Review of 'MacHeads' Documentary

An anonymous reader writes "Just prior to its premiere at MacWorld later this week, CNet has a review of MacHeads, the new documentary film covering the obsessive world of Apple fanboyism. MacHeads features commentary from original Apple employees, the self-confessed Apple-obsessed and girls who claim they'll never sleep with Windows users. Summed up by CNet: 'MacHeads is a superb film that will give Apple haters a few cheap laughs, and Apple fans a few cheap thrills. But it'll entertain both equally, while educating everybody else.'"

Comments

I prefer to stick to more healthy obsessions

[elrous0]

...like my obsessive defense of Deep Space 9 as the best of the Trek series.

Re:I prefer to stick to more healthy obsessions

[jellomizer]

Yea but they just coppied Babylon 5.
Think about it...
Based on a space station.
The head honcho of the station had a rank of commander then later on there was a captain.
Head Honcho(s) had some deep destiny that they needed to follow controlled by an alien race with supernatural powers who talked in confusing language that only became clear once the events have happened.
A secondary race of aliens who somehow have a more detailed knowledge of these super aliens.
War against a superior race who at first is considered indestructible and later on in the series killing them becomes a piece of cake.
Command of a ship that is brand new. Much smaller then the other ships and cannot be recognized as one of the good guys. But chalk full of shooting goodness. Now with some alien technology that makes it that much more devastating.

It is only the best Trek series because they stole everything from Babylon 5.

Re:I prefer to stick to more healthy obsessions

[HadouKen24]

I think that DS9 was the best of the Treks for reasons which have nothing to do with the above.

The ethnocentrism and blind idealism of the Federation is brought into view. Though supposedly welcoming and accepting, it views races like the Ferengi with distrust and even disdain.

Religion is treated more directly and more honestly than in most television shows, period. Almost unimportant (except as an occasional plot device) in the other Treks, now questions of personal religious conviction are addressed. And religious extremism and religiously motivated violence as a result have to be dealt with.

The question of the legitimate limit of violence when under occupation is brought up--and we don't get much of an answer at all.

Potential consequences of genetic enhancement are not only considered, but humanized in the figure of an important character.

In general, DS9 manages to help us get a grip on contemporary problems and worries by putting them at a distance from us (and, to be fair, by oversimplifying and exaggerating them). In doing so, it becomes much more interesting.

Re:I prefer to stick to more healthy obsessions

[Fallingcow]

I thought DS9 was the most consistent of the new Trek series, especially past season 1.

IMO, TNG had a much bigger "amazing episode followed by an unwatchable POS that doesn't even seem like the same show" problem. I think that DS9 generated fewer 5-out-of-5 excellent individual episodes, but also fewer 1-out-of-5ers. Still a few 5s, though, and loads of 4s.

The multi-episode and season-long story arcs are why it's my favorite.

Re:I prefer to stick to more healthy obsessions

[Culture20]

DS9 copied everything from another, older show. There was this show called Star Trek back in the 70's. It had a Federation, Star Fleet, transporters, warp drive, phasers, photon torpedoes, Vulcans, Klingons, and there was one episode of DS9 where they even used old footage of Star Trek and digitally added in DS9 characters. T(e)ribble, if you ask me. ;)

Re:I prefer to stick to more healthy obsessions

[StikyPad]

Though supposedly welcoming and accepting, it views races like the Ferengi with distrust and even disdain.

And with good reason!! Those ugly swindling bastards would sell their own mothers if it would turn a profit.

Re:I prefer to stick to more healthy obsessions

[lysergic.acid]

DS9 has some great episodes like In the Pale Moonlight and some of the Ferengi-centered ones provided great comedy relief dispersed throughout the more serious story arc. however, there was also a ton of completely unwatchable crap IMO--particularly the episodes about Sisko's gradual conversion to Bajoran religion and were basically preaching religious faith.

i mean, Gene Roddenberry was a staunch atheist, and he makes this pretty clear throughout TNG. so even though there were TNG episodes that touched on the issue of religion, it was understood that religiosity is not a trait of an enlightened society, nor would it be conducive of the scientific advances necessary for interstellar travel. yet Rick Berman bases the entire DS9 series around the Bajoran race, a backward theocracy steeped in superstition and religious cliches, that somehow managed to develop FTL propulsion technology in a time when their society still obeyed a caste system.

