Cult of Mac: Even Linux, Unix Users are Switching


Even Gil Amelio knows a captive market when he sees one. For Amelio, it was the 'cult of Macintosh' which kept Apple alive during the horror story that was the mid 1990s.

Now, says a Wired story, psychologists are searching for a theory explaining this form of cultism. One explanation is, simply, that Apple is the antithesis of Microsoft:

"To Mac users, Apple represents everything that Microsoft isn't. Apple innovates; Microsoft copies. Apple puts out solid products; Microsoft puts out buggy ones. Apple represents creativity and individuality; Microsoft represents business and conformity. Apple is the scrappy underdog; Microsoft the big, predatory monopoly."

Similarly, Linux attracts many of the same non-conformists, in fact, many Mac users are also Linux users and vice-versa. To take advantage of the so called Linux cultism, Apple has been courting Linux users with Mac OS X, populating the switchers camp with both Windows and Linux users.

But is the converse true? What about reverse switchers, people leaving the alternative for mainstream? Mac people, however, are believed to be less likely to 'switch' themselves. The Wired story cites this year's dot-Mac imbroglio, which saw the company lambasted for charging $99 for its on-line services. Did people dump their Macs? No. Did they dump dot Mac? You betcha.

Most of the faithful also ponied up for Jaguar, despite its $129 price tag. But this is the result of Apple being a monopoly, says an economics professor quoted in the article. PC firms, he says, are more responsive due to compatition. Apple, conversely, doesn't have to be. On the other hand of course, users computers still boot, and existing software still works under OS 9 and OS X 10.1. Newer products are a different subject, however.

Analysis: Neither the economic nor the psychological theories are especially convincing. People who get annoyed enough with Apple can - and do - switch. Corporates made that decision years ago.

Being anti-MS runs deep in the psyche, but there was a time when MS was a much smaller company than Apple and Big Blue was the Big Bad. MS and the Windows monopoly is really a 1990s thing.

Apple cultism can drive even the most stuffed-shirt companies to do the wildest things. JP Morgan managed the 1980 Apple IPO as sideswipe at IBM which had earlier asked JP Morgan's to co-manage a debt issue. Morgan's didn't 'co-run' issues (like Steve Jobs doesn't 'co-host'). They declined IBM's offer, despite being managers for IBM for decades. Their revenge was making Apple's then IPO the biggest in history.