Scoble Nails It – Apple’s Brand Promise

In my exploration of Mac and my switch to the platform myself, my continual problem has been what I affectionately refer to as “Mactards”. I know that’s not very politically correct of me, but it is an apt term if you know the type of Apple user I am referring to.

Well, Robert Scoble nails it perfectly when he discussed the brand promise of Apple. Scoble hits the exact points I have dealt with here on PCMech. When I complain about something on my Mac, the following has a high chance of happening:

I get flamed by the Mactard army
I get told that it is my fault anyway

I have never seen a brand of anything in the tech world (or anything else I can remember off hand) that elicits this kind of response from anybody. It is like I said a while back, Apple’s marketing makes wide-eyed zombies out of people.

It is Apple’s smugness, and the resulting snobbishness of some of it’s user base, that pisses people like Scoble off.

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Brett
Perhaps if some Mac users act snobbish, they learned it from PC lovers who for years denigrated the Mac as being a toy. Talk about arrogance…
I love hypocrisy. It’s a good thing that you youself are not snobbish (unlike those “Mactards” you refer to).
DanielD
Funny. Sort of like when a Windows geek tells a Mactard that their PC has never had a virus and if yours did it’s your fault because you’re not smart enough to secure your OS. Sound similar? I’m with Brett on this one. We, Mactards learned it from the years of hearing PC lovers pile on the Mac users for their choice of OS. Things are a changing my friend.
David Risley
Well, if a PC user piles onto a Mac user for the OS, they’re idiots. OS X is a better operating system. But, that said, I can’t say I have ever seen a PC person do that. Perhaps I’m not reading enough, but most of the emotion of this argument tends to come from the Mac side of the fence.
This also says nothing of the reflex reaction of blaming the user. A simple check of the Apple support forums will show you that Macs are not infallible. Either that or everybody in there are idiots. I rather doubt it is the latter.
Eliakim
Scoble is simply a mouth with no brain, when it comes to Mac. And it probably holds true in other matters, too. If you’ve got problems dealing with the Macintosh, then erase your memory of all things Windows and you’ll probably do just fine. I’ve found that it’s the conflicting information from dealing with Windows, to going over to the Macintosh, that just scrambles the brains of what gray matter they have left… LOL!
Peter
There are a bunch of fanatics out there in Macland, but guess what, the fanatics in Windowsland are just as bad. The comments they make include such things as Macs are only good for a few things, they aren’t real computers, etc. Then they imply that people who use Macs are childish, can’t use real computers, waste money, etc. So when a guy like Scoble makes a stupid claim about the Mac not living up to a brand thing–does anyone really know what he was talking about anyway?–he is making a mountain out of nothing. Only a naive fool swallows the koolaid and believes everything a company says about its products. I don’t trust his motivation based on the fact he is supposed to be a tech. expert. He doesn’t seem very much an expert if he’s not use to computers having problems and if he expects some sort of mystical experience using a computer. Honestly, he sound dumb, but the Windows nuts and Mac nuts will have a field day with it nonetheless.
RobInNZ
Well, IMHO, there is ammunition for this argument on both sides of no-mans-land. As one of the previous posters has mentioned, if you get zapped by a virus/trojan/whatever in Windows, then you were either surfing porn (and thus deserved it) or else are a silly twit who cant do basic OS maintenance.
That argument flies if you are a techo. But it doesnt if you are a consumer. I cant remember how many times I have tried to explain ‘only run stuff from people/vendors you trust’; ‘keep your signatures up to date’; ‘run multiple layers of defence’; etc etc. From a consumers point of view, these computer thingies that get them on the interweb are APPLIANCES. They should be like a toaster. Pop the bread in, get toast out, give it a quite wipe-down and put it away. And you know what? I agree with them. Consumer computer SHOULD be that easy.
On the other side of the ditch, you have the mac-fanatics who cant see past the RDF; who hurl vitriolic at anyone who DARES to deride their beloved Mac, Apple, or even the god himself. Frankly, most of these people are as bad for the platform as the hardened anti-mac legion. Having said that, if it wasnt for some of these people, the Mac might not have gotten to the stage where it IS now a real alternative choice.
Then you have the (sometimes) whining techo-writers sitting on the barbed wire in the middle. Some of them are Mac orientated. Some are Windows. Some are *NIX. Most will hoist the flag for their own favourite. Generally they tend to be not critical enough of Windows, and overly critical of any Apple mis-step. And Apple dont help their own cause there with their snide little digs at other vendors. First rule of sales. NEVER run down the competition!!!
As for me? I work in the PC industry. Have installed, used, and supported pretty much ever flavour of MS OS there has ever been, (well, back to DOS 2.2, and Im avoiding joining our Vista QA group internally since my work machine doesnt have the necessary grunt), and Im including Windows pre-v3.0 there as well. Netware since 2.15. *NIX. Windows Servers etc etc etc.
Server wise, hands down for stability, Netware 3.12 and various flavours of *NIX. Give em lickings and they just keep ticking. Windows 2003 Server is actually pretty good. 2000 was OK-ish, and NT3.5x/4 were just pigs.
Desktop wise. XP is ok-ish, but just doesnt multi-task well, but has very rapid response with a few light tasks. People give OS X a bit of a bad rap for ‘slowish’ response, but its more like Linux there. Not necesarily quite as initially responsive, but then it doesnt slow down much once you start loading it up. Im sitting here typing this in a second account, with iDVD running full-noise on a DVD render in the other logged in account. No lag. And on a lowly 1.8 Powermac G5 (single).
At home, ive run everything from OS2 Warp, to BeOS, to RedHat 4, to various revs of Debian, to XP (again, no Vista yet), to Gentoo. Havent tried Ubuntu (I gave away my last home-built PC a couple of years ago), but I hear good things and it sounds like its resolved a few of my gripes about Linux (more time tinkering than actually getting stuff done).
Anyway, I went OS X at home about 4 years ago. It was a nervous decision to make, working in a very PC-centric organisation. But since then, Ive had ONE kernel panic, and spent maybe 8 hours on actual os maintenance (including every OS update and upgrades from Jaguar, to Panther, to Tiger). On XP I was usually spending anything up to an hour a week keeping drivers and signatures and Windows auto(?)-update up to date. And whats more, the missus actually USES it (the iDVD burn is a movie shes making), and usually doesnt need much or any help.
Work pays for my home OS’s. I brought my own Mac. ’nuff said.
hitchface
Scoble did really hit home with that article. Following some of the links provided a laugh.
In any case, as much as I dislike the Mac vs PC arguments, people just need to realize that a PC (which, technically, a Mac is anyways) is strong in areas where the Mac is weak, and the Mac is strong where the PC is weak. There is some overlap, and there are also differences that make each one unique. As long as I keep tinkering with hardware and software, I will build my own PCs and throw on Linux to my heart’s content

Sharron Field
‘Very late reply here: I’ve only just read this article. (‘So much on this great site to trawl through.)
Above you mention Linux: Linux is another OS where there are equivalents to Mactards. The Kadaitcha Man some years ago christened then “Linuxfux”.
(One can still see examples of the juvenille snobbery of this brigade in the C.O.L.A. newsgroups, as well as 24hoursupport.helpdesk .)
Rich Menga has written an article in 2008 on the subject; but I’m unable to find it to link to it, neither do I have the time to do so right now. Perhaps the author or the site owner would be good enough to do so if they get a moment to spare?