this no doubt gave DS9 a broader appeal to the general population, but it really goes against the original spirit of Star Trek. for me part of the appeal of Star Trek was Roddenberry's use of science fiction to explore alternative lifestyles, social dynamics, and political systems. he used Star Trek to ponder what life would be like without familiar social institutions like religion, nation-states, or capitalism. being set in the future, Roddenberry tried to extrapolate and project the social/cultural/political progress humanity might make over several centuries time.

in contrast, Bajoran society is just an idealized version of past & existing theocracies. there's a state religion, but somehow religious conflict & intolerance aren't an issue, because everyone follows the same religion. and instead of solving problems on one's own using rational thought and human(oid) ingenuity, the series often advocates prayer and having faith in the supernatural to solve your problems for you. i think one season finale even ends with a deus ex machina through intervention by the wormhole aliens (the prophets). not to mention, TOS and TNG were both primarily about discovery/exploration and interaction with alien species, whereas much of DS9 is centered around gun fights and space battles.

Re:I prefer to stick to more healthy obsessions

[W2k]

You're missing a key point with regards to the Bajoran religion; their gods actually exist and on multiple occasions throughout DS9 do they interfere directly in the lives of their worshippers, Sisko included. You'd need pretty strong reasons not to become religious if god came to you and told you you were his prophet. (Assuming you couldn't blame it on mental health issues.)

As for solving problems by prayer and faith, praying to a god who not only exists for a fact but who also has a track record of helping his followers actually makes quite a lot of sense from a rational pov.

Of course, none of this has anything to do with religion in the real world. I'm an atheist, too.

Huh.

[Anonymous Coward]

girls who claim they'll never sleep with Windows users

They're probably ugly anyway.

Holy water? Garlic?

[Thanshin]

Other titles you may also enjoy:

- People who buy Nike shooes!
- Maserati: A noble car embiggens the smallest man.

Re:Holy water? Garlic?

[Anonymous Coward]

Nothing says "I don't have a personality" like quoting the Simpsons! Please, stop modding this shit funny. If it's funny, then a bird regurgitating food for its babies is FUCKIN' HILARIOUS.

"Trekkies" with a different context

[CommandoCody]

More likely, "MacHeads is another cheap 'find a subculture and mock it' film that will pander to Apple haters, and bore or irritate Apple fans. It will broaden the minds of neither, and pass unnoticed by everyone else."

Re:"Trekkies" with a different context

[rolfwind]

More likely, "MacHeads is another cheap 'find a subculture and mock it' film that will pander to Apple haters, and bore or irritate Apple fans. It will broaden the minds of neither, and pass unnoticed by everyone else."

Yeah. What I find are more anti-whatevers, than pro-whatevers. People obsessing over what other people use. Some of the causes might be legitimate (marketshare concerns or they end up doing tech support for friends/relatives) and some are petty (obsessing how other people spend their money).

For the classic in OS satire, there is "The Unix Hater's Handbook":
http://www.icce.rug.nl/edu/ugh.pdf

It was pretty much the poke in the eye to unix users but the anti-foreword was written by Dennis Ritchie - but was just as scathing right back:) (This was when some users came from other systems, like Lisp Machines.) It's probably still relevant today, seeing as how OS with unix foundations are the only OS with marketshare outside Windows these days.

Re:"Trekkies" with a different context

[TheRaven64]

The Unix Hater's Handbook, by the way, is well worth anyone reading. Some of the comments are still valid today, and some now apply to a lot more systems than UNIX. Some, such as the X11 section, are largely obsolete (for example, many of the complaints about X11 were due to different, incompatible, X servers - now pretty much everyone uses X.org, even on Windows). A lot of the criticisms are still dead on, however, and are made even more sad by the fact that they are due to Free Software developers who never had access to systems that did things a better way (Lisp Machines, Multics, Burroughs Large Systems and so on), and so don't know any better.

