… why don’t you look yourself?
Also, how exactly do I go about building my own Mac? That is, legally?
It’s called a Hackintosh, and while technically it’s against the Apple Mac OS X EULA, I wouldn’t lose much sleep over worrying that Apple is going to break down your doors anytime soon and check up on you. Don’t be scared, go ahead and build one. Be bold every now and then!
But fair enough, we’re comparing hardware that can be legally purchased by anyone. I just wanted to throw in the Hackintosh because I know that many Windows fans like to talk about how they can build their own. Well so do I now…
But back to the legally purchased stuff:
$899 for a Apple Mac mini with OS X Lion, Intel i7, 4GB RAM, 500GB hard drive, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, SD Card, HDMI, Firewire, USB 2.0 & Thunderbolt 8″ x 8″ x 1.4″ in size
$953 for a System76 Ratel with Ubuntu Linux, Intel i7, 4GB RAM, 500GB hard drive, and more ports than you can shake a stick at. (VGA, DVI, HDMI, eSATA, Firewire, DisplayPort, USB 2.0 and 3.0) 12″ x 8″ x 10″ in size.
The other System76 offerings, the Wild Dog Performance starting at $879 and the top end Leopard Extreme starting at $1399 are nice machines.
The Leopard Extreme, when configured with a 3.6GHz i7, 8GB RAM, 1GB Video, 1TB hard drive, DVD burner, SD card reader, 802.11n Wi-FI, and a 27″ LCD comes in at $2129.
A 27″ iMac with 3.4GHz i7, 8GB RAM, 1GB Video, 1TB hard drive, DVD burner, SD card reader, 802.11n Wi-Fi (and a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard) comes in at $2399.
These 4 examples are as closely configured as I could make them and they come in very close in price and functionality, with the System76 machines having the edge in ports and internal drive space due to their being mid tower models and a slight edge in raw CPU clock speed.
But my original statement was this “Because computers priced much lower than that are junk (unless you build it yourself).” Your examples, and these that I pulled myself, are not “much lower than that” they’re the same price or slightly higher. And the System76 machines don’t have an OS that was designed from day one to work perfectly with their hardware, they’ve simply built them with parts that mostly work with Ubuntu. Yet there are still issues with some of those parts working flawlessly with Ubunt, check the System76 and various Ubuntu forums. I stand by my original statement.
> Many Windows users won’t make it that far, though, because they replace their computers every four years or so.
Many Mac users won’t make it that far, either, because they buy the next generation of Apple computers as soon as it comes out.
A generalization on your part with absolutely no evidence to back it up. Windows sales numbers are overwhelmingly via OEM installs in Windows boxes. So the sheer volume of Windows licenses sold yearly would seem to support the fact that Windows users replace their equipment far, far more often than Mac users.
> The reason? Viruses, spyware [blah blah]
Alternatively, they could reinstall (as most smart Windows users do), follow the basic security procedure that everyone should be doing (as the smarter ones do), or not run Windows at all (as many of us do already).
Of course, that’s the “smart” Windows users, what about all the other Windows users? Oh wait, you don’t really care about nor want to discuss them, just the small percentage of tech-savvy power users. Fair enough.
> Meanwhile, the average Mac user is still using their Mac for work and play, free from the plague of viruses. Mac users replace their computers on average every six-seven years. So over the course of a lifetime, who spends more on computers and maintenance?
You’re not making much of a case here, mostly because that’s not at all what I see from the Mac users (or Windows users) I know. In both cases, the computer-savvy ones get new computers every 18-24 months, and most everyone else uses either hand-me-downs or upgrade every 4-5 years anyway.
You’re basing your opinions on what you see from the Mac users you know, I’m basing my opinions on what I see from the thousands of Mac users I’ve helped over the last 16 years. Most of them keep their Macs for 6-7 years, and when they do buy a new Mac, they usually keep the older one around and continue using it in some capacity.
