A couple of weeks back a few editors and I in our chain had a brief email debate about Macs versus PCs.
Someone had heard that our IT department was suggesting replacing some of our aging Macs with newer Windows-based machines.
Most of the other editors were horrified, and that's typical of journalists, who are Apple-centric. I was the only one not bothered by the idea, since I use Apple at work, Windows at home and am happy with both. But I didn't argue very hard, and for one reason: it felt a bit like debating the merits of Catholicism versus Protestantism. Which branch of Christianity was better might have been a going concern a couple of centuries ago, but now no one cares. Not even the Catholics and Protestants.
The same is true of the equally theological and seemingly as ancient Mac versus PC schism. Wave your precious Macbook Pro or Lenovo ThinkPad Carbon around all you want because whether you like it or not, the world has moved on.
Apples and oranges are both fruit
Years ago, we used computers as overpriced, overcomplicated typewriters. (I'm talking about normal people as opposed to geeks who used them to crunch vast reams of data.) As the machines got better and the interfaces improved, we added spreadsheets, presentations, photo editing, and games. And a whole bunch of other pieces of software, from Quicken to QuarkXpress.
They were still overpriced, and often overcomplicated, but became steadily more useful. Once we added the Internet, from email to the web, they turned into the most profound communication devices ever invented.
All of that work was done intimately through the computer we used and the interface it hosted, whether it was designed by Apple or Microsoft. Both the Mac and PC camps attracted adherents, and, in a way that seems stupid and shallow now, we strongly identified ourselves by the company of the computers we kept. A one button mouse versus a two-button mouse? That mattered! Now think of what you do with your computer today: send email, check Facebook, play Words With Friends, perform routine banking. Almost all of that you likely do through a web browser, and I'm not going out on a limb by suggesting the experience of these activities on a browser is little different on a Mac versus a PC (or increasingly, a Chromebook).
In fact, I'm not going out on a limb to suggest Macs and PCs are at parity, even with the current oddness of Windows 8 and the greater complexity of choice among PCs. Both sides have borrowed from the other and both are mature and powerful technologies. Both will get you to the church on time.
But chances are you've chosen a different route to church.
Moving forward with mobile
That emailing, Facebooking, Words with Friending and banking you do online? You're using your phone or tablet to do it.
They're simpler, cheaper and a lot more portable than computers, and what's more, they're all you need to connect to the online services like Facebook that dominate our social lives.
That fancy iMac? It's gathering dust in the corner. It has far more power than anyone needs. Like the Inquisition or the leaders of the Reformation, that big, expensive computer just doesn't matter anymore and goes a long way to explaining the decline in traditional computer sales.
The old Windows versus Mac debate will continue in isolated pockets, among, for example, creative professionals like journalists, who have special technical needs and neuroses to match when it comes to their tools.
As for the rest of us, the theological debate in tech has moved to smartphones and tablets and whether iPhones/iPads versus Android gets you to social media heaven faster. But even this debate is dying down.
Facebook, Gmail, Instagram and even traditional desktop stalwarts like Microsoft Office are making their way to almost all smartphones and mobile devices. Smartphones, like the PCs and Macs before them, are becoming remarkably alike, as anyone who looks at new phones can see. A touchscreen, some buttons to push, and the same group of popular apps.
And that's not a bad thing, because the real things in life to argue about are not phones, iPads and operating systems.
Barry Link is editor of the Vancouver Courier newspaper and a geek enthusiast. [email protected] @trueblinkit
