[Circa]

Its hard to describe but I just find it amazing that mac users are different then pc users. We are different in our own way, having Apple hardware and software is pure excitement. Its a thrill when every Macworld comes, its a huge rush when we here the new products that are announced at the keynote.

I think liking Apple in general is an addiction, and a different way of life for computers users. We mac users are dedicated and willing to hold on to a company that continues to suprize us and put out more and more every month the best that they can.

We are behind in mhz but that still doesn't stop us from buying mac stuff, we continue to be impressed with the way apple releaseses state of the art technology.

The pure dedication that can be seen in mac users is unbelievable, it made me wonder if maby owning a mac was the way to go back in th e days of the new iMac. Seeing MacNN, Appleinsider members post day after day about Apple in general meant something it made me convert and boy am I glad I did. Its a new way of life and one that is non regretable. Whether we like to admit or not we strive to get that feeling of opening a new mac and experimenting with something fresh and new.

Apple will never die and either will forums like MacNN.

Its an addiction and I am proud of it.

[fobside]

i think apple caters to a die hard group of individuals who are faithful to their product. while you have those that disappear to what most of us call the "dark side" they still remain amicable to apple. those that come over from the "dark side" tend to become part of that faitful group of followers. its interesting. its like people sticking to their favorite alcohol.

[Arty50]

Man I'm going through withdrawls right now. As I sit in front of this POS NT box I count the minutes till I can come home and sit it front of my Mac. People ask, "Why do you use a Mac?" Here's the simple answer: "Because when I click on a seemingly innocent link that really leads to a porn site that spawns a gazillion new browser windows, I can just hit Apple + Q. Versus the Windoze box where I might as well just hit the power button."

[sek929]

I noticed that even just thumbing through a magazine if I see the word "apple" I read the article just to check if it mentions my fav. company....its usually in some other context though sadly.

Oh and you never hear somebody say "I love my Gateway" or "Compaq's rule!!"....there is a reason why we Mac users are the way we are....it restores the balance.

[ironknee]

Hi, my name is Sam and I am addicted to Apple.

It's been 5 minutes since I logged onto apple.com

Really, it's a rush to see an Apple anything, ads, articles, commercials, keynotes, etc...

I log onto apple.com at LEAST 30 times a day HOPING to see anything new...yes I take screenshots...although i wished I captured the "Pro, Go, Woa!" tease before the iMac introduction.

I resent my PC "friends" for their ignorance...I wear an Apple baseball cap...I notice ANY Macs on shows, movies, commercials....and I'll say it, Apple is more popular than Jesus (Santiago)!

I wonder if Compaq, Dell or Gateway has Loyal users who have a site like this...compaqnn.com?

Maybe we addicts who are going to macworld should meet and have a "meeting"

love you all!
Sam...

[itomato]

Originally posted by ironknee:
<STRONG>Hi, my name is Sam and I am addicted to Apple.

I log onto apple.com at LEAST 30 times a day HOPING to see anything new...yes I take screenshots...although i wished I captured the "Pro, Go, Woa!" tease before the iMac introduction... </STRONG>

Hey, do you have screenshots going back 'til then? Or further, maybe? I have often thought it would be cool to see the evolution of the Apple main page. There has been a steady progression since they re-did it with the black and with the "Apple" at top left. I would love to see a slide show of the change, or better yet, a movie of the site morphed through the changes.

Part of the addiction!

[ 06-26-2001: Message edited by: itomato ]

[ironknee]

Wish I did

I need to find the other screen shots...(i'm the guy who has a MESSY finder, thank you Steve )

I WISH i took a ss of the original Apple site....anyone has that?

[Circa]

MacNN is in a way a very strong community, and for a forum that is an important thing. Because the topic of choice here is Apple that makes this place even better.

And Apple is the best alternative to microsoft.

[suprz]

i'm addicted and proud!!

i'll be "apple" till the day i die

[plaidpjs]

Hello, my name is Thomas. Until 1995 I built my own PC boxes and ran Windows software. Then i got in front of a Mac for more than five minutes. The love affair started almost immediately thereafter. I didn't notice it at first, the change was slow an insidious, but constant. Within a year I was addicted.

My friends noticed the change first, then my family. Slowly I felt myself alienated from the larger community of computer users. But, it wasn't until the first day I took my Blue & White G3 out of the box that i completely realized how changed I was by something as simple as a computer. I was thinking differently, I was on a constant high. I would spend endless hours in front of the thing with a wired and half-crazy smile on my face.

