Complex Numbers

Vive la Révolution!

Wrapping up entries for

Journalistic Intentions  [18+] #2213121 This is for the journal keeping types that come to PLAY! New round starts July 1! by Elisa: Snowman Stik

Why the hell is this a video?

Let me get this out of the way. This video is over 20 minutes long and it's just a computer geek talking the whole time. Yes, he's good at talking. No vocal tics, few pauses, knows his material. Good for him. But I just wasted 20 minutes watching a video when I could have skimmed a written article and gotten the same outcome.

There are reasons to do video. This is not one of them. Its only saving grace is that it's not formatted vertically like savages do.

Techie Talk

I'm not an idiot, and I've been using computers since the late 70s. But I'm not in the business. I have no idea what half the shit he was saying was. Something about processor speeds and CPU architecture, none of which was really relevant to the point he's making. While it does serve to establish his geek smarts, I think I got the idea after the first phrase of tech jargon.

Rotten Apples

He opens with an analogy with totalitarian Soviet Russia, comparing the Apple user experience to that sort of propaganda cult. I find this especially amusing, because one reason Apple went mainstream was a S*per B*wl ad back in 1984 (long ago when I actually watched football), giving them an opportunity to draw parallels with Orwell. In it, a freedom fighter (supposed to represent Apple) destroys a propaganda film from the Establishment (supposed to represent IBM at the time).

I mean, really, that one ad is probably what started the S*per B*wl ad fad, as well as launching Apple into the consumer spotlight.

Here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zfqw8nhUwA

The text at the end of the ad: On January 24th, Apple Computer will introduce Macintosh. And you'll see why 1984 won't be like "1984."

So yeah, irony.

Same As The Old Boss

The problem with revolutions is, and has always been, that all they do is replace one kind of power structure with another. The replacement power structure might appeal to more people, but I guarantee you there were those who mourned the loss of the French aristocracy during the Revolution. At least briefly, until their heads were separated from their bodies.

I've known a lot of Apple fans, even from before 1984. Some of them are, as the author of the first video above noted, cult-like in their obsession. I understand, to an extent -- their products have always been more elegant, both inside and out. I never owned one of their computers, though, because it's always been easier for me to game on the Windows boxes. But I used them for years; my first career boss was an Apple fanatic. But those machines couldn't run AutoCAD worth a damn, either.

Point is, for me it's a matter of picking the right tool for the job. When I wanted a music device, I picked an iPod, not a Zune. I still use it; I don't trust streaming to not take my music away from me.

And I don't listen to Apple fanboys trying to shame me for using a PC. For fuck's sake, it's just another company.

Just Another Company?

Well, okay, it's pretty much the archetypal company. Their propaganda machine works better than their actual machines, as our intrepid geek above pointed out. This gives them staying power, despite the efforts of their detractors.

I like to point out that Steve Jobs started a company, with a couple of other guys of course, in his garage, and at the time he died, it had grown to be the most valuable publicly traded company in the world by market capitalization, surpassing not only Microsoft but such venerable giants as ExxonMobil and GE.

They're not that, at the moment, but that doesn't matter; the point is that now the revolution is long over and Apple is the Establishment.