Darren Beale

I don’t, actually, but I have been mainly a PC user since the days of MS Dos and whilst I use Linux daily and own an old iMac (for testing, about to upgrade it to a Mac-mini), if asked I would definitely describe myself as a Windows user.

With this mind I found this recent article by Charlie Brooker - where he takes offence to the recnt mac ads starring David Mitchell and Robert Webb - rather amusing.

Here’s some highlights:

I hate Macs. I have always hated Macs. I hate people who use Macs. I even hate people who don’t use Macs but sometimes wish they did. Macs are glorified Fisher-Price activity centres for adults; computers for scaredy cats too nervous to learn how proper computers work; computers for people who earnestly believe in feng shui.

But then, if the ads were really honest, Webb would be dressed in unbelievably po-faced avant-garde clothing with a gigantic glowing apple on his back. And instead of conducting a proper conversation, he would be repeatedly congratulating himself for looking so cool, and banging on about how he was going to use his new laptop to write a novel, without ever getting round to doing it, like a mediocre idiot.

Ultimately the campaign’s biggest flaw is that it perpetuates the notion that consumers somehow “define themselves” with the technology they choose. If you truly believe you need to pick a mobile phone that “says something” about your personality, don’t bother. You don’t have a personality. A mental illness, maybe - but not a personality.

Full article