Does being a mac user change the way you look at life?

[whw5]

I was wondering the other day, Does the fact that you use mac make you act different in life then you would have normally? I mean do you choose doing your own thing over being a follower? Do you think, hey I use mac, that makes me different so I guess its ok to be different in life to? I mean as odd as this sounds, I find myself thinking sometimes, why not be different, I chose to do it with Apple and other stuff, why not in this aspect of my life? I guess in a indirect way apple sends the message do your own thing. Kinda of interesting.

[sorryiwasdreami]

I look at life differently therefore I choose to use a mac.

[slughead]

Who would win in a fight Ditka or a hurricane?

[unanimous] Ditka.

What if the hurricane was named Hurricane Ditka?

[slight pause, and then unanimous] Ditka.

Ok, Ditka Vs God.. ?

God, in overtime.

Many seemingly trivial things have changed my life--my economics class, drugs, university life. However, owning a Mac just allowed me to shift my hobbies over to something that I could use for employment--computer know-how. Instead of building hydrogen generators and tasers in my spare time, I build web sites and write programs. Not as cool, but certainly more economical.

I think your question infers a level of silliness far greater than I could ever understand. Also, I can honestly say that your question, if viewed by Apple's marketing department, would give them the most gynormous hardon the world has ever seen. Always innovative, those Apple guys.

[jimjiminyjim]

Well, to be honest, it starts out just like sorryiwasdreami said. You choose mac because you already look differently. The problem is that once you get one, you get sucked in. You stop looking at life, because you're looking at your mac. Your mac becomes your life, and you stop looking at life differently, and start looking at it just like apple does. You become apple. You spend hours in front of your mac. It doesn't matter what you do, as long as it is with your mac. You can take a break once in a while, but you always go back. You come to need your mac. To feed off of it. It becomes... an addiction.

[whw5]

. It becomes... an addiction.[/QUOTE]

you make it sound like a drug. lol. Your right I was just saying that at the same time I started using mac I started thinking different. Kinda of funny.

[jimjiminyjim]

I was only partially joking!

Anyway, glad to hear that you recently began to think a little differently (usually that's a good thing...). Please don't attribute it to your mac!! There's much more to the gift of life than many people think.

[m.r.m.]

nope. nothing has changed for me.

[SiliconAddict]

:eek: Ummm dude its an OS not a freaking religious experience.

[Timelessblur]

And you people wonder why people call maccy a cult

[krimson]

im more polite on the road to others who have apple stickers.
that's about it.. but since i've been doing that since i started driving, i dont think it counts. :)

I doubt that just by buying a Mac would it change your life.. an iMac isn't like dropping acid or anything. :p

[musicpyrite]

:eek: Ummm dude its an OS not a freaking religious experience.

I happen to know several Mac users that would call using a Mac a religious experience. (including me, so the answer to the original question is a deffinate yes)

[Abstract]

:eek: Ummm dude its an OS not a freaking religious experience.

I'm with you on this.

Its a computer and an OS. Its a GREAT computer, and a NICE operating system, but that is all, and if you actually started looking at life with a pair of fresh eyes after purchasing a Mac, then maybe you didn't have much of a life to begin with. :o

I don't "think different". I bought a Mac because I don't like viruses/virii or crashing OSes. The fact that Apple has a small marketshare is irrelevent as to why I buy an Apple product. If you bought a Mac, or any product, because you believe that you're being "different", then again, you need to get a life.

[powerbookje]

switchers do not know what we feel, born Mac users. I am "Think different" in real life and I know it's just an OS and a computer, but it's more for me, it's a way of life, a way of looking at things. I even made a T-shirt with an rainbow Apple logo with "Think different" on it...
I admit it, I'm addicted, I'm obsessed :D



Don't follow the herd...

[jsw]

Being a Mac user hasn't changed the way I look at life. I've used Apple products since before there were Macs, and I've been a big fan of the Mac. However, it hasn't changed anything about how I look at life, except, perhaps, that I do it from crappier furniture because I spent the extra to get the Macs. ;)

However, being a Mac user has made an enormous difference in my approach to computers and, specifically, to my approach to designing software in a corporate world. I find that, coming from a Mac point of view, I often tend to see things in a different, and ultimately better (from a usability point of view), way. It is irrelevent to me if I "think different" because I use Macs, or if I use Macs because I "think different".

