So here I am again sitting in this class room for Photo 135 Electronic Darkroom....to you that means an Adobe Lightroom 3 class. The first thing I noticed when I entered the class room is that I must face my prejudices against the evil Apple Empire. The entire room is full of the famous All-in-One Mac computers. This is like driving in Europe for the first time. Where the heck is my right mouse button? I can't right click...ctrl+c doesn't work. How the heck do I even cut and paste! Why do people buy these things! Everyone tells me...
"Oh you're a photographer? What kind of Mac do you have?"
"Ummm...I don't. I have a quad core HP PC at home."
"What you have to have a MAC. Photoshop runs better on a MAC."
"Ummm...no I'm pretty sure it runs just the same..."
What is it with this thing that makes everyone go crazy? Is it the fact that it has a small footprint?...meaning that it takes up little space on your desk. Or the fact that since it's all-in-one there's not way you can screw up hooking it up like so many computer illiterate PC users do? Perhaps iMac makes computer illiterate people feel more literate in that way?
"Oh you're a photographer? What kind of Mac do you have?"
"Ummm...I don't. I have a quad core HP PC at home."
"What you have to have a MAC. Photoshop runs better on a MAC."
"Ummm...no I'm pretty sure it runs just the same..."
What is it with this thing that makes everyone go crazy? Is it the fact that it has a small footprint?...meaning that it takes up little space on your desk. Or the fact that since it's all-in-one there's not way you can screw up hooking it up like so many computer illiterate PC users do? Perhaps iMac makes computer illiterate people feel more literate in that way?
"LOOK I HOOKED UP MY iMAC!"
"You mean you managed to plug it in and turn it on successfully?"
This is the way I see it. I live for customization and quality! Let's put the advancements in the Mac operating system on the back burner for a second and take a look at JUST the hardware. I have a PC. I have several PC's. I am an IT by trade (until I can make it completely off photography). And my customers ALL the time make the joke when I come to work on their computer...
"Can't you just take this away and trade it for a MAC?"
"Sir lets just humor that thought for ONE second. If you have a problem with your CDROM I can come out here, pull out your bad CDROM and immediately swap it out with a good one. If your iMac CDROM goes bad I have to take your WHOLE computer back to my shop. If you're monitor goes bad I can come out unplug your monitor and swap it out with a new monitor. If your iMac monitor goes bad I have to take your WHOLE computer back to my shop. Heck, if your WEBCAM goes bad I would have to take your WHOLE computer back to my shop. How productive is that?! How many man hours would be lost because of iMacs?"
That tends to shine some light on the subject, but then they start talking about the operating system. Everyone makes the same two statements 1. It's easier and 2. it's "crash proof". Which is funny because from a photography stand point a lot of Canon users make the same claim (I shoot strictly Nikon if you didn't know). They say "well it's easier". No you're just used to it, just like I'm used to Nikon. They say it has too many menus. Yeah it does, but look at all the options I have! Same way with windows and MacOS. You are only allowed to do on a Mac what Mac wants to do. You just click your one button and wait to see what Mac does. I want...I NEED my right mouse button to open up that lovely menu of options. (copy, past, open with, etc) I need my administration menus that let me make changes to my system.
"But it's crash proof!"
*sigh* that's because it doesn't RUN anything! My customers always complain that their mac's don't crash like their windows machine does. Yes I hate a Blue Screen of Death as much as the next guy, but look at all the software the Navy wants them to be able to run. 70% of the training they have to do our through adobe flash programs or adobe flash enable websites. Something so simple yet will not run on a Mac. Our encryption software...won't run on mac. I could go on for hours but I won't because my non compute friendly readers have already stopped reading this so......
For the next 16 weeks I need to get past my prejudice of this machine, sit down and learn the basics of using a Mac so I can get through this class. As long as I can figure out how to open the Lightroom program I should be ok. Ok time to go home...
How do I shut this thing off...there's no start button....do I just turn it off? oh whatever!
I agree with pretty much every point you made. Same argument I make with iPhone vs. Android. Andriod is a make your own ending book, Iphone is a Kindergarden colors and shapes book. You will probably start to appreciate the simplicity of it after 16 weeks.
ReplyDeleteOk ok, I do have an iPhone, which i do love, but, I use PC's at home! Frankly, if you have a great monitor you can make your photos look as good as those who use Macs, right? I also hate the right click situation.
ReplyDeleteI like reading your blog because it sounds like we're having a conversation - you write like you talk, and I really enjoy it!