As I was walking through a computer superstore a few days 
ago, I realized something incredible. Amid the bustle of the 
massive retail showroom and the chatter of really annoying 
sales people, I found myself trudging through the PC Clone 
area. Then it hit me, like the light of a new day:

I LOVE MY MACINTOSH.  

I’ve known all along that the Macintosh is a great computer, ‘the best’ on the market. But right there, among the clones, SoundBlaster cards, dot matrix printers, and rows and rows of software, I realized that my computer was much more than a bunch of circuits, chips, wires and plastic. My Macintosh is part of my life, and it has been since I first tore open its box. I truly believe that every Mac user realizes this at some point in time – and I personally found it to be an almost religious experience.

I have had the Mac/PC argument with many colleagues over the past several years, and quite frankly, I don’t see how the Mac’s supremacy can be disputed. It is not simply a tool that increases efficiency and productivity; it is a creative outlet. It's very presence on my desk encourages me to expand my horizons.  

I’ve recently read many books detailing the history of Apple Computer, the Macintosh and those individuals who designed it. Heck – I’ve purposely gone out and purchased books written by Mac columnists without having the faintest clue whether the book would be a good read or not. As it turned out, a few of them were not even about the Mac at all. Nevertheless,  I still loved reading them simply because they were written by someone in the industry. 

                           My bedroom walls are covered with Apple posters and I have
                              purchased T-shirts, a track suit and a baseball cap from Apple’s
                               catalogue. Many of my friends have started to worry about me. 
                               They think this is all some unhealthy (actually, they said sick )
                                obsession of mine, but they clearly do not understand. They see a
                                computer which is second rate to IBM and other PC Compatibles. 
                               They see a toy, something that kids use, a computer which cannot 
                               be taken seriously in business and the workplace. How wrong they
                              are. They have no idea what a Macintosh really is! They have all
                            been brainwashed, as so many others have, into believing that DOS and Windows are great operating systems which are easy to use and incredibly powerful. No matter how you try to explain the Macintosh to them, they just don’t get it, and they probably never will. 
 
I will admit that a PC-compatible computer is an excellent game machine, but as far as I am concerned, its utility ends there. Anyone who tells you that their 486DX7 3MHz is a great desktop publishing or graphics machine doesn’t have any idea what they’re talking about. Not a clue.

There is something which sets a Mac user apart from other PC users throughout the world.  Mac users know that the platinum gray machine they have sitting on their desk is much more than a computer, much more than a product.

Indeed, it is a way of life.