What preferences power our passions for platforms (and
politics)?
Dec. 5, 2000
In one of my Mac Lab Report
columns, I discussed the usual arguments that fly between passionate
users regarding the superiority of the Mac vs. the PC platform.
However, a dispassionate outside observer might listen to such an
argument and rightfully ask, "What difference does it make? Just get
on with your work," and expect that to settle the matter.
Of course, it never does. The reason that people remain entrenched
in the platform wars is not because one side is right or wrong.
Clearly, the Mac side is correct in noting that the better
integration of software and hardware from one vendor has its
advantages. Yet there is just as surely a case for the economies of
scale seen in the Wintel camp. The reason the fight continues is very
simple and explains not only our passion for our favorite computing
platform, but also our stubbornness to acquiesce in the face of
ambiguous election results.
The reason the fight continues, and why you still find advocates
stubbornly using older technology including Amigas and Atari STs is
that we want to reassure ourselves we made a wise
investment.
This is the same motivation that makes people stubbornly hang on
to stocks when others sell them, keep repairing and bragging about a
particular brand of vehicle past all point of reason, and certainly
what motivates the lackeys of Mr. Gore and Mr. Bush to accuse each
other of unfairness and even unpatriotic behavior. It is what
motivates Evangelists to argue that Wintels are a hopelessly
inelegant technology that no one really likes but everyone uses
because they have no choice, and what motivates IT departments of
large corporations to insist that they be Apple-free because it would
difficult (for them) to maintain a cross-platform network.
In the case of Apple (the side I personally support, obviously), I
find the arguments regarding the cost/benefit ratio, the integration
of hardware and operating system (for true plug n play), and the
implementation of the desktop metaphor more convincing than for the
Wintel side. Even though my motivation is to demonstrate, to myself
and others, that I did not spend my hard-earned money foolishly, I
find there are enough compelling reasons to have made the choices I
made that I can sleep well at night.
One thing keeps nagging me, however. I used many of the same
arguments to justify my purchase and support of the Atari ST
computing platform. At the time it was new (ca. 1987), in my view, it
held many of the advantages of the Mac OS did regarding the
implementation of the GUI, yet it was much cheaper and utilized a
DOS-like file structure on disks. Opening a window on an Atari ST
revealed a list or icon view as in a Mac. Opening a subfolder
replaced the contents of the original window with the subfolder's
contents, reducing the clutter of windows common for new users of the
Mac OS. This is what I understand happens with OS X windows as well,
although I haven't tried the beta myself.
Eventually I found myself the proud owner of a desktop computer
that had no software available in any local store, no magazine
support because the publishers couldn't pull a profit, and a
dwindling market share. What killed Atari's desktop computer (except
for those "obsessive diehards" you can still find on the Net) besides
terrible marketing was that the OS was on a chip, not on the hard
drive or a floppy, so the thing would boot even without a drive
attached. This made upgrading the OS while being backward compatible
problematic, and developers found it irritating, to say the least. I
owned three different STs - some would run this piece of software,
and some wouldn't, and so on. When the little irritations with the
product become larger than its usefulness, people will switch, like I
eventually did.
Now go back and read that paragraph again, and substitute "Mac"
for "Atari".
I hope I haven't made the same mistake twice. I don't think I
have. Time, Steve, and OS X will tell.
Share your perspective on the Mac by emailing with "My Turn" as your subject.
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