Re:Hmmm...

[betterunixthanunix]

Linux users don't have sex! I have documentary evidence of this:

http://xkcd.com/196/

Re:Hmmm...

[Thanshin]

ps- Speaking of not getting laid, anyone know a hot linux-obsessed lesbian?

Yes, and she's looking for another one.

Re:Hmmm...

[bowl_of_petunias]

They do too!

Well, I've heard rumors...

I'm pretty sure...

I can totally prove my point utilizing a clever cartoon and my powers of snarky wit! I just need to find a link...

click...

click...

clickity clack click...

Drat!

Oh well, at least I still have my pron.

Fence Burns

[vjmurphy]

"MacHeads is a superb film that will give Apple haters a few cheap laughs, and Apple fans a few cheap thrills. But it'll entertain both equally, while educating everybody else."

Wow, that's such a fence-sitting position that it's probably hard on their butts. It's as if they don't want to offend anyone. "While World War II was indeed a deadly conflict, it gave the Allies a few cheap laughs, and the Axis a few cheap thrills, but it'll kill both equally." I think I can use this for my upcoming performance review...

Good God, they're still around?

[Phybersyk0]

I don't get this obsession. Back in the day I was a rabid (psychotic) Amiga fan/user. As I matured I realized something, IT'S JUST A COMPUTER GUYS. JUST ANOTHER TOOL. If people were this committed to, say hammers or forstner bits -- you'd think they were completely insane.

I'm also looking at you, the "yeah, but can it run LINUX" crowd. For fucks sake, people many of you are amongst the most intelligent human beings in the world, you need to be out there breeding instead of developing a goddamn zippo lighter simulator for your iPhone.

Re:Good God, they're still around?

[jerep]

I'm also looking at you, the "yeah, but can it run LINUX" crowd. For fucks sake, people many of you are amongst the most intelligent human beings in the world

Since when is the linux crowd the most intelligent human beings? I'm not against linux people or anything but I fail to see how smarter they are compared to any other kind of people. In my opinion they're just more knowledgeable in this one field.

Re:Good God, they're still around?

[Tranzistors]

Just another tool, eh?
Considering the fact that we wouldn't be able to do much of what we are doing now without any tools says something about how important they are. And really how much of a human are we with a stick at most?
These tools let us be human like and thus they become part of us.
Should we be obsessed? Of course not, by the virtue of the word 'obsessed', which has negative meaning.
Should we consider a computer *just* another tool? Perhaps, but we won't.

Re:Good God, they're still around?

[yttrstein]

*were* among the most intelligent human beings in the world.

I think what you're not considering is the fact that you yourself have aged, and therefore your opinions and perceptions have changed as well. Most people mellow out of the "raging 20s" where everything seems like a social injustice, even if it's some guy in a coffee shop using an OS that they think "sucks".

It seems to me that it's a problem of relativity. The people you seem to be referencing are very likely right around the same age you were (and I was) when we were ferocious about such things. I was an Amiga person too, and then a rabid Mac owner, then an elite NeXT user, then a smartass Linux user, but eventually I decided, just like you, that it really is just a computer and that there are far more important things to worry about and spend time dealing with.

And that's why I use OS X.

Re:Good God, they're still around?

[spruce]

I'd never sleep with anyone who uses forstner bits!

Re:Good God, they're still around?

[value_added]

As I matured I realized something, IT'S JUST A COMPUTER GUYS. JUST ANOTHER TOOL.

Expect to turn 30 and realise that NOT ALL TOOLS ARE ALIKE. You'll laugh more at yourself than others for once thinking that some of them even belonged in the same conversation.

And if you had the foresight to develop some skills along the way and nurtured your intellectual curiousity, you'll insist on making your own tools by the time you're fourty, an advocating the same to people on Slashdot who are oblivious to the difference.

When you turn 50, you'll insist that all tools you use are either of your own making, or resemble those you used at a formative stage in your life. Incidentally, that's about the same time you prefer hardware stores to other forms of social interaction where you spend considerable time evaluating the relative merits of different manufacturers of hammers and forstner bits. It's all the same time you end up pissing off the wife by buying a sports car and spend even more time in the garage with your tools.

