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Macintosh... The Naked Truth Book Review
If you didn't see it on the Slashdot home page, be sure to check out the book review of Macintosh... The Naked Truth. Barrels of fun for the whole family!
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Is this really neccessary? I thought the purpose of slashdot was wo pick up stories from around the net, not from slashdot itself! Ever consider that some people have the apple section on their frontpage, so we see the review, and then a story pointing us to the review, fucking retarded...
Spencer Ogden
WTF point is this????
WOW
9:15am First 12:25pm second. It's just confirms the fact that the editors don't even read slashdot.
Ask Slashdot - google for stupid people.
For your redundant pleasure, here's the entire article in case it gets slashdotted. Or something like that.
From the opening pages of Scott Kelby's Macintosh... The Naked Truth , I was literally laughing out loud. I am a generally jovial character, so this is not the finest endorsement available, but it is typical of the experience the rest of the book offered me.
Macintosh... The Naked Truth
author Scott Kelby
pages 219
publisher New Riders
rating 7 out of 10 Macsbugs
reviewer pudge
ISBN 0-7357-1284-0
summary Funny, irreverent, but kinda bugged me in spots
The Naked Truth is a book about what it means to be a Macintosh user, in a world dominated by Windows. This should have tipped me off as to some troubles ahead, as I live as a Mac user in a predominantly Linux-dominated world. And I proudly use Linux (and, to a lesser extent, other forms of Unix, not even including Mac OS X) daily. As I write this, I have four terminal windows running in NiftyTelnet, connecting me to Linux boxes at work and at home. I am inserting a 700MB database dump into MySQL, scp'ing some MP3s, restarting some daemons, copying some source code for later porting, and monitoring disk space. I am a Macintosh devotee, and have been for more than 15 years, but I am a geek. A big, preemptively multitasking, geek.
But Kelly takes the perspective that Macintosh is not a computer for geeks, but for creative people who can't be bothered with geek-like things. So when he belittles those "PC users" who like to build their own computers, and I see the Linux box under my desk that I've recently been fiddling with, I just take it with a grain of salt. After all, geeks are allowed to like ease of use and a consistent and usable GUI, too.
This mischaracterization of some Mac users is also evident in his "definitive platform test." The questions, asking for things like a description of your own driving skills, are intended to tell you which platform you should use. On one end of the scale is the Macintosh user ("Average, I'm not a bad driver"), followed by borderline between Mac and PC user ("I'm an excellent driver, very cautious and alert") to obvious PC user ("I obey all posted traffic signs and don't exceed the speed limit"), to "militant" PC/DOS user ("I wish all those idiots would just get off the road!"). But clearly, any sane person would choose the latter response. I don't understand what the problem is. I selected the "Mac" and "DOS" answers evenly, which didn't do well for my overall score. I happily continue to use Mac OS nevertheless.
That said, Kelby is dead-on about many things, like how computer store personnel are mostly clueless (not that this is specific to Macintosh products, but it is more pronounced in that particular arena than in most); how most anti-Macintosh arguments by PC users either don't make sense any more or never made sense to begin with; how Apple has been the primary innovator of PC hardware and OS software; how Apple seems to succeed sometimes in spite of its own management. He tends to belabor his point on occasion (OK, we get it, CompUSA's Apple store-in-a-store is all the way in the back, we don't need you to spend two pages describing just how far back it is), but if taken in the good humor intended, it's a satisfying journey nevertheless.
His most interesting points, perhaps, have to do not with what it is like to be a Macintosh user in a foreign land -- I think everyone on Slashdot can understand these things, regardless of whatever non-Microsoft platform of choice they use -- but what it is like to be a Macintosh user in relation to Apple itself. He has some keen insights about where the passion comes from; why people love Apple; what's going on inside their heads.
But then again, reading his responses to letters written to Mac Today and Mac Design Magazine by PC users are just downright entertaining -- keenly insightful or not -- if you are the sort of individual who likes to see stupid people get smacked around. And who isn't?
