I saw a post by PO1 William "Chip" Nagel today* about the old PC/Mac wars and it prompted me to write this. It started out as a reply under his post but kept growing and growing.

Do you remember the "Computer Platform Wars"? Although there were some "Operating System/Platform Zealots" out there, they were few and the majority of people could care less about the ‘conflict’ between the two camps.

Can you imagine what the system landscape would be like if it was in today's political environment with MacOS being the Democrats and Windows being the Republicans (or vis-versa .. take your choice) and the independents being Linux? As I haven’t put up a “can’t we at least try to get along” post in a while, this takes it's place.
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In the world of operating systems, there are three opposing factions: the far-right Windows, the far-left macOS, and the middle-ground Linux. The first two factions are locked in a constant struggle for supremacy, and the animosity between them is at such a level the entire computing environment is in danger of being destroyed.

The satire starts with Billy, a devout Windows user, who is determined to rile up as many Mac users as he can. He disguises himself with a clip-on man-bun and sneaks into a local coffee shop, where he knows many Mac users congregate.

"Macs are garbage," he says to the people around him. "It's proprietary, expensive, has a niche market share, has so many limitations when it comes to working with other systems and is just plain ugly when you compare it to the sleek chassis you can get with higher-end Windows PCs. You're all fools for using it."

The Mac users are incensed. They start yelling at Billy and calling him a moron who doesn't understand the advantages a Mac brings with seamless integration with their iPhone, how environmentally friendly they are because require less power to operate, and while they might only have a niche, it's growing, and more and more PC users are admitting they are Mac users at heart! Some question if Billy is a Mac user or just one of those brainless PC mouth-breathers. One of them throws a coffee cup at him while others threaten to burn his house down.

Billy laughs in their faces. "You're all just a bunch of brainwashed sheeple! You don't know what's good for you and only like Macs because that's what you've been told to like by Mac-wing media! You say they are environmentally friendly, but you don't care that Apple computers use more rare earth materials than PCs and that most of those elements are mined with slave labor! You’re just all too dumb to look at the entire impact and only virtue signal so you can pretend to others that you care about things other things than yourself.”

The Mac users are furious. They know that Billy is one of those “Window Trolls” and go after him with a vengeance. The crowd starts shouting out all the evils of the Window culture – “You don’t believe in equality for all users and it’s only the rich that can afford one that really works!” .. “You’re sexist and don’t think that women can operate computers as well as men and shouldn’t be computer gamers!” .. “You want to ban computer manuals that even mention that MacOS could be an alternative!” .. “You only want to give a rebate to people that purchase the highest-end computer and raise the prices on the low-end computers!”

With this they start chanting "Windows sucks!" and "Billy go to hell!"

Billy just shrugs and walks away. He knows that he's bested the Mac users and planted the seed of doubt in their minds - it's only a matter of time before they all switch to the excellent Windows operating system. After all, how could they support an operating system that rewards mediocrity instead of meritocracy? Don’t they realize that if they had a better platform, it might economically compete with a superior approach that the PC uses?

Meanwhile the Mac users are all congratulating themselves for flaming the idiot PC user and know that every word he said was a lie and every word they spoke was truthful. Those PC users are elitist and out of touch with what the regular users need. Only the truly vile PC users could support a company whose latest operating system patch released a virus against society and is under federal investigation for their role it had in it. How they could support the head of company that did that is incomprehensible.

While all this is going on, the Linux users are watching from the sidelines and are amused by the spectacle. They are convinced that their operating system is the best and don't feel threatened by either the Windows or Linux factions. Even if they did prefer Windows or MacOS, they don’t declare it to avoid being condemned by either side. While there are some Linux users that are truly neutral about the PC and Mac, there is a larger majority who support the Linux subsystem in Windows 11 while others swear by dual booting in MacOS and are just a fanatical about the support of the respective camps.

The battle between PCs and Macs continues to rage on with both sides increasing the level of vitriol against the other camp. Every ‘up’ for one side (or ‘down’ for the other) is blasted wide and far to prove the superiority of their platform while any failings of their platform is ignored or quickly brushed to the side – especially by the most extreme zealots who seem to be gaining prevalence in each camp. Every failing of the most prominent user is seized on by the other side to increase the rhetoric that every user of that platform embodies that attribute.

The chaos in the computer environment increases and Mac and PC users who only a few years ago would debate the value of the respective platform over coffee and find a way to work together on system projects, has decreased dramatically as the zealots of each side attack any user that even thinks of compromising with the other side.

Although there is no clear victor in sight in this ongoing battle, each side is convinced of their superiority, and they routinely condemn every user that doesn’t share their ideological computing platform. The one thing they both share is that the majority of users in either camp don’t want the lead candidate for the main user group of their platform to take over, but they will defend that candidate against the other platform because .. well .. They suck, are idiots, and are blind to how truly awful their candidate is.

One thing is clear though - the animosity between the two factions is only going to grow stronger in the years to come, especially when it is driven by the heads of the main users groups who will say anything to get up-votes from their members, and from the editors of the computing magazines who know that controversy sells and publish articles that focus on demonizing the users and leaders of the other platform.
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* https://www.rallypoint.com/shared-links/mac-vs-pc-dasboschitt-gmod-idiot-box-compilation-1-14