Their brand clearly inspires a lot of cultlike devotion. Charismatic leader, followers who overlook their own flaws and magnify those of everyone else, feelings of persecution (fading since Microsoft's antitrust suit ended).
OSX users often look down on Windows users, as if they just don't know better. They say things like "OSX is inherently better than Windows" without specifying what it's better at or pausing to consider that there are many reasons to choose an OS, and by a very large number of metrics (compatible programs, compatible hardware, price, variety, ease of finding someone who can help you with problems, etc.) Windows crushes OSX. In fact, by almost any easily quantifiable measure, Windows is better.
Apple's been the hip underdog, ironically largely because of spending billions of marketing bucks to style themselves that way, and I think Steve Jobs's tyranny over the tech-related media.
I'm not saying any of that about you personally, but things like Digg turning into an extension of Apple's PR don't happen to any other brands at all, not even ones like Toyota or Lenovo that consistently make top quality products. The fervor indicates there's a lot more to the fanboyism than just "Apple makes good products." They've struck a chord. Their marketing over the past 5 years may be the best in the entire history of capitalism.
The problem is that Apple users includes everyone who owns an iPod or iPhone, most of whom don't use any other Apple products. You can't keep the underdog luster on the company as a whole when you achieve ubiquity, but they still do with their computers.
In fact, by almost any easily quantifiable measure, Windows is better.
Unless you go by customer satisfaction, wherein Apple trounces competition in both hardware and software.
I get what you're talking about. I just think that cultism stems less from a blind devotion to the "specialness" of the computers, and more from a general appreciation of them. I think OS X is better than Windows, and I've tried a few times to specify why, but mostly it's a combination of a lot of little things that are all very good, rather than any particular feature which crushes Windows. (I don't use Dashboard or Spaces, for instance, haven't turned on Time Machine for a while, and I'm not a big Unix person, so the big crowed-out features aren't it. But I still am absolutely certain that the OS is better quantifiably.)
The problem is that it's not easy to explain. There's a logic behind it, but it's a difficult one that depends on a bunch of little factors rather than one big one. That gets interpreted as cultism and fanboyism, but there's more to it than that. And I don't think that "special" ever had anything to do with it. Apple doesn't sell "special."
How do you quantify customer satisfaction? It's murky at best. Not only that, it's an unfair comparison since you're comparing one OEM against a range of OEMs. There's no doubt that there are a lot of garbage Windows PCs built. That doesn't say anything about the OS other than that they license it out liberally.
You'd also be comparing one OEM that makes much more expensive PCs than most of its competitors. It's like comparing Accura vs. Ford.
And if you did quantify it, which is impossible to do meaningfully, wouldn't that take into account the fact that cult members would feel much more satisfied even if all other things were equal? That's what being in a cult is about. I would bet the average Scientologist feels much more satisfaction about their religion than the average Catholic. That doesn't mean it's better.
OSX users often look down on Windows users, as if they just don't know better. They say things like "OSX is inherently better than Windows" without specifying what it's better at or pausing to consider that there are many reasons to choose an OS, and by a very large number of metrics (compatible programs, compatible hardware, price, variety, ease of finding someone who can help you with problems, etc.) Windows crushes OSX. In fact, by almost any easily quantifiable measure, Windows is better.
Apple's been the hip underdog, ironically largely because of spending billions of marketing bucks to style themselves that way, and I think Steve Jobs's tyranny over the tech-related media.
I'm not saying any of that about you personally, but things like Digg turning into an extension of Apple's PR don't happen to any other brands at all, not even ones like Toyota or Lenovo that consistently make top quality products. The fervor indicates there's a lot more to the fanboyism than just "Apple makes good products." They've struck a chord. Their marketing over the past 5 years may be the best in the entire history of capitalism.
The problem is that Apple users includes everyone who owns an iPod or iPhone, most of whom don't use any other Apple products. You can't keep the underdog luster on the company as a whole when you achieve ubiquity, but they still do with their computers.