Apple and Linux are engaged in battle a battle to win over disgruntled Windows users. But who will win, and what will the consequences be for the loser? The most commonly held belief amongst Apple and Linux fanboys is that both factions are engaged in some kind of a war with Microsoft. The truth is that if you look at the market share figure for Windows, Mac and Linux, both Mac OS and all the Linux distros that have ever been released are dwarfed by Windows.
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
Member since:2005-07-06
People will go with Mac over Linux or the like because they'll probably be more comfortable going with a real company that can provide them support.
Actually this is an area where Apple might find themselves in trouble. They simply doesn't care about their customers and in the end this will come back to bite them. Some examples: They don't hesitate to turn modified iphones into paper weights, they tell developers that OS-X will have premium Java support, and just a few years later they just change their mind without warning. On the server side they have abandoned their customers three times, leaving them with no upgrade path as A/UX was changed to AIX, just to after a short while be totally discontinued, leaving no viable server solution for several years.kk
Under the circumstances companies like Red Hat is much more trustworthy. They offer support for seven years. They offer resonable upgrade paths from one version to the next. Similar things can be said about Novell, and Ubuntu LTS. Switching to Linux doesn't mean that you have to give up dealing with a real company.
Member since:2005-07-06
Hacking iPhones was never supported by Apple (that's why it's called hacking). If users choose to do things that void their warranty, it's their own fault. BTW: There's software to revert the hack. After using this, the iPhone should function normally.
Member since:2005-07-06
Really? In which country? Here in Italy definitely not. Hardly anybody has ever heard of OS X/Macs.
Add the cost factor (Macs in Italy cost more than twice the equivalent PCs) and you have a recipe for total fiasco.
Member since:2006-01-08
Really? In which country? Here in Italy definitely not. Hardly anybody has ever heard of OS X/Mac
In the US, where they advertize heavily on TV, have a lot of very succesful retail stores, and are regularly seen in mainstream TV shows and movies. And like it or not, the US is a rather more important market than Italy.
Edited 2007-12-16 04:58
Member since:
2006-03-02
Though I prefer Linux/BSD, I think Mac has more of a chance of getting "disgruntled" Windows users.
People will go with Mac over Linux or the like because they'll probably be more comfortable going with a real company that can provide them support. Also, Apple is much more well known to the "non-technical" population.
Also, Linux and BSD are great if you have a good amount of technical skills, and some patience occasionally (usually only for devices). Though *nix never gives me any trouble (it's so much easier, especially for developing software, than Windows), it can be problematic with devices occasionally. I stopped recommending Linux to people when I started getting a crapload of questions about "how to do this" or "how to do that" or "this isn't working". It's just not meant for the general population. And if Linux/BSD becomes that way, we geeks just might not like it anymore (unless, of course, all of those changes stay on the distro, and no t the kernel, side)
Though I use Gentoo for Linux, when I installed Ubuntu, I think it was probably the closest to Windows (as far as "ease of use" of setting up things goes) than any other distro. I think Ubuntu has the greatest chance over any other, IMO.