Also, you’re not being very consistent. To quote you: “Many Mac users won’t make it that far, either, because they buy the next generation of Apple computers as soon as it comes out.”
> Macs Can’t Do (fill in the blank) – Yes, they can.
Your argument about this is ridiculous. You say “the only limitation of what a Mac, or any computer for that matter, can do, is the software”. Yes. That’s the whole point. Maybe the software I use isn’t available for Mac OS. Or maybe it’s a pain in the neck to get it working. There are a whole range of applications that don’t work on Linux, Mac OS, Windows, or any other operating system, because fundamentally, operating systems aren’t binary compatible (this happens to be a great argument for open-source software, though). And to wit, that means they can run all of the Windows viruses available. But, just like a whole variety of other software, not unless they have Windows. This is the nature of running on an x86 chip.
I’d ask you to explain why my argument is ridiculous. So the software “that you use” isn’t available on a Mac. My point was to say that Macs, or any computer, can’t DO something is ludicrous. But that’s what the half-baked argument has been from the non-Apple side over the ages. As though the architecture that the Mac is built on makes it inherently incapable of performing some tasks. It’s only when that task-specific software wasn’t written to run on the Mac platform is what my point was. It always was, and still is, silly to say that “I can’t do X on a Mac, Windows, etc. machine”. Yes, you can. Maybe the software doesn’t exist but if it did you could. Maybe I didn’t articulate my statements in this section clearly enough, but I suspect that you know what I meant.
> Macs Won’t Run Word or Excel – False.
Again, we can agree. We can even agree that Microsoft Office isn’t the best option out there. But then again, neither (in my opinion) is iWork. I’ll stick to LibreOffice, which, as far as price-to-cost ratio is concerned, can’t be beaten. And LaTeX. Because WYSIWYG word processing is stupid.
I cannot speak to LibreOffice as I’ve only used it a handful of times. I write most of my stuff in TextEdit or TextWrangler. Occasionally I’ll use Pages if I want to do some layout work. But when I’ve tried to get users to try something Office-like but not Office I went with OpenOffice and for the most part the users just weren’t having it. They want Office, period. So I gave up that battle and now I don’t try to dissuade anyone from using Office.
Now for some of my own Mac myths:
“Macs don’t get viruses” May I direct you to this article in a local newspaper of mine? http://boropulse.com/2012/05/the-first-mac-virus-is-here/ It’s mostly right, but forgets to mention the other malware available for Mac OS.
Other malware on a Mac? Yes, there are a handful of malicious gremlins out there that run on Macs. And that excellent article that you mention even begins with the sentence “There are an increasing number of Trojan horses online…” So as for it forgetting to mention the other malware available for Mac OS, well you’re right, I didn’t list all 6 (or however many there are now) of them. My bad.
“Macs are easier to use than Windows”
After getting her Macbook Pro and going through every tutorial available to her, my mom still couldn’t right-click for two months. It made using her Macbook Pro very slow and painful for a long time. Oh, and what’s with the random dialog boxes that don’t let you use the keyboard to respond?
I often recommend Macs to my friends and family. In fact, I recommend Mac OS far more than I recommend Windows (though with the way it’s getting locked down that may change), even though I find some of Apple’s policies horrendous. But this article isn’t journalism. It’s poorly-disguised Mac fanboyism.
I feel sorry for your Mom, I’ve seen my own mother struggle with technology from time to time even though I try to explain everything and help her when she struggles.. I’m curious, though, why didn’t you just show your mom how to Control-Click or buy her a 2-button USB mouse?
And finally, as to your insult about my article being “poorly disguised Mac fanboyism” I guess I owe you an apology. I didn’t mean to disguise it, I am a Apple fan. And “boy”? Nah, that’s not an accurate description of me at all.
Take care,
Patrick Clark
Murfreesboro, TN
Comment May 28, 2012 @ 1:13 am