Coke v. Pepsi

"Which are you more proficient with: Mac or PC?"

It bothers me somewhat whenever this comes up in a job interview.

Beginning with my very first job in the software industry, I have maintained equal proficiency in Macintosh and Windows. As a matter of fact, during most of my working life I have had both a Mac and a PC on my desk.

And that's how I answer that question.

So then about half of these interviewers choose to doggedly press the issue:

"But which one do you personally prefer, Mac or PC?"

The problem is, most of the interviewers who ask this followup question don't seem to listen to my answer beyond the first four words.

"I prefer the Mac, because the user interface is more consistent and it's BSD UNIX under the hood. So I have a full-fledged command line shell with all the GNU utilities, plus Java, Ruby, Perl, and Python pre-installed."

After they hear me say the magic word "Mac", they appear to tune out. I have answered incorrectly. As I continue to deliver the rest of my answer, I can see it on their faces: Oh, he's a Mac guy. Probably not very technical.

For the record, I have owned the following computers in my lifetime:

• Timex Sinclair ZX81
• Apple //e
• Apple IIGS (limited edition "Woz" case) with Transwarp card
• Mac IIci
• NeXT Turbo Color Workstation
• iMac DV SE
• iBook 800MHz
• PowerBook G4 1GHz
• 5 or 6 PCs running Windows, Linux, or OpenBSD

Perhaps I should start claiming to prefer the NeXT. That might throw a monkeywrench into the works.