Ignorant Beliefs about Macs

[Andos]

I've had people swear blind Microsoft doesn't make Office for Mac, and when I've shown them they've insisted that Microsoft don't make it it's out-sourced, and that it's not compatible with the PC version anyway, and it's years out of date etc etc.

I don't bother with them in the end.

AppleMatt

I was the IT manager at a company with a heap of Macs - about 150 or so - and we were having a lot of issues with Microsoft products on them and so I got into contact with the Microsoft developers working on the Mac products and it turned out they were the most dedicated Mac freaks I had ever meet. So I got to know them pretty well and our site became an Alpha test site for their products. It was pretty cool.

It was a real eye-opener to find such totally Mac people working for Microsoft!

(*waves to Jimmy if he's reading!*)

 

[egor]

What do you say to people who say jpegs and whatnot are incompatible, though?

I mean, you could just say "no they're not...", but, well, it seems like an impossible thing to argue! Plus I have qualms about sounding like a mr know-it-all, unlike some people here...

 

[jhu]

What do you say to people who say jpegs and whatnot are incompatible, though?

I mean, you could just say "no they're not...", but, well, it seems like an impossible thing to argue! Plus I have qualms about sounding like a mr know-it-all, unlike some people here...

well, that's exactly what you'll have to do, ie - "you don't know very much about computers in general, do you?"

 

[MacFan26]

One of my favorites was "Macs can only run one program at a time." You know, I made the mistake of telling some of my friends that I was a Mac user in Jr. High, and pretty much then all the up through high school I just couldn't get away from their stupid remarks. The odds were already against me, even if I did try to correct their claims, girls "don't know anything about computers anyway." Geez, I'm sure there are other things they could've made fun of me for. When it all comes down to it, it's just a computer! No one laughs at the brand of toaster I have. Ugh, I just get annoyed talking about it

 

[Brother Michael]

"Macs are for pixies."

"Why would you want to use a pixie machine?"

"Dude, Mac's crash all the time."

"Mac's suck."

"They have one button!"

"A PC can do everything a Mac can do."

This one was from an IM convo, I later found out my friend didn't care, he just wanted to see if I would flip out over his comment...he won...

Friend: "Dude, screw you and your Linux icon!" (it's the Bill icon)
Me: "Actually, that's a Mac icon there chief"
Friend: "Whatever, all I know is that it isn't Windows so it's not American!"

It was funny as hell.

Little off topic:
I have a funny transcript from a convo with a friend about Macs. We were goofing around, but it's great.

Here's a sample:
friend (8:46:04 PM): YES YOU HAVE YOU HAVE SAVED ME FROM THE CESSPOOL THAT IS MOCRONS$HAFT
friend (8:46:17 PM): IT IS BAD BECAUSE A LOT OF PEOPLE USE IT
me (8:46:23 PM): i know
friend (8:46:25 PM): THANK YOU FOR REVEALING THAT UNTO ME
me (8:46:31 PM): you are welcome good sir
friend (8:48:07 PM): HAHA I WILL CALL WINDOWS WINBLOW$ NOW BECAUSE I GOT +3 INTELLIGENCE FROM SWITCHING TO APLEE!
me (8:48:23 PM): i can tell
me (8:48:28 PM): what are you up to now? 3?

Mike

 

[jacobj]

These lies were furthered by this movie. "On the Mac, when it's time to upgrade, just pick it up, throw it away, and go buy another one."
Yeah, you've probably seen it. But it's a personal favorite.

OK, upgrading a mac can be done, but with difficulty unless you have a powermac. Of course this all depends on you interpretation of simple.

Apple perpetuate the myth that when your machine is bust or outdated, then you need a new one. When you browse their support websites they infer that the only part of your machine that can be upgraded is your RAM and battery.

Then of course there was the gaming. I started another thread yesterday re how embaressed I get when talking to the few highly cued up and tech savvy gaming friends I have. I just lower my head and admit that the Macs are crap for that. I hate having to lower me head in shame re a mac to anyone.

 

[munkle]

The worst case I've encountered was at a Mac reseller...somebody was admiring an ibook and asked one of the salesman why she should buy a Mac, the answer she received was, 'Well basically it's the same as a PC but prettier'.

