Get to the Back of the Bus PDF Print E-mail
Written by Roger Born   
Get to the Back of the Bus - Mac Segregation

I am having a very unusual computing experience here and now. I loaned my old reliable Mac 8500 to my son to do an animation, and then my trusty Mac 7100 went south on me late last week. Horrors! I have not been without a Mac for a number of years. This situation would be a great excuse to go out and buy that iMac I want, but for now it is not to be. -So here I am sitting (ahem...) at a borrowed Windoze PC to write on, and to check my email. In the process I am finding out a few minor revelations about being a Mac user.

I rarely use Microsoft products on my Mac. This is because MS is the Windows software company. But a few MS products were once necessary to me, and once used, there is no way to migrate now to another software application. Therefore, on my Mac I use Internet Explorer since Netscape Navigator and iCab have trouble staying aloft when I go on line. I understand this is probably because I use older Macintoshes. IE is not my first choice, but it is stable enough, and used on a Mac is not bad for a browser. (shhhh!) The same situation goes with my email. I use Outlook Express. I would prefer another, but with my thousands of email files that no other email client can open, I am stuck.

It is not a revelation to me that I am stuck right now, without my Macintosh. The revelation is the realization that I am continually being sent to the back of the bus by this whole computer culture thing, and by Microsoft in particular.

You understand the concept of being sent to the back of the bus? Second class people are required to sit there. People not good enough to sit in the front. This of course comes from a group of people who elected themselves first class citizens, and for whom there are no laws written (or enforced) to keep them from practicing their segregation.

Perhaps it is because as a country we now have (for the most part) gotten rid of racial segregation and prejudice. People around us still seem to need to practice these things somehow, so they do it to all us Mac users, -and quite effectively too.

For instance:

You want parts and service, or software for your old Mac? Get to the back of the bus! You got to pay more for all that, provided you can even find a service center that will touch a Mac.

You want a local dial up account for your Mac? Get to the back of the bus! You will have to wait a longer time to get on line, have more disconnects, and pay a premium to your local ISP because they "don't support Macs here."

BTW, don't bother asking for their tech support either. Get to the back of the bus!

If you happen to work on a PC temporarily you will see more of this.

Try logging on to a Mac site, or a Mac email account from Windows. Get to the back of the bus! All you will get for your trouble is the message "Page cannot be displayed." Apple, and Mac sites, it seems, are for second class citizens. Therefore, don't go there on a PC.

You want more examples?

I used to work as an illustrator and animator. My resume, and my portfolio was required to contain some work done on a PC if I wanted to get work. What,s worse, many temp agencies and employers are PC only houses, and they will not even consider a potential employee who has the word "Mac" in his resume. Years ago, I used to proudly put "I don't do windows!" on my resume, but I could not do that more recently. Instead I had to advertise up front that I could work across multiple platforms.

Therefore, as an artist, using a Mac made me a second class employee, if I were employed at some places. Get to the back of the bus!

Oh, there are a few great places to work where Macs are the Thing to use. There are even a few wonderful companies who do not practice this brainless segregation. To them, Macs are tools to use for certain jobs, and PCs are for another. This is an oft overlooked and even secret part of what makes these companies so productive. PCs can't do graphics very well, and they are not cost effective or productive. So, PC only graphics companies often lose contracts because of missed deadlines and/or poor presentation performance. Companies that use Macs almost never have these kinds of problems.

Want to find these great companies? Look at the more profitable graphics companies and art houses. They are around. But for the most of corporate America, you had better leave your Mac skills off your resume. Get to the back of the bus!

You want more?

You go to college, and you want to use the computer lab so that you can type and print some of your assignments. What? No Macs here? All there are on campus are PCs? Get to the back of the bus!

Try getting an online account at most any bank. Got to have a PC, and only a PC. Get to the back of the bus!

Want to pay your utility bills online? Sorry, got to have a PC. Get to the back of the bus!

Want to apply for a particular credit card online? Get a PC. Get to the back of the bus!

You want to see that movie clip at a particular site? Got to have Real Player or the MS Player version for PCs. No Quicktime here. You are out of luck. Get to the back of the bus!

Music downloads? Cool MP3 players? Not all of them work on a Mac. You just got downgraded, my friend. Get to the back of the bus!

How about games, both on line and for single players? You already know the story. You use a Mac. Get to the back of the bus!

You want to take a friend to a computer store to help him see all the cool Macs? He or she will probably wonder why you have to go over to a dark corner somewhere in the store, and face a pitiful display of equipment and software, poorly displayed and neglected. How many of you have experienced this? Get to the back of the bus, you second class Mac user, you! Your friend will likely buy a PC and be in Windows hell forever.

(Thank you, Bill Gates!)

There are many other things like this, but you get the point, don't you?

I do not know about you, but I am very tired of being treated like a second class computer user. Somehow even in America, where such things should not exist, they do for Mac users, and no one sees it. These things also exist for every Linux and Amiga user, don't they? (Thanks for the reminder, Eolake.)

What should you and I do?

I do not have all the answers, and no particular group seems to have a real answer either. But those of us who evangelize the Mac to everyone else are not going to shut up, and we are not going away. Computer apartheid cannot last forever.

How big is this issue? Not very. I understand that it is not like my basic freedoms given to me by this country are being threatened here. I chose to use the Mac after all, so I am really to blame for my own problems. I can accept that.

I also understand that it does not matter to anyone but another Mac user that I use a superior Mac computer, with a more advanced and stable operating system than any of those who use PCs.

Nor do most people care that my Mac is virus free, or that my software and hardware is much more easily installed, or even that my Mac computer crashes less often and less tragically than for anyone who uses their PC.

My Mac IS more stable, and more USEFUL than any PC could ever be! The Mac is also much more productive, and it even comes with an innate sense of freedom that is unique in the computer world.

It doesn't even matter to anyone that my colorful Mac computer is more elegant and esthetically pleasing than some mindless gray box PC could ever be.

We live in a WinTel world, like it or not.

None of these great things about the Mac matter to the legions of PC users,

- and therefore, all the self-important PC users do not matter to me.

So in some situations, when a PC user tells me to get to the back of the bus, I just grin, and go my way.

I still have my Mac.

Nobody, telling me to get to the back of the bus, is going to take my Macintosh's most excellent and joyful computing experience away from me!

So be proud of what you got!

-and be well,

Roger

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