That was a scary and dangerous time. I almost OAed (over-appled)... twice! Slowly, however, I was able to get the compulsion under control... at least I thought it was under control.... but that's when it happened. After several years of judicious Apple use i thought I had finally gotten my addiction under control. I found myself just tarrying through life, letting the incesant PC-user criticism roll off my back. Then, one day in the early months of 2000, the illusion I had created for myself came crashing down.

I found myself, sitting amongst a few friends, the conversation inadvertantly switched to computer use, someone said Apple made crappy computers... I went haywire. The casual conversation turned into a raging debate and i wouldn't let it end until i had felt vindicated and victorious... that's when i realized the addiction had transcended, and i had become a "zealot". Help me....

Ciao!

[VRL]

lol ...

What's "scary" is I can relate to all of you

A Happy Mac Addict,
VRL

[dn15]

VRL: That's how I feel too. I'm sitting here reading and thinking it's kind of funny how these people get so worked up over thier computers. Then I remember that I might as well have written everything they are saying.

[Korv]

Ditto.

Dang.

[Peter Combs]

Hello, my name is Peter.
There has been a mac in my home for as long as I can remember. But for most of those years, I was just a casual user-not a zealot of any sort. However, my addiction really took off in the 7th Grade: It will forever be the year of the iMac for me. This was when we bought our first new computer in what must have been years. Because the Performa 550 I was using was the oldest in the active use cycle, I was the one who received it. Needless to say, my addiction spiraled out of control when I first took the iMac Rev. A out of the box. I still use that computer to this day. Unfortunately, it will soon retire to casual use, as I am getting a new iBook. Umm... Sorry about the rant. I find I tend to do that a lot lately.

[caifara]

I'm an apple addict, that's for sure. In the beginning (that is when my dad bought a 475 performa) I didn't like mac at all, all those crazy games on the windoze machines made me mad, especially the easy way to get them for free!
The GUI of the mac learned me the MacOS was and is superiour to the windoze (and the rest).
It all happened when my dad started talking about buying an iMac, it took me a year to convince him, but then it was there and it was heaven. Now I finally have my own. I had to work 5 weeks for it (I can tell you it wasn't fun!) but now I feel free.

-c
-spread the word-

[georgius]

I'm addicted. Definately.

I think there is a definite difference between Mac users and PeeCee users. Mac users are more dedicated to their machines. I sure am...and would only use a PeeCee if I had to...and only as a last resort.

I don't know how to describe it...but the Mac is just the thing to own. I feel special to own such a great piece of hardware...and the software beats anything that could ever come out of a Wintel market. i love it. I'm definately addicted. I sit on tenterhooks the day of keynote speechs. I think the TV commercials are always pretty cool...and set the Mac apart. It is a highly addictive piece of machinery. And its great.

I'm addicted. And proud of it.

Play it cool

[finboy]

Hello, my name is Tim, and I'm an Apple user.

I, too, was a Windoze guy, with lots of time invested in the platform, prior to 1997. That's when a friend of mine gave me a Powerbook 100, and a big box of software for it. Once I discovered that I could do more with 4M of RAM in Mac OS 7.1 than I could do with 16M of RAM in Windows 3.11, I had to switch. The choice was a new Windows machine with minimum Win95 specs, and then unreliable operation, or old macs, which were cheap and plentiful, and solid as a rock. Plus, they all had SCSI ports for a Zip drive and/or a tape backup (even the SE).

At first it was painful, you know, but then I started to enjoy the pain and it kind of transcended into some new kind of pleasure. It was really, um, different from the way that I'd done things before. Before long, there wasn't any pain -- I guess you just get used to it. The pain came from realizing that I'd been doing it all wrong up until that point, and when I started using Macs it was so much easier and more predictable and stable that I regretted all the time spent learning Win 3.1, Win 95 and DOS. And CP/M.

Oh, I've had lots of friends to help me through the transition, but sometimes I still feel like an outsider. That's part of the attraction, really -- kind of like a secret or something.

[Monique]

Yes I am addicted and I just adore it.

But, addicted seems negative we are just passionate about our leader Steve and what Apple does because it is the very best.

[oranjdisc]

To this day, I still get giddy thinking about that Christmas morning, way back in the early 80s, when my parents bought a IIc for me. I had worn out my Commodore Vic 20, and 64, and was ready to move up. I remember opening my eyes, to see these giant white boxes with rainbow logos on the side, sitting under the tree. I almost fainted. It turned out to be a curse for my parents though, for I spent ungodly amounts of time with it.

That was almost 20 years (!) ago, and I'm still a MacAddict. Always will be, no matter how big or small the company gets. Doesn't matter.

[milhous]

Good Day.

There are days when sometimes I'll just say to myself, "God, I F_ _ _ING love Apple Computers." It's just something about Apple products that I can't describe with words.

