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Are Mac users a bunch of snobs?

A couple of years ago I wrote an article titled, FileZilla is one scary monster. Even after all this time, it still gets comments — most recently from Ernie, who declared himself fed up with the attitude of Mac users:

The stuck up, ‘holier than thou’ attitude so many of you Mac users have leaves a nasty feeling in the pit of my stomach.

The article in question noted FileZilla’s “appalling” icon and expressed relief when it wouldn’t launch. But, as Fred_M pointed out in the comments:

While I’m sure that Cyberduck is great for technophobes and beginners, it’s simply a less powerful tool. It’s like the difference between Textedit and Openoffice.org when you compare Cyberduck to FileZilla.

So I’ve been wondering if Mac users truly are superficial and judge apps not by what they actually do, but how they look. It’s tough to find hard evidence for this one way or the other, but I decided to take a stab at it.

Some people can’t even get past a program’s icon, refusing to use an app that puts something ugly in the dock. Below are icons for some of the most popular FTP clients available for the Mac, whether paid or free.

ftp icons

Top row, from left: Captain, Cyberduck, Fetch and FileZilla. Bottom row, from left: Forklift, Interarchy, Transmit and Yummy.

The attention to detail in some of them is amazing. You almost feel like you could jump in the forklift and drive it away. The duck was updated when Snow Leopard came out just so that it would look good when scaled to 512 by 512 pixels. Even oldtimers like Fetch and Interarchy have kept up with the evolving look of the Mac. And how about Yummy? It looks so good you could eat it.

FileZilla is undoubtedly the plain Jane of the bunch. But has this affected its popularity? It’s impossible to say for certain, but the number of downloads each app receives might be an indication. Here’s how the eight programs stood recently in terms of downloads from MacUpdate:

1. Transmit
2. Cyberduck
3. Fetch
4. Captain
5. Interarchy
6. Forklift
7. FileZilla
8. Yummy

FileZilla — despite being free and despite having a good reputation among some power users — is behind six other apps, five of which you have to pay for. It could be that this is because the other apps have been out longer — after all, FileZilla is a relative newcomer. Still, you might expect that if Mac users were all about features, they would have embraced the free and powerful FileZilla — pushing it up the download standings.

So what can we conclude from all this? Maybe we’re snobbier than we like to think, but a better word might be sophisticated — and what’s wrong with that?

Posted Wednesday, October 21, 2009 in

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  1. The fact that you would even suggest a group of computer users has a collective identity is laughable. Get bent you pretentious ass.

    Stephen Abootman

  2. I use Filezilla all the time on my mac…I gives less then a crap how it looks, but that it does what I need. I have seen some mac users not really snobs, just…superficial. I once bought a brand new macbook and told a fellow mac users about it…his response? “What color did you get…” Seriously. Ridiculous.

    James

  3. Twenty-five years ago, MacWorld reviews of Mac software used more ink commenting on how well the software adhered to the Macintosh User Interface Guidelines than on any other part of the review. This was at a time where the only alternatives were MS-DOS, Amiga, and Atari.
    .
    Back then, Macs had a reputation of being difficult to program for – NOT because the Motorola 68000 was more complicated than the Intel 8800, and NOT because Pascal was more complicated than C – rather, BECAUSE Mac users were more difficult to please. On the other hand, Mac users were willing to pay a premium for quality.
    .
    Some people called that snobbish then. Not much has changed.

    Steve W

  4. I like Macs but I don’t care what application icons look like because as a practice I’ve kept my dock hidden for years and I only see icons briefly when I click on them. I also keep icons in the dock as small as possible and they only magnify when I place the cursor over them. A visible dock is a waste of space and a distraction to me.

    Constable Odo

  5. @Stephen Abootman Hahahahaha!

    Word.

  6. Actually, we’re just a better class of people. 【ツ】

    MiGrant

  7. How about a complimentary article, like “ Are Windows Users Inbred “? :-)

    Tim

  8. Hell yes I’m a snob. I own the best computers on the planet, while the other 90% struggle with Windoze daily. I love riding my high horse, so I can see all the little people below like Stephen Abootman, who has obviously never taken a Group Psychology course.

    Poking PC users with a stick is one of my favorite past times.

    Infinite Loop

  9. I started to read your posting and almost dropped my glass of 2004 Pinot onto my plate of foie gras. Fortunately my manservant Lothar was there to catch my stem in midair. Heavens, you must be a Yalie!

