My first three cell phones all came from the same company. The fact that the three phones only lasted a combined three years before falling apart, one after another? Well, that's why my new cell phone, acquired this week, came from some other company. Three consecutive pieces of crap from Brand A was finally enough of an impetus to get me to shift to Brand B. But come to think of it, I would have been just as happy to move to Brand C or Brand D, because I've heard horror stories about every brand of cell phone out there, and at this point I figure they're all just the same crap, but different. I had no real reason to believe that my new phone would be any more intuitive to use, or even last any longer before falling apart. All I cared about was getting away from the one brand that had thrice burned me.
If you haven't caught on by now, I really can't stand cell phones. They're probably my definition of a "necessary evil." And yet, I can't help but think that most people out there in the general public tend to view personal computers in the same regard in which I view cell phones: they serve a vital purpose, it would be difficult to get by without one in this day and age, but when it comes down to it, they all just plain suck. In fact, I hear the same refrain of surrender all the time: "I guess I'm just not a computer person." And considering how much joy I get out of personal computing on a daily basis, it just kills me to hear it. Because it doesn't have to be that way. But I think I can understand why so many people end up reaching that conclusion.
I knew after that first Brand A cell phone of mine started making callers sound as if they were underwater, that I wouldn't be wise to replace it with more crap from the same company. But the thing was, I knew how to use that first phone, and let's just say that any adeptness I might possess for computers just doesn't seem to carry over so well when it comes to tiny devices that try to pack 36 alphanumeric characters onto ten buttons, and 57 different functions onto four other buttons. I'd invested a certain amount of time into memorizing how that first phone's convoluted, logicless interface worked when it came to tasks such as adding names to the phone book and so on, and I figured that if I jumped to a different company, I'd just end up having to waste time memorizing some other convoluted, logicless interface. In other words, the same crap but different.
And such is, I believe, the mindset of many PC users today. But the personal computing landscape is a little different, because most of the general public is aware that Brands A, B, C, and D all use the same exact convoluted, logicless interface, and if you've learned one, you can use another. And in this case, "convoluted" and "logicless" are their words, not mine. You ever hear anyone say anything good about Windows? That they like it, that it's easy to use, that it inspires them? Nah, never. Sure, there are a handful of vocal Windows geeks who go around chanting such stuff (primarily in an attempt to show off the fact that they can easily get around on Windows while most of the population struggles), but most of the general public just uses Windows because it's, you know, there.
And sadly, the very fact that Windows is so crappy, is one of the things that makes it so difficult for Apple to lure people away from it. It took three pieces of crap from the same company to finally push me to the point where I was willing to accept a phone from a different company, with an entirely new interface that, as I've found out this week, is just as stupid as the last one. Only this new one, I have no idea how to use yet. And it's going to take me just as long to learn it, as it took me to learn how to use my old phone's interface.
So if I were a PC user, and the only real contact I'd had with a modern Macintosh was through the misinformation that surrounds the platform like a dust bowl swirling around paradise, I can only imagine how I would view the prospect of switching to the Mac. Sure, Apple is promising the moon, I'd think, but then again so did the last three companies that I bought Windows PC's from. I'd be thinking that all of personal computing was really just one big scam, with every company making the same pitch, all promising things that simply cannot be done, all promising a level of success that simply does not exist. Personal computing is crap, I'd think, a weak attempt at a necessary evil. But I'd figure that through years of rote memorization and painful trial and error, at least I knew how the Windows crap worked...if only slightly. So why on earth would I want to toss that painfully acquired knowledge out the window, and start over with a Mac, when surely Apple's promises would ring as hollow as anyone else's, and surely I would merely be setting myself up for a whole new round of rote memorization and painful trial and error? Why would I want to do that to myself?
And thus we have Apple's big challenge: there's a whole planet full of people who think very, very little of personal computing. They either think the whole thing is a failure, or they think that it's just not for them. Sure, they use it all the time, to do things that without it, they'd never otherwise be able to do. Come to think of it, just how awful does Windows have to be, that it could cause people to look at a miracle like personal computing, and see it with such disdain, such resentment?
