Deciding

This discussion about Macs has made me more self aware of my own prejudices regarding branding, and identification with groups. It made me think about my consumption and buying patterns, even to thinking about social class distinctions.

There’s an old book on these issues that still has some currency, Paul Fussell’s "Class: A Guide Through the American Status System." Though the description is dated, Robin and I belong to what Fussell describes as Category X, basically, non conforming, educated neo-bohemian. We don’t buy new cars, and eschew most indicators of social status. We have piles and piles of books and magazines, and we hide our TV in a cabinet.

I won’t buy a shirt with a logo. I pretend to have no brand loyalty, though I buy only one kind of trousers (Dockers) and one kind of shoe (Ecco), and one kind of plain youghurt (Nancy’s). I like to think that I care only about what is the most effective product for my need.

My prejudice against Macs has been fueled by the rabid identification with the brand that people who use them exhibit. If a product is branded to make you be cool, that makes it highly suspect in my view. I’m disturbed by anything that reeks of a herd mentality. It’s only more in my face with the iPod people everywhere which, in my retrograde bias, is another sign of the increasing social isolation in our culture.

Despite this prejudice, it might be the better product. I don’t have any particular love of Microsoft, and I am disturbed by their trend of making products that are less functional than previous versions. If I think I can deal with the weight, I’m probably going to get a MacBook Pro.

A story. When Robin and I were house hunting, we came upon what, in her mind, was the perfect fit. There was room enough to have a Sedar for 25, and a big finished basement for my workspace. But it was a 50’s era box. She could see the potential, I couldn’t. It was a distressing moment for her and a bit of a relationship crisis when I said I couldn’t see myself living in something that wasn’t the cute craftsman-style bungalow I had always imagined myself in.

The next day we went to every open house in half of Seattle, and ended up at the 50’s box again. I wandered through it, revisiting my reactions to it the previous day. Nothing we’d seen so far was without a lot of compromises, and this house was looking a lot better. I saw it had the perfect space for a darkroom, and a place for my desk with a view of a cedar tree trunk. Robin was mentally moving furniture into place in the living room. I came upstairs, and said, "Even though you think this is the perfect house for us, I think it is too."

Comments

[Dan]

I used to think like you about Apple. I thought there had to be something wrong with people who love Apple as much as they do, though in retrospect, I did the same thing with IBM PCs before Win XP came out. It's just I didn't attach a single brand to my enthusiasm.

OS X is everything I wanted in a computer ever since I first started tweaking config.sys files and dissecting the innards of Win 3.1 way back when.

When OS X first came out I realized Macs got to what I want in a computer first but they still lacked in power. Once the G5 chip came out and OS X matured to 10.4 I realized the world of Windows was stagnating and things won't be progressing much anytime soon due to all the security issues.

Once I switched, I found myself involved in the Mac culture---something I thought I would never do. To me it's not a status symbol, it's just fun.

It had been 5 years since I simply had fun using a computer and I continue to enjoy the overall experience Macs offer today.

It certainly ain't perfect, but it's a helluva lot better than what I had before. Given the direction Windows is unfortunately going, I'm glad I switched.