And this was at a sole Mac reseller, they weren't selling PC's just Macs and this is how they try to get a sale?!!

Needless to say I got a little bit over excited and decided to jump in. Explained about ease of use, viruses etc, showed her iLife and a few other apps, dispelled myths such as word processing does exist on the Mac platform and yes you can connect to the internet! Not her fault that she was a bit clueless when it came to computers, Apple needs to do more on that front. Although I am confused where all the myths come from. After about 30 mins she was so excited she bought the ibook on the spot!

Changing the world one person at a time! Switch count = 4 so far, and each of them couldn't be any happier and the nice thing is, all are happy for completely different reasons!

 

[512ke]

This is weird, but lately "PC people" I know have been _admiring_ my Macs at work. They want to take a look. They want to see how it works. They ask if I have any problems opening docs and such. The usual feeling of such folks seems to be, oh, wow, your Mac is so cool I only wish I could have one. But for some strange reason I can't...

 

[Blue Velvet]

This is weird, but lately "PC people" I know have been _admiring_ my Macs at work. They want to take a look. They want to see how it works. They ask if I have any problems opening docs and such. The usual feeling of such folks seems to be, oh, wow, your Mac is so cool I only wish I could have one. But for some strange reason I can't...

It is the halo effect (play: heavenly choir) of the iPod at work.

At the office, one iPod-using bloke got all intrigued by our Macs.

Another then wanted to have a play (with the machine ) and confessed he'd been thinking of buying one for himself and his mother...

 

[aldo]

Guys I've heard a lot of **** about Macs, but you guys peddle the worst amount of stuff about Windows.

If you use a secure browser (like FireFox or anything none-IE), a firewall or a NAT router and some good antivirus you really won't have problems.

I think calling windows spyware infested is a bit much, because if you know how to look after Windows it's fine (most of the time). I'm totally in agreement that pre-2000 Windows sucked hard - but Microsoft has done a great job with 2000 and XP.

Oh also, don't assume that Dell hardware is crap. It's actually very well assembled for the price - I deal with about 200 of them every day and the new micro-ATX ones are very nice to work in.

And to the person complaining about the Dell WiFi card, it's 95%-sure got a Prism Chipset which will be the _exact_ same chipset inside an Airport card. All Apple does is change the interface on it.

While I'm not suggesting at all that WinXP is nicer than OSX, you guys have to admit it's a good step up from 95/98/ME, it's quite well priced if you buy it OEM and as I said it will give you no problems on the Spyware front if you don't use IE.

That is all.

 

[Blue Velvet]

...because if you know how to look after Windows it's fine (most of the time). I'm totally in agreement that pre-2000 Windows sucked hard - but Microsoft has done a great job with 2000 and XP.

But most people don't know how to look after Windows & that is it's greatest weakness -- the constant nursing involved.

Also, I have to use Win2000 at work alongside the Macs and it's just plain horrible as a user-experience...

 

[radiocore]

I gotta admit that I also said alot of the mentioned above BEFORE i bought my PB.

I loved my PB12 so much, i gave it to my sister within 4 months and bought the PB15. =D

Price/gaming has always been an issue with me, but even when i was soley a PC user, I always felt compelled to buy one.

Oh, and my experience in school with apple wasn't great too..maybe that was also a factor.

 

[munkle]

Guys I've heard a lot of **** about Macs, but you guys peddle the worst amount of stuff about Windows.

If you use a secure browser (like FireFox or anything none-IE), a firewall or a NAT router and some good antivirus you really won't have problems.

I think calling windows spyware infested is a bit much, because if you know how to look after Windows it's fine (most of the time). I'm totally in agreement that pre-2000 Windows sucked hard - but Microsoft has done a great job with 2000 and XP.

But that's the whole point...you have to put a lot of effort in to make it usable, that's just wrong. Out of the box it's not as secure as OSX and does not provide the same user experience.

And no, I'm not a fanboy or a blind hater either...

 

[Squire]

There was a nearly-identical thread discussing this a little while ago. A lot of te comments are the same as well.

dude, you didn't read my comment carefully, did you? you don't know what my preferences are, so i'll tell you: price. i can't justify a $1100 laptop when i can get a $600 laptop that's fully functional by my standards and will last longer than you think. besides, i already said that i can't even justify $600 for a laptop. and who said i'd be using windows?

