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The Populist MacStephen Van
Esch
2001.05.02 My last piece, The Computer for the Best of
Us, stirred up quite a few emails. Some where angry; others
agreed with my opinion. What became clear, however, was that there are two interpretations
of "The Computer for the Rest of Us." This week: Interpretation 1,
The Populist. The Populist Mac user is someone who truly believes that Apple
makes a superior machine. Mac is synonymous with ease of use,
simplicity, and elegance. This statement embodies most Mac users. We
love the machine we use, no bones about it. The unique mark of the Populist, however, is that they believe the
Mac is a computer for everyone - it's the machine everyone should
use. The simple logic is that the Mac is such a superior operating
platform that everyone in the world would be far better off, more
productive, and much happier typing away on a Mac instead of a
Windows PC. For the Populist, "The Computer for the Rest of Us" means a
machine that anyone can set up and use with a minimum of fuss and
input from so-called "experts." It's not a machine that's designed to
control the user or make the user feel that they are struggling with
a machine instead of their own creative ideas. The Populist Mac user will spread the Mac word far and wide,
converting as many fellow computer users as possible. Their vision is
to live in a computer world dominated by good design, a selection of
colors, and the Mac OS. For The Populist, the slogan "The Computer for the Rest of Us"
means that it is the computer for everybody, the computer for the
majority of people who don't want the hassles associated with many
other operating systems. "The rest of us" in this sense and, I
believe, as Apple intended it, are the people without the pinstripe
suits. Jeans and sweatshirts for us! Power to the masses. The famous "1984" commercial from Apple epitomizes this belief.
The "suits" staring at a huge screen in a dazed stupor are the
classic "sheep" that have succumbed to the mind control of "them."
"Them," of course, are the powers that be that shackle ordinary
computer users and prevent them from achieving true computer
nirvana. To recap: The Populist is a Mac user who would prefer to see Macs
spread around the world. "The Computer for the Rest of Us" means the
computer for the everyday man or woman just trying to get some work
done. Next time we'll look at another explanation of "The Computer for
the Rest of Us."
- <back to the
original article>
Stephen Van
Esch is the founder and president of
the
E-learning Foundry, an online training
resource for Mac users. Steve loves the Mac and is doubly bilingual,
since he's also fluent in Windows and French. Recently on Mac Scope- Connecting with the broader Macintosh community, 04.06.
"But beyond the very minor celebrity status that came with being published on Low End Mac, it gave me a real opportunity to participate in the Mac community."
- Hardware failure, that rare Mac headache, 07.09.
Macs are usually pretty reliable, but a hardware failure after just two-and-a-half years is still disappointing.
- Still waiting for iTunes Music Store Canada, sort of, 06.23.
While the pay-per-tune model makes sense, Apple's post-purchase copy management flies in the face of Canadian copyright law.
- PearPC's slow Mac emulation - What's the point?, 05.26.
"For all those Windows folks who are gussying up Windows to look like OS X and getting excited over PearPC, please just buy a Mac."
- More in the Mac Scope index.
Links for the Day- Mac of the Day: 15" iMac G4/800 MHz, Jan. 2002 - The iMac is redesigned with a flat panel display and G4 CPU.
- Group of the Day: Mac Canada is our list for Canadian Mac users.
- December 1 in LEM history: 99: Monitor dot pitch - 00: Macs for new users - Everybody wants to use iMacs - Career options - 03: Pfinder: Panther-like Finder for legacy Macs - 04: Why I use an eMac, iBook, and Power Mac - ThinkFree Office - MacLink Plus 15 - 05: PowerBook 190 still a great laptop - Eudora, the Mac's most powerful email client - 06: Core 2 'Books cooler and faster
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Mac Scope articles copyright © 2000-04, 2007 by Stephen Van
Esch. �
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