I will be posting an article on this in the next few days.
Archive for July, 2009
A little over seven months ago, things weren’t going so great for me, I won’t lie. My grades in school were dropping quite fast, I had just gotten over a bout of pneumonia that, for the first time in a very long time (including two back to back years of surgeries) had knocked me down and out cold, and my social and athletic life wasn’t so great either. At times, you feel as if any of the choices you have made that end up making your life, or others, miserable, hasn’t been right. As such, I decided to push my luck. I decided to base some of my most important decisions off of a coin flip. People called me crazy, stupid, idiotic. Others thought it was a great idea. My opinion on it? If my own personal thoughts went into prior issues and choices, which ended up causing problems, then an unbiased decider should be used. With a coin, it’s either yes or no; heads or tails; one option or another. There is no feeling involved. It’s a flip, a catch, and a reveal.
My story starts in early December (of 2008). At the time, I was in anguish over certain things (how I felt about certain people, how my academics were, my health), when all of sudden, out of the blue, I was invited to a particular person’s birthday party. Not really a big deal in itself (though it turns out my thoughts and hints about the particular occasion and person were correct, in retrospect), but the fact that I was going (albeit with a friend) to such an occasion, for a person I barely knew, was something in itself. So that’s when I decided to lay it all on the line. I really had no reason to go to such a party, but nothing to lose in any fashion if I did. To be honest, I had no real feelings on the matter, so I decided to just flip a coin to see what I was going to do.
Some details about the ‘lucky’ coin, though. It’s a 2001 mint US dollar coin, with Sacagawea inscribed on it, as an eagle on the reverse side. My grandfather (who is still alive, so this isn’t necessarily sentimental) had given me the coin several years prior, and after a bit of cleaning, it was shining in its glory once again. I happened upon it in my nightstand drawer one day by accident. I had thrown it on my desk in hopes of finding a better place for it, but it just ended up being placed in my wallet after this first ‘deciding’ flip.
So, when it came down to it, the coin said I should go (heads), two times out of three. As such, the decision was made without any sort of personal feeling. I was going, no matter what my suspicions were, and that was that. A few weeks passed by, and the party came. I went, enjoyed myself, talked with the host for a few minutes, and left once it all ended with my friend who I had attended with. Not really a big spectacle, but influential none the less.
A few months passed, four to be specific, and we ended up in late April of this year. Turns out that my suspicions that the person in question (a female) had in fact had feelings for me, and to spare you the entire story over again, ended up going to prom with me. That’s not to say that the coin only made one appearance in between these months, its prior decisions just aren’t as notable as the point of this discussion. So, I flipped the coin, decided to discuss prom with her, and that was that. The decision was made.
But as the past three months have stretched on, things have become, well, strained, to say the least. It’s been tremulous in many regards, and although I feel that we have grown closer as friends, and as something more, it’s evident that she does not know what she wants anymore. She has flipped back and forth regarding ‘us’ that it’s sickening, to be honest. Now, after not speaking to one of her best friends (coincidently, the friend who I attended her party with), she wants to patch things up and hope that they end up as good as they used to be. Sad thing is, they won’t.
This kid has been a complete jerk to her, and, even as his good friend, cannot deny this. She has high hopes that tomorrow morning, they will patch things up and everything will be peachy keen as always. The thing is, I don’t think they will. Over the past month, she’s been through hell trying to decide what she wants from him. Unfortunately, he hasn’t been in the same predicament. He told me that they will never be as close as they once were, and that this separation hasn’t torn him up as much as it has her. I should have told her what she said, as a friend and whatever else she sees me as, but I just couldn’t hurt her. She’s had a rough life (more than I care to detail on here), but I just couldn’t tell her that this is how he felt. He promised me he would listen to what she would have to say and not argue with her, but that doesn’t mean things will end up the way either of them want it. It’s a sad, but necessary, conversation to have.
So, where does the coin come into all of this? It’s quite simple really. Tomorrow, after their conversation is through, and I understand the full depth of what has happened, I will flip it one more time. What decision is to be made? Should I continue on this rollercoaster path of trying to be more, when she wants me to be, or just give up and call it what it is: a friendship. I’m not one to squander my feelings, but in this case, the chance and luck of a coin flip is the best way to go. No feelings, no thoughts, no regrets. It’s heads or tails; a yes or no; nothing more, nothing less.
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.
A Quick Mobile Post
Jul 16
So… this is my first mobile post from my BlackBerry. Later tonight I will publish a new post regarding the attitude of Apple consumers. It will be quite blunt, so be ready.