The Back Page - John C. Dvorak: Talking Sense...

by - September 10th, 2004

The last time I took the time to write a column it was to smack John C. Dvorak around for some flame bait he had put out. This time I come to praise Mr. Dvorak, not to bury him, and not in that Marc Antony kind of way, either.

The reason for this praise? Believe it or not, it's a column he wrote about Macs, Windows, and Linux.

Yeah, I know, it almost seems like I am setting you up for a joke, but I'm not. Mr. Dvorak wrote a piece about the very subject he has excelled at fanning for many years, the platform wars, and I think it's a very interesting piece. In fact, like watching his (now canceled) TV show on TechTV, reading it is a reminder of just how smart this man can be when he wants to be.

Anyway, enough praise; let me show you what I'm prattling on about:

I don't want to sound like I'm bashing Macs again, because I'm not. I'm trying to make the point that the criteria that define the Mac as a superior machine are not the ones typical PC owners use. For some niche users, they are: If you're an art director working almost anywhere, your criteria lead you directly to the Mac.

Most buyers are not art directors, however. The factors of versatility (lots of available software) and price (the cost of a machine) seem to be what the public cares about when buying a computer. Those are the only two points on which the PC beats the Mac. It also tells me that Linux boxes, which are actually cheaper, could surpass Windows machines if only there were more software for them.

See that? It makes sense, or it mostly makes sense. He also talks a bit about the amount of software on the different platforms being a major factor in platform choice, and I don't think that's much of an issue any more. It was throughout the 90s when you could walk into a computer store and see acres of Windows software, and little or no Mac software, but walk into a computer store today, and you'll see little or no software at all, for any platform. There's too little money in selling software in brick and mortar stores any more.

That's just nitpicking, however, as Mr. Dvorak's main point about why different people choose their platform is truly right on the money. It doesn't solve anything, and it's not going to change anything, but it's a great observation.

The proof of that observation/pudding is all around us, too. I choose the Mac platform for its quality, the way I can get my work done without the computer getting in my way, the ease of use, the way the software is built for the hardware (and vice versa), etc. The same is most likely true for most of you reading this.

If everyone else was looking for the same thing, they most definitely wouldn't be buying cheap Windows boxes, because they don't get those same qualities in a Windows box. Other criteria, therefore, are guiding their choices, ignorance more often than not being chief among them, but that's really beside the point.

So, there you have it. Interesting and relevant food for thought from John C. Dvorak (you can find it at PC Magazine's Web site).

began using Apple computers in 1983 in a high school BASIC programming class. He started using Macs in 1990 when the Kinko's guy taught him how to use Aldus PageMaker, finally buying a Power Computing Power 100 in 1995. Today, Bryan is the Editor of The Mac Observer, and has contributed to the print versions of MacAddict and MacFormat (UK).

You can send your comments directly to him, or you can also post your comments below.

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