11/1999

One of the oldest conflicts in computing history is the fight between so called PC advocates and Mac advocates. Both flame away, usually like a bunch of over evolved monkeys. Wintel losers are often calling themselves PC advocates, but they are no more PC advocates than Independents who vote only Democrat or Republican election after election.

Every platform inspires prejudice among its advocates. I should know because I have advocated BeOS, MacOS and Linux..... though I have never advocated for Windows. Still I have rarely ever called myself a PC advocate. The reason being is that I have learned from experience that PC's and Macs each have their own benefits and are equally good. However many people still call themselves PC advocates because they think that Wintel is simply the best solution. Many of them claim that they advocate PC's in general, but the reality of it is that they would not use Linux or BeOS if given the chance. They are not PC advocates, they are Wintel advocates.

One need only look at newsgroups like comp.sys.mac.advocacy to see what I mean. The so called PC advocates clearly don't believe in using Linux or BeOS. Their reasons for not using them range from them not being as mature as Windows to down right not being as "modern" as Windows. Some even go so far as to say that Windows is faster than Linux and BeOS which is absolutely false. For them the PC is a Microsoft invention, and an IBM PC running a non-Microsoft OS is simply not a PC in their eyes. Even though PC's are obviously better when they run Linux or BeOS, to the Wintel advocates a PC isn't a PC if ain't running Windows!

Wintel advocates are considered by many non-wintel users as being mindless drones who are brainwashed by Microsoft propaganda. However this is not the case. It is very surprising to see some of the people who advocate Wintel. They range from the lowest scum in society to the elite of our nation. For many of us who oppose Wintel advocates it is disconcerting to see this. Many of the people who really like Microsoft products don't even really know anything about Macs, Linux and have certainly never heard of BeOS. They just know what they use and because Microsoft tells them that you can't have almost bug free code they believe it along with Microsoft's other propaganda.

Most Wintel advocates are ignorant of computers and that doesn't help when arguing against them. In order to mask their ignorance they will often begin making things up about Microsoft products or competing products. When you start talking about the advantages of writing code for BeOS's 100% object oriented C++ API Vs Windows's API which is a hodge podge of C, C++, Pascal and ASM you can see the BSOD shining in their eyes. Hell when it comes to programming the most you can ever expect them to do is learn Visual Basic, anything like C++ or Java is too hard for them. Even RealBasic (much better than Visual Basic) is too hard for them to learn.

So now it all boils down to where your loyalties lie. Do you support Apple? Or do you support guerrilla resistance fighters like Be and the Linux community? Or do you support the old boy network in Redmond? I personally support the first 3, but I have not tied myself down to any platform. The best way to avoid conflict is for people to begin using a variety of platforms. Variety is important. Constant competition will keep people improving the various OS's and that will benefit everyone. Microsoft claims that having only 1 platform will benefit everyone because it will create unparalleled consistency in interface design and everyone will be able to work without having to worry about incompatibilities. All I can say when it comes to domination by **any** one platform is that it sounds too much like "ein volk, ein reich, ein furher" for my tastes.