I can relate to that. At work, I've been using a Pentium 166 MHz laptop with a 4.3 GB hard drive. It had Windows 95 until 6 months ago. Then I upgraded to Win 98 hoping that my USB CD burner would work. Of course, the USB port "couldn't be found" or something. But as far as Word and Excel were concerned, the machine was fine. The reason: It hasn't been connected to the Internet for nearly 5 years. Which brings me to the next comment...

But most people don't know how to look after Windows & that is it's greatest weakness -- the constant nursing involved.

True, so true. About every six months, I have to take my PC (not the laptop; a 1.6 GHz P4 desktop) in for maintenance. It gets slow...really slow. I don't do much in the way of downloads but I have kids and kids like to click stuff. "Constantly nursing" sucks and can take up a lot of your time.

It is the halo effect (play: heavenly choir) of the iPod at work.

At the office, one iPod-using bloke got all intrigued by our Macs.

Another then wanted to have a play (with the machine ) and confessed he'd been thinking of buying one for himself and his mother...

Also very true. A die-hard PC-using friend of mine was praising the new iRiver the other day. Then, just out of the blue, he told me that he's going to order an iPod. I bet he'll have a Powerbook within 12 months. And, in an effort to stay on topic, he was absolutely floored when I told him I had MS Office on my iMac.

Squire

P.S. Great story, jsw.

 

[Mord]

OK, upgrading a mac can be done, but with difficulty unless you have a powermac. Of course this all depends on you interpretation of simple.

Apple perpetuate the myth that when your machine is bust or outdated, then you need a new one. When you browse their support websites they infer that the only part of your machine that can be upgraded is your RAM and battery.

Then of course there was the gaming. I started another thread yesterday re how embaressed I get when talking to the few highly cued up and tech savvy gaming friends I have. I just lower my head and admit that the Macs are crap for that. I hate having to lower me head in shame re a mac to anyone.

well there is one solution to that, learn far more than they do about there hardware so when they have a problem they learn to come to you, secondly i am liveing proof that i can upgrade my mac and play games

aka i put a dual cpu into my cube and a radeon 7500 and i also play a little halo aka most lightweight mac gamer in the univerce.

 

[MacRy]

My worst experience was going into PC World (i'm not proud) and checking out the limited Mac section I came across an old CRT iMac next to a new eMac and they were priced almost identically. I called over a PC World monkey and asked him why the old iMac was the same price as the brand new eMac and - i kid you not, he really said this to my amazement - "It's because the new one is heavier!"

I'm not sure how that justified the price but that's what he said.

Jaw drop!

 

[Blue Velvet]

My worst experience was going into PC World (i'm not proud) and checking out the limited Mac section I came across an old CRT iMac next to a new eMac and they were priced almost identically. I called over a PC World monkey and asked him why the old iMac was the same price as the brand new eMac and - i kid you not, he really said this to my amazement - "It's because the new one is heavier!"

I'm not sure how that justified the price but that's what he said.

Jaw drop!

That has to be the best & funniest one so far...

PC World UK are hopeless if you need the help of knowledgable trained staff. You have to know exactly what you want.

 

[starcrossed]

This might be slightly off-topic, but one thing I can't stand is when some PC-buddy uses my computer to use the web or whatever program and they either stretch the window to fullscreen or they ask me which button in the top left corner makes the window fullscreen. One thing I like about the Mac platform is not having windows fullscreen. The only exception I have is with Final Cut Pro and DVD Studio Pro. I just enjoy being able to see that I can run many programs simulataneously, and seeing my desktop change pictures every minute behind my Safari or whatever window. It is all certainly much better than on the windows world where little programs want to take up the entire screen.

 

[sgwigle3]

Fighting the cause from the UK

I have this argument all the time, and it sucks. The naivety of some people scares me beyond belief, it truly does, but when I make them feel stupid it makes me feel a little better. For example. this seems to be the most common misconception of Macs and I have found a simple and easy answer in just 2 words. "Macs aren't compatible". The answer to this question is simple, "Like What?" Then there're stumped, and confused, cause its a world they totally don't understand! In the silence I say, "I can see the same pictures as you, watch the same movies as you, get the same documents, listen to the same music... the difference is... my way is soooo much easier and less hassle."

