The Simpsons Skewers Apple, Their Fanatics

It was classic, I laughed a lot! And it's good that you can laugh as well Paul, being one of those fanatics yourself. After all, you own more (m)Apple products than many of the people you label as "fanatics". I love that irony.

you lost me with the porn comment! Or is the porn you, ahem, know of, so insane that words alone cannot describe? just kidding ;D

"any ideas when that might be?" not soon enough

I'm devastated. Because of the SImpsons, I'm ditching my Macbook Pro and my Mac Pro, Logic and Final Cut, UNIX and Xcode, and buying a Dell running Vista. Thanks Bart and Lisa for helping me see the light!

Apple's commercials are not funny anymore - those lies lead to dramatic distortion of the market. It's not fun anymore. And @lotsamystuff: I CAN laugh about TRUE fun about Microsoft. But you should really finally realize what kind of a brainwashed fanboy you are and try to get back from the iWorld to reality.

chipwinter: that's exactly why they fall in love with it. if all-that's-apple would be cheap, no one would mention it.

"What is this crazy porn Paul is into?" :-) I was wondering what a tech geek would consider to be porn.

robertsjoe-style post-of-the-day: blogs.zdnet.com/hardware "Apple now recommends that users install antivirus software on their Mac systems. Well, have you?" support.apple.com/.../HT2550 Uncie Stevie says you gotta have it. It must be so.... ;)

Repeating the caveat from where Wae originally posted the Mac antivirus post: PLEASE, Mac people, do NOT read this as "install multiple antivirus utilities on your computer". Running more than one AV utility at a time tends to cause real problems. Note that one AV and one anti-spyware is OK since they do different things and don't fight each other.

Good to see Mac users can laugh at themselves. Can't wait to see this from the other side as well. "Actually, I'm not a fanatic about anything I can think of. Oh, except the truth." A fanatic typically consumes but doesn't produce. So we don't have a way of knowing.

Fun stuff by Simpsons as usual. Since when do you have to pay geniuses to do work for you ???? Never heard of that among total noob friends friends who visited them many times ... "How can people literally fall in love with a product that is so much more expensive than its rivals ?" You're right that's why people love their Taurus much more than other love watching and touching their Aston Martins...

Back on topic, the Simpson's Mapple Store video has been pulled. The link now says "This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Twentieth Century Fox "

"And it goes without saying that the Apple bashers don’t notice when I praise Microsoft for doing elegant work, as I did when Windows Vista came out." Yeah, those were all backhanded compliments. He said something to the effect of, "Vista is elegant because MS has finally copied Apple well."

Waethorn, It's interesting that even in the article reporting on Apple's advising their users to install antivirus, the author closes with "Personally, I can’t be bothered to install any on the Mac mini we have here" (and then says he might on a machine that did heavy email) It's amazing that an actual columnist's advice is essentially "it's worth doing but I can't be bothered" or that anybody these days thinks that you only can get malware via email.

@ johnpapola: "Very funny episode. Of course Paul the Microsoft hack (or is it flack?) for the ages would post this to "his" blog ASAP. So utterly predictable." Yeah, as predictable as JohnPapola, the incorrigible Apple apologist keeps dropping in whining about Paul, while repeatedly gasping how utterly useless and biased this blog is [against Apple.] Why do you keep coming back after declaring that you were done with this site?

