由「反霸權」到「成為霸權」
適逢小弟星期一放假，於是走去小女將於九月入學的那地方交報讀申請表。途經一唐人food-court，便決定先走進去吃午飯，以免lunch time時間交表冇人撲個空。
坐在food-court裡，對著一大群中學生剛剛放食飯：一面叫我回憶著自己昔日學生時候的種種，另一面卻看見他們個個耳裡都戴上了那白色的earphones。有些一邊吃飯、一邊聽歌；有些一邊吃飯、一邊聽歌、一邊說話；有些一邊吃飯、一邊聽歌、一邊說話、一邊打手中的PSP／DS。
看得久了，心裡突然湧上一陣悶氣，心想「為甚麼個個到一色一樣？」 現在做青年還有甚麼選擇嗎？還是一直也是這樣，只是年紀老了，覺得人云亦云地去「潮」下去其實一點也不「潮」。
本來想說很久了，就是Apple的文化現象。昔日的Mac，是一個另類選擇，是一個對霸權說「不！」的抗議文化。Mac的fans，從不努力游說任何人「跳槽」，因為不「跳槽」是你自己的損失，是顯示你的無知。作為一個顛覆的行動，不可能沒有了被顛覆的對象，不然顛覆者亦不復存在的需要。你可以說一部可以同時行OSX和Windows的macbook在科技上的成就，但它就是沒有了那種「曲高和寡」的傲氣！強調「兼容」，卻失了「選擇」，今天的Apple實在已步進了「既得利益者」的中年。
跟著再看看這大群中學生個個戴著的iPod，那本身已經成為新的「霸權」。沒有了那種另類的「不可一世」，淨係靠個樣，可能對大多數人還是吸引的，但就肯定失卻了要求「另類選擇」的hardcore fans。
我還沒有說那個pc vs. mac的廣告系列。讀讀這文章：
Ultimately the campaign's biggest flaw is that it perpetuates the notion that consumers somehow "define themselves" with the technology they choose. If you truly believe you need to pick a mobile phone that "says something" about your personality, don't bother. You don't have a personality. A mental illness, maybe – but not a personality. Of course, that hasn't stopped me slagging off Mac owners, with a series of sweeping generalisations, for the past 900 words, but that is what the ads do to PCs. Besides, that's what we PC owners are like – unreliable, idiosyncratic and gleefully unfair. And if you'll excuse me now, I feel an unexpected crash coming.
過去的Apple跟本不會用挖苦的口吻去促銷（因為不屑用！）。現在，它已經將自己放在對手一樣的水平上…
Filed by edmund at 4.36 pm under Culture,Tech |
3 Comments
Joanna
I didn’t really read the whole editorial that you “attached” above. However, as a MAC user, I really have to say that “I HATE PC”. I am at a new company since last week and have been using a PC since then (in the office), I really have to say “PC really SUCKS!” (note: In case you don’t know, I’m a Graphic Designer). It’s so NOT GRAPHIC-DESIGNER-FRIENDLY. I agree that nowadays PC could do ALMOST everything that a MAC can do and vise versa, but I guess it all depends on your job nature or the reason why you use a computer. In a Graphic Designer’s point of view, PC really CANNOT do everything that a MAC CAN do and is not as “friendly” as a MAC (I guess all Graphic Designers would agree with me). For instance, When I was trying to find a file in a certain folder that I had opened before, in a MAC, you could just use the Pull Down menu and you would see all the recent folders that you had opened recently. In a PC, I had to start from scratch, go to My Computer, then A Folder, B folder and so on. (Maybe I’m wrong and there’s a faster way to do that and that I just didn’t know). Another example is Shortcuts, PC doesn’t have all the shortcuts that MAC has for applications like Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign. You wouldn’t want to know how inconvenient it was when I had to pull down the menu on the tool bars and then choose the action that I wanted to do (on a PC) compare to just using a shortcut on the keyboards on a MAC.
As far as the 1-button mouse vs 2 or even 3-button mouse, I have to say, if you have seen the new MAC mouse which has a “scrolling button”, I guess you would not say that a MAC mouse is nothing better than a regular PC mouse. I agree that the old MAC mouse isn’t as good because it doesn’t have a scrolling button, but still, for a Graphic Designer, I guess the second or third mouse button aren’t something really useful anyway. For the new MAC mouse, the scrolling button IS NOT ONLY for scrolling, but you can also use it as a “button” and you can set whatever function you want it to do.
To me, a MAC is a more cleverer computer compare to a PC. But I guess, after all, what matter most is that if you are used to it or not. To me, changing platform isn’t an easy thing, all the shortcuts got screwed up and it takes me more time to do something.
BUT…I guarantee that once you have used a MAC, you would NEVER go back to a PC. Trust me, you would never ever go back!
Feb 9th, 2007
edmund
Thanks Joanna for your sharing. I just hope people understand I was not really talking about the “user-friendliness” or intelligence of mac (or lack of); I was commenting on their shift in ideology from being subversive to being totalitarian.
The paragraph I quoted was on people’s hope to find their personality from a device.
(BTW, shortcuts, if I understand correctly, are programmed by the specific software, not the OS.)
Feb 9th, 2007
Joanna
I totally understand your point, but after reading it, I want to share my thoughts on PC vs MAC. =)
Yes, you’re right, shortcuts are programmed by the specific software itself, but I just don’t understand why there’re shortcuts programmed for MAC and not for PC as well.
BTW, just experienced something earlier today that Monitor cannot be calibrated on a PC, I mean…colour-wise, not general brightness or contrast.
And I also agree on what you said or the quote said about how people trying to find their personality from a device, it’s true, people are trying to show that they are the edgy group by using an Apple device (ipod, iPhone…etc) and probably how much they can afford a computer [as you know, a MAC is double (or even more than that) the price of a PC].
After all, again, it’s the way how people see the object itself. I don’t find it’s more edgier (is there such word?) to use a MAC or Apple device than a PC. However, in some cases, MAC is really a better computer than a PC.
Maybe the above stuff I was meant to write to my boss here at this company, haha…Sorry Edmund!
Feb 9th, 2007
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