The TechnoJologs-ification of Apple

I'm a fairly recent Mac convert.  My first personal Apple product was a G3 iBook 800 and that was just the start.  Since the iBook, I've also bought a 3rd Gen iPod, an Apple AirPort Express, a 1st Gen iPod Shuffle, a MacBook and my latest (but certainly not the last) Apple product purchase was the iPod Touch.

Back when I got my first Apple laptop, local usage of the platform was virtually nil, there was a small group of loyal Apple users and most of them converge on either PhilMUG.ph and Pinoymac.org.  These people were a good group to hang out with.  They freely share what they know on the platform (mostly OS X and iPod/iTunes).  Owning an Apple product back then was like belonging to an elite group of computer literate who also excel in their own fields of endeavor -- there are a number of business owners, Palanca award winners, top Photographers, etc.

But it all went downhill when Apple opened up iPod/iTunes to the Windows platform.  Non-Apple users started using the iPod and as an effect, also tried out using Apple computers.  A lot of those who did try using Apple's computers (and OS X) ended up buying their own and that's when it started -- the TechnoJologs-ification of the local Apple userbase.  This was exacerbated by the introduction of the iPhone.

New users in the local Apple user groups started asking about where to get "pirated" software for their Macs.  They attempted to start threads on where to download bootleg software via torrents.  Some even had the audacity to ask support for their pirated software!  The introduction of the iPhone magnified this phenomenon as new (and clueless) iPhone users starts asking stupid questions over and over and over again.

I might sound like a cranky geek here (apologies to the ultimate Cranky Geek John C. Dvorak), but the feeling that I had when I first had my grubby little hands on an Apple computer is gone.  The exclusivity is gone, the civil conversations at the Apple User Groups are over and... well, everything has gone, well, frankly, Jologs.

Well, I think I'll revert back to uber-geekiness and buy myself an Asus Eee PC next and hopefully, these technojologs won't follow suit.

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