Late last night I made the mistake of staying up to listen to a talk radio show on BBC Radio 5 Live. The host, Richard Bacon, used the final hour of the show to generate some calls from listeners with the simple call to arms: “PC or Mac?”
Talk show radio shows love topics like this. Ones on which everyone has an opinion.
Sadly, most of last night’s opinions were painful to hear. Not because the PC crowd were dismissing Macs and Mac users wholesale, but because they were using such age-old arguments to do it.
Things like:
- Macs can’t share files with Windows machines
- there’s not enough software for OS X
- Macs are only ever used by designers and graphic artists
- Macs are slow
- Macs are expensive
All these arguments were valid back in the last decade, before the introduction of OS X. But none of them really stands up any more. It’s a sad reality that many Windows users still think they’re true, because they’ve never had cause to change their minds.
The Guardian’s technology editor Charles Arthur was a guest on the show, and he did his very best to defend the Mac community from an onslaught of inaccurate and petty criticisms, but his voice was drowned out by the majority.
What was most entertaining, though, was when the in-studio Windows user (I’m sorry, I didn’t catch his name) got so flustered by Charles’ mild arguments that he retorted with crazy talk.
Charles pointed out the benefit of the software that comes with every new Mac. He mentioned GarageBand, and said there was nothing like it on Windows.
“Yes there is,” bridled the Windows guy.
“Really?” said Charles Arthur. “What’s it called?”
“Erm, it’s called Audio Loops,” said Windows guy.
“And that comes pre-installed on every new Windows computer does it?” asked Charles Arthur.
“Well, no, not all of them but…”
Then, later, Charles remarked on the lack of viruses and malware for OS X.
“Not true!” barked Windows guy. “I know of a virus for Mac.”
After one or two further probing questions, it turned out he was referring to something from the OS 9 days.
Simple lesson learned by yours truly: stay away from phone-in talk radio. It’s there to encourage argument, just like reality TV. (And quite a lot of journalism, now I stop to think about it. Oh well.)
(In the interests of full disclosure, Charles Arthur has commissioned me to write articles for The Guardian in the past, and may do again in future. That professional connection in no way affects my opinions of this radio show.)
Giles Turnbull is a freelance writer in England. He also writes for the Press Association and The Morning News. You can find out more at his website, and follow him on Twitter @gilest.
