Liking a song before it becomes a hit.

Why go Pro when iMac goes faster?

I am an avowed Mac person and I have been for a long time. My first computer was an Apple 2c (thanks mom and dad) and my subsequent computers have all been some form of Mac tower or, in the case of my wife, laptop. I have been a Mac person when being one made you look like the odd man out. I continue to be one as I enter the stores packed with "geniuses" whose primary reason for existence is to sell iPhones, iPads, laptops and iPods; the big 4. For the most part, the "geniuses" are not there for me. Their genius is limited to the big 4; the products that drive Apple sales and Mac adoption.

When I have a question, I will usually go online to avoid the disappointment of experiencing the genius of the "geniuses." Occasionally, I will lapse and go to the Apple Store to be reminded that Apple doesn't pander to its more hardcore supporters.

Once, I had a salesperson ask me what I planned to do with my new Mac. Fair question, I thought. When I answered desktop publishing; InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator and a little Dreamweaver, he actually corrected me by saying that Dreamweaver was for the internet not desktop publishing. There was almost the tone of doubt in his voice that I would do ANY of those things with my shiney new Mac. I thanked him from pointing that out, only for him to follow up with, "The Imac is essentially a Tower with a built in monitor." Another salesperson suggested, "You could replace your G4 tower with a Mac mini." At least he didn't suggest that I buy an iPad to replace my aging G4, although that would have made for a funnier blog post.

All of this makes me feel like a computer man without a computer country. With Apple entering the mainstream with plenty of "gotta-have-it" cache, my geekier needs are being put to the back burner for the gateway products in the shiney Apple stores. I miss the days of Apple's underdog status where people looked at you sideways for your loyalty to a product that they didn't fully appreciate or care about.

I will end this post on an up note, since nobody wants to hear a wheel squeaking for too long.

Carpet!!!

There, I feel much better now.