Marco.org

MG Siegler, reacting to Crothers’ content-free linkbait, clarifies the difference between a blind-faith “fanboy” (which Crothers would definitely classify me as) and a sensible buyer:

I’m a fan of Apple’s work because it’s great. I suspect my peers he would criticize would say the same thing. I’ve been a fan of Apple’s products for about 6 years now. Before that, I didn’t own one. You could even say that I hated Apple products back in the 1990s when I was going to midnight launches of Microsoft products. Why did that change? It’s not some spell or some bullshit marketing. It’s all the hard work and attention to detail Apple put into their products during the second Jobs reign. I wanted the best, Apple made the best.

If Apple’s products start slipping again, I’ll drop them again. The loyalty isn’t to some magical unicorn tear voodoo — it’s to the best products.

Bingo.

I bought my first Mac in 2004 when I graduated¹ from college and needed my first laptop.² I did the research and looked at a bunch of laptops, and I ended up liking the PowerBook best. Before that, I was a die-hard Windows guy.

Apple’s customers often get accused of unconditional devotion to the company’s products. But the accusers often have an equally irrational aversion: they blindly and universally won’t buy Apple products. People can buy (or not buy) whatever they want, but if a few hundred million people think Apple’s products are good and fit their needs, and a handful of tech bloggers loudly refuse to buy them even if they have similar needs, which side looks like the irrational one?