First Ever Letter to the Editor

by 5L4M

I just sent this email (which, I have a feeling, will end up on postdelete.com) to a favorite customer, Josh Marshall at TPM, in response to a post he put up yesterday called iFascism:

Hi, Josh –

Just reading your piece on the politics of Macs vs. PCs.

Like RS, I have used Macs exclusively since the mid-’80s and for a long time lived under the assumption that Mac users were somehow more socially engaged, progressive, creative folks … just like me. Over the years, as I’ve found myself having to co-exist with more and more people who are not just like me but who are Mac users, I’ve discovered, sometimes painfully, that many of my preconceptions about who and what Mac users are on the inside were very wrong, indeed.

I’ll cut to the chase: One misconception many Mac users on the left have about themselves is not so much their belief they have some sort of monopoly (or corner, at least) on edginess, creativity and taste, but in the fact that it is unimaginable to so many of them that people on the right could view themselves as being edgy, creative and tasteful, too. I mean, many of the loudest-mouthed people on the right are actually putting out some very Mac-like (clean lines, ease of use) ideas which also happen to be very consistent with Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines (perhaps substituting “Users” with “Listeners” or “Viewers,” and “Mac OS X ” with “Right Wing” and “applications” with something like “spiels” …

See: Introduction to Apple Human Interface Guidelines at Mac Dev Center

Introduction to Apple Human Interface Guidelines

Apple has the world’s most advanced operating system, Mac OS X, which combines a powerful core foundation with a compelling user interface called Aqua. With advanced features and an aesthetically refined use of color, transparency, and animation, Mac OS X makes computing even easier for new users, while providing the productivity that professional users have come to expect of the Macintosh. The user interface features, behaviors, and appearances deliver a well-organized and cohesive user experience available to all applications developed for Mac OS X.

These guidelines are designed to assist you in developing products that provide Mac OS X users with a consistent visual and behavioral experience across applications and the operating system. Following the guidelines is to your advantage because:

• Users will learn your application faster if the interface looks and behaves like applications they’re already familiar with.
   
• Users can accomplish their tasks quickly, because well-designed applications don’t get in the user’s way.
   
• Users with special needs will find your product more accessible.
   
• Your application will have the same modern, elegant appearance as other Mac OS X applications.
   
• Your application will be easier to document, because an intuitive interface and standard behaviors don’t require as much explanation.
   
• Customer support calls will be reduced (for the reasons cited above).
   
• Your application will be easier to localize, because Apple has worked through many localization issues in the Aqua design process.
   
• Media reviews of your product will be more positive; reviewers easily target software that doesn’t look or behave the way “true” Macintosh applications do.
   
• The implementation of Apple’s human interface principles make the Macintosh what it is: intuitive, friendly, elegant, and powerful.

To wit (or as Emeril Lagasse might say, “Boom!”):

Glenn Beck uses Macs at home (from: overclock.net )

Rush Limbaugh uses Macs everywhere and gives them away as presents

Michelle Malkin uses a Mac even though she hates Al Gore

Jonah Goldberg is a 20 year Mac user

Mike Huckabee made the switch because of Apple’s customer service

And so on.

Me? Well, I harbor no illusions that our common love of a computer platform and the ability to easily share files without passing viruses is enough to bring any of my right wing Macintosh-using brothers and sisters and me any closer together on either the issues of the day or the meaning of life; but I have learned that Steve Jobs’ real legacy turns out not to be the design of the products he sells, but the RDF, which is very like an open-source operating system that anyone with a Christ-complex is able to modify, derive from and/or distribute, presumably “in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE (cite),” know what I mean? ; )

See you soon!

5L4M

Flavors:

• Exchanges  •  fair use  •  name-dropping  •  over-stepping  •  RDF  •  taste

Possibly related:

• Friends of Friends Policy [Revised] (June 1, 2011)
• Server Beware (May 17, 2011)
• Ossobuco Night! (September 27, 2010)
• Comments Test (July 19, 2010)
• Gratuitous (April 13, 2010)