This new monthly column will focus on things Macintosh. The column name
is a play on the Mac Extension, Chooser, which allows you to select which
printer to use, network with other machines, and access your modem. The
Chooser, through these three functions, enables all levels of Mac communication:
TAN, LAN, and WAN. We hope that this new column will likewise encourage
all levels of communication, between all types of computer users and users
of all types of computer platforms. The Mac -- A Cutting Edge Business
Machine? by John Tyler
"I've just bought myself a powerbook," said the 49-year-old company president. "I'm finally going to learn how to use a computer."
"First thing you've got to do," I said, "is cut your finger and bleed into the disk drive. You may not know it, but you've sold your soul to the God of Computers." I was joking, of course (well, half-joking anyway). But let's be honest: the Mac is a great machine. I'm not claiming it's better than any other platform, because I know scant little about the others, but the Mac is a great machine in its own right.
I wanted to get that out of the way straight off. This column isn't about one platform over the other. It is about one platform: the Mac.
A letter to the editor in a recent issue of a cross-platform journal exemplified what we can get into if we start arguing one over the other. "I cannot remember a Mac user whom I could bear to be in the same room with for more than ten minutes," he wrote, "[and] since all of these people could not possibly have been born with the same type of personality defect, I suspect that using the Mac on a regular basis deforms the user's personality in some dark and insidious way."
The writer reveals a valid -- and, I fear, widespread -- opinion among non-Mac users. Far too many Mac users are defensive and alienate "The Others" when they abrasively defend their choice of hardware. These are the guys and gals who get into discussions (okay, arguments) about user interfaces; who toe the Apple line; who believe a smiling icon at startup is the proof in the pudding.
But they're missing the point. Let's get out there and spread the Mac Gospel, sure, but we don't have to break Windows to do it. All we have to do is start discussing the Mac -- not only as it exists in our personal lives, but how it exists in our business environments.
The Mac is a part of our business, after all, and if we stop arguing emotionally about why it's better than others and simply start talking professionally about how good it is for getting the job done, we move forward. When Mac users begin talking rationally, we begin to tear down the firewall that sits oblique between Them and Us.
I think our prevalent attitude stems not only from a feeling of superiority, but from a hefty dash of insecurity, too. Mac users have long been a workforce of apologists. Sure, en masse we can rally behind the Mac and become obnoxious as hell. But put us in a room of UNIX, OS/2, or Windows users (well, okay, maybe not Windows) and we start mumbling things like "well, I've finally got a machine faster than 66 MHz."
What has led so many people to become apologetic with regard to the Mac in the office? A business machine? Can't be if it isn't big and blue. Well, it is a business machine! My god, what have we been doing for the past ten years sitting in front of our Macs if not business? Weren't those graphs we spent far too many hours getting just so for a quarterly meeting? Don't we continually wish the network was faster so that the database wouldn't take sooooo long to open? Don't we constantly go over the same material in our monthly meetings: input the data as it comes in; format our memos and letters properly on company letterhead; remember to back up? We're in business with the Mac.
Few people have the luxury of choosing their platform. They come to the office and sit down in front of whatever the purchasing department chose. And let's face it, most of what the purchasing departments have chosen in the past have been non-Macintosh hardware.
There are some people, though, who do make that choice. It may start at home or school, as it did in my case: falling for one machine and not considering an office that didn't offer it. I was lucky; my profession allows me to be choosy about the platform I use. Small businesses fall into the same category; they are in a position where they can afford to change platforms midstream, or start with the Mac right from the beginning.
And they have. In a future column, I'll go into who's using the Mac in business these days -- you may be surprised at some of the names that come up. But for now, suffice it to say that they're out there and using Apple (and Mac OS) products. Why? Because it's a friendly business machine that is networkable (some would argue more so than any Big Blue clones), allows for innovation, has a shallow learning curve, offers a wide assortment of bells, whistles, and external add-ons, and capably employs all the necessary business software in abundance. A respectable business machine.
So let's stop with the apologizing already. We've got what we need in front of us, and we're doing a wonderful job with it. Now, bandage up these bloody fingers and get back to work.
John Tyler is an editor, designer, and writer at a private Tokyo magazine. He has been Mac-ing since 1988, and swears that someday the ever-growing mass of computer equipment in his ever-smaller apartment will begin to pay for itself. He can be reached at jltyler@gol.com.
