Won't get fooled again

Well, I have to say, it was a great deal of fun writing that April Fool's blog. One commenter wrote that he was almost crying when he got to the end (sorry, Dominic of Franklin!). I probably would have done the same if I'd read it somewhere.

It's not that I think Microsoft is the Big Evil. I don't, although I must admit find its CEO, Ballmer, a bit hard to take. That's because I think it should be beneath him to have digs at Apple all the time. I think he should rise above and concentrate on improving Microsoft products. If Apple's really no threat to him, why would he bother? It's a bit like NZers getting all upset about Australians.

Then you meet Australians, it's like "huh?" They just don't care about NZ. Why should they? It's virtually immaterial to them, unless we beat them in a sports event. Ballmer, in my opinion, I think you should be making more like an Australian. Unless you really do care... and if so, why is that?

I've actually met many Microsoftians over the years. I've always liked them, finding them professional and dedicated. Just like Apple folk.

But hey, a joke's a joke. Microsoft needs some opposition in the OS stakes just as Apple does. So it's most unlikely one would ever acquire the other.

Some of the April Fools commenters on this blog, like 'smurdie' of Wattle Downs, seemed to be genuinely hoping that a merger might be real, so it would lead to them being able to install Mac OS X on their PCs.

I've met PC users before who want to put together the best machine they can for the best price, then get miffed because they can't put Mac OS X on it. Obviously, they think it's a good system, or at the very least they want to try it.

There is, to be fair, a mentality that the market should dictate, but I don't agree. In my experience, the market does not serve most people. The market only serves greedy people.

Does that mean I think Apple is greedy for charging a premium (by some estimations) for its equipment? Not at all. Apple is serving a principle of producing the best hardware/software combinations it can for a healthy margin and, strangely, this principle has placed it in a position where it could, logically, take the market by storm if it wished too.

While everyone else was trawling the good times by offering cheaper and cheaper PCs, Apple was holding its line on profit margins. Now Apple is so cash rich, in hard times, it could actually produce a drop-dead machine at a drop-dead price and wipe the PC floor. Did you ever think about that?

Anyway, it was a fine line to skate, making an April Fool's blog sound credible while giving away tips from the start that it wasn't. It did get more and more ridiculous as it went on. (Brown, brushed-aluminium Macs? Shudder!)

It was most enjoyable.

Of course, some people didn't see the humour. Philip Roy of the esteemed NZMac.com didn't. He wrote "Wow, no offence to Mark, but...well....meh. These things don't work unless they have some shred of credibility."

I agree, Phil - and no offence taken. It seemed that, like you, most Mac users got the joke pretty quickly. It was some Windows users who got spanners in their works, and since the Herald online is a multilateral entity, I must admit it wasn't Mac users I was targeting. It was an in-joke, indeed, foisted on the outsiders.

And I sure as hell didn't want it to be too convincing. I don't have the resources for court battles against these behemoths; do you?

There were other April Fools jokes around the world - maybe it's the recession, but there seemed to be a resurgence of fun. Thank goodness for fun! The Mac info site 9 to 5 Mac linked several involving Mac/computer/tech stuff, including "Apple is selling an album of silence." Good idea. Shh. And Wired did too.

I like jokes. I still remember the NZ TV series Country Calendar and its clever April Fools gags, like turkeys wearing gumboots to protect their feet in winter, and farmers gathering to play music by strumming on fence wires.

Awesome and, following the Fred Dagg line on farming pastimes and my own experiences of laconic Kiwi farmers with their dry take on life and wry humour, not all that odd, actually ...

Anyway, like I've said before, and despite the doom and gloom, all indications - as faint as they can be - point to Apple bringing out more stuff in the next few months. Excellent.

- Mark Webster mac.nz

 

PHOTO: Microsoft boss Steve Ballmer (AP)