I think what I've come to realize is that for me, it is no longer a fettish, an obsession, or a cult at that. Rather, it has become a way of life. Sometimes even before my default start page (the DRUDGE REPORT) fully loads, i quickly access either MacNN or the PBZone MULTIPLE times through the quicklinks.

Without question, I can agree with sentiment that was expressed in the above previous posts about the fact that there is trully a different mentality and way of thinking between Windows and Mac users. Not to make this a flame war, I seem to have discovered that conservatives usually use windows while people on the more liberal spectrum use the mac. I am a conservative and a registered R, so i must be the exception to that rule.

The fact of the matter is, a computer, regardless of its applications, should have a relative degree of "fun-ness" and be easy to use. Some people believe that macs just can't be used for business because they think it doesn't behave or display itself in a serious manner.

I remember that old Apple Commercial (and if you want it, I'll try to send it to you) of when this business executive big wig came from out of town and asked one of the employees if there was a PeeCee that he could use and the employee said that he could use his (which was a PowerMac). The Exec then said that it was a windows disk and the employee still said that it could be open. Low and behold, it was able to open the office file.........

He was then amused to say that he didn't know it was a serious business computer.

If anything, I truly believe that the Mac is much more of a serious computer because Macs add the human factor when producing their products while microsoft just provides the tools to get the job done and have the company's stock go up and meet quarterly expectations.

Don't get me wrong, I have criticised those on these message boards that love to boast about WinXP and how they're not serious mac users and I still defend that statement to this day. I also have a PeeCee at home and have also come to the realization that regardless of how improved the windows operating system becomes, or whether it has become more asthetically pleasing, or even if they have these gigahertz-buster processors, the fact remains that the PeeCee will NEVER--NEVER provide the user quality experience of the Macintosh. I will defend the Macintosh against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

LONG LIVE THE MAC!
LONG LIVE APPLE!

[gorgonzola]

I still bleed in six colors.

[nonhuman]

Personally, I'd say that Apple is more of a lifestyle than an addiction. I've literally grown up with Macs. I've been using them since my dad brought home his original 128k Mac when I was 15 months old and showed me how to use MacPaint. Since then the only computer my family has owned that wasn't a Mac was the Apple ][gs that was my first computer (well, there's also the TRS-80 in my closet, and an old compaq deskpro 4/33i that I use as a podium for my Pismo 500, but I've got an iMac Rev A, a Gossamer G3 A/V MT, and an LC II to balance those out...). Anyway my point is that all this somehow points to Apple being a lifestyle not an addiction. And besides, I can quit anytime I want to.

Oh, and Milhous, despite my mac-filled life I am quite conservative politically; another exception to your rule

[AppleCello]

Hey,

the feeling is tough to describe, but easy to define.

Its the same thing that many people can experience through a variety of activities. For me, the only times that I feel so great are when I'm playing my instrument (nd it actaully sounds good or when Im using my mac.

the difference that we get with the macs vs PCs (dells especially) is that the macs were made by people who love what they are doing and put passion into their work. there is no "functional" reason to encase the the G4's metal skeleton with anything more than the cheapest protectice plastics (beige dell crap). This is the kind of thing that is done to achieve a cerain aesthetic balance that provides the macs with character. that character is a result of the creativity and passion of the designers.

the PCs are meant for work. They are built using Classical Theories of management that stress a completely optimized method of production. Every piece of those machines are part of a specific formula that provide the lowest production cost to the company, anf this can be a good thing, in some cases.

Of course, Apple has to include this in their production methods as well, but they take into account the humanistic elements, especially the need and desire to be creative, non-conformist, and individually productive...

shoot , got to get to class.

[voodoo]

Originally posted by Arty50:
<STRONG>Man I'm going through withdrawls right now. As I sit in front of this POS NT box I count the minutes till I can come home and sit it front of my Mac. People ask, "Why do you use a Mac?" Here's the simple answer: "Because when I click on a seemingly innocent link that really leads to a porn site that spawns a gazillion new browser windows, I can just hit Apple + Q. Versus the Windoze box where I might as well just hit the power button."</STRONG>

ROTFL! "...where I might as well hit the power button." Haha! That is SO true!

