Get It Right: "Mac" and "PC"

For years there has been a battle between Macs and PCs, and a clear separation between both.

Apple recently revealed the new iPhone 5 and new iPods. While catching a glimpse of the story unfolding on CNBC's Fast Money, I heard one of the so-called techie reporters mention a comparison between the new iPhone and PCs.

 Okay people. Let's get this straight.

Macs are Macs. Windows machines are Windows machines and have since been designated as "PCs". The battle raged on since home computers were popularized and cheap enough for most families to own them, and is still raging. Apple and Microsoft are still at war with Microsoft still holding quite the computer operating system monopoly, but Apple seems content with doing its own thing.

Now, part of what helped this along was a series of advertisements put out by Apple a few years ago. These ads revolved around putting Macs against PCs, where each was represented by a different person capable of doing different things. The bias in said ads was obviously towards Mac computers, and the ads showcased not only various applications and functionality that a Mac computer was capable of running and supporting, but also the general mindset of Mac users vs PC users. The guy representing Macs was more modestly dressed with a button-up shirt and hands in pockets. Likewise, the guy representing PCs was more formally dressed with a suit and tie and had neatly combed hair. The former seemed to be much more capable, and the latter more flamboyant but not having the credibility or capability to back up what he said.

Of course, I prefer a more truthful, relevant (and of course biased) representation of this rivalry:

Ha, take that! No one expects the gaming compatibility inquisition!

This whole separation is both a cause for concern and not a concern at all. The problem comes from the fact that, by and large, Windows machines dominated in the 1990s as they were cheaper and just as efficient as Mac computers then. Only when the iMac (which ironically used the PowerPC G3 processor at first) came out did Apple start to gather much more momentum as far as personal computing goes, and now they're doing a fantastic job in the computer market by capturing all levels of computer users. However, Microsoft still holds the home computing monopoly and thus you are much more likely to find a computer running Windows in an average household than you are a computer running MacOS.

So why is this a problem? There are many computer users who don't need to use computers much, or don't need to know a lot about the computer and operating system they use. Many even probably think that their computer and operating system are one and the same, and the scale slides up from there. In fact, let's look at MY estimate of how computer knowledge goes as far as the levels of computer competence go:

Farther down is more computer-savvy. This is purely my opinion. I know, how dare I.

It should be pretty obvious that the above flowchart is speculative and observation-based. And really, who can blame me? Some people just aren't good at using computers. Most of them are products of a different era.

But I digress.

For some reason, computer users started collectively distinguishing between Macs and Windows computers (or rather, Macs and everything else): The catch phrase "I'm a Mac. And I'm a PC." says it all. Macs were Macs, and everything else was a PC. Even now it's fairly obvious that there's a dividing line with the general population, and reasonably so: Apple doesn't want to be compared to the lot of most personal computers.

Aha, there's the term again. Personal Computer, or PC. What exactly is a PC? It's a computer that is used for personal reasons like checking email, chatting with others, playing games, surfing the web, watching videos, listening to music, what have you. They're in places ranging from the average household to the palm of your hand on the go with smart phones and tablets, among other devices. Wikipedia has a definition of it right here.

Now I must ask: where does it say that Macs are not PCs? Guess what: they are. Macs are PCs too. In those Apple-biased commercials, they distinguish between Macs and "PCs" because saying three and two letters respectively is a hell of a lot shorter than saying "I'm a computer that runs the Macintosh operating system. And I'm a computer that runs the Windows operating system." Because heaven forbid they say something that has a risk of not being understood by most TV viewers ("durr, what's an operating system?").

Conclusion

So where does this all lead to? With all this talk about Linux and Windows and Mac OS, what does it mean?

It means use your own computer for whatever the heck you very well please. But if you're using your own computer, you're using a PC. Macs are PCs too. This has nothing to do about which OS is superior. They're all--

--whew. I almost didn't stop myself there. Except for Windows, all operating systems are pretty good at fulfilling the capacities that they offer (and despite being slow, bug-infested and generally restrictive, even Windows has loads of compatibility due to its frequent usage, to its credit). I own several dual-boot Windows/Linux machines, all of which run Windows 7 and run a mix of Fedora, Linux Mint and Ubuntu Linux distros; my father owns several Apple computers including an iMac and a Macbook Pro, and he has an iPhone 4 to counter my Droid 3. Honestly it's operating system potpourri all up in this...house. Sure we jab each other about superior/inferior operating systems, but it all boils down to two facts:

1) No operating system is just plain bad. Windows may possibly be an exception, but they all let us do so much. Each person has their own uses for computers, and many reasons overlap.

2) People, you use PCs. Accept it. Yes, even you Mac junkies who think you know everything (or lack thereof). I'm especially talking about the ones who sat in the back of my introduction computer science courses at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo arguing about how Macs are superior. Get outta dodge, seriously.

This issue really boils down to people thinking they know what their computers do and how to label them, but they don't. Most people don't even know what Linux is (I've heard someone ask me if you can rent it on Netflix), but should it matter? Yes, but only to the extent of bare minimum knowledge. Not everyone needs to use Linux, but being aware of it is a good thing. And same for the other operating systems.

Except maybe Windows.

No wait, who am I kidding--everyone knows what Windows is. Unfortunately.