<aside>Although, I must say, I've always thought it should be "Think Differently". Or, really, just "Think" or more appropriately "Just Think".</aside>

I enjoy using a Mac - OS and all - whereas I enjoy using Windows applications (some of them...). I've never enjoyed using Windows per se. I now expect more from a computer, so, I guess, using a Mac has at least changed my expectations - for computer-related stuff.

I've used Macs from '85-'89, from '92-'94, and from '02-now. I had a 1999 PB through work that I sort of technically opened occasionally, but not really until I put Jaguar on it a while back. So, roughly half of the past 20 years, I've used Macs. The other half, it was pre-Mac, Windows, or Solaris. Honestly, aside from when I was in front of the computer, nothing about my life was particularly different when I used Macs as opposed to when I didn't. I didn't get laid any more, or any less (though often it was due to it being impossible for it to be any less ;)). I didn't have better, or worse, complexion. I didn't get better or worse jobs, become more or less talented, have a better or worse temper, laugh more or less, etc.

[JesseJames]

Actually, I find myself singing Zippity DooDah walking down the street. And bluejays and fly around me and squirrels come up to be petted.

[Horrortaxi]

switchers do not know what we feel, born Mac users.
If you suffered through Windows for very long and then switched I think you're in a position to appreciate the Mac in a different way. My wife has only ever used Apples as far back as the Lisa. She loves them and wouldn't use anything else, but she takes their wonderfulness for granted. It was actually a big reality check for me in my last few years of Windows useage--she'd get more upset than I would when my computer wouldn't do what I wanted it to, or when I had to spend 4 hours making it do something that her Mac would do in a second and a half.

But does it change the way you look at life? I guess that depends how "into" computers or the Mac you are. It changed my outlook a little in that I'm unwilling to accept inferior products now. I'm completely intolerant now of having my time wasted.

[jsw]

Actually, I find myself singing Zippity DooDah walking down the street. And bluejays and fly around me and squirrels come up to be petted.

I think you posted to the wrong thread. This is the "Does being a mac user change the way you look at life?" thread. I think you're looking for the "Does constantly holding a birdfeeder change the way you look at life?" thread.

:)

[ravenvii]

No... Apple simply appealed to the way I look at life.

But it did change the way I look at computers.

[rueyeet]

I enjoy using a Mac - OS and all - whereas I enjoy using Windows applications (some of them...). I've never enjoyed using Windows per se. I now expect more from a computer, so, I guess, using a Mac has at least changed my expectations - for computer-related stuff.That's the most it's done for me...that, and made me wonder how the heck the other 95% put UP with Windows' more irritating peccadilloes.

Of course, I've always been decidedly out of touch with the mainstream of thinking, so such contemplation always leads me back to my usual less-than-charitable view of that 95%. :p

I've always thought it should be "Think Differently". Or, really, just "Think" or more appropriately "Just Think"."Just Think" would be another good mantra for a great many people.

Better stop before I get TOO misanthropic here.... :D

[matthew24]

Well I can't afford a BMW, but having a Mac makes me feel like driving a BMW at the highway. Looking at the opposite lanes I see a big traffic jam of cheap cars, many damaged, people getting angry, blowing their horns, I can't help but :D smiling :D at them.

Yep, it makes me feel good to drive my BMW and to look at the other side.
:) :p :rolleyes: ;) :D

[sebisworld]

I am sorry, but I have to interrupt this for a news alert. No, this time it is not about how I hate Lance Armstrong for showing off today, but it is about my finical situation. My iPod broke a few weeks ago and I finally decided to put it on eBay (A site I hate by the way: ugly, expensive, slow). I really wanted to get like €20 for it, as that was about what others got for their broken iPods, and I had the dream of getting €40. Well, I got one-hundred-eleven euro for it - and I declared it 'broken' multiple times, so I think I should not feel bad about it.
An hour later my second auction ended. I had to sell the Mac that I am writing this on to afford a 17" Powerbook. It is a beautiful, silent piece of art, so useable, everything about it makes so much sense. Well, I hoped for €1200 for my one and a half year-old AppleCare-less iMac 1GHz and I got one thousand five hundred ninety euros for it. Talk about resell value here.

Additionally, Apple shipped my Powerbook today which wasn't supposed to ship until August 3rd.

Now eat my shorts. To answer the question:
Yes, my Mac has changed the way I look at life. At the lives of people bidding at eBay particularly.

