PC or Mac?
Local telecommunications and Internet Service Provider (ISP) executives are typically knowledgeable on all issues relating to technology and gadgets.
Their choice of computer platform and smartphone brand may therefore be used as sound advice to follow when forking out money for a new laptop or mobile phone.
Be warned – their opinions are diverse and even unconventional.
Roelf Diedericks
Neology CTO Roelf Diedericks says that, since he “despises the ‘Church of the New Monopolistic Apple’, you can be sure that it’s a PC”.
“I like choice. Apple makes it their business to remove people’s choice,” says Diedericks.
When it comes to mobile phones, Diedericks is definitely not a smartphone enthusiast. “Smartphones are a misnomer. Tablets or laptops should be smart. Phones should be dumb. And have phenomenal battery life. That is all.”
Diedericks currently uses a Nokia E6. “With my previous crap-smart-phone I couldn’t last a day without a charge. Thus far with the E6 I can go for a week without a charge. Maybe more!”
Cybersmart MD Laurie Fialkov shares Diedericks’ view on smartphones. “I don’t use a smartphone. I don’t even use a phone with colour. I use the R189 phone that has a torch, which is the most important thing that you can have on a phone,” says Fialkov.
“I use my phone to make and receive calls and my computer to do computer stuff. I can’t abide touch screen phones – you drop it and there is R4,000 down the toilet. Also my fingers are too fat to type on a touch screen or smartphone keyboard,” says the Cybersmart MD.
Fialkov uses a Mac Mini for his computing purposes, but is certainly not an Apple fanboy. “I am pretty much operating system agnostic. The Mac Mini was the best value equipment at the time. My next machine will probably run Windows though,” says Fialkov.
From Diedericks and Fialkov’s feedback you may get the impression that telecoms and ISP big-wigs are techies who have little respect for smartphones or Apple and its shiny toys.
You would, however, be wrong.
Rudi Jansen
MWEB CEO Rudi Jansen is a huge Apple fan. When asked whether he prefers a PC or Mac Rudi’s answer was simple: “There is no question. It is a Mac. I just love how all the Apple products integrate seamlessly”.
“I am a huge Apple iPhone supporter and have an iPhone 4. I have not upgraded to an iPhone 4S, but will rather wait for the iPhone 5 to arrive. My wife always complains I am married to my phone,” says Jansen.
ARC Telecoms’ CEO Steve Briggs shares Jansen’s love for Apple, and uses an iPhone 4 and an Apple Mac as a computer.
Derek Wilcocks
Internet Solutions MD Derek Wilcocks uses a BlackBerry Curve smartphone, and does not have a particular preference when it comes to computing platforms. Wilcocks says he uses a PC at work and an Apple Mac at home.
Wilcocks did however have an interesting story from his early days at Internet Solutions.
“In 1995, when I first joined Internet Solutions, I decided that the company would migrate to Mac. At the time Apple was headed for a rough patch, so the technology we acquired was not well supported at the time.”
“We really battled to make these computers work for us. That lesson has stuck with me and has made me more cautious about the technology I buy and how well it is supported,” said Wilcocks.
Vox Telecom CEO Douglas Reed also uses a BlackBerry smartphone, and like Wilcocks uses a PC at work and a Mac at home.
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