Cars and computers

What I'm going to say today is so commonplace I was doubting about posting it. Anyway, here it goes.

My computer,  a relatively new HP laptop,  is currently being repaired. For the year or so that I have had it, it has given me a great number of minor problems. Stuff that any PC user will be familiar with: programs that refuse to work today and work perfectly well tomorrow, a need to restart once in a while, mysterious error messages, and the like.

Yesterday I was telling the friend of a friend about this and about the relative pros and cons of the alternatives to Microsoft, which as far as I know, are Macintosh and Linux. Both have good and bad points. My acquaintance had used Linux, and he only knew about Macs what the average non-user knows. He disagreed with me on everything, because his PC hadn't suffered any major crashes in the last year or so (someone reminded him of a virus scare this summer). The end of the conversation was when I said this:

"I don't need anything special and I'm not asking much. All I want is a computer that works like my car."

Isn't that easy? My car stops when I brake. It turns when I turn the wheel. I don't understand how the motor works, but there is always a clear cause for anything that breaks. All buttons and pedals do what they are supposed to when I push them. My car is predictable.

Well, this guy's reaction was laughter. He started laughing and couldn't stop. The naïveté! The audacity! Someone who wants a reliable computer!  

Why does the average Microsoft user think that this guy's attitude is normal and mine isn't?  

3 comentarios

[Liz - 30 de diciembre de 2005 - 19:30]

Nia, read the comments thread to this post at my pal Reecie's site for a great metaphor about why Mac OS X is superior to Windows: http://www.dayofthedeadly.com/archives/000678.html

[La Guiri - 29 de diciembre de 2005 - 09:24]

Gracias por el consejo; todos los usuarios de Mac coincidís! Mi plan es comprarme un Powerbook cuando mi portátil HP muera definitivamente. Espero que pase mucho tiempo, porque ahora no tengo la economía para muchos sustos, pero todo llegará.

[marce - 28 de diciembre de 2005 - 19:25]

Hola.
Yo he usado mac durante 6 anios, y raramente he tenido algun problema, la unica vez que tuve alguno fue causado por mi al quitarle las tipografias al sistema operativo. Fuera de ahi he tenido dos powebooks y trabajado en macs de la universidad y del trabajo y nunca he tenido un solo problema, tal vez deberias considerar conseguirte una mac mini, se que no son baratas en Espana pero yo creo que vale la pena la inversion, mi primera mac tiene 5 anios y me compre una nueva pero la vieja se la herede a mi hermanita y sigue sirviendo perfectamente.

Bueno, saludos.