Re:Good God, they're still around?

[MrCrassic]

You think that a Zippo lighter's a waste of intelligence?

The iFart application is the leading application in the App Store right now. Yes, a farting application.

Re:Good God, they're still around?

[h4rm0ny]

Linux users are normally people who have gone beyond what they were presented with and explored other possibilities (else they would be using Windows). That attitude is an indicator of intelligence. Linux also requires having self-educated oneself on how to manage the system for most of us. That attitude is also an indicator of intelligence. So it's reasonable to guess that statistically, Linux users may be from the intelligent segments of society. But it's only a small part of the larger set of intelligent people. Using Linux might be a clue that someone is smart, but using Windows is not a sign that someone is not.

Re:Good God, they're still around?

[Lars T.]

The typical response of a guy with sucky tools.

Re:Good God, they're still around?

[yttrstein]

Would your response have been different if I'd said "And that's why I use netBSD"?

I bet it would, since really no one admits to using netBSD (though why I don't know). I chose to say OS X because 1. it's true and 2. It was funny in the context of the rest of the post and 3. it was a statement of utter irrelevancy.

You're absolutely right, it doesn't matter at all what OS *I* use. It matters what YOU use, and that's none of my business, really. Me saying "And that's why I use OS X" was certainly inviting argument, and its true that that's part of why I said it. But it's also true that I invited argument with something that I believe is irrelevant from top to bottom. I don't care if you use OS X or not.

I only care if I do, and now you have my personal reasoning for it, should you find it interesting or useful. I like knowing why other people choose what they do, whether its on operating system or a good cantaloupe. Then when it comes time for me to choose again, I might have a little more insight insofar as how my needs dovetail with my choices.

Re:Good God, they're still around?

[yttrstein]

Actually I run a pretty busy network security company entirely with OS X, top to bottom. But I don't do it for political or social reasons. I do it because it fits the needs of my business the best.

One of the reasons that it's so handy in my line of work is that it's been certified as a Unix by the Open Group. These certifications do actually mean quite a lot, for better or worse, and they often figure deeply into these sorts of decisions.

But if it's not for you, then that's fine. Computing needs vary, as do therefore computational environments, including hardware, software, and operating system. If I want to play some sort of beautiful, cutting edge FPS, I know that for an excellent experience I'll find myself building a 10,000 dollar gaming machine with four video cards running Vista. If I want my machine to never, ever crash while it's running Postfix and a DNS server, I'll use Open or NetBSD.

If I want my Oracle installation to be able to chomp into 6 terabyte databases with as little latency as possible, I'll run them on Solaris with a heavily tweaked kernel.

And if I want a good balance between shallow ramping, ease of use, compliance to common standards and a certification that allows my customers to breathe easy (for whatever reason), then I'll use OS X.

I'm not quite sure why you have a problem with that.

Wrong-O, Big Time

[BenEnglishAtHome]

The os-obsessed person cited in the article as limiting her sex partner options was Violet Blue. Your comment that "the odds of *ever* getting laid are not particularly good for os-obsessed humans" is, in her case, so wrong it's beyond funny.

Violet Blue fans feel free to chime in here.

Re:Wrong-O, Big Time

[anagama]

The violet blue in Macheads is the writer, not the porn star. If you're thinking of Noname Jane, think again.

Re:Educating?

[vadim_t]

Depends on what you mean by "apple hater".

For instance, I won't buy any product by Microsoft, Apple, Sony or Creative.

In my view, Apple is just as bad as Microsoft, they just lack the marketshare to pull off the truly nasty stuff, so I'm not going to give them any.

As far as "hating" them, not really. I don't spend the day trolling Apple forums and websites, or anything of the sort.

But even corporate behavior aside, the Apple fanboys are a turnoff. I want to feel like I'm making a good purchase, not buying an entry into a religious cult. I'm also completely uninterested in praises of Steve Jobs, Apple's UI design and such things. Though the same goes for all other companies.

