 We've heard it all, one time or another... ...and
still
get a chuckle now and then from PC fanatics
repeating nonsense from the 90s.
The
Mac myths presented below represent a small
sampling of propellerhead pablum collected
over 30 years of Mac-vs-PC. Enjoy !-)
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 "Ya can't git software for the
Mac."
The first-ever 128K Macs
shipped with two programs included:
MacWrite and MacPaint. Exactly one
graphics program more than anybody else
had. Today, there are more software
options available for Macintosh than for
any other platform.
 "Macs are great fer drawin' pitchers, but... If'n ya wants ta do bizness, ya gots ta use a pee cee." The truth back then (as now)
is that text processing is a no-brainer.
The real power was - and still is -
graphics, audio and video; capabilities
that PCs wouldn't have for over ten
years.
"It's got
a mouse! Who ever heard of a mouse?"
Yes, the first-ever Macintosh
had a mouse, pull-down menus, and what
has since become known as a graphical
user interface (GUI), along with
countless other features which were
eventually mimicked by PCs. It took
Microsoft about five years to
accommodate a mouse. And then we Mac
users got to hear this one:
"Da
mouse what only gots one button!"
The more complex it is, the
more sophisticated it must be. Right?
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 "I'd rather get a Mac, but... I've gotta have a PC so I can run the software from work." You could easily run "the
software from work" (meaning something
DOS-based) on a Mac by either creating a
DOS partition, or by installing a PC
card with its own RAM in certain models.
It was one of the Mac's best-kept
secrets.
"Macs are too
expensive."
You get what you pay for. Or,
as Bell Helmet used to say:
"If you have a ten-dollar head, get a ten-dollar helmet." While Macs came with all the best options built-in, PC buyers had to purchase and install cards, adapters, hardware and drivers to build a system with similar capabilities, often spending far more money in the long run (to say nothing of time and trouble). News flash: Sound comes to the Pee Cee! Taken for granted by Mac
aficionados since the first Macintosh in
1984 and the Apple II before that,
addition of a sound card and Sound
Blaster (about $200 at the time) was
_big_ news in the PC world nearly ten
years later. But then, Macs were too
expensive...
Web-safe colors? What happens if you use an
"unsafe" color? Web police? Monitor
failure? Of the 256-color palette
available to PCs, 40 colors were
"reserved" exclusively for use by
Windows. Only the remaining 216 colors
were available for use in web pages;
these came to be known as "web-safe
colors" (conveniently obscuring another
Windows flaw). If an "unsafe" color was
encountered by a PC, it would appear as
a dithered combination of its two
nearest neighbors, resulting in a grainy
image.
"Bill Gates wrote the original Macintosh Operating System." One of the dumbest urban myths
_ever_. Most PC users thought Gates
wrote DOS, too. Gary Kildall of Digital
Research created DOS (CPM); Gates bought
and adapted "QDOS" (quick and dirty
operating system), a derivative of CPM,
then renamed it MS-DOS (Microsoft disk
operating system). And dummies bought
it.
"We'll all be using the same operating system soon." Yeah? Who wouldda guessed it'd
be a flavor of UNIX.....
Are we talking about computer
sales or Operating Systems? (They dunno.) You mean the Mac
versus everybody else combined? (Dunno.) So what exactly does
this mean? (Dunno.)
What is Sun's market share? Or Compac or Dell or Gateway, hmmm? What's their
market share? (Nobody
knows.)
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 "Windows '95 is a 32-bit operating system." Not only was Windows '95
_not_ 32-bit clean, Windoze was never
an operating system; it was merely a
user interface plastered over the same
old DOS from the '80s. Like the
t-shirt said, "Windows '95 = Mac '84."
"It's kinda like the BetaMax®, y'know? BetaMax was superior, but VHS won out." Yes, Sony's BetaMax was a
superb video tape format, far superior
to the cheaper VHS cartridge that
eventually dominated video markets
(long since replaced by DVD). Uh-huh.
So? This observation usually comes
from those who believe some sort of
natural selection governs technology
markets, and only the best survive.
"Yup, it can do everythang a Mac can do..." A elderly couple went out
shopping for a computer one afternoon.
Their son had told them to get a
Macintosh. But, thinking all computers
are alike, they walked into a Radio
Shack store and asked the kid behind
the counter.....
"New PCs are plug-'n-play." Responding to the ease of
setting up a Mac, the "plug and play"
concept was popular in PC advertising
for a short time, if never a reality.
It was quietly dropped when PC users
started referring to it as "plug and
pray."
"If Apple had used open architecture, they'd be a lot more popular today." "Open architecture" - at the
time - meant building a computer from
readily available, off-the-shelf
components. Anybody can do it, giving
rise to countless PC clones (starting
with Compac). Apple chose to develop
Macintosh from the ground up, using
proprietary chips with processors from
IBM and Motorola. The advantages were
obvious.
The 'open-versus-closed'
debate still rages on, over source code
now, with the MacOS on the OpenSource
side. The advantages of this should be
obvious, too.
"Macs or PCs... it's just like buying a Ford or a Chevy, right?" Uh..... no. It's not. And by
the way: Next time you visit a Ford
dealer, be sure to ask 'em about the
new Chevy.
"Macs are too hard to
program..."