Yet somehow, Apple has to try to step in and convince people that there doesn't have to be anything evil about it at all. Strangely enough, the fact that there are twenty-five million Mac users out there, most of whom see their computer as anything but an evil, isn't enough on its own. We try to convey to the frustrated Windows users around us that it simply does not have to be that way, and from their point of view, we come off as elitists, or even worse, loyalists. From their standpoint, they're comforted by the fact that at least they know that all computing is crap. But us, well we Mac users must be somehow blinded by some kind of brand loyalty, or brand delusionalism, or something unhealthy...because every Windows user knows that all computing experiences suck equally. Except, in their reasoning, the Mac sucks just a little bit more, because in addition to sucking for all the same reasons that Windows sucks, the Mac isn't even compatible...or expandable...and there's no software...and they're more expensive...and the company that makes it is going out of business...and everything's just awful.
Apparently, we Mac users are suffering through some kind of awful nightmare of an experience, and we don't even know it. Nevermind the fact that we're using a nearly trouble-free platform that's awe-inspiringly easy to learn and use, that does everything Windows does, and does it all a lot better, plus a whole heck of a lot more that can't even be done on Windows. Becausenone of that jives with the typical Windows user's perception that all personal computing sucks, and clearly, there's something wrong with us Mac users who haven't figured that out yet.
And yet somehow, amazingly, Apple is slowly but surely convincing Windows users to take a leap of faith, despite the fact that they have nothing to base that faith on. In the past year or two, there have been so many people to take the leap that every long-time Mac user personally knows at least one recent switcher, so many that their stories have been splattered across the internet, so many that it doesn't even surprise us anymore when we encounter a fellow Mac user who has only just bought their first Mac a few months earlier.
The really funny part is the zeal, the fervor, the desperation with which the Windows users around them have advised, warned, and in the end, even begged them not to make the switch. In fact, in order to make it all the way to the Mac without being dragged back by the Windows users around them, someone almost has to have an existing Mac user at their side during the decision-making process. And even after the switch has been made, the (perhaps subconscious) attempts to poison the Mac experience carry on, unabated.
A friend of mine who switched to the Mac nearly two years ago, still to this day is pelted with an unrelenting slew of pleas by her Windows-using friends, to get her to switch back. She's not falling for it; after a decade of using Windows and "not being a computer person" at all, she's discovered that computing can actually be something more than a necessary evil. She loves her Mac with a passion; this I know because it's the first, second, and last thing she tells me every time we speak. But still, she gets a never-ending stream of flack from her Windows-using friends (that she can, ironically, now largely run circles around in terms of computing prowess): myths, rumors, lies, and just plain made-up stuff about Apple and the Mac. Stuff that's so dire that every now and then, she still checks with me to verify that some of the scarier FUD being sent her way is indeed nonsense. And yet, it won't surprise me at all if her success on the Mac causes one or more members of her circle of friends to go ahead and make the leap as well. Because once reality has breached perception, it's only a matter of time before you stop fighting it and finally embrace it. But prior to that point, it can be one heck of a fight.
After spending your entire computing experience getting kicked in the head, turning around and accepting the idea that it doesn't (and never did) have to be that way, is an awful big leap of faith. When all you've ever dealt with is the same old crap, it's far too easy to assume that any new alternative is merely going to be the same crap but different. So if you're a Mac user and you've grown frustrated by your Windows-using friend who has come to you and expressed interest in switching to the Mac but at the same time doesn't quite seem to "get it," you might want to step back and consider how things look from their viewpoint. From where they're sitting, either you've stumbled onto something great that most of the world doesn't know about, or you're just plain crazy...one or the other. Go easy on them; they're just trying to figure out which of the two it is.
And the odds are good that one day, you'll hear them say something like this (and I quote): "Remember all those times I came to you, over and over again, and asked if I should get another PC, or get a Mac? You were so right. Thank you."
Trust me, and I can tell you this from experience, hearing something like that makes it all worthwhile.
hey folks, click here to shop Amazon and support us...
