mogamer: This thread brings to light something I've noticed about Mac users/lovers. They can't take a joke! Heavy duty Windows fans can make jokes all day about MS or Windows. But say something that's only a little bit bad or funny about Apple or Macs, then all hell breaks loose.
It's because the install base is so different. I'm a Mac user and I only dual boot so that I can play GoG and Telltale games, so of course you can take this with a grain of salt, but I'm also a Cowboys fan so I know something about backing an evil empire as well.
The facts are simple: the people in power are the one's you're allowed to make fun of. Ask any comedian in the world and they'll tell you--there's very little funny about making fun of the underdog, you're just picking on the people already losing.
Apple may lead the world in portable computing, but they're still well behind in units sold when compared to a PC. Beyond that Microsoft is a bigger dog than anyone.
That a company with so much financial backing puts out shoddy junk like Vista when they have the resources to avoid it, or that they dumped cruddy XBox 360s on the world for years when they knew about the issue and chose to continue packaging them anyway is a farce when so much funding and capital is available (I am a 360 owner and lover by the way as of Christmas).
This doesn't even take into account things like making me pay 50 bucks a year per person in my household to play on XBox live (I shouldn't have to pay a fee for my fiancee to play 1 vs. 100 with me with her profile). Or the lack of a free and comprehensive anti-virus solution that eliminates the need for stuff like Norton or Mcaffee.
So, yeah, the reason Apple often gets more cred is because for whatever you pay for their stuff you can usually count on it to work. Despite this they still have a very small market share.
So, why can't you make fun of them? Because they do as much as they can right and they (thanks to the obsession of guys like Jobs) put a premium on quality control. Do you pay a high front end for that quality? Yeah, you do, but there's never a doubt that even when they fail they really care about innovating and improving their products. I don't know that you can really say that about Microsoft.
When you then pick on the little engine that could by "defending" a behemoth that doesn't need it you're breaking the cardinal rule of humor. Don't pick on the little guy.
But, what does it say about so many PC users that despite the fact that they're winning the war by miles in terms of sales, in terms of high profile games, in terms of cost per unit--so many of them still feel threatened enough by Apple to take so much time breaking down why they aren't worth the time or why Mac users aren't worth the time.
Face it, computing used to be counter culture, but now it's not. PC users are the man. I know, it sucks, but gamers are around 30-35 years old on average now. There are multiple PCs of some type in many homes. No one is using a non-simplified computer. No one. Those days are gone unless you're changing out glass tubes every few minutes and entering complex programs via punch cards.
Windows users are the belligerent republican right wing party of computing and we mac users are the snooty liberals who would prefer universal health care. Thankfully, I've never had a virus on my mac--so I think my socialized OS works. I also think capitalism left a lot of windows users making really lame excuses for Vista. Oh, and talk about a lack of customer support--how about Microsoft forcing computer vendors to install vista even if people preferred XP?
Short memories, bad jokes.
I'd rather be trendy.