Drawing distinctions and commenting on the relative merits (or, indeed, demerits) of one technological platform over another is an interesting pastime for many tech-heads, not least me. Famously however, often these arguments can forment over time into conflicts that are sustained and characterised more by emotion than rational thought; the Mac vs. Windows holy war being probably the most notable example of this.
Add to this the abundance of individual expression through media like blogs and Twitter, where unqualified opinions and thoughts go unchecked and mostly unchallenged, along with the increasingly binary mentality with which technologies are assessed, weighed, scored and then worshipped or more commonly it seems these days, ridiculed and we arrive at today's occasionally unhealthy state of affairs.
Indeed, this past week I opined about how monumentally screwed I thought Nokia was in the face of its diminishing influence and augmenting competition, and I later became entangled in some clumsy banter on Twitter where a poorly executed attempt at teasing humour (teasing is always the highest risk method of creating light relief I find, but I never learn), reacted badly with my objectification of another technology company with whom my correspondent was employed.
And a while back I casually remarked on Twitter about my frustration with a bug in the Mac version of Excel, where I idly blurted something along the lines of 'Mac Office being Microsoft's punishment to Mac users for being Mac users' only to be promptly pulled up by one of the Microsoft devs on Twitter. It was a little embarrassing.
But last week reminded me that while Nokia, for example, a brand I highly respected in the past but no longer do, may well be screwed in my personal opinion, that such objectification neglects to account for the fact that thousands of people work for Nokia. People with hopes and dreams for the future of their company and, probably above all, people with a deep sense of loyalty to the company, their part in its many achievements and the kinship they feel towards their colleagues. Loyalty isn't always healthy and when blinded by it, it can be quite a negative force. But ultimately loyalty and those who hold it should be admired and respected.
So, it's easy to make the mistake of objectifying an opinion about a brand, a product or a faceless board's lack of judgement while staring at a plain 140 character long text box and neglecting to appreciate the collateral damage that can be felt by the real people behind the scenes.
But it's a lose lose deal; they feel shit, you come across as one. We live and learn.