there, i said it! "what IS the deal?". i gave up on the PC mac debate a while ago, previously i was always up for the fight. but having used both systems extensively over the last 6 months, there is just no reason to argue. i use both, i design for both, i prefer a pc. they both can do the same things now. they both have their issues. there is no such thing as 'just plug it in and it works'. case in point, my gf's brand new g4. not a single thing we plugged into that thing, except for the keyboard and mouse, laoded right up with a whole lot of fighting. (moot point but i plugged the same devices into my laptop to see if the devices were broken, they both came up instantly). both machines are in the same boat now with the exception that one is unix and one is windows and of course unix can do things windows can't and vise versa.

having said that. what is the deal. i was at a bar last night with an old friend, hadn't seen him in a year, and he begins to argue with me out of the blue about how he can't imagine why i'm on a pc and how he can do so much more with a g5 he wants to get (mind you, he is a sculpter and has no need for it). i try to tell him 'look, i wont argue with you, to each his own i've used both i prefer the pc. i just do'. he doesn't let it , and he continues to argue with me. it takes me 5 minutes to end the convo.

we slide down the table to a friend of his who allegedly is a graphic designer. jay and i talk about this zine i used to run and i mention how i didn't know enough about the web back then to get it to work on a mac. this guy out of the blue starts flipping out about how safari is the most superior browser on the planet and how nothing works right unless its on a mac. i try to tell him calmly over and over how from the start of the conversation i agreed with him on something about how safari treats code. but he just doens't get it. he doesn't even listen to me, and he goes on and on about how safari is so beyond its time regardless that he began by talking about how nazi safari is on its code. (i say if you can screw up coding on IE, and it still figures out how to display the page properly, that has to be a testiment to the browser's design. but nobody seems to get that. anyway..) it takes me 5 minutes to calm the guy down, and he begins to ignore me completeley as i talk to jay. then i mention to jay how i also didn't make the graphics right for a mac. the guy turns around sharply again and goes off again. 'what do you mean the graphics wouldn't work right on a mac?' i calmly and slowely explain to him that i didn't know enough about clean coding and making graphics for the web to make a sliced up image display its table properly on the different platform.

this is a phenominum i've only ever ecountered with apple users. if you attempt to point out a limitation on their machine they jump all over you. they refuse to listen to anything you say when you might be blatently correct. however if you mention something baout what a PC can't do, its all 'thats because microsoft sucks and its all corporate money grubbing'.

furthermore, they pick a fight with you when you arn't even contrasting the two. in this case i was talking about how i was a young programmer and didn't know enough about the web to make things look good on both machines, and they argued with me it was the equipment i was using.

i have never come across a pc person who out of the blue flies off the handle about their machine. however every single mac user i've met has tried to fight me.

a good friend of mine recently moved from a pc to a mac because of the changes panther brought baout on the apple. he still keeps an open mind about what both can do.

i am a graphic designer.. i think if i can design on a pc, take it to press and have a flawless product without any conmversion of layout, color, or type, then i just might know what i'm talking about. but they never care. professors, friends, my boss at work. they still tell me if i ever want to go anywhere i need to be on a mac. its just bull.
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