Why do you use a Mac?

steve being steve:

Steve Jobs has a many enviable qualities. His attention to detail, his ability to grasp what people actually want, his management style and presentation skills are all things that many CEO’s envy.

Anything, taken to the extreme, can yield less than desirable results. Steve’s insistence that the Apple III ship without fans was one example where his vision clashed with the reality of thermodynamics. That scenario almost repeated itself with the original Mac. Upon seeing the mother board Steve deemed it ugly.

When designers pointed out that the only people who would actually see the board (the original Mac was purposely unexpandable) Steve shot back famously “I’ll see it.” The board was redesigned with aesthetics in mind, performed poorly and, perhaps learning from his previous errors, Steve relented. The Mac got a great motherboard despite Steve Jobs in July of 1981.

And yet more steveness:

When Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone to a delighted Macworld audience in January 2007, he said Apple had protected its invention with more than 200 patents.

He didn’t mention that his company had also patented the box the iPhone comes in.

Six Tips for Supercharging Safari

“Play” — a music vid shot entirely on the iphone 3GS

On Microsoft, via Edible Apple:

In a rare move, Argus Research analyst Jackson Turner today reversed his recommendations and urged investors to sell Microsoft stock. He cautions that the market has “shrugged off” real threats to its operating system business and that neither investors nor Microsoft have fully realized that the iPhone, as well as Google platforms like Android and Chrome OS, are shrinking Microsoft’s influence. Some effects may not be felt until later in 2010, when Chrome OS is released, but Microsoft now faces a slow “ebbing tide” over the next few years as it loses share.
“We believe Microsoft has misjudged — or more judiciously, has been unable to react swiftly to — the shift towards simpler operating systems on cheaper, more portable devices, including cell phones, smart phones and netbooks,” Turner said.