Fanboys

[nasor]

I have a lot of Apple fanboy friends, and they finally convinced me to spend the extra money for a macbook pro when it came time to buy a new laptop. So far I've been seriously underwhelmed. Contrary to the claims of virtually every Apple user I know, my new laptop with OS X doesn't appear to be any more stable than my old Windows XP laptop. It still periodically locks up for no apparent reason, which I can only solve by making it force-quit applications. It still sometimes slows down for no apparent reason (presumably because something is hogging resources). Also, a few weeks ago one of the updates killed my laptop's display somehow and I had to plug it into an external monitor to fix it - which was a huge pain in the ass, because for some inexplicable reason the macbook pro doesn't have a standard VGA port for connecting to external monitors, AND Apple didn't bother to include the necessary adapters with the laptop. Maybe the update was a ploy to see how many people they could force to buy $16 adapters?

Overall I'm still enjoying my laptop, but I'm astounded that so many people basically lied to me with claims of how perfectly stable and wonderful macs are. I find it very difficult to believe that I'm the only one who has to force-quit applications or deal with inexplicable slowdowns. Surely all these fanboys are having the same sorts of problems. So why can't they just admit it? Why do they have to insist that everything is perfect?

Re:Fanboys

[Anonymous Coward]

Er... if you're able to force-quit applications, then the operating system hasn't locked up. The operating system is working fine, and the program in question has locked up. Even Apple can't save you from poorly written applications. (although your complaint is perfectly valid if the apps you're seeing lock up were written by Apple)

Re:Fanboys

[gad_zuki!]

Im convinced that most people who talk about OSX being superior are windows users who have built up some kind of weirdo OSX fetish fantasy. At my old job I supported several OSX machines and they were as much trouble as anything else. I loved sitting there watching the spinning rainbow do its thing for no reason and trying to navigate to the command line to run top while it was running so slow. There really should be a hotkey to top or a GUI-based task manager equivalent.

Apple does a good job of forcing a lot of features into its OS but that usually translates into a slow experience, especially coming from XP on an modern machine.

As far as the lying goes, well, exaggeration is human nature. Its really your job to filter out the BS. This doesnt just apply to computers, but to everything in life.

Re:Fanboys

[je ne sais quoi]

I don't know why I'm doing this, because you can almost never figure out what is going on from these kinds of stories but I feel I need to at least try and help you. :) So, did you install any of the "Application Enhancer" or other kernel hacks? If you did, there's your problem, they break with ever upgrade and have been known to cause the system to become unstable. Next, try reseting the PRAM and the PMU. If that doesn't help, try keeping your activity monitor open and see what applications are hogging the resources and see if there's one in particular or something else. Also, you probably should have 1 GB of memory, memory is so cheap that it's worth avoiding any possible memory issues (just don't buy your memory from Apple, they rip you off).

Overall I'm still enjoying my laptop, but I'm astounded that so many people basically lied to me with claims of how perfectly stable and wonderful macs are.

Often, they are. The key word there is often. Sometimes they're not. No computer is perfect, and I suppose that your mac friends were overselling their computers and gave you unrealistic expectations. Yes, Apple computers cost more, and whether that cost is worth it depends on your individual priotities, but they have problems sometimes just like every other computer. I find they have few enough problems to keep me coming back. To give you an indication, I've owned or used macs for about 11 years now and I've never once had a software update cause a problem on any of my computers. Not once. The record for my current desktop uptime is 112 days, and then I only had to reboot to install a security update. I've had three mac laptops, my Lombard powerbook was a handme down and we retired it after 5 years. My Ti powerbook lasted 4 years before a logic board failure caused me to replace it. My current Al macbook pro is running strong after three years and certainly runs better than newer "Vista-ready" laptops that ended up not really having the resources to run Vista well, but I have to say that XP SP2 is probably about as stable as OS X at this point.

Re:Fanboys

[ClioCJS]

Same with windows. THe OS almost never locks up, it's the programs. I typically reboot because a program wont work correctly, not because the OS crashes. In 1 yr of XP, I've only had about 5 non-voluntary reboots (not counting power failures where my UPS ran out of batteries).