I saw the episode. It was one of the funniest episodes I've seen in a very long time. Just when I thought that The Simpson's was just about played out they put out an episode that is laugh out loud funny. What's even more funny is the comments about the episode by the winjihadists. Here are my favorites 1. Paul's comment, "I'm not a fanatic about anything I can think of. Oh, except the truth." I don't know what's worse about this comment, the fact that he doesn't see his own bias, or the fact that some on this site actually believe him. 2. Gorath, and Shark 47. Paul's comment is an allusion to the Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, who when asked to define Pornography said, "I know it when I see it." Thus, Paul cannot define a fanatic, he just knows it when he sees it. 3. Chip Winters Comment But how does this happen? How can people literally fall in love with a product that is so much more expensive than its rivals? Well for starters it is only about 20% more expensive than a Windows rival. Yes, Apple doesn't compete at the bottom of the market, get over it. Since the average Apple user uses their Mac longer and has fewer problems they feel the premium is worth it. How can a growing number of people ditch what they're used to, and then seem delighted with their new choice? Because what their use to frustrates the snot out of them. They are tired of viruses, spyware, and problems. They are tired of products that don't really work. How do people come to crave any new item from this company? Apple has taste, Apple actually invests money in how the product looks. You may think its a waste but to millions of consumers how a product looks is important. Further, Apple is a master of the media, buy withholding information they create free publicity. Microsoft announces every product ten years in advance and then when they fail to deliver, the look like fools. Apple doesn't make this mistake. How can a company, in ten years time, come back from being "dead" to being within a year of surpassing Microsoft in revenue? Simply put, ten years ago viruses and spyware were simply a nuisance. Now they are a plague. Apple has capitalized on this plague. You may think that this plague is due to MS popularity, and you might be right to some extent, however the whole reason that Vista was so late with many fewer features was the fact that MS had to pull engineers off of Vista and put them on XP SP 2. From this very own forum, we know it's not the value. We know it's not the innovation. We know it's not the elegance. We know it's not the simplicity. We know it's not the shoddiness of the competitors' products. This statement cracks me up. Yes, if I only read this forum I would think the same thing. Well guess what, there is this huge world out there with a diversity of opinions that diverge significantly from Paul, Wethorn, and Mike. Guess, what some of those opinions are actually astute and correct on occasion. All I can figure is that it must be all those lying ads. Yes, it must be those ads. I would argue that ads can effect buying decisions in the short run, however a product that is truly substandard will eventually succumb to the market place of ideas. Keep in mind that if Apple failed spectacularly to deliver on its promises of a better computing experience than the ads would stop working. And the huge problem with that, for Apple, is this: When the iCabal finally come to realize that the expensive product they bought doesn't have as much value, isn't as innovative, and isn't as elegant and simple as Apple's ads suggest, this lovefest will be over. Yes, Apple proudly going out of business for nearly three decades. The reality that you fail to grasp is that most Apple customers are in fact very pleased with the product they have bought. Most Apple customers feel that the added cost brings added value. Most customers actually think that the product is elegant. Please head on over to consumer reports and check out the customer satisfaction surveys. Please go over to consumer reports and check out the number of complaints for defective Apple products vs. HP or Dell. You'll find that year in and year out, Macs are the highest rated personal computer. Now ... any ideas when that might be? Yea, see above Einstein. Regards Joe Dokes

"It's kind of hard to explain humour, but I know it when I see it." joe-dokes's comment is full of it. e.g.: "Yea, see above Einstein." In reciprocating sarcasm, I can easily say: "Pot. Kettle. Black."

"It's kind of hard to explain humour, but I know it when I see it." I doubt you - or anyone else - recognizes even 30% of all humor as such.

"Since the average Apple user uses their Mac longer and has fewer problems they feel the premium is worth it." Yes, just like a couple of my friends who moved from $500 laptops to $1600 iMacs and found that they had fewer problems on the Mac. "Oh, I see. I've never even heard of Potter Stewart, and I don't really care." Me neither. :-) Guess I haven't been in this country long enough.

"I doubt you - or anyone else - recognizes even 30% of all humor as such." It does seem like gorath understands 100% of humour, though.

"Waethorn, the only one more predictable than Paul himself." You mean like Mackie lies? You did say you were done with this site and wouldn't return after all.

Great episode. It's about time the media's honeymoon with Apple was ridiculed.

@mikegalos: "It's amazing that an actual columnist's advice is essentially "it's worth doing but I can't be bothered" or that anybody these days thinks that you only can get malware via email." When will you listen and learn? Because one doesn't need to install it. Because it wastes time and money. Because OS X is more secure than Windows. Because OS X without anti-virus software is more secure than Windows with anti-virus software running. Not to mention what a useless piece of crap (even more so) Windows Vista would be if you ran it without anti-virus software.

"Clearly, I'm not an Apple fanatic. Actually, I'm not a fanatic about anything I can think of. Oh, except the truth." Spoken like a true believer. Paul is a fanatic about some things - one is pointing out and hyping anything remotely negative about Apple.

Shark47 said: ""I doubt you - or anyone else - recognizes even 30% of all humor as such." It does seem like gorath understands 100% of humour, though." Joe-Dokes said: "Gorath sorry I missed you attempt at humor. " An American (at least I think so) not understanding british humour. Now, there's humour, right there. ;p As for the supreme court, I really couldn't give a rat's. Likewise for obscure colloquialisms. If I was an international spy or something, then maybe I'd have need to fully understand these local terms. But I'm not, so I don't. I understand enough of them to laugh at Family Guy, and that's enough for me, thanks. Anyhoo, as amusing as this Simpson's episode was, I don't think the series is as good as it has been in the past. It might just be my tastes changing, but I'm not enjoying the show as much as I have.