MAC users vs PC users
p2pnet.net News Feature:- Are MAC users smarter as a group than PC users?
You have to wonder given that Apple claims 100 million iTunes sales.
Anyway, MacNewsWorld’s Paul Murphy says finding out if the average Mac user really has a bit more up top than PC folks isn’t so easy.
"Part of the problem is that even if you matched the admissions test results for a graduate school with individual PC or Mac preferences to discover a strong positive correlation, people would argue that the Mac users are exceptional for other reasons, that the tests don’t measure anything relevant, and that it’s unethical to do this in the first place," he says on MacNewsWorld here.
Murphy says he doubts it’s possible to get a definitive answer, "but as long as you don’t take any of it too seriously you can have a lot of fun playing with proxies such as the average user’s ability to read and write his or her native language. This isn’t necessarily a reasonable measure of intelligence (mainly because intelligence has yet to be defined) but almost everyone agrees that a native English speaker’s ability to write correct English correlates closely with that person’s ability to think clearly."
OK.
Then he says, "In other words, if we knew that Mac users, as a group, were significantly better users of written English than PC users, then we’d have a presumptive basis for ranking the probable ’smartness’ of two people about whom we only know that one uses a Mac and the other a PC."
Is there a way to do that? Well —– maybe. You need something called ‘Style’, Murphy says, going on: "Style is somewhat out of style these days but is on many Linux ‘bonus’ CDs and downloadable from gnu.org as part of the diction package."
Wot it do?
It, "produces readability metrics on text" and Murphy uses /.-ers like in, "So what happens if we treat the Slashdotters, a mixed bunch if there ever was one, as a median and then compare the ratings shown above [you have to go here for that - Ed] with results from "pure play" Mac and PC communities?"
If you’re a MACerer (MAC-ite? MacAroni?) head on over to the site for the answer.
We use PCs so we couldn’t understand any of it.
But we did understand this:
"Overall, the results are pretty clear: Mac users might not actually be smarter than PC users, but they certainly use better English and a larger vocabulary to express more complex thinking."
Now you know.
heh
(’Course, the MAC guys’ll say they knew it all along ; )
July 17th, 2004 at 4:47 am
So are we supposed to take this article seriously or tongue-in-cheek? Not much is said about the different demographic profile of mac vs. pc users. It’s well known that since the introduction of the Mac and it’s available software, it has certainly tended to be used a lot more by artist-types than number-cruncher-types compared to a pc. The nuances and illogic of language would certainly be better suited to the natural intellectual orientation of the artist than the engineer.
The pseudo-scientific methodology the author uses might be compared to 19th century phrenology, a highly detailed but irrelevant “science” about a nonexistent entity.
Although there are about 20 or 30 times an many pc users as mac, I’d be willing to bet that Jon Newton is very likely a Mac user. All the pieces fit
July 17th, 2004 at 2:57 pm
Hey! Now wait a cotton-pickin’ MINUTE ! Me a Mac user?
Many, many moons ago Apple gave me a box and a printer and I gave them back. Couldn’t tinker with it. Software and unit price WAY too expensive.
But here’s the hard-core truth: Given a lot of givens, I’d probably get one to use alongside (not replace ; ) my PC. If only I could afford it.
Cheers!
July 17th, 2004 at 6:52 pm
nice edit of a /. post
July 17th, 2004 at 10:15 pm
The various Mac forums do amuse me.
In most threads, one participant will correct another’s grammar, spelling or comprehension.
I am now in partial retirement so I can look back to the early 1980’s. Knowledge workers were then generally allowed to choose their own PC’s and all but few selected the Mac and used 1-2-3 prolifically. This is not the case today since in most cases Windows is mandatory in business.
What is refreshing now is that folks are buying their own Macs for many reasons.
I now use both Windows and Mac, portables and desktops. I must say that for most knowledge work, visual work, interface development and web site design; I can achieve things on the Mac that are not easily possible with Windows. For these activities the Mac is also hugely productive in contrast. In my consulting work, my presentations get noticed, simply because they are not produced with Powerpoint (I can save them in Powerpoint format of course)
Another refreshing change is that there is now a vast amount of high quality software available for just a few dollars. Much of this stems from Open Source with a Mac format (and logic) user interface added. There is a seriousness about this software. Adware, malware etc., do not come into the equation.
I was shopping for a replacement battery for a Sony Vaio notebook today and was reminded just how cheap and ugly the Windows world is. Mac users need to thank Apple for maintaining build quality and excellent overall design rather than competing in the $500 market. I know it is tough for the youngsters to afford the Mac of their dreams but all of my Mac’s have lasted for six years or so whereas my PC’s get replaced at two years and have no residual value.
I am not an Anonymous Coward, just too many registrations.