Over the past few weeks, the Windows vs. Mac OS X/Microsoft vs. Apple battle has been heating up. With both Windows 7 and Mac OS X Snow Leopard nearing completion (and Windows 7 even being rumored to have been released to manufacturing this week), the fanboys and fangirls on each side of the war are once again at it, calling the release of each of the operating systems ‘service packs’, ‘the update that should have already been’, and ‘failure fixer’ (in regards to Windows). Yesterday, Microsoft’s COO Kevin Turner announced that, “we’re going to have some retail stores opened up that are opened up right next door to Apple stores this fall.” While this may seem like a taunt, and from some vantage points a downright dirty move to pull, Microsoft is clearly challenging Apple’s presence in the retail industry. And while Microsoft has its own crazed supporters, who, almost just as often as Apple fanatics, spew untrue or unsupported facts regarding their operating system or someone else’s, the company behind OS X, and it’s more radical user base, often exhibit an intensity and forcefulness about their software that it is sickening.

Over the past eight years, Mac OS X has grown into a powerful operating system, and its dramatic rise in market share has proven that. But, despite this rapid increase in support (especially over the last two to three years), the core group of supports, the Apple fanboys (I use that in a unisex fashion), are quite a large, rambunctious, and even harsh bunch. But, let me make myself clear: this article is not targeted at the casual Apple user; they are not the problem. The true issue here is the radical base of supports; the people who believe everything Apple says, does, or releases, is right, fair, and brilliant.

When it comes to Apple’s operating system, Mac OS X, the radical users argue that the software is all about “the experience”. They use points such as “Macs don’t get viruses”, or “It just works”, when in all actuality, neither of those points are true. If everything “Just works”, why is Apple updating its software constantly? If it just works, shouldn’t the Finder that so many people complain about have any issues? Shouldn’t the user interface be consistent and fast, not needing optimization? If everything just works, why do I need to search for drivers for a particular web cam or camera for it to work on the system? I hate when these extreme users argue with the “It just works” statement. Let’s be frank: every operating system out there has its problems, as well as its strengths. But, to argue that everything works flawlessly all of the time is just a lie.

Secondly, when diehard Mac OS X supporters argue that the software has “the experience”, they are making generalizations. Yes, it may work for you, or any of your other Mac buddies, but let’s be frank: people don’t like the Dock. They don’t like the window system. They don’t like the fact that their applications from Windows don’t work (without any sort of virtualization/dual boot scenario). The experience belongs to each of us, and you cannot claim that it works for everyone. To say that, you are implying that one thing can fit all of us. If that was true, we would all be living under one form of government, everyone would be straight (in terms of sexual orientation), and we would all support the same causes and positions. Unfortunately, that’s not true. Yes, for some “the experience” is what sells the software. For some, “the experience” doesn’t really matter for things such as email and web browsing. But, for others, “the experience” isn’t the experience that they care to use, so to argue that it’s one of the systems best features should not be argued. It’s just forcing your ideals down someone else’s throat.

When it comes to the operating system, some of the more radical users (and Apple, on occasion) claim that it doesn’t matter how small the market share for the system is, but how many people love to use it, along with the other points (“the experience”, etc.). I love this, because it is so contradictory to their standard hardware practices. At how many keynotes do Steve Jobs and company discuss how many iPhones, iPods, and Macs they have sold? My favorite is when people say “Well, Apple has sold forty million iPhones, far more than the _____ from _____” (the blanks can be filled in with “Pre, Palm”, “BlackBerry, RIM”, and almost any other device and manufacturer you can think of (and even down the iPod/Zune battles)). Why do I love this? When it is in their favor, Apple fanatics argue the number of units sold, alongside of “the experience”. But, when the numbers aren’t in their favor (such as the operating system market), they say that numbers don’t matter, and it’s all about the experience.

This shows how insanely-minded these individuals are. Simply, they only argue the points that are in favor of what they want, and they ignore the others. “Well, the iPhone has a brilliant and full App Store!” Unfortunately, it didn’t have copy and paste until June 2009. On top of that, Apple likes to advertise these new features (such as MMS capabilities, video recording, and copy and paste) on their website and TV advertisements like they are revolutionary new features, while they have been on a large number of phones for years and years now.

Let’s be frank, though. The majority of the Apple/Mac user base isn’t insane. Most of them could care less about the Microsoft vs. Apple wars that ensue from time to time. Most of them don’t worry about market share, number of units sold, or any of that other crap. All they care about is that the product they are using is working, and that’s all they should. But once you bring radical, opinionated fanatics into the equation, things change. So, for the love of god, can you please stop spreading your pointless arguments all over the place? It’s really getting on my nerves.