Take It With A Grain of Salt
Apple Matters is the third Mac-centric website that I have had the joy to published on. This is a very nice site with fairly intelligent and articulate readers which makes it very fun to post here. However, I have noticed that people who read my articles and comment on them (both here and on other sites that link to my pieces) tend to view me differently. In fact, they fall into two main categories, those that agree with me for the most part and feel I offer a valid point of view and those who think that I am a psychotic-Mac obsessed-raving lunatic-baised-idiotic-fan boy. (cough Bee- cough cough -ble- hack cough spit -brox)
However this trend goes beyond me and extends to quite a few people who write on websites that cater mainly to those who use Apple’s products. Those Apple-minded writers are often times ignored, jeered, insulted, belittled and otherwise not taken seriously. Now before some of you get your panties in a knot let me say this, quite a few of us bring it on ourselves. I, for one, have been raked over the coals for many of my posts and that is due to the fact that I tend to be an arrogant, condescending, self righteous, uncompromising jerk. I am aware that I can come across that way and I plan accordingly.
However several things have happened recently that might cause me to rethink my approach. After a few days of my posting of an article I google it to see who might have linked to it. Unfortunately not everyone who links to, or comments on, my articles leaves a trackback link. Thus quite a bit of useful comments are posted on other sites, and since I want to know what all of those people are saying I have to look around and read their post. After doing that enough I began to see an annoying pattern: people who aren’t fans of Apple have a hard time accepting most of my claims. Is this news? No. Is it annoying? Hell yes.
And here is why it bugs me so much. I have posted an idea that gets ridiculed on other non-Mac sites. Then, when a more general computing site posts the same idea people respond with lots of head nodding and praises. A good example of this was when I posted two Linux articles explaining my views on why Linux fails on the desktop. One of them got picked up by LinuxToday and it was criticized by most everyone on there. And yet two weeks later another Linux site picked up a story that basically said the exact same things. The only difference in the two pieces was that in this case it came from someone “inside” the Linux community and as a result it was praised as being insightful to the problems that Linux faces today. We both made the same point but I was insulted while the other author was lauded. Now, some might argue that the Linux user has more experience with Linux than a Mac user (true) and that his claims would carry more weight with the Linux community as a whole (also true). Or that I came across to harsh and combative (very true), but at some point you would expect that they would at least give me credit for something, wouldn’t you? I may not be a meteorologist but I can tell when it’s raining. So I ask again, why don’t I get the credit? Some credit? Any credit?
Part of the problem I have already mentioned, namely my attitude. Since I am not exactly coming across as a humble writer but instead as an arrogant Mac user I can understand many people’s hesitation to accept my views on blind faith. Of course, there is the additional stigma of being a “Mac User”. I have seen it many times online and encountered it aplenty at my job. People think that because you use a Mac you must be working on a “Fisher Price Computer”. Thus you don’t really know how a “real” computer works. Using a Mac means you don’t have any choices in software and of course whatever you run it on is going to be quite expensive. Now, all of that is a steaming pile of horse pucky but it does accurately reflect many of the outdated stereotypes that still exist. Another hurdle to cross is Microsoft. Just about every Apple writer that takes anything more than a lukewarm approach to criticizing anything Microsoft is cut down for being “out of touch” with the “real world”.
So, how can your average Apple writer be taken seriously on other tech sites not known for their friendliness to those who “think different”? Well, I suppose the biggest thing to do would be to drop (most) of the attitude and tone down the condescending tone we all too often find ourselves using. Maybe that would keep people from instantly disregarding whatever point we are trying to make. Of course there is still a mountain of ignorance when it comes to Apple but maybe if we try hard over these next few years we can do something about that. It is a very exciting time to be an Apple user and so now is the time to get the word out and try to inform others of all the great things Apple is doing. I suppose we will just have to do it calmly and hope for the best.
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Comments
I’m using open connection provided by my uplink provider. I think they have shared firewall for this connection. Maybe its just me, but it happen to me.
Haizal. You think they have a firewall? Get a router. They’re cheap.
This is what I was referring to in terms of Windows vulnerability and why users get infected. The solutions are simple. Education is the key.
I work in a datacentre and the connection I use is in a datacentre. I’m not supposed to tell this, but yes we have shared firewall behind our 2 core Cisco router. I’m currently working right know, where I manage about 40 racks of server with various OS, including Linux, BSD, Windows and Mac. I agree with you with the education thing. We must equipped ourselves with knowledge. By the way, the server is okay now after some tooling around using Google to disable RPC from restarting the windows.
