I couldn’t fill out your survey as the questions were written with far too much of your own bias against Apple. I think any conclusions you draw will be skewed as a result.

I was raised in a house where we were told Apple was an inferior computer and PCs were the only way to go. Not far from your current view. Eventually I grew up and gave them a chance out of boredom and frustration, and I liked them more than Windows or Linux at the time (this was back in 2003). My dad, who raised me to hate Apple, is now using 100% Apple products after he actually saw them and how they work first hand, and got burned several times by PCs. I never thought I’d see the day.

Use what you like, let other people use what they like. If you’re curious, learn about it, but do it with an open mind. I don’t feel like you’re doing that currently.

For me, during those early years, it was exiting to see Apple go from an extreme underdog position and fight its way back. It seemed like every year there was a big OS release that brought a ton of features that changed the way I used the system (Spotlight, QuickLook, etc), something I never experienced at the same level with Windows or Linux. The way different devices worked together was also something I hadn’t before experienced at that level. The iPod syncing with iTunes. Using iSync to get my contracts on my flip phone. It was all seamless. When the iPhone came out, that’s all went a step further and it has made my life much easier. Playing sys admin for my personal computer used to be a bit of a hobby, and the Mac allowed me to do other things, which was really nice as I entered the industry, since I don’t want to play sys admin in my free time anymore.

And while it may sound a bit ridiculous to an anti-Apple advocate, and I risk sounded like a fanboy, Apple (more specifically Jony Ive and Steve Jobs) changed the way I look at many things in the world and how I evaluate problems. Before I went down the Apple rabbit hole I always used to think about what else I can do or have. I had a Thinkpad with a couple USB hubs and every port was full and I wanted more. When I’d get a gift card I’d look for how many things I could get, it didn’t really matter what I wanted or needed, it was about quantity. When I got the Mac, all my stuff didn’t work with it and I had to be more selective… and it was ok. I realized I didn’t need all that stuff and I could be happy by wanting less, and that 1 great thing is better than a lot of not so great things. Then in one of Jony Ive’s videos for a product release he said something to the effect of, “there is nothing we can take away to make it any better.” This blew my mind. My whole life I believed making something better was an additive process. That one line flipped my world upside down, addition through subtraction. So many times at work, even today, when a problem comes up and everyone is looking for what they can add to fix it, I’m looking for what to remove that eliminates the problem all together. This makes problems go away and processes more simple, instead of adding complexity until things collapse. I have Apple to thank for this shift in thinking and will be forever grateful for that. Later I found the quote, “perfection is achieved not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away,” which sums it up nicely. You can call some of this a kind of Apple Stockholm syndrome if you wish, but I learned a lesson some people spend a lifetime trying to learn, that it’s easier to achieve happiness by wanting less than by trying to obtain the world.

All that said, if you drop a Windows or Linux system in front of me, I can still use them and get my job done without a problem. I just like my workflow better on a Mac.