I'm not sure exactly when it happened but it most certainly has happened: I went from being part of a ridiculed minority, a nuisance, and someone without common sense to someone who is on the band wagon, aggravating, and arrogant…and I didn't change a single thing. I just keep using Apple computers.
Of course this is really small potatoes in the grand scheme of life but it is interesting (and mildly entertaining) to me to note how mac users are perceived differently than we were, say, thirty years ago. I had been using a mac for a few years but bought my first new laptop in 1981. It was a gray-scale Powerbook, 80Mb hard drive, 40Mb RAM, built-in floppy drive, and it still works today (except for the floppy drive). Then, we were off base and very odd. Now, we're trendy and even uppity.
If all I did was word processing, I'd still be using my original laptop. But graphics require memory and lots of it so I'm on my third laptop and second iMac. I upgrade them but eventually they max out and, even though they all still work, I have to get the latest and greatest. You understand…I have an image to maintain. You can use Skype, I'll use it when I have to (when chatting with PC users), but I prefer the superior quality and flow of iChat. It goes with being uppity and arrogant.
So thanks for my status change. No doubt the pendulum will swing back again...some day. But I won't care. I'm a mac user and I got used to being mocked thirty years ago.
P.S. I just read a microsoft ad: "PC's are customizable for work and play. Get the facts." It's true. They really are. But my mac came loaded for both.
(It just occurred to me…I could have done this on my iPod Touch.)
An Open Letter
11 years ago