So, the “Gadget Guy” was on Sunrise and brought up the topic of Mac vs. PC. For those blissfully unaware (ie: not living in Australia) the Gadget Guy is one of those people who is all personality but is otherwise near clueless on technology — at least he doesn’t know much more than what’s in the marketing blurb of the stuff he rants about.
Anyway, lets play “spot the mistakes and out-of-date generalisations”in this 4-minute segment:
How did you go? Here’s my list:
“It’s the personal technology preference that’s becoming a philosophical battle…”
More like it has been going on for now over 2 decades.
“8% worldwide, which is not alot…”
Oops, spoke too quickly…8% of one of the world’s largest market is a hell of a lot more than “not a lot”. Check the market shares of major manufacturers in other industries (the car industry is used regularly as an example for this). Take away business PC sales and suddenly that figure is a lot higher. Forgetting market share though, Apple is worth more than Google, and could buy Dell with their spare cash. Looking at just market share is grossly missing the point. Not to mention, Apple and Steve Jobs have transformed not just one market (which itself would be a major achievement, but four — music, mobile phone, computer and portable music player and five if you count retail store design — an epic achievement the likes of which have not been seen before.
“It works with a lot of other Apple devices…”
It works with most every computer connected device currently on the market, excepting fairly obscure or specialised equipment.
“Touch is a big part of what is available in Windows 7.”
So who actually uses it? Just like who uses tablet computers? Not many people. The difference between touchscreen features in Windows 7 and the iPhone touch screen is that the latter is something you use always, and the former is amusing for about 5 minutes before you stop bothering.
“…the IT geeks just hate Macs…”
I’d honestly have to say that most people I’ve ever encountered who had an MCSE were clueless about computers. They don’t know about Macs, so a Mac is a threat to the illusion that they know what they are genuinely knowledgeable.
“…all of the things happening in the background are driven by PCs.”
The internet runs on operating systems most similar to what is behind much of Mac OS X. What businesses tend to use involves file sharing and collaboration, which Microsoft has dominated the market of for many years. Apple software has been compatible with it (admittedly to varying degrees) for some years now.
“There was a time when files made on the PC wouldn’t work on a Mac.”
Err…when? What files? MS Office was originally written for the Mac and you don’t need to run Windows in Parallels to view PC files. Admittedly, later he said Windows-only applications.
“Does it come down to [better machines for better groups, such as creative people etc]?”
No. I’ll give you some grouping though that is actually realistic: People that want to get things done should buy a Mac. People that want to spend a lot of time screwing around keeping their computer working should buy a Windows PC.
“If you’re not computer savvy, choose a Mac.”
If you ARE computer savvy, choose a Mac too, as there is a lot of powerful “under the hood” technology which can be leveraged if you know what you’re doing too.
Sad, that after all these years, the GadgetGuy has nothing intelligent to say beyond tired cliches, re-hashed from almost exactly 3 years ago to the day.
Finally though, it was amusing he chose the HP’s touch screen as something the Mac can’t do. Unfortunately for him, he should have done some research beforehand, as he would have discovered that touch screen technology has been available for the Mac since 1987.
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Anyone who goes and buys some Windows based PC just because it has touchscreen gimmicks deserves all they get in my opinion.
As you say touchscreen technology has been around since the 80s and, for general use on desktop/notebook computers, has never really taken off. Why? The main reason is simply that if you start dragging shit around you leave fingermarks on the screen. In a number of cases it’s also easier for a user to continue using input devices they’re already using (keyboard, mouse) to select something rather than move their hand to the screen.
There are some benefits with touchscreen, however, in certain areas where touchscreen is used as a primary input device (eg, iPhone, POS system, wall-mounted info kiosks, surface PCs). That’s fine and it’s great that Windows 7 at least has better support for touchscreen input methods than its predecessors, since it will predominently be used over OSX on the cheap PCs that will run behind the scenes driving these highly customised applications. [I'm sure OSX is up to the task but it seems like such a waste to use a Mac to drive a POS terminal or an info kiosk screen!..]
Of course I havent included tablet PCs into this equation. We know PC-based tablets haven’t really taken off til now so it will be interesting if Win 7 or the anticipated Apple tablet will turn this trend around.
Mr Blasina suggests that “touch is a big part of what’s available in Windows 7″. I strongly disagree for these reasons!
Very very valid post Mr Currawong. This guy needs to get off the TV and go back to Hawaii, to his former job, tourist guide.
The Clueless Shill Guy! I am surprised we see him these days, I would have thought he became lost in all those pockets.
This guy is 110% stupid. He’s always inaccurate about his facts, he hardly knows what he’s talking about, and he’s been sold out by several major companies to do sponsored ads/Sunrise segments… He’s like a failing Chris Pirillo wannabe.
Jordsta: You’ll be shocked then to know he owns a Mac and an iPhone.
Yeah the Gadget Guy isn’t the most computer-savvy dude around. But you’re an idiot, too. Many of your assertions about Macs (and Windows computers, and the way people use them) are wrong. So get out of the glass house before you even look at a stone next time, ok? You’re coming off looking like a fanboy.
Reddit agrees.
Hi Dan,
I’ve been using computers since before “Macintosh” existed, sold, serviced and supported computers and their users for almost 2 decades. I think I know how people use computers. I have no trouble being a “fanboy” of Apple. Until Windows 7 at least, for the average user (and not corporate business user) Windows has been an absolute disaster.
Regarding the Reddit comments and yours: I can give specific examples of everything I say. For example, touch screens in computers (excluding PDAs, mobile phones and similar) are, as far as I know, most widely used in places such as kiosks and in customer devices such as ATMs. The use of touch-screen tablet PCs is most widespread in hospitals in the USA from what I can gather. It’s common information that Steve Jobs was asked to design a tablet computer for medical uses, which he declined.
The average joe who watches Sunrise certainly doesn’t use a touchscreen computer at home and I doubt that the presence of touchscreen computers for home users will result in a major paradigm shift in the way people use their computer. Apple, if anyone, has the ability to create touch screen devices that people will use and that will change the way computers are used, such as already has occurred with the iPhone.
I’ve got a brilliant solution to all this crap.
Stop watching television. You’ll be surprised how much better you’ll feel.
See currawong, that’s my point. It’s “as far as you know”. Your information isn’t current.
Would it interest you to know that in my store we sell quite a few touchscreen desktop PCs per week? And that we receive many more expressions of interest from people who will buy a touch screen, but are (quite reasonably) waiting until they need to upgrade?
Windows is not and (with the possible exception of ME) has never been an “absolute disaster”. This is just plain wrong. Smarter people than you know that when you have a job to do, you pick the best tool for that job.
For every apple machine there is a windows machine that has it beat hands down for performance, features, price or a combination of all three.