Only heard this once, at a
San Francisco coffeehouse, and it
certainly wasn't from a programmer.
I think the guy had an Etch-a-Sketch
in his backpack.
"Mac users are... such snobs... They act like they're better'n everybody else." Oooo, well pardon me all to
heck! We try to remain silent while we
listen to you curse at your PCs, we
look the other way when your PCs crash
and freeze, wait patiently while you
scan for nasties and rebuild your
registry, but sometimes we just can't
help but snicker at all the
unnecessary grief you Windows users
suffer. It's your funeral. Get over
it.
"I hate the Mac! I can't hack [into] the OS." Aside from her frustration
at being unable to steal some
software, this was a legitimate
criticism of the MacOS and she had a
valid point. Prior to (open-source)
OSX, the Mac's Operating System was
locked-up tight with no easy access to
the Mac's inner workings (thru OS 9).
While a closed OS kept things simple,
organized and trouble-free, changing
OS behavior by "hacking" or modifying
the System was not an an easy thing to
do.
"Apple's only got an (X)% market share!" Okay, look: In order for
this dubious observation to mean
anything at all, you have to make
three mistaken assumptions:
1. All computers have the same capabilities, right out of the box. 2. Buyers carefully evaluate each platform before making a purchase. 3. Computers all become obsolete at about the same age. |
 "There are things you can't do with a Mac." True. You can't teach a Mac
to swim.
"But, Mike" he said, leaning forward for effect, "you're the only person I know who has a Macintosh." An old friend made this glib
observation shortly after I opened the
MacShack in '02. Thanks for your
concern, but... dude, you need to get
out more!
"If your computer is over 3-years-old, you probably need a new computer." (From a local radio ad.) Why
would you need a new computer after only
three years? Because you bought a cheap
PC, that's why. Expensive PCs are only a
few years behind, but cheap PCs are
obsolete right out of the box.
"Hey! I hear you can run Windows on a Mac now." It's like putting wagon wheels
on a Ferrari.
But - if you just can't eliminate Windows from your life - sure, you can run it on a Mac. (Always could, nothing new here.) Just be advised: Windows will bring all of its virus, spyware and malware vulnerabilities with it when run on a Macintosh. "Vista - it's just like a Mac!" Released at midnight, January
29th, 2007 (costing up to $400.00),
Vista came with virus warnings,
overwhelmingly negative reviews, and the
promise of making all but the newest PCs
obsolete. Possibly the biggest flop
since the Zune. One day after releasing
Vista, Bill Gates was on air whining
about Apple's advertising campaign.
Within a few weeks Microsoft was forced
to revise earnings estimates.
The most notable thing about
Vista's release was the date: Windows
was now a full seven years behind the
current MacOS, about two years more than
usual.
"The Mac shouldda been... the Cadillac of computers." What?! Did ya think Apple was
going away? A PC user and "early
adopter" of Vista complained that Vista
wouldn't work on his high-end,
custom-built PC. Ready to make the big
switch, he was still consumed with years
of nonsense (including much of the
above) and teetering between raw hatred
of Microsoft and his fear that the
Macintosh might face extinction.
Which reminds me: Haven't
heard much about Apple's market share
lately.
"I saw a PC magazine what said y'all gots security updates now, jus' like Microsoft does." You read something about Macs in
a PC rag? Gee whiz, do tell!
Maybe he thought it meant a Mac virus had been found after all these years, who knows. He was so used to collecting bandaids for the 236,000* Microsoft viruses in the wild, he couldn't relate to preemptive security updates. As they say, "misery loves company." *McAfee,
2007. Estimates vary. Does that include
Microsoft Office macro viruses? Does it
matter?
"Our business used to be about fifty-fifty, Macs and PCs." Pondering a decline
of Mac clientele in recent years, the
proprietor of a local print shop brought
in his eight-year-old PowerMac because it
wouldn't startup anymore. Still running OS
9, it had a full-up, seriously fragmented
20MB hard drive. We fixed it.....
"They stole the PC but never touched our Mac." Doesn't take any brains to be
a burglar.
"We havta use PCs, 'cause we use industry-standard CAD software." Industry-standard, y'say?
Really. (It's always amazing how
PC-types rationalize being enslaved by
the inertia of Microsoft.) So, creating
3-D CAD drawings in half the time with
half the effort and four-times the
quality - this is of no use to you?
Really!
"Mac users, they're like a... a... cult." "They flock to Apple stores, hang out all hours..." This AM radio talk show host
went on to ponder why Mac users are so
fond of their computers and iPods and
iPhones; an unfathomable condition for PC
types. The fact
that he was operating from a Mac-centric
broadcast studio (as guest host) probably
had him wondering what he's been missing.
"You can't play games on a Mac." Of course you can, but -
whatta waste! If all you use a computer
for is playing games, then by all means
get yourself a cheap PC.
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Mac-versus-PC? The contest is
all but over (and I'm gonna miss it).
Compare any aspect of
the two platforms, side-by-side: Product
design, hardware specs, speed and
efficiency, service, security,
longevity, or any other measure. Macs
come out on top. When comparing
Operating Systems and ease of use, it's
a no-brainer. If you're still using a
PC, doncha think it's time to upgrade?
We can help w'that.....
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