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Are Mac Users Smarter than PC Users?
Posted by
pudge
on Fri Jul 16, 2004 11:06 AM
from the well-yes-duh dept.
from the well-yes-duh dept.
arminw writes "Maybe not smarter, but according to MacNewsWorld they are better at expressing themselves than the average Slashdotter and certainly are better at handling the king's English than the average PC operator." Also, michael is better than CowboyNeal. Mathematical expressions of written style don't lie!
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Flamebait (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Flamebait (Score:5, Insightful)
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It must be true. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:It must be true. (Score:5, Funny)
Sure, y'all get 90-95% of them. But you know what they say about 90-95% of anything, right?
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Re:It must be true. (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:It must be true. (Score:5, Funny)
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Macs are chick magnets (Score:5, Interesting)
Usually the first time a girl enters my room she is immediately drawn to my Titanium Powerbook. Soft coos are heard while she breathes in its elegant beauty and caresses its curves. "It's so thin!" she says.
She notices what's onscreen. I've been talking on AIM, but there's these little characters with colored talk balloons! That's just so cute.
She'll pick up the iPod next, and start playing with its little wheel. She flips it over and looks at herself in the reflective back. She likes how the lights come on when she touches it and the little red text appears on the buttons.
But I'm sure you get the same response from your "gaming machine" with a clunky CRT.
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It's economics really... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:It's economics really... (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:It's economics really... (Score:5, Insightful)
You could probably boil this all down to bullsh*t, though. I mean, the whole story, not your post. It's not a scientific study, the results aren't meaningful, and so there's no need to 'boil it down' at all.
[this coming from a Mac user who thinks he's smarter than everyone else... but it has nothing to do with being a Mac user]
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Re:It's economics really... (Score:5, Insightful)
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Troll food: I'm hungry! (Score:5, Interesting)
For a more realistic and interesting baseline, I collected about 2,800 lines of Slashdot discussion contributions and ran style against them to get the following ratings summary along with a lot of detail data omitted here:
Kincaid: 7.7
ARI: 8.0
Coleman-Liau: 9.7
Flesch Index: 72.4
Fog Index: 10.7
Lix: 37.1 = school year 5
SMOG-Grading: 9.8
Notice that these results apply to comments from Slashdotters, not to the text on which they're commenting. Look at the source articles and you get very different results because, of course, most are professionally written or edited -- although there is an interesting oddity in that ratings for files made up by pasting together stories posted by "Michael" are consistently at least one school year higher than comparable accumulations made from postings (other than press releases) by "Cowboyneal."
Yeah, first off, I want to know what 2,800 lines he took. I would hope he didn't use a random method of comment gathering as anything under +3 is generally junk (and thus why it holds there). I want to know if he has taken a look at more recent Slashdot banter or comments generated since its inception. It's a well known fact that the signal to noise ratio has increased over the years (as is expected as the site grows in "popularity").
When he mentions that he wasn't performing this "study" on the text Slashdotters were commenting on, does that mean that he wasn't paying attention to the particular stories we were responding to? That could have a major impact on the results.
Yes, all of us Slashdotters are stuck-up assholes, but I seriously doubt that the higher rated comments are written at a 5th grade reading level unless you are looking at -1 to +5 instead of +1 and above (which I assume that most people read at).
Perhaps he posted this, knowing full well we would troll it, just to prove his point?
I guess if this hadn't originally been posted to MacNewsWorld I would I have found it extremely funny that the storey was posted by "pudge" instead of Cowboyneal...
Re:Troll food: I'm hungry! (Score:5, Insightful)
> that most people read at).
Right on. Judging Slashdot by the -1 comments is a bit like judging a magazine by the articles it rejects.
Actually, even that's not fair, since it's much easier to post GNAA to Slashdot than it is to submit an article to a magazine...
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Re:Troll food: I'm hungry! (Score:5, Insightful)
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Michael smart? (Score:5, Insightful)
In reality, it's a pretty funny article. Good read. Best quote from the article:
Re:Michael smart? (Score:5, Funny)
That was the first thing I thought of too. And not just the h4x0r-speak, but most posts are fired off pretty quickly and carlessly, and often with a focus on being funny or interesting, and not on making sense. I wonder how "In Soviet Russia, our new overlord Beowolf clusters don't have an imagination to imagine you, you insensitive clod!" (or other nonsense) would rate on one of these systems. It doesn't check for content, right?
Anyway, the funniest thing about this article has to be this guy's picture. I keep thinking he looks like my grandfather, stoned, being distracted by 'pretty lights'.
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No! (Score:5, Funny)
Sincrly,
PC User
No (Score:5, Funny)
-Peter
Re:No (Score:5, Funny)
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Oh yeah (Score:5, Funny)
I had to buy a BMW because Apple doesn't make speakers yet for my iPod.
PC users. What a bunch of dumbasses.
