Ajai Karthikeyan is Invictus

So, I have recently been accused of turning into an Apple Fanboy after my recent Macbook purchase and I am grossly offended by this. I couldn’t actually sleep with this on my head, so I started writing. What I am going to do is put my definitions of the different types of people that are part of the Apple Fan Culture, and follow up with where I would say I fit into the grand scheme of things.

Apple Fans can broadly be classified into these categories, some people will fall under a couple:

Apple Heads: These are the people who own everything Apple. You can’t see them without at least 2 Apple products on them at the same time. They talk only Apple. Steve Jobs is god! (He is not guys. That would be Larry Elison)

Apple Heads tend to buy everything Apple and integrate it into their daily lives to an extant that I would classify them as the Borg. My personal thoughts on Apple Head: They are just those people doing what they like best which just happens to be Apple Products. Don’t dislike them. Do get annoyed by them when they start talking about Apple this and Steve Jobs that and will not stop. – I have also been informed that Apple Heads are referred to with an ‘i’ in front of their name as they have turned into Apple products themselves.

Mactards: These guys use Macs or have an iPhone. They will defend Apple on anything and everything. I own this and it is awesome. My personal thoughts on Mactards: They are just Apple Head Lite (as Microsoft would call them

Macaholics: These are the people who have used Macs for a very long period and are happy where they are. They used it for at least 10 years and have not actively used an other OS in that time period. So, basically these have been living in the Mac bubble. They will usually compare their current mac to their old one. Nice people in general. My personal thoughts on Macaholics: You are in my ok book UNTIL you start comparing it with Windows or Linux – you have no idea what you are talking about as by this definition, you have not used them before.

iWannabe: Prepare for a rant, these people strike a nerve. The iWannabe does not own a Mac! The iWannabe does not own a iPhone! They just want one NOW! They have probably never used anything by Apple other than the iPod and even if they have, it is only for a couple hours at best. These people are the once that Apple’s Marketing (AKA Propaganda) division makes their money off. These guys have been convince of the awesomeness of the Mac by the ads, the people talking about it and the every so awesome looks (and sometimes the exclusive price tag). Honestly, I don’t like you cause you are so easy. I am a marketing guy to an extent and seriously the fun in the hunt is in the chase. Give me (and Apple) a challenge people. My personal thoughts on iWannabes: I don’t like you. The Macaholics only fight against something they do not understand. You are fighting FOR something you do not know. Change!!! Try out a Mac from a friend for a while or go to the local library. Figure out why exactly you like it before you say you want one. I will be happy with you telling me its only for the looks if that is the reason you are getting it. —- I just wonder if an violent iWannabe will mug an Apple Head. Now trying to stop thinking of an iWannabe and an Apple Head I know fighting over Apple goodies.

Those are the 4 main categories I would put people into. Some would fall into multiple of these. Some will fall into non. There is always the regular guy and then the super regular. So, the reason behind why I did this, where do I fit in to all this.

I have used Windows most of my life before college. Was not very happy with it at all times, but never had any major issues (except for the time when I went without a computer for 2 years due to an untimely death of an old computer). I will also say that I am not a big gamer, only play games occasionally when I am bored and am not in the state for activities that require 2 or more people. One of my biggest annoyances with Windows that within a year of purchase, your anti-virus hogs up half of your system resources. And before we even continue, all this si based on XP – I disqualify Vista as Windows on the basis that Vista was so bad, that I don’t even want to bring it up – take that all you Vista lowers.

Once in college I started experimenting with Linux. Spent a year and a half with Ubuntu and it was quite simply love at first sight. Great platform. No useless .exe files running. Simple. Low on system requirements. And just about great for anything I needed to do except for design work. And that was something I was wiling to accept and walk to the CoC/Library to get on a machine with Adobe (usually on a Mac).

During the time I was tweaking with Linux, I was also dabbling with Macs mainly for design work and video editing. Me being the person who answers the interview question “Do you know so and so programing language?” with “I will when I come to work on Monday”, I got my act together and my fiddling with Mac impressed me. Everything except for the price tag was at my sweetspot. Note: I do have issues with Mac, which I can ignore they same way I used to ignore the lack of Adobe for Linux. On top of this, some problems that most Windows users have with Macs are not issues for me at all, such as the low game count – not a big gamer here.

Anyways, as I started with my summer jobs, and the money was going to start rolling in, I got myself a Macbook – which is going to become a Macbook Pro in a couple hours. Right now, I am in the position to say that I like OS X. Over a years experience and now even after 2 weeks of running my life from one, it is great. Had a couple minor issues that I don’t care about cause nothing is going to be perfect. (Had myself a fit when I realized that sudo apt-get won’t work anymore)

I have had experiences with all 3 major OSes and I will say – Don’t Like Windows but will use it if I have to – Love Linux and will use it any day unless I want to do design work – OS X Happy with it for now and it seems to have the best functionality of Linux with a beautiful GUI and front-end application collection. And my love for OS X stops at the computers. I don’t like the iPhone!

At the end of it all, what impresses me the most? The hardware! I love the trackpad on the Macbook. Illuminated Keyboard is just WoW (and before you WinHeads get started, I know Dell also offers that). I typed most of this in the dark about to fall asleep without annoying typos. And the main thing keeping me away from getting an iPhone is the lack of a physical keyboard.

So, what am I? I am ambiOSdextrous with a love for Linux, uses a Mac willingly and enjoys the experience and does not want to see a Windows computer in front of him with a passion.

What do you think?