If your reaction to Pilgrim’s announcement was a snap judgment that he’s lost it, or that he’s being an asshole who’s just looking for attention as the guy who switched away from the Mac just at the time when it (the Mac) seems poised to become more popular than ever, or that he’s an open source fanatic who just can’t be reasoned with or trusted — are you sure that the zealotry at play is his?

Thought experiment: Let’s say that Microsoft puts together a miraculous fourth-quarter comeback and that Windows Vista rocks. Not just rocks compared to the way it currently appears as though Vista is actually going to turn out, but rocks, period. As in looks better than Mac OS X. More elegant than Mac OS X. Noticeably faster and snappier than Mac OS X. (That one’s actually quite likely.) I.e. “better” than Mac OS X, in glaringly obvious ways.

How would this make you feel?

If your answer is that it would depress you, or sicken you, or really in any way dampen your spirits — why? Wouldn’t this be good news for everyone, including Mac users? Either Apple would have to up the ante and improve Mac OS X in similar ways, or, Mac users could just switch. Either way the result is that we’d be able to use something better than what we’re using now.

. . .

I’m deeply suspicious of Mac users who claim to be perfectly happy with Mac OS X. Real Mac users, to me, are people with much higher standards, impossibly high standards, and who use Macs not because they’re great, but because they suck less than everything else. Pilgrim, to me, is a quintessential Mac user in that regard; and what he’s doing is wondering if maybe things might suck less somewhere else.