| Friday, July 19, 2002 |
17:27 - What's really important
http://denbeste.nu/cd_log_entries/2002/07/Makingthecustomershappy.shtml
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Wellp-hh, here's Steven den Beste's latest addition to the ongoing debate, and... yeah.
Brian isn't going to like this, but innovation isn't important. Or rather, it is, but not as important as other factors.
Innovation is important during the expansion phase of a market, before the products become mature and while new uses are being found. But we're past that now, and other factors are more critical for the majority of users.
And because the products truly have matured, most of Apple's innovation now looks either totally useless and cosmetic (e.g. the LCD iMac Luxo-Junior case design) or at the fringes (e.g. Aqua eye-candy). Of the rest, most is at best transient and doesn't represent innovation so much as the result of a forced march.
For instance, he trumpets shipment of DVD-burners by Apple. Well, Apple was first, but not by much; they were available for PCs very soon thereafter. And Apple didn't invent the DVD-burner; it's just the first company to reach the market with a computer containing one after they became available from other vendors.
It saddens me no end to hear this. I'm not sure I can put into words why.
Evidently nothing I can say will work here, because I've already said, over and over again, what it is that makes Mac innovation special, and that makes it worth having. Just to take one salient example, I never said that Apple invented DVD burners-- but I will posit that they invented DVD burning. I've said that their engineering is aimed at delivering abilities to their users, not just features. iDVD represents a straightforwardness and ease, seamlessly integrated into the user experience, that in the PC world is represented by a cacophony of incomprehensible dialog boxes, options, splashy banner-ad-looking graphics, and the kind of stuff that makes people unable to download a media player without having graphical instructions explaining which button to click when it asks you to examine the security certificate.
Maybe Steven's right-- nobody is willing to believe any of us when we say how cool iTunes or iMovie are, and they laugh and sneer at Lileks when he mentions them over dinner, because of an inheritance of overzealous marketing from both Apple and its most outspoken users over the years.
But...
... Well, I don't know what I can say in response, that I haven't already said a hundred times.
People aren't talking about [coolness, innovation, etc.] because they don't matter. If this were a sporting event, the Computer Sports League, I'd be in there rooting for Apple too. Alas, it isn't, and no amount of coolness can overcome the dramatic advantages of network effect and familiarity that the PC has for me.
That's fine. That's so bloody completely fine I don't have words to express it. I have never once advocated that everybody go out and buy a Mac, that everybody just shut up and drink the Kool-aid and stick it to da Man. That is not my goal.
All I want-- and again, I've said this before-- is a little unbiased respect among the public for the strengths of the company, a little honest hands-on research, a little restraint on the smug sloganeering, a little less unvarnished glee at any sign of impending doom for that ridiculous pariah of a computer company, that retarded-uncle of the modern PC who should have been shot in the back of the head years ago, that scourge on the face of technology which is the only thing standing between us and... not having to hear any more bitching from insane Apple people anymore.
We've seen what kind of technology Microsoft would saddle the world with if left to their own devices; we've seen what kinds of laws they would have us pass, what kinds of business practices they would get away with, what kinds of for-the-good-of-the-people security initiatives they would be free to develop. Sure, Apple will probably wither and die, and by the year 2020 I'm sure everyone will have nothing but surety that we backed the right horse, and absolutely rightly trampled the other contender into the mud.
Yes, network effect is powerful. That's a no-brainer. But what's so wrong with maintaining an open mind?
I'm afraid Brian needs to start with himself, because the message he has been delivering is one PC users don't really care about. It may be true, but it isn't important.
It's not just that the presentation of the case needs to change. The case itself is the wrong one. Changing the way in which you describe it won't help.
Here's the key: stop talking about "insanely great". Talk about "good enough".
Okay-- here goes, then, in Drudgery-O-Font for the occasion:
The Macintosh is a perfectly adequate tool for many tasks. It sits on your desk and for the most part does not fall over. Pressing the Power button usually will cause it to turn on. With a little bit of know-how and a fair amount of work, a Mac can be made to install applications or to connect to the Internet, and in the hands of an expert can be used to create multimedia such as compact discs and Web pages. It can even be used for business, or in demanding roles such as a network server. Among the Mac's most standout advantages are its soft-touch keyboard, its pleasing Help system, and the durability of its components. Drawbacks include a certain lack of choice in hardware makers, a potentially confusing software upgrade cycle, and the pent-up irrational derision of twenty years' worth of people's playground-bully instincts being given an irresistible target, usually resulting in a reaction not dissimilar to what happens when you throw a potato bug into a chicken coop.
... No-o-o-o, somehow I'm not seeing that this will do the job.
Please pardon the sarcasm. It's been a long week.
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