Fans and haters

[Asgerix]

'MacHeads is a superb film that will give Apple haters a few cheap laughs, and Apple fans a few cheap thrills. But it'll entertain both equally, while educating everybody else'

I like this quote. It basically says that if you're not a fan and not a hater, it's because you're not educated properly!

Re:Hmmm...

[joaommp]

Yes, they do get laid... they're just too humble to tell anyone...

I only sleep with Windows users

[Fear the Clam]

They're used to lousy performance.
No mater how bad the sex is, I just promise that next time it's going to be better than ever and they believe me.
If I "crash" while they're trying to, y'know, get things done, it's no big deal.
They're used to getting boned in the ass.

Well there's three reasons

[Sycraft-fu]

1) People who have crap hardware. A number of people I know who got a Mac and find it to be much better find that mostly because they had a really bad PC. It was a cheapie and slow right when it came out, never mind the 5+ years later when this is. Also means they were running a rather outdated OS. So it isn't a surprise that a massive hardware + software upgrade gives a much better experience.

2) People who have an extremely broken system. Their system is full of crapware and breaks basically all the time. Software doesn't install, etc. They are finding it a major improvement because it was effectively a wipe/reinstall.

However by far the most common

3) They are lying to themselves. Seen this time and time again. They want/need to believe that this change is 100% for the better, so they tell themselves there are no problems. My best anecdote for this is from when I was in university, back before OS-X. I was in a friend's dorm room and his roommate and I were discussing computers. He had a Mac. He was telling me that the thing he liked was that "Macs never crash." As he was talking and noodling around, his system bombed. You know, the old bomb error. He clicked the restart and continued on. I interrupted him saying "Wait, right there! Your system crashed!" He then argued that no, it wasn't a crash like Windows does and so on. He was just lying to himself. He'd convinced himself that his system just didn't have problems like Windows did.

So that's the biggest reason they won't admit it: They really don't acknowledge that they are having problems. They lie to themselves, which then leads them to mislead you.

The truth of the matter is no consumer computer is perfect, and none likely ever will be. No matter what your OS, when you have an environment as complex and uncontrolled as one where people can install whatever they like, problems WILL happen. Certainly some OSes will have less problems, but anyone who tells you there's no problems is full of it.

Re:Well there's three reasons

[gregorio]

was just lying to himself. He'd convinced himself that his system just didn't have problems like Windows did.

Lots of OSS zealots who sometimes spend 5 days to make something simple work at Linux (sometimes that happens, even if its the person's fault) are also that way. In fact, most of them use "smart people" distributions like Slackware because "they never break" and "allow me to be in full control of my machine". Yet, when something breaks they realise (but don't admit) that they do not have full control over it, that their precious "superior choice" also has issues.

It's the same thing: they're lying, and with a touch of elitism into it. Their "thing" is not about making a good choice about computing or executing tasks faster of cheaper. It's about belonging to groups (and, on an advanced point, being part of the group's institutional machine) and feeling good. It's just radical enviro-activism.

After all, they allowed themselves to define their own personality based on those choices. That's how weak they are right now. They're not in control anymore: denying the tool/group/choice would mean denying their own personality.

Re:Hmmm...

[MBGMorden]

Hmmm...let's do some quick back-of-the envelope calculation. Six billion people in the world, three billion women. Maybe 10% are "hot" (as opposed to cute, pretty, whatever, which would be a lower standard). That's 600M hot women. Say 5% are truly lesbian (as opposed to bi, bi-curious, etc), so 6M hot lesbians in the whole world. Let's say 50% use computers (I'm not sure about this number), and 1% of those use Linux.

There should be about 30,000 hot Linux-using lesbians in the world.

Your data is likely skewed in several areas. For one, of those 3 billion women, a significant portion of them are going to be either minors, or the elderly. For the "sex era" you're probably looking at the 18-45 age bracket. You can probably reduce your 3 billion by at least 40% there.

Your 5% number for pure lesbians is also likely a tad high. A wiki article on homosexuality cites a poll taken of registered votes where 4% identified as gay, lesbian, or bisexual. So 1% less off the bat, but you also have to account for some % of that 4% being bisexual too.

