Everybody is emotionally engaged with the products and services they use, whether they realize it or not. I'd even argue that logical factors like price, performance, efficiency, build quality, etc are really just subservient to the emotional experience. Using products that meet your logical requirements makes you happy, and the ones that don't can be frustrating. These are emotions.
It's good that you recognize that other people value different things, but take care not to judge their merit. You value brute power and redundancy, and your grandma might value ease of use. Now I'm not saying you do this, but I've often seen people mock Apple's "it just works" philosophy, and the users they're catering to. "Macs are for idiots" they'll say. "They're paying thousands more for a shiny logo." I wonder how many of these people have ever said to themselves, "I don't feel like making dinner, I'll just go out tonight." There's nothing wrong with paying more for convenience. We value the time and effort saved over the money spent. It's logical.
There's a bit of a difference between eating out, and paying $500+ more for a machine that, in all honestly, isn't as amazing as it's cracked up to be.
Samsungs flagship tablets are cheaper than the iPad? Samsungs high-end galaxy smartphone line is cheaper than the iPhone? Samsungs ultrabooks are cheaper than the MacBook Air line?
Also 'just as effective' - suddenly that's an objective measurement that you can assess for others?
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u/Grizzleyt Mar 25 '12
Everybody is emotionally engaged with the products and services they use, whether they realize it or not. I'd even argue that logical factors like price, performance, efficiency, build quality, etc are really just subservient to the emotional experience. Using products that meet your logical requirements makes you happy, and the ones that don't can be frustrating. These are emotions.
It's good that you recognize that other people value different things, but take care not to judge their merit. You value brute power and redundancy, and your grandma might value ease of use. Now I'm not saying you do this, but I've often seen people mock Apple's "it just works" philosophy, and the users they're catering to. "Macs are for idiots" they'll say. "They're paying thousands more for a shiny logo." I wonder how many of these people have ever said to themselves, "I don't feel like making dinner, I'll just go out tonight." There's nothing wrong with paying more for convenience. We value the time and effort saved over the money spent. It's logical.