A significant number of Apple Authorized Resellers were deauthorized this week, objecting to the company’s new contracts for dealers. One reseller estimated that about 50 resellers haven’t signed the contract, representing over $300 Million in revenue for Apple. Think Secret has obtained a copy of the new contract.
On a follow-up on our previous stories regarding Adobe’s PCPrefered page, new info has been revealed.
Additionally, Apple released yesterday version 1.2 of its Apple Remote Desktop solution.
David Nagel writes a clear response to Adobe’s lame “PC Preferred” page, I write to Eugenia about six times in the last three days, you finally puts a link to it, but hidden beneath this story, with no mention of it, and only then does it link to the discussion of it over at MacSlash, rather than the true story.
Very cute, Eugenia.
Here’s the link everybody: http://www.digitalvideoediting.com/2003/03_mar/editorials/smack1050…
What does it mean? Adobe has done nothing to make AE any good on the Mac and that’s why it’s slow.
Oh, please cut the bullsh*t. AE is not optimized for the PC either. And the fact still remains PCs are faster. That was a single P4 against a dual G4. If the reviewer had picked a dual Xeon at 3Ghz, don’t you think that this would be even more… fair for the comparison?
And Apple has more problems rather than just AE. Read the story, Apple is losing lots of dealers… Who will be left to care about AE if there are no dealers everywhere to buy Macs in the first place?
I got to agree with this:
http://www.macslash.org/comments.pl?sid=03/04/01/0241235&cid=10
Most software is not SMP-aware. And not everyone utilizes SMP machines. So for real life computing, PCs are still faster, simply because most of the software is not written with multithreading in mind.
When are you and the rest of your little Mac Fanbot drones gonna get it through your thick skulls that:
Macs suck and
Mac Fanbot’s are the biggest, cryinist whiners in the whole computer industry.
Admit defeat every once and while, its good for the soul..
From NEXTWORLD June/July 1993:
“And left alone at the top of this chaotic organization is the genuinely tragic figure of Steven Paul Jobs, a character with as much hubris as anyone who’s shown up since Euripides quit writing plays.
Most of us yearn to do well the things we can’t and tend to diminish the importance of our real gifts. Steve is no different. A truly great visionary and myth-maker, he has strangely but consistently aspired to be a businessman and manager, showing markedly less talent for either of these dreary vocations.
As a businessman, he’s had a hard time remembering the role of compromise in the Art of the Deal. While adherence to principle is an honorable attribute, one must enter most negotiations prepared to give something. But, as one industry leader told me, “I’ve tried to do business with Steve Jobs on ten different occasions and it always failed over some meaningless little detail.”
http://www.blackholeinc.com/Library/93%20June.html
I don’t understand what the argument is regarding “PC Preferred”. Adobe just stating their software is running better on a PC. It doesn’t say Apple G4’s are slower or you shouldn’t buy a Mac.
If you buy a game it tells you what the developers recommendations are. “P4 blabla bla, but you can also run it on Macintosh blabla bla”.
I can see why you guys “the Macintosh crowd” getting so defensive. Companies starting to jump of the wagon. Understandable, I would feel the same if I just spend $3,799.00 on a system and it is not up to current speed.
Does this indicate that Mac OS X software cannot, by design, run across multiple processors because the OS does not manage the splitting of processes for them (software has to be designed specifically to use multiple-processors??), or that Mac OS X software by default, is not multi-threaded? How does this situation compare to BeOS? By default, all BeOS apps are multi-threaded (eg: window drawing), though I understand that it is up to the developer to make use of threads themselves beyond the window drawing routines.
As for this Apple contract stuff… not surprising. Apple has a long history (under Jobs) of doing things their own way and not compromising, regardless of the consequences. Apple marginalizes itself, under Jobs’ leadership.
I was just commenting on Eugenia’s behavior, but whatever.
There’s also this: http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=8706
My only point was the whole story was pathetic on Adobe’s part not Apple’s–which I’ve been saying from the beginning.
Yesterday we were having a discussion about how such a story gets a ton of press and a ton of comment from PC users and others who don’t know anything about the situation. You all just continue to prove it.
