
If you live on the Internet like I do, you've probably heard about a recent entry on Scootinger's Blog about an old MacAddict article, comparing a PC user to a Mac user (for the uninitiated, Mac|Life evolved from MacAddict). Specifically, Scootinger talks about the picture below (click on it for a bigger pic that opens in a new browser window).
Proof that everything old is new again...
Scootinger points out the similarity with Apple's Get a Mac ads that star a suit-and-tie clad John Hodgman as PC and Justin Long as Mac.

or that there's no such thing as new ideas.
The article made the rounds of the Internet. Lots of comments were made, most of them mocking the "original" photo. So I thought that the photo could use some context. I talked to Nikki McDonald, the editor behind MacAddict's photo. Nikki was one of the founding editors of MacAddict, and in my conversation with her, we talk about how the photo was part of a bigger article that appeared in the very first issue of MacAddict. The article was important in defining the magazine's intended audience.
Click here to listen to or download my conversation with Nikki (eight minutes).
Links:
[1] http://www.scootinger.net/2007/02/20/im-a-pc-and-im-a-mac-circa-1996/
[2] http://www.maclife.com/sites/future.p2technology.com/files/imce-images/Macpcguybig.jpg
[3] http://www.apple.com/getamac
[4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hodgman
[5] http://www.justinlong.net
[6] http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/gadgets/the-dorky-genesis-of-those-im-a-mac-ads-238442.php
[7] http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9689695-1.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=Crave
[8] http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/mac-vs-pc-ad-from-1996
[9] http://futurenet.vo.llnwd.net/o2/maclife/ML_nikki_interview.mp3
[10] http://www.maclife.com/article/editors_blog_why_i_want_an_iphone
[11] http://www.maclife.com/article/windows_invades_my_neighborhood