If you’ve visited any tech blog over the last couple of years you must be convinced by now, that Apple is creating amazing products that enhance our creativity and productivity. And why is that ? Not only they are technologically superior but they got a certain different culture. An aura surrounding any Apple product. It’s the same culture embraced by the alternative and successful people. The artists, the rebels, the warriors, the crazy ones.

It sure sounds amazing. You get one of those Apple computers and you join the elite of the mankind. However did you notice something weird about this video? None of these people ever used a mac. In fact most of them lived before the era of personal computing. But what if they had been given the opportunity of having a mac ? Well that’s an easy guess!

Einstein would be too smart for it and would have installed Linux. Muhammad Ali would have repeatedly punched the monitor right away. Bob Dylan and John Lennon would probably be too busy scratching their guitars. Sorry if I spoiled the recipe for success but it really is not that easy.

As a web developer I have many colleagues who praise and love their macs. I don’t think that’s the right mentality for any professional. The moment you start caring about the kind of tools you use is the exact same moment when you give away your focus and passion to Apple’s marketing division for free. It’s not about the tools you fools, it’s about what you do with them.

It’s the right time to quote Hugh MacLeod who wrote in his “How to be creative” manifest:

A fancy tool just gives the second-rater one more pillar to hide behind.
Which is why there are so many second-rate art directors with state-of-the-art Macintosh
computers.
Which is why there are so many hack writers with state-of-the-art laptops.
Which is why there are so many crappy photographers with state-of-the-art digital cameras.
Which is why there are so many unremarkable painters with expensive studios in trendy
neighborhoods.
Hiding behind pillars, all of them.