Ah, that’s different. I thought you were using a home syste (which made Server seem like an odd choice
).
Glad to hear everything was fixed.
Maybe so, but by your own numbers Mac users would be out-numbered 97 to 3. (that’s about 32 to 1)
( Although I have heard that the installed base for Mac is more like 16%.) Far more beleaguered by fanatics at any rate.
Um, no. You’re assuming that every PC owner is a PC fanatic or that PC fanaticism as a percentage of the installed base is proportional to Mac fanatics. And that’s a BIG, borderline laughable, assumption.
I think even Apple users here would agree that Mac owners are disproportionately fanatical compared to PC owners.
So if you truly object to knee-jerk partisanship, then you’re going to be doing a lot of objecting to some of the Mac-fanatic comments on these columns (and whatever the outside world, pro-Mac knee-jerk partisanship comments outnumer PC-fanatic partisanship comments on this site by about 1000-1).
MacGlee, I second your thoughts about the desire. There is very little, and in all places I would guess. People no longer think they have to aquire any competence about even the most simple computing facts. Someone just asked me for help because her (first Mac) G5 was “slow”. Since it was a Dual 2.0 I was pretty much averse to this idea until it came out she runs it on Panther with 512MB, working with several ressource hogging apps. She was afraid of having caught a virus though. I guess part of the problem is that many people did not “grow” into computers as others did, they did not spend large parts of their youth (speaking of my generation) fooling around with C64 or AMIGA machines or facing the horrors of MS-DOS. They buy a machine that is marketed as an integral part of everybodies life, ignoring that it is much more complex than they might grasp. With Macs, or Apple products in general, lots of the complexity is cleverly hidden from the user. Still people run into major problems because they never learned the “look around” approach.
I have yet to hear a Mac user do that.
Are you being serious?
Go here and read the comments: http://macdailynews.com
Read through ANY Mac-related fan site and you’ll see the same thing. It’s a little less pervasive on this site, but it’s certainly here.
According to MDN, not only are PCs utter rotting pieces of garbage, but WindOZE users are morons, drones, idiots, and sheep. Same goes for any portable mp3 player that competes with the Ipod.
I’m seriously wondering how you’ve gone this long without being aware of the fact that not only are there Mac fanatics, but Mac fanaticism is a hallmark of the Mac user. PC fanatics number at most in the single digits, but Mac fanatics make up a significant portion of the Mac user base.
Beeblebrox,
Weren’t you making an argument in another thread that certain things shouldn’t require 3rd party software? And now you’re recommending 3rd party hardware to protect a Windows machine… Shouldn’t Windows be better hardened right out of the box? Windows should be able to better protect itself without the use of 3rd party software or hardware.
Also, note the user stated this was a 2003 Server install… not XP Home or Pro. A server should definitely be hardened right out of the box. What if it needs to go into the DMZ? Not all servers can reside behind overly restrictive firewalls (depending on their intended use). I don’t know why Windows Servers ship with certain network services enabled by default. Everything should be off by default—the admin should have to turn on the services needed instead of the machine being unsecured from the get-go.
I was aware the Home / Pro XP installs were vulnerable on an open connection, but I was surprised to hear 2003 Server is just as bad.
Additionally, theses example of Windows being quickly infected on an open connection do not require the user to do anything ill-advised like opening unknown email attachments or allowing an ActiveX control run from an unscrupulous web site… so your “educate the users” counter-point doesn’t apply here.
Educate users on how NOT to get viruses, like not opening attachments in e-mail or switching to Firefox, and running a free virus scanner in the background.
I agree that educating users might help stem the flood of infections, but it’s only a finger in the dike. I also can attest first hand that doesn’t always protect you.
I’m a programmer using all the proper precautions - XP Pro behind a corporate firewall running various utilities and I was nailed by spyware/malware. I’m still not 100% certain how it got onto my machine (though I have a fairly strong suspicion), but I was infected. Fortunately, I’m experienced enough that I was able clean the machine without having to resort to a ‘nuke and pave’… but the fact that I am an educated user who is “protected” and still got infected means that those less educated users are basically screwed.