[radhak]

Funny, but i have been thinking along this line for some time. being the only mac owner in my whole personal (and work) circle is somewhat revelationary. i have always been a very follow-the-rules person, but my iMac has done something really big for me: i now deliberately go for choices that are not all that obvious, and am less willing to suffer minor faults of design that really cause me a lot of niggling irritation. (i even returned a cheap $30 alarm clock just because the dials and buttons were not in the 'right' place or right size; of course my wife thought i was being silly ;) )

i never thought i'd think of a computer like this, but am happy anyway. it could also be a coincidence, that i am suddenly seeing things differently, but i cannot believe that the iMac had nothing to do with this.

Mind you, i still don't look down upon my PC friends; i even enjoy my time in front of my new Dell, so there is no sense of 'superiority' just because i use a Mac; just a feeling of more enjoyment.

[Chip NoVaMac]

If I understood the question I do now look at the "ease of use" vs. "price" now more than I did before. My other half was just moved to the eMac, and they wonder why they ever strayed from the Mac (they has used Mac for DP years ago).

[adam1185]

If anything, the way I look at life caused me to become a mac user :cool:

[beefcake]

No.

[sorryiwasdreami]

Actually, I find myself singing Zippity DooDah walking down the street. And bluejays and fly around me and squirrels come up to be petted.

Whew! Thank you. I'm glad someone said it because I thought I was crazy when this happened to me; it's good that this is normal mac-user behavior.

Has pagan sun-worship also crept into your daily routine? Or are you not at that stage yet? Just relax my brother, in time. In time.

[wdlove]

If anything, the way I look at life caused me to become a mac user :cool:

That is more the way that I look at this situation. Being a Mac user has just made my life much easier. So I have been much happier, Only get frustrated when I use a PC somewhere else.

[ryan42]

Well I can't afford a BMW, but having a Mac makes me feel like driving a BMW at the highway. Looking at the opposite lanes I see a big traffic jam of cheap cars, many damaged, people getting angry, blowing their horns, I can't help but :D smiling :D at them.

Yep, it makes me feel good to drive my BMW and to look at the other side.
:) :p :rolleyes: ;) :D

road://internet
car://bmw

"More Internet sites are created on Macintosh than any other computing platform."

On the road of the Internet, Apple is BMW.

[johnnowak]

:eek: Ummm dude its an OS not a freaking religious experience.

Honestly.. this thread is a bit sad.

[Awimoway]

Who would win in a fight Ditka or a hurricane?

[unanimous] Ditka.

What if the hurricane was named Hurricane Ditka?

[slight pause, and then unanimous] Ditka.

Ok, Ditka Vs God.. ?

God, in overtime.

Many seemingly trivial things have changed my life--my economics class, drugs, university life. However, owning a Mac just allowed me to shift my hobbies over to something that I could use for employment--computer know-how. Instead of building hydrogen generators and tasers in my spare time, I build web sites and write programs. Not as cool, but certainly more economical.

I think your question infers a level of silliness far greater than I could ever understand. Also, I can honestly say that your question, if viewed by Apple's marketing department, would give them the most gynormous hardon the world has ever seen. Always innovative, those Apple guys.

Great post. The Ditka bit was hilarious. The Apple marketing hardon bit was spot on.

And yet, I can't help but think that, odd as it may seem, ridiculous as it may be in a I'm-a-tool-of-the-corporate-world way, Macs really have changed my life. I switched from Windows to a Mac because I was going into desktop publishing, and I needed a new computer. I researched the Mac and decided that switching was a risk worth taking. Since then, my politics have become much more tolerant and open-minded. My approach to life is more relaxed. I regard technology with interest rather than fear. Was I open-minded to begin with? Somewhat, but I still think using a Mac has had a direct impact on my way of life. Or at least, it has brought me into communities such as this one that have changed my outlook on life. So is that direct or indirect? Does it really matter?

Using a Mac may not be a religious experience for everyone, but it's pretty damn exhilarating for me in a way that Windows or Linux could never be.

[Cordless_Drill]

I can say that owning an Apple has changed my outlook.

I used to be very caught up in processor speeds, cards, etc. Not so much now.

I read on other threads about how (some) people are upset with G4s, they're too slow, the hard drives suck, not enough stock ram ...

This here Powerbook (15/1.33/5400) changed my attitude. This thing feels really fast. And that's all I care about now.

Trash the G4. Fine by me. I'm still happy as heck to have this thing.

I did not used to think like this...

[Vlade]

"Yes, You are worse than me because you use windows" tends to be the feeling of some forum members here that give mac users a bad name.