    Paul

  10. @Stephen Abootman Prententious? Moi?

    @Paul If you were drinking this 2004 Pinot, it’s no wonder you dropped it.

    Mark

  11. While I have no problems with being a little snobbish, I think you are missing out on some important reasons why Mac-users prefer e.g. Cyberduck over Filezilla.

    Not only does it look beter, it just feels better. The user interface is clean and clear and you do not need to remember the meaning of some obscure icon or look for a not logically placed menu-item.
    It integrates way better with Finder, drag and drop as it should be and fully applescriptable.

    Clicking a file just opens any html php or other text-file in my favorite editor, and a normal save does what is should do without complaining about keeping a file locally or not.

    It may have more options, but as a heavy user I am not impressed. And hey, Windows too has more ‘options’ than MacosX, cannot deny that, still no reason to prefer a different system …

    Erk Smeijer

  12. It isn’t people choosing appearance over functionality, it’s a case of commitment to a platform. Filezilla doesn’t look like a native Mac app. Therefore I can assume the developer doesn’t care about the Mac or understand the Mac very well. Therefore I can assume it won’t be well tested on a Mac and so will be buggy.

    Now those assumptions may be false, but they do significantly affect a user’s perception of an application.

    Now to answer your main question: yes. Mac users are the snobs of the computer world. They value quality design over anything else. Give the highly design oriented nature of Mac users this isn’t surprising.

    Martin Pilkington

  13. Yeah, I’d say most of us are conoisseurs of software. We care more about ease of use and a good experience over number of functions, alright.

    It’s like cellphones. We just want ours to do ultra-high-quality voice calls, while the other operating system telephones have a 10 megapixel camera but AM-radio like voice.

    Glass

  14. I was thinking about this just the other day. Many reviews, ten years back, showed a very devoted Mac community—people loved their macs. Magazines would site that the consumer reviews slanted Macs way only because of the people’s devotion. And, now, there’s a sense of pride, especially to those who have owned Macs prior to their reinvention.

    I bought my mac during this era, as Steve Jobs became comfortable in his place again. I worked in a factory at the time. This was during a period when computers were made available to just about every working family. And, at the time, no one in his or her right mind would have thought to have went Apple. I heard everything, from just about any body who I told, that I wished to just check Mac out.

    They said all of the software out there was for Windows, and what’s the purpose if I can’t receive their emails and use their programs. I gave in, and bought a cheap Systemax.

    I must admit, I jumped on the bandwagon—albeit early—and purchased a iBook G4. Opened it up and began using it right out of the box. It’s never failed me, it’s never crashed, and I’ve always found resources easily in order to scratch any annoying itches. Although, in some regards, my coworkers, family, and friends were correct about the software, my feeling was “The more people who buy now will create a market for tomorrow.”

    The point is, at that time, when you bought a mac, you weren’t just buying a computer; you were making a statement. Moreover, you made an investment by taking a risk. The statement a Mac made was that you shouldn’t have to work on computers, knowing codes and funky directories, to use a computer.

    If you’re in graphics design, you shouldn’t have to stray to far into the guts of directories and subdirectories to find what you’re looking for and to tweak your drawing. That’s what my Mac did (and still does) for me. It becomes my partner who knows where everything is; it allows me to express myself without interruption of breakdowns and animated figures popping up to yell “Hey! Guess what you can do if you upgrade right now!”

    My friend Aaron, loves his PCs, all of them. He loves that nothing is proprietary and that he can alter anything at will. He’s had years of computer use and knowledge and genuinely enjoys tinkering for the sake of his PC—i.e. his hobby. My hobby happens to be writing. And, when I’m on my Mac, that’s ALL I wish to do.

    MrBob

  15. I use both Windows XP and Mac. I fought long and hard for windows defending it against, what I thought to be arrogant Mac users. But after giving Mac a go it is far superior to what I now believe to be a bunch of useless crap that Microsoft has developed. If it were as good as Mac I wouldnt have had to spend the last three days figuring out why my PC suddenly shows BSOD, to which I still have not figured out a solution to. Once you go Mac, you’ll never go back!

    Jack

  16. I don’t know why snobbier? I do like the Mac but a 5 year old could use one… You just don’t need the smarts for the Mac… The PC on the otherhand… You better have an education and be problem solver

    jeni

  17. Mac users are NOT snobs. Even a range bred cowgirl can use it!! the most I know about is Horses and I can use the Imac just fine!

    Emma

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