Mac vs. PC: It’s not one or the other

The Mac vs. PC “wars” have always both fascinated and frustrated me. How can someone be so vehement about a choice of a tool? It would be like someone advocating a Ryobi rotary saw over a Skil rotary saw: they both get the job done, so what’s the difference?

Computerworld did a Mac vs. PC cost analysis this summer, but that article isn’t what drew my attention. Apparently, the author of the article received so much feedback from both sides that he felt he had to defend his methods and explain both how and why he wrote the first article.

The most confounding thing about being a Mac user, or even a neutral computer professional who favors no single maker of computers, is the vehement opposition presented when another’s choice of computer is challenged. It’s not just limited to PC advocates. Mac enthusiasts, Linux users, Unbuntu, the list goes on. You say “Why don’t you use (insert OS here)?” They will often reply “Because it SUCKS and my OS is the BEST,” especially if they haven’t even used the latest version of said OS. A comment from the first CW article that was quoted in the second CW article outlines this well:

“There’s a lot of ignorance about Apple for some reason among us technical types. A programmer at work said yesterday that he hated Apple. I asked whether he’d ever used a Mac. Nope.”

When I was a kid, I hated pickled beets. I despised them. I would nearly gag when I saw them on the dinner table. I had never tried them, and vowed I would never eat them.

A year ago, I tried them just out of curiosity. Now I love them.

Perhaps every vehement advocate of one platform who has never tried another should take “Green eggs and ham” to heart.

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