Sunday, September 21, 2008

Application Snobbery

I recently became hooked on a cool little music application called
FooBar2000 which is really customizable, uses a really low memory
footprint and looks sweet to boot. I found myself thinking, "man, what
was I thinking using Winamp when this was out there." Then I thought,
"god, what about those poor souls out there who are using MusicMatch or
iTunes... fools." At that very moment, I became guilty of Application
Snobbery.

Application Snobbery is basically a smugness surrounding one's choice
in software for various tasks, and a feeling of superiority over those
who haven't made quite as intelligent a decision in their application
selection. App Snobs are the connoisseurs of their targeted application
communities and post rampantly in forums regarding the superiority of
the application they utilize and the obviously equal superiority of
their craniums.

So what can a person do to avoid becoming an App Snob after they've
experienced a software epiphany? Just look for the warning signs:

1. Posting to your software's forums when you aren't having a problem with software.
2. Sending out unsolicited software installers to friends and family.
3. Exhaling loudly when you are forced to use "that other piece of crap software" on your work computer.
4. Sending emails to your IT guy demanding to have your software installed on every computer in your office.
5. Getting into arguments with your IT guy, who is also an App Snob, over the hows and whys of who's software is better.
6. Purchasing a T-shirt with the logo of your software
7. Wearing a T-shirt with the logo of your software in public
8. Purchasing a T-shirt with the logo of your software as a gift for friends who "should be using it, too."
9. Installing your software on your Mom's computer even though she adamantly states that she "likes the old one just fine."
10. Beta testing.

Save yourself before it's too late

2 comments:

Holly Woodard said...

so, you're guilty of what?... all ten? :)

Keefer Milton said...

All of them but the T-shirt ones... ;)

Fort Smith, Arkansas
...just narcissistic enough to own a blog.