I have been meaning to write about this for some time and following a number of recent conversations with friends, I think I am good to go.
Apple products are undoubtedly wonderful to look at. They have been for some time and with the advent of the ipod, Apple have really launched themselves as a technology developer worthy of battling Microsoft. Before I go any further, I want it to be clear that apart from a short stint as a journalist after leaving University, I have never worked on a Mac. Yes I have played on them in store and mucked about with them, but I have never owned one. I have always been a PC man and still am.
A number of years ago I was having a conversation with a good friend about technology (we were both technology lawyers at the time), so it did make sense. Anyway I was talking about the wonders of my first mp3 player, a Rio. I loved it. It was 32MB (yes MB). If you wanted you could upgrade it to 64MB (I never did). Well I loved that little machine. It held an album (just). If it was 12 tracks on the album then I had to reduce the quality, otherwise 10 tracks at decent quality would do. I would plug it into my PC in the morning before going to work and select the essential tracks for the day. It was amazing. No carrying around CD's or cassettes (although I did love cassettes). Well back to the conversation with my friend. He started to tell me about his new Apple mp3 player. It was called an ipod. It was 10GB. I laughed and used wholly inappropriate language. He was clearly lying to me. Either that or someone had slipped a dodgy drug into his beer (or mine). No matter he was telling the truth of course. A large white encased hard drive with a grey scale screen. A socket at the top for your headphones and 10GB's worth of your tunes. Sounded amazing. And of course my little Rio was never the same again, although I did continue using it for some time. At that stage I couldn't get an ipod. It only worked with Apple computers and I wasn't going to change just for that.
So my little Rio made do until Apple announced that they were releasing an ipod that could be used with a PC. Shock horror. Hardcore apple fans were not happy. PC fans were wondering what all the fuss was about and then there were people like me who were very exited. By this point they had already moved on considerably from the 10GB 1st generation my friend had. I purchased a white 3rd generation 20GB (they only did them in white). I remember when it first arrived – the excitement. The possibilities. It went everywhere with me. It had buttons on the fascia that back-lit.I still have it. It still works, although it is a bit bashed up. I remember becoming a statesman for ipods. I got strange looks from friends and colleagues. But they were jealous. They had heard rumblings of ipods. Is that an mp3 player? Anyway, Apple attempted to do what Microsoft had with their Windows operating system – an ipod in every home. And most people I know have one now – different colours, shapes, sizes.
But here is the crunch, Apple are considered a future contender to Microsoft for personal computing – not true! It will never happen. Apple know this. They admitted defeat the minute they allowed the ipod to work on a PC. It was a choice. And to be fair it has worked in so far as the mp3 market is wrapped up. Occasionally someone will turn their back on PC's and buy a mac. But the war was lost.
A good friend of mine (tweet davidvonce) has just purchased a new Mac Book Pro (and subsequently an iphone - which is a different story) and is clearly in love with it - the Mac Book Pro (slightly wrong). A big song and dance was made about Boot Camp and how you could run Windows on your Mac. Yet again, Apple seem to be admitting defeat and doing enough to encourage you to convert but still encouraging you to use Windows. Is this because you are limited on a Mac? Is it because you can't play decent games on a Mac? is it because the majority of programmes for Mac are made by Mac and not third parties?
Don't get me wrong, I like the look of the products, but I like the option to change my PC. I can change the hardware to my 'personal' needs. I can change the software to my 'personal' needs. My desktop looks like a Mac, icons and layout – but happily it isn't. If Apple hadn't made ipods available to PC's, I might now be an apple user and wouldn't be writing this on the brilliant ASUS EEE – but that's another blog for another time.
