“Apple picked the worst possible time to take the biggest risk imaginable. Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server are unqualified hits on everything from $999 notebooks through entry servers. Developers are climbing onto the platform in droves, as well they should. I can’t say it emphatically enough: Apple is a serious player in the broad IT market now.” Read the editorial at InfoWorld.
Apple: Let’s Make a Toast to this Recession
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
Follow me on Twitter @EugeniaLoli
Apple could have.
Be = $100 million
NeXt = $400 million
If Apple paid NEXT $300 million, and Be $100 million, it would have tendered the same amount of money.
PC loyalty is so well-known, it’s a cliché. PC users are routinely referred to as Microsoft’s faithful, Microsoft zealots, members of the cult of PC, Windoltz, Dulls and Intelzytes. The PCWorld conference is often compared to a religious revival meeting, where Bill Gates is worshipped like a rock star, or a charismatic cult leader.
…
The loyalty to PC has led some to describe the PC community as masochistic, the “punish me harder” brigade.
“They eat it up,” said Pos, a longtime MS watcher. “It’s like a B&D (bondage and dominance) relationship. There needs to a psychosexual analysis of the PC community.”
“How many DLL conflicts, Viruses, Driver problems, Interrupt conflicts, blue screens of death will they tolerate? It is like some sort of sick torture that they subject themselves to on a daily basis. But they keep thinking that market share is more important than a computer that works, they need to feel superior, are afraid of anything that is different, and obsessively pay more to feed already absurd amount of money that Bill Gates has accumulated.” said Pos.
– Pos
If macs weren’t so obviously better, I would ditch Apple fast. All I care about is having the best – of anything. If the PC were better, I would have one. It’s not. What captures the mass market rarely if ever is.
Course I have a couple of PCs too. They are so dirt cheap, why not? The hardware is becoming less and less of a portion of the total cost of computing anyways. Already, decent new fast PCs cost less than some apps.
But the software IS the computer, really. Is Windows “good” software? Hah, hah, hah.
I meant that if the PC were better, I would not have a mac, just PCs.
satire pos
pos: Red Pill: All in all, the Mac and OS X don’t make a very good platform for high-performance graphics.
Obviously ridiculous.
Actually, there is some grain of truth in that statment. Is there Quaddro4 for the Mac? ATI Fire? Something similar? What Macs uses is high end graphics card.
(/me smack head – /me just defended Red Pill).
pos: Alias/Wavefront’s Maya availability totally counters this argument. This is probably the best platform for creating 3d. The latest version came out on the Mac before it was available elsewhere. Having OpenGL and real Unix pretty much means that it is fairly easy to bring most SGI based apps to the Mac.
If Macs is such a good 3D platform, why are studios switching to Linux, and not to Macs? Why other 3D apps like 3D Studio Max isn’t available for the Mac? Besides A|W doesn’t have Maya Unlimited for Mac OS X, the last time I checked.
*Dang*.
Red Pill: I somehow think if Apple had spent $800 million on BeOS, it would be very difficult to not be better off.
Well, $800 million… on Be OS. Something technological better, no doubt. A profitable company? Doubt it. Besides, after Apple bought NeXT, Be refused to sell themselves to Apple.
Terry Wedd: Microsoft loses money on everything it does bar Windows and Office. Everything. It makes squillions because it has an operating system and office software monopoly on which it makes an 85% profit.
Actually, they did make money on their server apps, database apps, consumer apps (Encarta and Works), and hardware accessories. Just because XBOX and MSN don’t make money doesn’t mean Windows and Office is the only money makers. XBOX is something new, Microsoft’s first try. Their first tries are always unprofitable. Think Windows CE 1.0. MSN on the other hand never made profit, like many other sites, because there aren’t anyone advertising these days.
Red Pill: You’re onto something, though. OS X is more difficult to use than Windows XP, isn’t it?
I would say otherwise. Although I loath Aqua, it has a way better design than Windows XP’s default UI.
Oh I’m tired of all this, I’m out.
Appleforever, you have no right to accuse Microsoft of overpricing when Apple have a far worser record in this. There isn’t much zealots of Microsoft around here, but if you browse over to ZDnet or Winsupersite.com or similar, you would find Windows zealots. Go to gaming sites, viola, PC zealots who in general like Windows.
But however, no company have ever tried to create such a brand following as Apple. And it paid off. In the form of zealots (just like you). Apple is perhaps one of the most iconic brands in the US. Maybe even in Europe.
But if everyone buys things based solely on how good the brand behind it, Japan’s and Korea’s car industry won’t exist.
rajan r: Mac OS X has only been out a short time, I think it is too early to write it off as a 3D graphics platform as some would do. OpenGL and Unix both are just what you need to do 3D graphics. Bringing over all those SGI programs is fairly straight forward (once you fix their UI). Being able to run Photoshop and other popular products on that same computer also is a big plus. Altivec totally is an advantage for 3D graphics. XServes are perfect as rending farms. Apple’s relationship with Pixar, the fact that Apple is buying 3D development houses tells me that we are going to see something big is going to happen soon. I think all the pieces are there. A year ago who would have thought that Final Cut Pro would be totally beating both Adobe and Avid in many markets?
Also the argument was that Mac is was no good for doing 3D graphics, which is obviously false. Whether is currently being used extensively is another question. I have heard that Maya on the Mac has been very successful.
– Pos
Where is the support for your baseless assumption that I buy Apple based on “brand” (i.e., marketing)
You don’t know me, you don’t a damn thing about why I buy apple. You just assume, without any support or evidence, that I buy based on “brand.”
Did you ever think I might buy Apple because I think it’s better? Oh I forget, you can’t stand to live in a world where there’s something better than Winblows. So everyone that buys mac is just a brain dead zombie under some spell and we didn’t decide it was better for us. Right
Also, when you have to resort to labelling and namecalling (e.g., zealot) it suggests you don’t have any substantive points to make. Do you have any?