No, as it turned out, #WWDC is Apple's big release party for developers. So Worldwide Derp Convention wasn't too far from the truth, judging by the outpourings of froth and jizz from every fruity fanboi on the interwank, interspersed with torrents of snark and bleat from teh h8ers, primarily Windoze, Linux and 'Droid freak-out types. For anyone who doesn't have a horse in this race, the whole experience was just as shatteringly tedious as you'd imagine. Where a generation ago, snotty ragged eight-year-olds would dust up behind the bike sheds over Holden versus Ford, now outwardly sane and respectable thirty- and forty-something men (and it is almost always men) duel bitterly in internet hatewarz over which brand of 'puter they like the most. It's entirely possible it's just the same eight year olds grown up a bit. And to an outsider it's just as fucking ridiculous as Holden v Ford, largely because the products in question appear effectively and increasingly identical.
However, I'm not *quite* an outsider in this. I use Macs. I don't pay for them, by and large, but when given the option, I choose to use Macs. This relates less to the 'They just work' mantra of the dedicated Macophile and more to the fact that each and all of my experiences with PCs in the last 10-15 years have left me wishing to implement violent death on both the designers of the operating system and the guardians of the institutional IT arrangements under which I was obliged to it. I do not enjoy using PCs. I am no longer a tinkering enthusiast, in terms of software or hardware. A postdoc laden with heavy duty Linux bioinformatics has permanently cured me of that. I like things to 'just work'. I'm not going to war over it, but if given the option I will never use another PC in my life, and their designers, advocates and fanbois can generally and individually go and fuck themselves.
Actually, all fanbois can go fuck themselves. Fundamentalism is bollocks.
PCs are cheaper per unit performance, of course. You can build a box with better numbers, or order one from your friendly neighbourhood clone dealer, for considerably less bucks than you can a Mac - particularly in the high-end space where Apple's new Mac Pro sits in all its overdesigned, overpriced glory (mildly paraphrasing the launch perceptions of an old Amiga-kid buddy.) I'm not sure if any of that is the point though. I've never purchased anything on the basis of numbers on a sheet of paper, and I'd be frankly fucking astonished if you have either. If you were sufficiently talented, you could build a car in your shed which will go faster than a Bugatti Veyron. You would not particularly enjoy driving it to work every day, as it would be a heinous agricultural piece of shit with the refinement of a box of nails and the ease-of-use of a plutonium fuel rod. The whole experience would be deeply unpleasant and you would grow to despise it like an infected goitre on the side of your neck. BUT you'd have the best set of numbers in the whole of your internet forum. Which is nice, I guess. Personally, I gave up wanting to pull my car apart and put it back together years ago. We moved on from this in the automotive space years ago. The PC fanboi argument that PCs are better because everything can be dismantled and remantled by a nerd in a basement doesn't appeal to me. It's your dad railing against modern cars because they can't be fixed with a hammer and swearing like the points on his 1973 Kingswood. Old man yells at cloud.What PC vs Mac comes down to, in the end, is personal judgements of perceived value. Going back to cars, because I get them, people buy Audis even though many understand that they're effectively Volkswagens with deeper carpets and nicer plastics and larger pricetags. But as someone who's owned and driven both Audis and VWs, all that stuff - and as much of it is between their ears of the potential owner as it is on the spec sheet in the brochure - adds up to a more pleasant operating experience. It is nicer to drive and own an Audi than a VW. (Particularly today.) You can make the same perceived value argument - and it's more than just a brand perception or status projection argument, as there are genuine differences in user experience involved whether you personally value them or not - to any range of products. Why buy a frosted aluminium Fisher & Paykel fridge-freezer when Haier own them and make fridges much cheaper? Why buy Kraft peanut butter rather than Home Brand? Why Canon over Nikon? Why anything premium over anything cheaper which 'does the same job'? Each of us makes these value judgements daily, and in many cases, each of us chooses the more expensive option on the basis of perceived value over and above the baseline cost.
Personally, I buy Sorbent toilet tissue. I know that supermarket home brands are cheaper - by a long way. The cost argument is a no-brainer on paper. (See what I did there? It was quite clever.) But the user experience, to put it mildly, is much more unpleasant. So it is for me with computers. And so, if you have shit to do, get a Mac.
The Doctor is OUT.
