Mac Lab Report

Mac Advocacy Sites

- 2001.05.31

In the decade since this article was first published, the Mac has moved from PowerPC to Intel CPUs, Mac OS X has almost completely replaced the Classic Mac OS, and a lot of pages on the Web have gone missing. Where that has happened, we have done our best to provide working links to the Internet Archive, which are marked with (IA). dk, 2011.05.31

When you are looking for arguments supporting the Macintosh and Mac OS, there are actually quite a few resources on the Web. Sites range from the well researched and documented sites to the more opinion-oriented pieces about freedom of choice. Here is a short guide with links to some of the better advocacy sites I've run across in my web wanderings.

Top Five Mac Advocacy Sites

The Business Case for Macintosh Development <http://developer.apple.com/business/case/> (IA)

This document on the Apple Web Site is not so much anti-Windows as it is pro-Mac. It makes the case for developers to spend time and effort developing for the Mac platform.

Mac Partisan <http://macspeedzone.com/Partisan/Misc/Partisan.html>

This site contains many links to Mac advocacy resources around the web.

John Droz Mac vs. PC Page <http://macvspc.info/>

John Droz has gotten a lot of press lately - some of it in the mainstream press - regarding his campaign to have a local school district continue to use Apple computers.

About.com <http://macos.about.com/compute/macos/cs/macvswin/index.htm>

A surprisingly large number of links related to several facets of Mac Advocacy. The more I use About.com, the more I like it.

MacKiDo <http://www.mackido.com/>

Many stories and links. If there's an old argument on Mac vs. PC, you'll find it here. Unfortunately, many of the arguments are dated and need revision.

Other Useful Sites:

75 Mac Advantages Updated <http://lowendmac.com/lab/75.html>

This is my (as of this writing, incomplete) update of the 75 Advantages brochure originally put out by Apple in the days when they could still compare themselves to Windows.

MacAddict (MacLife since Feb. 2007) <http://www.maclife.com/>

Used to be better than it is now but, hey, there's still the magazine.

Mac Evangelist <http://www.macevangelist.com/> (IA)

Heir to Guy Kawasaki's Evangelist, this site would be better if old posts and solutions were archived here.

In Defense of AppleTalk? <http://www.mrbarrett.com/essays/appletalk.html> (IA)

Closest thing I've found to a rebuttal to the "AppleTalk is chatty" argument.

An Overview of Macintosh Programming for Windows Programmers <http://developer.apple.com/macos/macoverview/index.html> (IA)

This compares the MacOS and Windows from a programmer's perspective. Surprisingly evenhanded considering it is an Apple document.

Mac OS X: Another View by Derrick Story <http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/mac/2001/04/17/mac_dev.html>

A list of good things about OS X.

MacCentral (now part of Macworld) <http://www.maccentral.com/features.shtml> (IA)

This is an archive (which needs updating) of MacCentral's Famous People (who use Macs) and Forward Migration (from PC to Mac) columns.

Mac Arguments <http://www.bandc.com/mactech/mac.html> (IA)

This is a long text document which cites many sources in the mainstream press but unfortunately does not provide any links.

Jeff Adkins is a science teacher who isn't afraid to state his preferences in computing platforms. In his classroom he has everything from a beige All-in-One to a a G4 XServe, and they all work together nicely. He calls himself the "poster child for technology integration" in the classroom. He was the 2006 Outstanding Educator of the Year for the California Computer Using Educators (CUE) organization. He also maintains a site for astronomy teachers at www.AstronomyTeacher.com.

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