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About this siteFor six years, the Internet Nexus served as my technology blog, but I've since started blogging at the SuperSite Blog instead. If you're looking for the blog, please head there. --Paul Monday, May 24, 2004Sound and Vision: Jason Snell Doesn't Get ItIn his June 2004 MacWorld Magazine editorial, Jason Snell writes the following (ultimately clueless) summary of rumors that Apple is dropping the Mac:"Numerous industry pundits are questioning [Apple's] loyalty to its Mac product line. After all, the thinking goes, if the iPod and iTunes are so popular with Windows users, why should Apple waste its time catering to the comparatively miniscule Mac market? That way of thinking is crazy; you can't ignore the fact that Apple makes about 90 percent of its money from sales of Mac-related products. But even if Apple is destined to bring innovative digital entertainment products to the masses, regardless of the platform they're using, the Mac--and Mac users--remain a vital part of that destiny." He's wrong. And I can prove it, if you'll accept Apple and Steve Jobs history as a precedent. Twenty years ago, when the Macintosh was going nowhere and Apple was earning, ahem, 90 percent of its profits from the Apple II line (remember "Apple II Forever"? Jason doesn't), the company literally abandoned its cash cow, the Apple II, to focus on the Macintosh, despite the fact that IIe and IIc sales were through the roof. Today, the situation is similar, and though Mac sales aren't through the roof, they certainly do represent the majority of Apple's profits. But the company is clearly focusing on the iPod and consumer electronics. Huh. Let's recast Jason's editorial as it might have been written exactly 20 years ago. Notice how well it works? "Numerous industry pundits are questioning [Apple's] loyalty to its Apple II product line. After all, the thinking goes, if the Macintosh is the future, why should Apple waste its time catering to the Apple II market? That way of thinking is crazy; you can't ignore the fact that Apple makes about 90 percent of its money from sales of Apple II-related products. But even if Apple is destined to bring innovative GUI products to the masses, regardless of the platform they're using, the Apple II--and Apple II users--remain a vital part of that destiny. Apple II Forever!" The lesson here is that, 20 years ago, the original Mac was Steve Jobs' baby, and he did everything he could to kill Apple products--no matter how successful they were--that competed with the Mac for attention. Today, Jobs is obviously riding the high of his digital music revolution and the Mac--well, what can I say? It's boring. Apple lost the computer wars, the OS wars. Jobs knows this. And he wants to win, badly. Digital music--and specifically the wider consumer electronics industry--offers him the chance of an all-new battlefield that isn't yet contaminated by Microsoft's unfavorable conditions. But back to Snell. Why would I refer to such a man as "clueless"? Snell claims that the reason Apple won't ultimately drop the Mac is that "Mac users defy convention. We care about computer design and computer interfaces in ways that PC users clearly don't, and we're generally willing to spend more money for our computers to get a high-quality product ... Mac users can visualize ways that technology can change our lives. And we have courage enough to take risks, in terms of time, money, and the frustrating of living on the cutting edge, so we can be among the first to have our lives changed by groundbreaking innovations." Gag. In other words, Snell says, Mac users are better. They're superior. This, folks, is bulls$%t. You can say whatever you like about competing computer systems, but people are people. There are idiot PC users and idiot Mac users. But it's this particular attitude that prevents me from completely embracing the Mac community. On the one hand, I've got a slew of people giving me friendly advice about which Mac to buy, which is wonderful and appreciated. But on the other hand, we've got clowns like Snell, spouting the same religious rhetoric that got the Mac absolutely nowhere in the first place. Computers aren't what's important. What you do with them is, and everything you can do on a Mac--and more--is possible on a PC. Hey, some of it happens first on the PC, too, and there's certainly more choice on the PC side. But describing yourself as superior because you chose differently then me--and many others--is both insulting and incorrect. Apple II Forever. [ Posted at 5:05 PM | Permalink ]
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