Widespread, Heartfelt Flaming

It may not come as a shock that my last column--a commentary on Mac “fanaticism”--generated a lot of mail.

I wrote that widespread, heartfelt devotion to the Mac didn’t arise purely as a spontaneous response to a sublime creation. It was a calculated marketing ploy to sell costly computers. Apple fosters an alienating superiority complex among Mac enthusiasts that doesn’t serve the goal of helping the Mac survive. I suggested that Apple’s historic overreliance on fanatical faithfulness led to a lethargic complacency that the company will be lucky to survive.

I’m devoting this column to your responses. Although my mail ran about 2 to 1 in support of my views, I’m concentrating here on the criticisms and additions to the debate.

It’s the Mac, Stupid

A lot of you made it clear that while you care deeply about the Mac, you couldn’t care less about Apple. You criticized me for pointing out that Apple’s market share is shrinking without mentioning that with Mac clones in the equation, the Mac OS is holding its own.

It’s a fair point. But remember that as Apple goes, so goes the Mac. Clones are such good values that they have saved a lot of users from defecting to Windows, but they haven’t done much to grow the Mac OS market share. As Apple hemorrhages money, for whatever reason, the Mac’s lifeblood leaks away.

Arrogance Justified

Many of you took exception with the implication that Apple Fellow Guy Kawasaki, through his “Evangelist” e-mail list, encourages Mac fans to mail-bomb or flame critics of Apple or the Mac. As Mitch Stone wrote, “Quite to the contrary, mail bombing is explicitly a violation of list policy.”

Mea culpa. Kawasaki does encourage good manners. Still, panicky intolerance is far from rare among Mac fans. Jeff Gortatows volunteered this example: “When I put your article up on the cubicle wall, within two hours it was ripped down.”

And I get flamed whenever I write anything the least bit critical of Apple or one of its products.

Along these lines, quite a few readers justified arrogance among Mac users as warranted because Windows users are lemming-like fools. “The drones and clones of the world are content to use whatever the majority is using,” said Tony Jacobs, referring to Windows users.

The Blame Game

Many readers objected to being thought of as “fanatics”--and viewed that characterization as typical of a cynical media corps.

As Craig Benting wrote, “[We] are so fanatical that we actually analyze journalists’ articles for ‘balanced’ reporting and presentation. . . . We are just concerned citizens of the computer community and we’ve turned to activism to get our message out.”

Of course, some critics of Apple are lazy. But Mac fans might do well to consider Christopher Martin’s comment: “Too many Mac pundits are playing the media blame game. Even [CEO Gilbert] Amelio. It doesn’t become him--makes him sound like a whiny Republican. Oh, I forgot--he is a whiny Republican.”

The Real Enemy?

Finally, a number of readers took exception with my quoting Kawasaki’s characterization of Apple as “a Fortune 500-killing machine that exists to increase the wealth of its shareholders,” while failing to point out that the description aptly fits a certain other company.

“Look no further than Microsoft,” wrote Chris Cambron, for “all kinds of questionable and ruthless tactics.”

Hard to argue there.

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Charles Piller can be reached via e-mail at cpiller@aol.com