50% using computers is REALLY high. Maybe in the US, Japan, etc, and other developed nations, but a lot of the world's population is still living in huts and figuring out how to survive each day. The number of people using computers to any significant extent is going to be far lower than 50%.

Finally, Linux users are less than 1% of computer users, and I'd posit a STRONG guess that Linux users are disproportionately skewed towards males rather than females (not so much out of any "ew, girls are bad at computers" issue as it is societal pressure pushing many girls out of the fields/areas that would lead to a progressed interest in the technical aspects of computers, which often goes along with running Linux. That's changing some now, but is still an issue).

So, while I'd posit that there certainly is some non-zero number of lesbian Linux zealots out there, I doubt there's anywhere near 30,000 of them ;).

Re:Educating?

[db32]

That depends on the app. The most I have seen happen from the drag/drop variety are plist files created elsewhere that hold the preferences and whatnot. The few that I have bumped into that do much more than that often have installers/uninstallers. Though I do agree, the ones that do toss other stuff around with no sane way to clean up are pretty irritating, however losing some disk space is not even remotely in the same ballpark as the registry nightmare that Windows does. Personally my favorite is the apt/dpkg toolset.

Please shut up

[GuloGulo]

"PC users mock Mac users for their "fanboy" stuff"

No, stop lying to yourself. They get mocked because of stupid hyperbolic assertions that never hold up in reality, and a total unwillingness to admit problems are actually problems.

"but it is because PC users don't understand what it is like to have a computer that is actually nice to use. "

NO, they understand that it's A FUCKING COMPUTER. My roommate has 2 macs. They're nice. They're by no means "nicer" than my set-up, which I've spent a ton of time customizing. Your assumption that people are downing are Mac users for "not using a nice PC" is ridiculous and kind of stupid.

YOU are the EXACT person I'm talking about, blindly dismissing issues as "PC users frame of reference" because you're totally incapable of registering a real problem because you're so deluded.

Re:Please shut up

[db32]

"which I've spent a ton of time customizing".

You kinda proved my point there. Most people don't like spending a bunch of time customizing just to get it behave in a sane fashion. Power users frequently do. Personally my family is more important than spending "a ton of time customizing" just to get the damned thing to behave in a sane fashion. If it is "just a fucking computer" why did you bother to spend "a ton of time" customizing it? Clearly it is more than "just a fucking computer" to you if you are willing to spend "a ton of time" customizing it. You mentioned something about stupid hyperbolic assertions?

What problem by the way? I didn't say there weren't problems in OS X. In fact I called Apple about a problem that happened after the 10.5.5 update. I spoke with someone whose native language was English. They forwarded me on to the engineering guys who gathered some data. Then a few days later they actually called me back with an update on what was going wrong. Imagine that... I have had to deal with other vendor's support for AGES and have NEVER in my life been treated that well as a generic caller.

Now if it doesn't have the software you need then it isn't the right tool. But everyone I have met that bitches and moans about Mac users have never actually spent a significant amount of time actually using one. They might have fiddled with one, and it didn't behave exactly the same as what they were used to, called it stupid and left it at that (which is exactly what I did for many years before actually devoting some time to trying to learn it).

Re:Please shut up

[GuloGulo]

"You kinda proved my point there."

No I didn't, your "point" was that "PC users don't understand what it is like to have a computer that is actually nice to use."

I HAVE a computer that is nice to use. How it got there is irrelevant to your point, you're just wrong.

" Clearly it is more than "just a fucking computer" to you if you are willing to spend "a ton of time" customizing it."

No. These two points have nothing to do with each other, it can be both "just a fucking computer" and be customizable to my tastes. Your point makes no sense.

"You mentioned something about stupid hyperbolic assertions? "

Yes I did, and you've proven me 100% accurate so far with yours, which I have demonstrated.

SO far, all you've done is prove me totally correct.

Re:Please shut up

[Omestes]

I recently switched back to Windows from OS X. I originally switched from Windows to OS X for much of the reasons you speak of. I had a rather nasty series of hardware issues (New graphics cards drivers did nasty things, and combined with a new HDD needed a new PSU, new PSU fried mobo),and software problems, so when the computer made its freindly "snap" noise, and the ozone filled the air, I decided "screw it" and bought a G4 PowerMac.