As a Mac user and Apple employee (Score:5, Funny)
LOL U SUK LINUX GRAMMOR N00B.
Sincerely,
- Twid
Those who are truely intellegent... (Score:5, Insightful)
I mean, if you don't use them all, how can you really say one is better than the others?
Better question... (Score:5, Funny)
That makes sense to me. (Score:5, Insightful)
"Do the Right Thing. It will gratify some people and astound the rest." - Mark Twain
Typical Mac user has changed over the years (Score:5, Insightful)
Granted there are still "oooh, it looks sexy" Mac users, but those are quickly becoming the exception, not the rule.
BTW: take a look at some of the Mac books at Barnes and Noble or Borders, almost half of them are thick, serious unix books!
I'm a mac user and I hate these articles. (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah, the average mac user probably is smarter than the average pc user. The 4% of mac users are also in the upper 4% of the income scale. Guess what? Well educated smart people tend to have more money than others, your average BMW owner is probably "smarter" than your average kia owner.
Looking at this in any way that's supposed to matter is just elitist. Moving on . . .
Sigh... (Score:5, Funny)
The funniest part (Score:5, Funny)
The Snowsports Analogy (Score:5, Funny)
Windows users are alpine skiers. They're the most common, they're generally well-behaved and not big risk-takers, and they're looked down on by the other groups. They also tend to crash a lot. Grandma is an alpine skier.
Linux users are snowboarders. They tend to be younger, out-of-control, risk-takers, they don't really crash as much, and they annoy the skiers (for no good reason, they're just annoying). Teenage boys with eyebrow piercings are snowboarders.
Mac users are telemark skiers. They aren't as adventurous as the snowboarders, and they have more in common with the skiers, but they also have this smooth, sophisticated sheen of coolness about them that neither of the other two groups have. Barbara Streisand is probably a telemarker.
Tele skiers get invited to the highest-class parties; snowboarders throw the best parties; alpine skiers have to get the kids in bed because there's school tomorrow. :)
What a waste of time (Score:5, Insightful)
The sad part is that this made it to the
*nix users still seem above the mac users (Score:5, Interesting)
Correlation of Education and Cost (Score:5, Interesting)
They must be (Score:5, Insightful)
Makes me wish.... (Score:5, Interesting)
The email responses I received from each set of browsers users was very different. On average, Netscape users seemed more educated and had a longer average word and email length than IE users. most IE users had a 1 or 2 line email where as Netscape users usually where 2 paragraphs at least.
I should release that study sometime.
So? (Score:5, Interesting)
This study doesn't say anything about the level of intelligence, but merely the type of person that uses x computer.
Correlation and causation lesson (Score:5, Informative)
One group may be smarter than the other, but it has NOTHING to do with actually using the type of computer!
It has everything to do with the life choices that we make and how we go about making decisions. It also has to do with how one has to come about making the choice of Mac or Linux over PC.
First of all, the easiest answer to the question "which operating system should I use?" is going to be a windows PC for at least one or two more decades. Since this is the easiest answer, its the answer most often taken. Lazy people, uninformed people, and people just can't possibly understand how a computer works will take the easy answer.
However, with Macs and Linux, the users arrived at that information differently. They've worked on many machines, perform various functions, and do more than email and surf the web. They are deeper into their computer experience because getting into that experience is important and they learn more. These same people tend to be mroe logical and research their decisions more because that's the nature of everything they do.
Second, the two above statements are not absolutes, they are tendencies. Apple and linux users tend to look more into their computer experience because they want more out of it, but that's not to say there are no PC users who do the same thing. However, due to the tendency that more PC users are simply looking for that "simple answer" this then skews the overall social makeup of the PC user base towards the less analytical and creative of the general american populace.
Third, its all about perception. The easy answer is perceived as easy. You can argue its not so easy, what with bugs and viruses and spyware, and that you will pay for it later. However, that's not what the general populace thinks. In my opinion they are misinformed, but they are definitely underinformed about their choices. Linux and Macs require a larger investment than most people are willing to put in, but if you make that investment it tends to be returned pretty quickly in one form or another. It's just like the way investment bankers work. They know you have to invest to get something back. Most people look at their PC as a TV or Microwave oven. To them it's just an appliance that needs regular updates. A similar investment can be made in a PC, you just go about it differently.
The phrase "Mac/Linux users are smarter/more creative/better than PC users" serves no purpose other than to get people riled up. There are tons of better ways to explain it but they take several paragraphs, like this post does.
Proof (Score:5, Funny)
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Mac vs PC- intelligence of the user (Score:5, Interesting)
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Re:Mac vs PC- intelligence of the user (Score:5, Interesting)
The question that is then raised is, "Do Mac users have a better grip on the English language, or does the Macintosh provide a more comfortable platform for professional writers?"
Sesequepedalianism does not, however, imply 'intelligence'.
Sesequepedalianism? That's not even in most dictionaries!
Show off.