Windows users take note: Spybot S&D;and Ad Aware missed some things MS’s new anti-spyware tool caught. It kind of irritates me that I need 3 separate apps to protect myself when using XP. I wish I could do all my development work on the Mac and not have to worry about it.
I really do hope Vista addresses many of these security concerns. For those of us who have to work with multiple OSes, it’d be one less thing I have to think about.
If you will remember the context of my remark, I was referring to a retail space NOT the internet.
So knee-jerk fanaticism is okay as long as it’s not on the internet and as long as Mac fanatics are doing it.
Gotcha.
You conceded my point that fanaticism is a “single digit” phenomenom, except, for some reason, when it comes to Mac fanatics.
What you seem to be arguing is that Mac fanaticism doesn’t exist AT ALL, or if does, that it’s a single-digit phenomena like PC fanaticism. I don’t know even the most diehard Mac user that would make such a silly argument.
At BEST, PC fanatics number in the single digits. Mac fanaticism, on the other hand, is deeply engrained in the Mac culture and widely propogated. There’s a recent article about on this site. This is neither new nor does it have anything to do with me. It’s a fact of life for Mac computing. And either you are deliberately feigning ignorance or you’re genuinely ignorant about it. But it IS very, very real. In fact, Mac fanatics often use it as a bragging right: “You never hear about PC users loving their computers the way Mac users do; that proves how great the Mac is.”
Weren’t you making an argument in another thread that certain things shouldn’t require 3rd party software? And now you’re recommending 3rd party hardware to protect a Windows machine… Shouldn’t Windows be better hardened right out of the box?
Yes, Windows should come protected out of the box but it doesn’t. I have to use third party software AND hardware to suplement the OS. A router and free anti-virus software do the trick.
I was referring earlier to OS X’s inability to share folders outside of the Public folder.
In both cases, I have to use a third party app to do what the OS should have built-in. XP has the edge on file sharing. OS X has the edge on security.
Additionally, theses example of Windows being quickly infected on an open connection do not require the user to do anything ill-advised like opening unknown email attachments or allowing an ActiveX control run from an unscrupulous web site… so your “educate the users” counter-point doesn’t apply here.
Anyone who hooks a PC up directly to the internet without a hardware firewall isn’t educated about protecting their system. So educating the users is as valid here as anywhere else.
I agree that educating users might help stem the flood of infections, but it’s only a finger in the dike. I also can attest first hand that doesn’t always protect you.
I’m spyware and virus free and have been for at least two years, probably more, and only then because I was installing web apps and stuff I downloaded from Kazaa. Yes, stupid, and entirely my fault (I’ve never had a virus on any system I’ve had, but I did get some spyware).
I don’t know what you do while programming, but I take almost no precautions other than running AVG in the background and Firefox as my default browser. Maybe it’s because I don’t use Kazaa anymore or something, but I just don’t spend any of my time fighting malware. And if I can do it, then it’s certainly possible.
Frankly your inferences are ridiculous, I said fanaticism for any “cause” is offensive, period.
I know what you said. You also said you didn’t like “knee-jerk partisanship,” but I think you have a demonstrable knee-jerk bias for Macs despite this comment.
The clearest example, aside from your inane PC vs Mac repair comparison, is the characterization of PC fanatics vs Mac fanatics. While PC fanatics “hate” Macs and view them as “toys,” the worst Mac fanatics might do is “on occassion” offer their testimonial about how much they “love” their Macs, and that they never, ever disparage PCs, ever. Oh, and of course Mac users are “beleagured” by PC fanatics at a ratio of 37 to 1.
These poor beleagured Mac users. All they want to do is spread the love while those PC fanatics spread hate. What exactly is NOT knee-jerk partisaship about any of this?
MacGlee,
Very nice on the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy references!
By the way, I just read over the last few posts from you guys and I was just wondering if you wanted to take it outside? A duel perhaps? Guns at dawn? Swords at dusk? A scrable tournament mayhaps? Something needs to be done before you two start a blood fued.
MacGlee,
I know, when Beeblebrox comments on my articles I am strangely drawn towards arguing with him, I don’t know why.
Mac user to Beeblebrox equals Moth to a flame.
Correction: Mac-drooling-fanatical-sycophant to Beeblebrox equals moth to a flame.
Really, James, do you really wonder why no one outside the Apple-fan websites takes you seriously? And does it even matter when you have the fuzzy blanket of nodding in agreement from other Apple zealots to keep you warm?