"What is this?! The devils work?! Where's the start button?!" You see I play the field the other way... when I go on friends PCs, the first thing I do, (after making a song and dance about not being able to connect to the internet!) is go to .Mac and bring up my bookmarks for the internet, then check mail, (cause it looks very mac like). I then simply reverse it. "Where are the movies? Your expose is broken, the windows don't move. It says error. Norton has found a virus! Where did the window go?! then scream like a little girl a push it away."

This has done the trick for me. However there are some people that refuse to switch... one such friend I am always arguing with. He loves displays, and loved the 23" apple one (pre aluminum) He said he would get that monitor and scratch the apple logo off! Since then, the 30" screen came out, Airport Express came out, and the iPod is more popular and getting the apple name back out there on the streets.

Although apple isn't advertising their stuff, other companies are. The iPod is in all the magazines in the the news, etc. Its sooo frigging popular! However, I do agree, I would love to see an advert for apple styled... like this:

1. INT. BLACK SCREEN. from the darkness and in the distance, an iPod slowly movies forward. A voice over of Jeff Goldblum, "If you liked the iPod *Pause* *A little laugh* "Enough said"... then a huge explosion of everything OSX, Expose, iChat AV, the genie effect, Word, Excel, a stream of file extensions trailing down the side,* styled to the recent music solutions video to the tune of "Get Free - The Vines" (look it up on iTms). Ends with a white apple logo on a black screen, underneath reads, "Apple, the makers of computers"

Or version II, the same but ends, "Apple, compatible with your average Joe, and PCs."

Some day.

Total switchers made: 7.

Get Free - The Vines

 

[echeck]

This might be slightly off-topic, but one thing I can't stand is when some PC-buddy uses my computer to use the web or whatever program and they either stretch the window to fullscreen or they ask me which button in the top left corner makes the window fullscreen.

ha ha...yeah, I hate full screen windows. I don't even use full-screen on my PC, it is nice being able to see what's going on behind you.

Of course the other thing that just makes me laugh is when a PC user has just finished using a mac, every application they opened is still running, they just closed the window. So every time I have to go through and quit every program they opened... heh heh heh...

Good times.

 

[starcrossed]

Of course the other thing that just makes me laugh is when a PC user has just finished using a mac, every application they opened is still running, they just closed the window. So every time I have to go through and quit every program they opened... heh heh heh...

Good times.

Oh my God, I forgot about that one! Cause they're so used to just closing the window, and not actually quiting the app. Yeah, I get frustrated having to Tab through all the apps to quit them all. But its also helpful because I can see just what they were doing on my computer, possibly opening an app that they didn't need to open.

 

[jhu]

ha ha...yeah, I hate full screen windows. I don't even use full-screen on my PC, it is nice being able to see what's going on behind you.

Of course the other thing that just makes me laugh is when a PC user has just finished using a mac, every application they opened is still running, they just closed the window. So every time I have to go through and quit every program they opened... heh heh heh...

Good times.

well in the windows world (and unix world for that matter), closing the window = quitting the program. i personally like that better since it makes more sense. example: in xwindow, when i start aterm and then type 'exit', the terminal quits. under osx, it seemed rather strange when the terminal window would stay open even after i typed 'exit'. it's rather backwards from everyone else.

 

[MacFan26]

ha ha...yeah, I hate full screen windows. I don't even use full-screen on my PC, it is nice being able to see what's going on behind you.

I third that. I feel like there's stuff going on behind the window that I can't see.

 

[Blue Velvet]

well in the windows world (and unix world for that matter), closing the window = quitting the program. i personally like that better since it makes more sense. example: in xwindow, when i start aterm and then type 'exit', the terminal quits. under osx, it seemed rather strange when the terminal window would stay open even after i typed 'exit'. it's rather backwards from everyone else.

Don't know about that...

e.g. I have Photoshop & Acrobat Pro running 24/7 so that I don't have to start them up every time I want to have a good & proper look at an image or PDF.

Use Win2000 at work -- it's horrid.

 

[macsrus]

"Xserves are not suitable for clusters"

Well since we bought 1566 of em... And they will be in production soon...
WE WILL PROVE EM WRONG