OS X was sexy, which is an odd thing to call a mere OS. It was VERY user friendly, and actually somewhat fun to use. With about half the specs of my old top-of-the-line PC, it still ran remarkably fast. With the new iPod that came with it, I was in computer heaven. I never had to work for my computer, as I did with Linux and Windows and the general PC (for lack of a better term) hardware. And it has Adium and Quicksilver, which are probably two of the best designed chucks of code that ever existed.

Finally its HDD died, and I sold it off for about 70% of its original value, even while being broken. (very odd how much Mac people buy crap for).

So I got an Intel MacBook. With around twice the raw numbers of hardware, it ran a bit slower than the G4. It chugged. It didn't like multi-tasking, even when I fed it RAM like candy. Photoshop ran like molasses on the surface of Pluto, which is nice for something I actually shelled out a small countries fortune for. Then OS X updated, and no app developer would ever support my previous (only 1.5 year old) version. No more updates for me, unless I shelled out $100. I realized then that OS X is a subscription, not a release. Each version they make minor (superfluous) tweaks to make sure that nothing developed for the NEW version is backwards compatible with the old version. If you want new toys, you MUST pay Apple, every damn year. Like is MS charged for service packs, and released one a year. Named OS X version are NOT new OSs, they are just boring point releases that cost $100 apiece. (like the latest one, wow $100 for versioning and virtual desktops! Thinks that *nix has had for years, for free)

Then I bought a crappy middle-of-the-road HP laptop that was on a wicked Xmas sale. It was running Vista, which at first I wanted to abolish, but later learned to tolerate (with 4GB of RAM), and later still to actually like a bit (with 6GB of RAM and SP1). The HP had the same exact hardware as the Mac, but seemed faster. I relearned the joy of messing around inside the OS, streamlining it. Making it appear like MY home, and not the Model Home look that Apple likes (its pretty, but generally impersonal).

The Intel Integrated Video sucked. So this year I bought and tweaked a middle-of-the-road Dell, throwing in RAM, a decent graphics card, a huge monitor.

Long story short, it depends on what you want. No OS is superior. They all fit a certain type of user. I giggle at people who think their OS is perfect. I tell my parents to buy Macs, my friends to stick with Vista, while telling a very small percentage of them about various *nix releases. Too each his own, based on style and needs.

Vista fits my middle ground between desire to tweak things, and desire to have things work smoothly. Some people want their computer to be a toaster, let them have Macs. Some people want to treat them like muscle-car projects, let them run *nix.

Just bring Quicksilver and Adium to Windows, please.

Re:Educating?

[Gizzmonic]

Serves you right for using Adobe programs.

Re:Hmmm...

[geekgirlandrea]

ps- Speaking of not getting laid, anyone know a hot linux-obsessed lesbian?

*raises hand*

Preferences of a Windows guy...

[w0mprat]

Do mac girls only have one nipple?

Oh my...

[adh0c]

I've seen a trailer for this thing previously, and I am amazed. Macintosh users have their heads stuck up their own asses so far they can lick the back side of their tonsils. It's one thing to behave like an elitist jerk with your striped tight clothes, thick-rimmed glasses, writing on your Web 2.0 blog about geopolitics while you sip a coffee at a local Starbucks and flipping the pages of a book written in French, but to make a documentary about how much of a pretentious fanboy you are - I think only Mac users can do that. Congratulations, Apple, iHateYou. Also, this will be modded "troll" because I used a politically incorrect word, and, what's worse, presented an un-hip opinion.

Re:Hmmm...

[Hatta]

You're assuming all of those qualities are independent. I don't think that's the case. I'd be willing to bet that a linux using female is more likely than average to be a lesbian. That's just my personal bias, but it seems likely that a female who enjoys one stereotypical male behavior (using linux) is probably more predisposed to enjoy another stereotypical male behavior (screwing chicks). I'd also predict that lesbians are less likely to be hot than average, simply because a significant proportion of them are butch.