My new Toshiba laptop arrives today.
Thanks for all your help. What amazes me though is why, even though I gave no indication of dissatisfaction with PCs, Mac users thought I just had to know about the Mac option and ought to change. I have been a Mac User. I know the product. It is OK, I guess. I don't find it much easier to use or more logical than PC. I don't find it more reliable at all (that bomb sign haunts my dreams!). It is still the case that you can't assume Mac is compatible with everything. Mac is much more expensive. I know that in institutions who have a network running Mac and PC compatibility means that the institution has to invest in extra equipment that duplicates the function and also in the man-hours to fix everything up. But, you know, if that's what you want to do...go for it. I just don't think the difference is so great that it matters. I really don't care, except when I get made to feel defensive by you one-eyed Macmen and women!
Why is that Mac users are so passionate about their brand choice, so evangelistic and fervent? I really think this is a one way debate in terms of passion: PC users just don't exhibit the same dewey-eyed brand loyalty. I think it is just that when you outlay significant sums of money on an item which effects your whole interaction with the digital world, you so badly want to have made the right decision that your talk becomes part of convincing yourself you have... I think this applies to other consumer items, like cars, too. Your identity can really get caught up in having a Ford.
It would be fascinating to me to learn whether Mac use was at a higher rate in the Christian world than it is in the rest of the community. Could this be true? Anecdotally I feel that it is!
16 comments:
That's quite OK Michael, you are what we would class as a "genuine seeker", which is fine because you are merely lovably, pathetically wrong and not worthy of hate for your technology choices. We will continue to patiently answer the questions you ought to be asking if you really were honest with yourself, until you align your needs to the correct views about what you actually need. LIving as we do in constant association with world class minimal design allows us to attain an unshakeable minimalism of thought that you cannot clutter with your talk of compatibility with the mediocre, or mere pricetags.
Dear Mr Jensen,
Thanks for this very intriguing blog. I am trying to write a history of Montanism although literature over here in Bulgaria is very scarce. Do you have any articles on the attitude of Montanists to martyrdom? Please share.
Blessings to your lovely family.
Yours in Christ,
Fr Pavel
pavel_stefanov AT hotmail.com
It's been a long long time since I've seen a bomb. How long ago were you a Mac user?
Yeah, I didn't get it either when I was a PC user for some ten years. But then I switched.
Hi Michael,
your comment actually clarifies why you use a PC...changing to a MAC after using a PC for sooo long is tantamount to a type of 'conversion experience'(if one can use that expression), in relation to computers !!!!!
MAC users don't mean to convert, they only mean to point to something better, because they have come to know something that they find much better....it has nothing to do with looks!!
I liked Byron's comments!
All the best with your PC!!
I have a friend who is a pastor/missionary who made a similar comment to me once about pastors.
He said that pastors invest so much time in thir training, theological college and their specific work that they believe that that kind of ministry is the most important or siginificant. They encourage everyone who is passionate about God to go to bible college and enter full-time ministry. Even if they don't think it explicitly, they implicitly believe that full time ministry is the most (only?) perfect calling for a Christian.
Certainly, your argument about Mac users and Ford drivers would support his comments.
(Incidentally, he told me not to go to Bible college but to become a highly skilled professional and then go and get a job in the middle east).
(And a confession, I typed this on a Mac)
I used to bag out mac users as well. But it wasn't until I had enough of all the spyware and security issues with a Windows based PC (and having to format and rebuild constantly) that I decided to switch. But yes, my apologies for being trying to evangelize.
Hope the Toshy goes well! (I've had bad experiences with a Toshy where I used to work, but I won't tell you anymore!)
Hi Michael,
Post decision dissonance I think is relevant - if that rings a bell from my psych days.
I have a theory that's why Mormons persevere - if you've invested so much and been abused for wearing that silly black suit for so long - there must be something very valuable behind it - worth all that pain.
And yep - the bomb is a little out of date...
Nick
This is from an emerging church blog I read:
http://addisonrd.com/WordPress/2006/04/09/so-im-an-evangelist/
"It would be fascinating to me to learn whether Mac use was at a higher rate in the Christian world than it is in the rest of the community. Could this be true? Anecdotally I feel that it is!"
Is there a higher percentage of people involved in music production in the Xn world? If so, it would follow that mac ownership is also higher.
Also, christians are nerdier than non-christian people. And nerds are drawn to Macs...
I woke one morning to find that I was a Christian Mac owner who drove a Volvo. Something had to go... I bought a V6 Commodore.
Hey...I had a sneaking suspicion that I was a bit of a nerd!!!
Wow! That is quite an enlightment!!
I was also thinking (which is a nerdish quality I guess), I wonder if people who are perceptive/visual/spacial in orientation are the ones who like using MACS! Seriously I know in the Graphic Artist world, the MAC is the tool, and that would likely explain why music people may be drawn to MACS!
So it may not just be a X'tn issue at all, rather there are some underlying reasons that may be common to large groups of X'tns.
Have you every done the Myers Briggs MPJ? Now that would be an interesting variable to consider too?
Thinking about what I come out in the Myers Briggs makes sense to me now in relation to why I like MACS!!!!!
Although remember too, that MAC use is likely far more common in the wealthy west, than the 3rd. developing world too!!! So their are Economic factors that must be included in the variables tooo!!!!
It might be related to exclamation mark use... ;-)
I am an ENFP.
I am an ESFP, but the year I was at Moore College I was an ISFP (my chaplain got everyone to do it), but after I went to SMBC I came out as an ESFP. Although apparently I am borderline between "Introvert" and "Extrovert".
The explanation is that I am a natural 'Introvert' that has learnt to engage as an "extrovert" which is why it isn't extreme (so the psychologist said).
And "no" we haven't met in person. "Yes" I have been in the same room as you. "Yes" I know some people you know. "Yes" you have emailed me a few years ago.
The exclamation marks are more due to my being a female!!! Some 'generalisations' are true!
So, we are only basically different with the "N" and "S" ! Although you are likely more of an "E".
So how about that! :)
BTW.. my Myers Briggs profile is very accurate too and explains my use of "antipodean" and my real name in person.
It says something like.. "Does not desire being a leader, but is happy to support those who are!"
So there you go, I will definitely support you, even if you stay using a PC!
Quite frequently I write a post and have to go back and delete all the exclamation marks actually!!!!
If you want to reveal your true name, please email in:
michael dot jensen at theology dot ox dot ac dot uk
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