Linked by Eugenia Loli-Queru on Sat 26th Aug 2006 21:05 UTC
Apple is already gearing up for a major marketing campaign for the holidays, and if they're able to ramp up demand, and then deliver the system when they say it will be delivered, it could trump Microsoft in a way that Apple's CEO Steve Jobs would crow about for years.
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Member since:
2006-01-06
... by all of these incessant "Can [Fill-in-Alternative-OS-Name-Here] take over the Desktop" threads? I understand that people are interested in promoting alternatives but, seriously, despite the OSS community's and Apple's best efforts, desktop market share hasn't changed significantly in recent years. There are many reasons for this...
1. First Mover Advantage - Microsoft has a huge entrenched base and is difficult to dislodge.
2. User Apathy - People don't buy operating systems. They buy packaged computers with OSes already installed. Unless and until Dell, IBM, and all of the major vendors promote and sell Linux desktop machines, consumers just won't care. And manufacturers have no incentive to make them care, as long as they're already selling a product that people buy.
3. Driver Support - Following on the heels of user apathy is lack of driver support. Yes, Linux and OSX support a wide variety of hardware, but not nearly as much hardware as Windows. Hardware OEMs/IHVs just don't make enough money on Linux and Apple currently to justify spending as many resources on Linux as they do on Windows. Can you blame them? If you were in their business, would you rather target 500 million Windows desktops -- or perhaps 15 million Macs or perhaps 8 million Linux boxes?
4. Software Availability - Sure, there's a bunch of free software available for 'nix, but the availability for Windows dwarfs these platforms. Games? Not many. Financial software? Not much. Not to mention the mountain of data that people have already accumulated on their Windows PCs. Who's going to pay to convert all of that data? Can it even BE converted? Some of the apps aren't even being sold anymore. This is a serious platform lock. People aren't inclined to upgrade all of their software and data investments simply because they can.
5. Training - It costs money for companies to retrain their employees and, despite the protestations that "it looks like Windows" and "even an idiot could run this", the TCO for running alternate platforms matches or exceeds Windows, based on my experience, so this begs the question: Why bother?
6. Cost - The initial purchase price of a desktop OS simply isn't a significant factor in its success or failure. Particularly since the cost of an OS is often incorporated into the cost of a new PC -- so, to many users, it appears to be "free", anyway.