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Re:Mac vs PC- intelligence of the user (Score:5, Funny)
In the works of Steve Wozniak, a predominant concept is the distinction between figure and ground. Woz suggests the use of the neostructural paradigm of narrative to read and analyse class. But if the Macintosh camp holds, we have to choose between the Jobist image and capitalist subconceptual theory.
"Reality is part of the dialectic of language," says Jordan Hubbard. Hubbard implies that the works of Jobism are empowering. Thus, an abundance of theories concerning cultural deconstructivism may be discovered.
In the works of Steve Jobs, a predominant concept is the concept of patriarchialist culture. Hubbard uses the term 'Jobist image' to denote a posttextual paradox. Therefore, the subject is interpolated into a capitalist discourse that includes sexuality as a totality.
The main theme of the works of the Jobist is the role of the observer as participant. In The Cry of Jobs, Hubbard examines the macintosh camp. The meaninglessness, and subsequent paradigm, of cultural deconstructivism depicted in Jobs' "Art in Technology" is also evident in The Moor's Last Sigh, although in a more mythopoetical sense. However, Wozniak suggests the use of the Jobist image to read class.
~
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Re:Mac vs PC- intelligence of the user (Score:5, Funny)
(Written on a 2x2.0 G5. But you knew that already, I'm sure.)
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Re:Article text in case of slashdotting! (Score:5, Interesting)
[...]
Kincaid: 7.7
ARI: 8.0
Coleman-Liau: 9.7
Flesch Index: 72.4
Fog Index: 10.7
Lix: 37.1 = school year 5
SMOG-Grading: 9.8
For comparison, here are the statistics for the article itself:
Kincaid: 7.1
ARI: 7.3
Coleman-Liau: 11.3
Flesch Index: 69.0
Fog Index: 9.8
Lix: 36.7 = school year 5
SMOG-Grading: 9.7
Mac users may or may not be smarter than PC users, but Paul Murphy is evidently not any smarter than the average slashdot poster.
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Re:Article text in case of slashdotting! (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Mac users smarter and more articulate? (Score:5, Funny)
Better talking does not equate smarter! I'm deeply injured by that insidiation. On behalve of every one like me, I would like to make known: Plees have regard for speeking-impared peoples. And also riting-impared. This is an outage!
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I'm not so sure... (Score:5, Insightful)
I dunno about that. The typical Mac users (including and sometimes especially artists) I run across typically read at least one of the thick "Mac Bible" type reference books and love to show off all the little tricks they know. Times have changed since Mac users were just a group of folks too scared of DOS and not quite wealthy enough for a Sun, SGI, or Apollo workstation. Today Mac users have different reasons for using the platform (anti-Microsoft, unix roots, something new/different, strong DV25 media support, etc). Even the casual browsers in the mall Apple Stores seem to posess clue.
It seems to me that more and more of the clueless personal computer users/owners generally just buy whatever they use at work. Generally a Dell or Compaq. (It's funny trying to talk someone out of buying a Compaq--they often argue that they can't buy a Dell as they've never used one before and wouldn't know where to start!)
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Re:I say no (Score:5, Insightful)
Mac users can't grasp things as simple as right click
Kinda hard to "right click" with a one-button mouse. Anyone who buys a 2-button USB mouse for a Mac can certainly "grasp" right-clicking; I did, and so did every other Mac user I've ever seen with a two-button mouse.
and totally wig out when they have to open a command prompt to do something like ipconfig
On Mac OS X, you don't need to use ipconfig, and that's the point. Use the Network Preference Pane, which is painless.
What you need to realize is that to most people computers are a means to an end, not an end unto itself. As a developer, I'm sometimes happy to tinker around with my work Linux machine, but mostly I just want to get something done and not have to tediously and endlessly tweak RedHat 9.0 to do what I want. I'd rather use Mac OS X and just get things done.
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Re:Oh really? (Score:5, Interesting)
This reminds me of the shock I got a few months ago when a Mac user buddy of mine was showing off the G4 he had bought on clearance when the G5s came out. I didn't think of him as a power user, especially since he never shelled out $20 for a better mouse. But I almost fell out of my chair when I asked him how many iTunes songs he had purchased... he did a command-tab to cycle thru his apps, stopping on a terminal window, and did a "find . -name "*.m4p" -print | wc -l"
Someone was doing their homework!
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Re:They may be Intellectually smarter... (Score:5, Insightful)
Funny, the same can be said for someone who buys a pre-built PC with a Windows license included.
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Re:Please, kill the author... thank you. (Score:5, Funny)
It's in the "It's Funny. Laugh." section - this is supposed to provoke a flamewar just for the sheer hell of it. As a Mac, PC, Solaris and Linux user, I intend to sit back, have a chuckle, and toast the marshmellows using the searing heat radiating from my browser window...
Cheers,
Ian
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Re:Stupid things i've heard mac users say. (Score:5, Insightful)
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