"I'm a Tosser, I'm a PC"
Hello, my name is Mr Atrocity and I use an Apple Macintosh. I am now sorely tempted not to. It's not that their software or hardware engineers have let me down; it's not that I have found them lacking in design or usability. What makes me hate them at present is the loathsome new "localised" advertising campaign the company is running.
The new UK "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" ads are the epitome of why I've always felt uncomfortable going into Apple stores. The overwhelming sense of smug self-satisfaction and studied nonchalance is almost vomit-inducing. The "too cool for school" attitude of the store and company it represents may just be about bearable in some of the wankier clothing emporia in London but not as the face of a vast global corporation. I just don't buy it. And I really don't buy these damn adverts. I do not need to be assured that I'm cool because I own a Mac; I do not feel the need to make snide remarks about those who run Windows.
For the record I bought a Mac because I like Unix, it has a lot of neat development tools built in and the OS itself is very good to use. In short, at the time of purchase, it was the best tool for the job. I owned Windows PCs before that because Apple operating systems prior to OS X were the worst sort of garbage, no matter how pretty the boxes they came in looked. I did not buy it as a crutch to support a sense of flagging self-esteem and as soon as someone else makes a box that better suits my needs I'll buy that instead.
Apple does currently do some things very well. Engineering, operating system and industrial design they do really well, software design they do pretty well too. But trying to make these computers into something that does for twenty and thirty somethings what sports cars do for those in their fifties makes me want to hurl the thing through a window.
You will not get laid more often because you own a Mac. Remember that.
The new UK "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" ads are the epitome of why I've always felt uncomfortable going into Apple stores. The overwhelming sense of smug self-satisfaction and studied nonchalance is almost vomit-inducing. The "too cool for school" attitude of the store and company it represents may just be about bearable in some of the wankier clothing emporia in London but not as the face of a vast global corporation. I just don't buy it. And I really don't buy these damn adverts. I do not need to be assured that I'm cool because I own a Mac; I do not feel the need to make snide remarks about those who run Windows.
For the record I bought a Mac because I like Unix, it has a lot of neat development tools built in and the OS itself is very good to use. In short, at the time of purchase, it was the best tool for the job. I owned Windows PCs before that because Apple operating systems prior to OS X were the worst sort of garbage, no matter how pretty the boxes they came in looked. I did not buy it as a crutch to support a sense of flagging self-esteem and as soon as someone else makes a box that better suits my needs I'll buy that instead.
Apple does currently do some things very well. Engineering, operating system and industrial design they do really well, software design they do pretty well too. But trying to make these computers into something that does for twenty and thirty somethings what sports cars do for those in their fifties makes me want to hurl the thing through a window.
You will not get laid more often because you own a Mac. Remember that.
Labels: criticism, fear and loathing, technology
scribbled hastily by Mr Atrocity at 10:40 am
2 Comments:
It's so funny to see how different and how much the same the U.S. version of that is. It does make me never want to get a Mac and I had been contemplating it previously.
I nearly sprayed my PC with a big gulp of cranberry juice when I read, "But trying to make these computers into something that does for twenty and thirty somethings what sports cars do for those in their fifties makes me want to hurl the thing through a window."
Love it. Couldn't agree more.
Kudos, friend. :)
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