Its a computer, not a religion or political party.

[Awimoway]

"Yes, You are worse than me because you use windows" tends to be the feeling of some forum members here that give mac users a bad name.

Its a computer, not a religion or political party.

I'm sorry but I'm not going to fall for the politically correct "everyone's OS is equally good and bad" BS. Macs are better. I'm not going to apologize for that assertion. Overall, they are more stable, vastly more user-friendly, more secure, and more pleasing to the eye. Note that I didn't say they could do anything at all, nor did I say that were flawless in any of those areas I mentioned. However they are better overall.

Therefore, it stands to reason that people who use Macs are wiser. Not inherently better. Not necessarily even smarter. And some aren't even wiser, they're just lucky to have been in the right place at the right time. But by and large those who stuck by the Mac and those who switched to the Mac are wiser people in my opinion, and I won't back down from that position.

Some people care more about computers than politics because they spend more time with them, because it seems to have a more direct impact on their daily lives. So the repeated false comparisons meant to suggest that that they aren't that big of a deal don't really have a point. For some of us, computers aren't as little a deal as you would have us believe. They are our livelihood, our hobby, and maybe our passion. Some people spend all their free time restoring cars, working on their golf game, or making scrapbooks. Is it so terrible for some of us to spend a significant chunk of our free time working on computers? And does it not therefore logically follow that we would have some pretty strong feelings about which ones were best?

If that's offensive, then I'm sorry some people are offended, but I'm not going to pretend I don't care what OS people use or that it won't make a difference.

[Vlade]

I'm sorry but I'm not going to fall for the politically correct "everyone's OS is equally good and bad" BS. Macs are better. I'm not going to apologize for that assertion. Overall, they are more stable, vastly more user-friendly, more secure, and more pleasing to the eye. Note that I didn't say they could do anything at all, nor did I say that were flawless in any of those areas I mentioned. However they are better overall.

Therefore, it stands to reason that people who use Macs are wiser. Not inherently better. Not necessarily even smarter. And some aren't even wiser, they're just lucky to have been in the right place at the right time. But by and large those who stuck by the Mac and those who switched to the Mac are wiser people in my opinion, and I won't back down from that position.

Some people care more about computers than politics because they spend more time with them, because it seems to have a more direct impact on their daily lives. So the repeated false comparisons meant to suggest that that they aren't that big of a deal don't really have a point. For some of us, computers aren't as little a deal as you would have us believe. They are our livelihood, our hobby, and maybe our passion. Some people spend all their free time restoring cars, working on their golf game, or making scrapbooks. Is it so terrible for some of us to spend a significant chunk of our free time working on computers? And does it not therefore logically follow that we would have some pretty strong feelings about which ones were best?

If that's offensive, then I'm sorry some people are offended, but I'm not going to pretend I don't care what OS people use or that it won't make a difference.

I am not talking about people who use a mac often and enjoy visiting the forum like you and I, but the type of people that take it too far.

For instance the people that tried to say the G4 was faster than the P4 (back before the G5), and even though the benchmarks showed the P4 destroying the mac every test, they stuck with their theory that macs are FASTER than PCs. I don't care if the mac has a better operating system (which it DOES), but it bothers me when mac users lie about things like speed, which back in the G4 days, we didn't have.

And people that say my avatar is offensive, I remember 3 posts that people said my avatar was offensive, OMFG I just wanted to... well, thats the point where I laughed and said its not worth my effort...

I have to leave soon, so I will be back to this thread later to reply, sorry if I didn't give a good enough description of what kind of mac zealots I don't like, I don't have time at the moment to post.

[justinshiding]

Noooo...my nice long post was just erased.

Summary:

Macs/osx haven't changed me as a person , but they have changed what I expect from computing.

I used windows 3.something , 95, 98 , 2000, and xp (and still do.) I never used a mac , and if I hadn't used one I would have basically just thought that microsoft was doing a fairly good job as their oses were getting more and more stable (yes xp is stable...for me at least)...(and ignoring windows:me.) That being said last year I started using macs at school and it was a totally different experience. Where xp added colours and a slightly new design, osx seems to actually enhance functionality with each revision. So it's changed what I expect from an OS, and once I get the money saved up (soon...soon) I'm going to buy a powerbook because the os is such a pleasure to use. (not a religious experience though.)

So if you were asking if it's changed what I think about computing, yes. That may or may not impact how I think about life that has yet to be seen.