Senseless Rivalry: Android, iOS, Mac and Windows

People have always fought over any little difference in preference or belief. I am sure that early humans found over which type of stick was better to use as a club when any of them could have done the same job. The same is clearly still true today and in my personal spheres is most pronounced when it comes to devices. Android, iOS, Mac, Windows (notice I chose alphabetical order to avoid showing a bias) are all popular, widely used and hotly fought over. Android people look down on iOS users and vice versa which Mac and Windows users sit in different camps and tend not to play nice. It is all very emotional for people.

I personally just find it very tiring and sometimes a bit frustrating. I do not buy devices to buy into one belief system or another, I buy devices that do what I want them to with a minimum of fuss, work together and fit into my workflow. They are tools to get things done. In my case those have moved towards Apple products, not because they are all superior but simply because they fit better into my current workflow and do what I want them to with a minimum of fuss. iOS devices work well with Mac computers and they can easily share resources and media so I have an iPhone. iPad was the only game in town when I got one and already having iOS apps it was more cost effective. I am not saying that Android phones are not great, or that for other people they are not perfect. There was no value judgement involved and I get very tired of having to feel like I must defend my choice to use iOS devices. Realistically, if I had gone with Android (which was not they best product when I bought into iOS, although that has changed since) I would have to go through the tiring process of defending that choice. Why do people have to be so obsessed with such things? Like I said, I think that people have always been that way, but that does not make it any easier for those of use who just want to get on with living our lives and not worry about such things.

Why don’t I just ignore those fights and life my life? As an IT pro it is pretty much impossible to avoid being asked (grilled) about such things and still do my job.

Can’t we all just get along?

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