[iBabo]

ive convinced my self that im the next Steve Jobs...infact my AIM screenname is iCEO76...i goto the Apple store atleast 2 times a week, was the 3rd person to get into the store the first day. my room has more Apple posters then wallpaper, i have an original Mac in my room on a pedestal.my whole school know me as the mac guy(although a tipical conversation is "hey Bob, is that you?...MAC SUuCK"). again im 100000% positive that im th next SJ. the next CEO of Apple(iCEO?) the biggest insult anyone can ever say to me is that "macs suck"..man i get emmotional when i start argueing with then about why their wrong. a friend of mine suggested i go into withdrawel. me and 2 of my friends have this thing called "Apple shirt Fridays" where we wear an apple shirt every friday to school, what makes this even funnyer is that our whole school is sponsered by Compaq, and there are compaq Banners everywhere,(the irony of it all is everyteacher has a PC..except the principal, he has a mac.)
not only do i bleed in 6 colors, but depening on where i get cut, i also bleed, indigo, graphite, blue dalmation, ruby, sage, snow, strawberry, blueberry, grape, tangerine, lime, and the ocational bondi blue.(i dont do flowerpower)
i can convert almost, and i mean almost anyone to "macism"(if thats what you wanna call it)i got the most diehart PC user at my school to get a mac
my motto "Raising Apples marketshare, One person at a time"..i even have a teacher taht calls me Mr. CEO, or Mr. Chairman...HHAHA.
i have a copy of almost every Steve Jobs keynote, and im telling you i got what it takes,,,,"mac OS X server its pretty cool isnt it"..."one server one client, you prolly wouldnt do that..." "we inventd a door"....." sorry we do not comment on unnanounced products"..." oh, and ONE MORE THING."
i think thats it for now....

remmeber Bob Der-Grigorian for iCEO

[JUnderwood]

Do you feel the whole "APPLE" world is an addiction?

yes

[finboy]

If I don't spend some time with my Pismo every day, I start to get shakey and my vision gets all blurry.

Of course, the same thing usually happens AFTER I've spent time with my Pismo every day.

[Avenir]

I play on Macs, I work on Macs, I learn on Macs, heck, I work for a Mac shop and spend 9 hours a day selling Macs.

Addicted? Nah, not when you compare it to that incident I had with crack in grade school...

[Kosmo]

Hello, my name is Kosmo and I am an Apple Addict.

I started an online publication in the mid 90's called MacNET! that became widely popular among other Apple Addicts. It helped to have a place to come and share.

This year I began to think about reviving MacNET! for the new legions of Apple Addicts so I am about to launch MacNETv2 tomorrow, July 1st.

Our forums are flame free and our whole idea is to 'Celebrate the Macintosh'.

Many of you will recognize several MacNN regulars as Mods on our Forums, fine people like the great AlbertWu, MacBoy, Ruby, Bugs, Coyote Blue, and others...even nigeljedi is our Operation Admin.

Our whole publication was designed for fine people like you. I hope you'll come see us and visit our forums, read our columns, our reviews, and stop in our Apple Anonymous forum and introduce yourself.

We'd like you to join our community as well as MacNN's...we love MacNN as much as you do, but MacNETv2 is about 'Celebration'...

By the way, we have the largest smilies on any forum, and the first to offer the 'raised eye-brow' smilie for those moments when the raised eye-brow is the only way to express what you are feeling...

Kosmo

http://www.macnet2.com

[BRussell]

Funny, because the fact that it's addictive says something sad about Apple.

Things that give us only partial reinforcement are most addictive. People are most attracted to others who sometimes treat them like shite, and sometimes treat them well. The more irrational the belief, the more strongly people hold them. People believe so strongly in religions because they can't be proven - they are based on faith rather than logic or simple observation. People don't become addicted or obsessive about simple observations or simple logical statements. Apple is like a bizarre religion that requires a leap of faith and suspension of logic to accept, and once you accept it, you can't give it up, because in order to do so you must admit that you've been irrational in the past. It's easier to stay with your irrationality than change it and admit you've been irrational.

The reason Apple is addictive is that they sometimes make great products, but sometimes they screw us over, with high prices, under-powered Motorola chips, ditching floppies before they were dead, going with DVD before they are useful, not allowing graphics card upgrades in the iMac, giving us a slow OS X, etc. etc.

If they were just a good company making good products, we would just buy them, and not become addicted to them.

[neilnet]

&lt;rant&gt;

Similar story for me...

I remember getting my first computer - a 486. The trouble I had installing the CD drive was so frustrating, although whenever it was working I actually quite liked it. Soon though, after problems upon problems with it, I soon decided I wanted a Mac after seeing my dad use one. I moved from my 486, to a Mac plus and truly believe the Mac plus was (and still is) by far the better machine.

After that I went to an LC475 - then after seeing the iMac - I knew I wanted one.

The worrying thing is that I find myself upgrading more often than I used to. It used to be every few years but it's becoming more like *at least* once a year. G4 400 to G4 450DP to my 667, and the same has happened with laptops... I love my iBook!

&lt;/rant&gt;

Neil

btw Circa, great thread!