Now, being a geek -- and a pedantic one at that -- I did take issue with him on some relatively minor issues, like claiming that Apple changed the name of Mac OS X to "OS 10.1" when it came time to do the first maintenance release; the fact is, the official name from day one was "Mac OS X 10.0," and that nothing has changed at all in that naming scheme. The current release is "Mac OS X 10.1.4." It's the same thing, with an incremented version number. He's absolutely right that this is a point of confusion, and in some ways poor marketing. For the next major release (Mac OS X 11.0? Mac OS 11? Mac OS XI?) there will surely be some more confusion, too. But nothing at all has changed in the naming scheme since the initial release. For now. I just want to make sure everyone is clear on this point. It is "Mac OS X, version 10.1.4," and "Mac OS, version 9.2.2." "Mac OS" and "Mac OS X" are OS names. "10.1.4" and "9.2.2" are version numbers. Got it?
Similarly, he bashes the Newton. Sure, the first release of Newton kinda stunk, but it was the first version. The last versions of the Newton MessagePad, aside from the size, were still by far the best PDAs around for the next several years. Newton still, to this day, has the best handwriting recognition in any consumer PDA, as well as the best (non-color) interface, and it was years ahead of its time in functionality. It was just too big. That was its only problem. Well, and too expensive. But maybe less so if it weren't so big.
And he also called Compaq's PDA an "iPac." And occasionally used poor punctuation. And I think I saw a run-on sentence in there.
But now I am getting worked up. I'll settle down. Deep breath, in, out, in, out. That's the thing about being a Mac user, Kelby points out: passion. Passion for Apple and its products, even the ones that stink, because Apple is more than just a company, it is an organization that changes our lives in important ways, by making products that make a difference to us.
OK, so maybe I am in the target audience after all.
Chapter List
1. Life after switching to Macintosh
Using a Mac is easy; being a Mac user sometimes isn't.
2. "I can't believe you actually use a Macintosh!" and other stupid things PC users say
Congress should rethink giving PC users freedom of speech.
3. Things Apple doesn't tell you about owning a Macintosh
Since Apple's not going to tell you, dontchathink somebody should?
4. The definitive platform test
Find out if you're really a Mac person, or just a PC person in cool clothing.
5. How to resist the overwhelming temptation to strangle Apple's management
Is "Apple Management" an oxymoron? And is "oxymoron" actually a synonym for a pimple cream for really dumb people?
6. CompUSA: Your own private hell
Tips for surviving the visualization of Apple's place in the world.
7. Why PC users need Apple
Heere's why they should be kissing Apple's butt (instead of Microsoft's)
8. "Don't pick fights with people who buy ink by the barrel"
PC users write me nasty letters, and I give them the public flogging they so richly deserve
9. Pot shots at Microsoft, the media, and anything else that gets in our way
Nobody gets out of here alive!
10. The 20 most important things I've learned about being a Mac user
There were actually 22 things, but that made for a really clunky chapter title.
11. The secret of Macintosh
Here's a hint: it's not Apple's advertising.
If tits were wings it'd be flying around.
This is dumb. Please don't cross post articles.
THIS SPACE FOR RENT
So naked you can't even see it ... like the emperor's clothes.
... again ...;-)"
How about "Apple makes a comeback
gus
.. if only.
The first article didn't appear on apple.slashdot.org, so they posted a pointer to it for the readers of apple.slashdot. Unfortunatly, it also appeared on the main slashdot site as well. Oops.
--
Evan
"$30 for the One True Ring. $10 each additional ring!" -- JRR "Bob" Tolkien
we heard you the first time...
because they couldn't classify the article as both "Apple" and "Book Review" so they chose book review, and then also linked to that article here.
Still silly though.
mark
If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe. -- Carl Sagan
I just wish I could use my last moderation point on this article insead of a post.
Editor is an idiot. Move on.