Sometimes I forget that a tech divide exists between me and the world around me. This seems to become more and more obvious as I get further and further into this website. For me and most of the people I converse with on a daily basis, technology is simple. Sure, we are not all programmers, we’re not all web developers, we’re not nerds and somehow I’ve managed to surround myself with people who are, and in doing so, I’ve forgotten about the rest of us. The ones who know how to operate a computer, but have no clue what to do with the system preferences, or the terminal, or what a stack is, or how spaces works.
How did it come to this? Some of the brightest and most intelligent people I know can’t get a virus off of their machines, can’t connect to the internet, and have no idea how to hook up a router. Shouldn’t we be spending our time and energy educating these types of people on our blogs and on our websites? Lets close the divide, lets add to the community, lets help people into our world.
These concepts, these ideologies, and more importantly these questions are what drives Apple, and more importantly are what has set them apart from the competition. One of the most common arguments heard around Mac Vs. Windows flame wars on the internet is that Apple dumbs things down. They make things to simple. It’s to easy.
I really scratch my head at these arguments. The last time I checked a hammer was the perfect tool for hitting nails, because it hit nails. There is nothing overly complex about the hammer as a tool. The user picks it up and whacks away. Simple. Sure, engineers spend time refining and tweaking the designs, but the tool still just “works.”
Shouldn’t it be the same on a computer? Should I not be able to just turn it on and use it for the tasks it was designed for? Getting work done. Thing inherently work, but, should we feel the urge to play the role of the engineer, the software developer, the scientist Apple has given us the ability to do it. The terminal gives us all the power we need. How can someone say things are too simple?
I’d like to send out a challenge. How do you think Apple has locked down its users into a world of simplicity, and how is this a bad thing? I fail to see it. I spent most of my life on a windows machine, so I would like to think that I have a perspective unparalleled by those who have used Apple products their whole life. The time I spent fixing my windows machine is time I now spend actually getting my work done. When I feel the need to tinker, like say, change the finder icon, I tinker.
On the Mac, I can tinker when I want to tinker. I’m not forced to thinker and repair things because a crappy OS decided it was going to ruin my day by falling apart when I needed it the most. What’s wrong with just working? What’s wrong with simple?
July 14th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
Hey J:
Nice. Simple, effective argument, just like an apple product. Except, say, Back to my mac. I don't hear this argument that often, but I agree, it's baffling that people thing that because something is complex and difficult to use that it is somehow better or more powerful than something that is simple and easy to use.
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July 14th, 2008 at 4:43 pm
Thanks for the kind words. :)
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July 21st, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Hmm. I think you undermine your argument by calling Windows a crappy OS. People will focus more on that small statement than your actual argument.
If I had more time at this moment, I'd present a counterargument, but I'll save that for later today. :-)
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July 21st, 2008 at 12:50 pm
What's wrong with stating the obvious? ;)
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August 22nd, 2008 at 4:12 pm
It's not that they make things so simple, it's easy. It's that they make things so simple you lose functionality.
I can't tell you how many times I wanted to close my macbook and not have it go to sleep!
August 22nd, 2008 at 6:10 pm
I really don't think that Apple has made things locked in simplicity. The have just simplified and cleaned up some of the common tasks. My boss who until recently has never owned a mac loves his mac book over his vista laptop. I've seen him do some very complex tasks on his macbook and its never crashed (not so for his vista laptop). Additionally I think Apple actually educates their customer very well about what they have. When we take customer apps and someone is a Windows user they very rarely can tell me anything about the computer (and frequently give me information that is just plain incorrect). Where as mac users can almost always tell me many details on the computer including what OS version they are running down to the last patch they installed. Personally there are two reasons I don't own a mac. I like to tinker with hardware and cost. Otherwise I really like all the macs I've worked with.
August 22nd, 2008 at 7:42 pm
Peel away the veneer of the GUI, and Mac OS X is essentially BSD Unix. Its as GNU as Linux is and yes, via the Terminal one can stick their fingers deep into the technical abyss. FAR more so in fact than with Windows.
I say this from 20 years experience as a developer, first with Mac, then with Windows NT 4.0 and on thru XP and back into Mac again, with numerous encounters with other Unixy OS's like Linux and Solaris inbetween.
The Windows fanbois are stunning in their myopia. So are the Linux fanbois.
December 18th, 2008 at 9:24 pm
my sentiments exactly!
September 17th, 2009 at 9:08 pm
I found your blog doing a web search today 9/17.
I think I better share this on my blog. Thanks
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