“Who will be left to care about AE if there are no dealers everywhere to buy Macs in the first place?” Nobody cares about AE anymore–that’s the point. It’s AE that’s lost, not the Apple platform.
“Read the story, Apple is losing lots of dealers” Sounds to me like Apple is pushing these dealers away on purpose. This could benefit Apple.
“So for real life computing, PCs are still faster, simply because most of the software is not written with multithreading in mind.” So you are saying that in high-end video users want the fastest machine but they don’t care about the fastest software? Right. The point is: in the mid- to high-end video market all of the other software options ARE SMP-optimized but AE is NOT.
“Adobe just stating their software is running better on a PC.” Unfortunately most “PC fanboys” are interpreting it as PCs are faster no matter what, no matter what software… so take that! And as I noted above, Adobe is unwilling to say anything now on the issue.
Why all the fighting/arguing..etc?
Buy what you want, if you want a Mac, buy one, if you want a PC, buy one, just remember that others can buy and use what they want as well and show some respect for their choice. This “Macs suck”, “G4’s are better” stuff is old.
The only thing that matters is that some choice remains, would MS (or any other company with a monopoly) keep its quality high and its costs low if there were no Apple or Linux? No, history proves that it would not.
I’d be highly surprised if an experienced developer would not be able to smp enable the critical loops in AE in about a week and achieve a 50% performance improvement.
apperently, adobe isn’t interested in that, which would be worse news than the actual AE performance issue.
I think the point here is that its not really just processors. Rather its the software optimization. In other words at least some of the software that runs slowly on MACs is not a representation of the MAC’s potential.
the other point is that you can purchase software that is optimized for the MAC which will enable you to get the job done just as quickly as a PC user could on his GHZ beast. Personally, i think a test comparing Emagic’s logic vs cakewalk on the PC (in terms of stability and ability to get work done) and including the results of Steinberg’s cubase on both platforms would be interesting.
Remember folks. Computers are tools. The object is to facilitate some task. If the MAC can do the same job (with different software) and a slower processor than who cares.
I agree with your comment except for the last paragraph about prices and competition.
From compusa,
Windows XP Home Edition 199.99
Windows XP Professional 299.99
Windows 2000 Professional 299.99
If history proves anything, it’s that linux and apple are effectively not options for ordinary users, and that MS does charge monopoly prices.
<Gentoo desktop user>
At least Solitaire runs faster on the Mac than on the PC. 😉
Cutting of your sales force is how NOVELL and many other companies killed themselves. How many Microsoft stores do you see? They are cutting off the hands that feeds them. STUPID! Motorola was burned by Appple. Look at how much research dollars Motorola has been pumping into the G4, once they took away the MAC clones without warning. Once you burn IBM, Adobe, Microsoft, and Quark the MAC will die. I love my machine but damn the marketing and buisness people at APPLE for being so short sighted. They need to develop buisness partners not remove them. DUH!
//From compusa,
Windows XP Home Edition 199.99
Windows XP Professional 299.99
Windows 2000 Professional 299.99 //
Of course, 89% of the people that purchase Windows XP (not pre-installed) do so with an ***UPGRADE*** license, costing about $90.
How much did Apple charge for Jaguar, again?
Think. Before. You. Post.
$20 bucks plus shipping for me …
$79 with a student ID at the local apple store for my g/f’s machine …
and $80 bucks from http://www.macsales.com
Much cheaper than windows and more stable … Thank god for windows though …… Provides me with a job …. just think if a reservation call center ran OSX … there would be no IT dept. Just the initial install and config..
//Much cheaper than windows and more stable //
Yah .. $80 … lots cheaper than $90.
More stable? Proof?
I reiterate: Think. Before. You. Post.
The only people I see that care are the Mac users the PC users could care less, you guys need to grow up, a computer is a computer.
For one, Apple was burned by Motorola–not the other way around. Losing the minor revenue stream years ago is not the reason for Moto’s inability to develop a better desktop processor. Moto has steadily cut off most major product segments but cells and embedded processors–none of this has to do with the clones, don’t try to suggest that is the reason.
Secondly, it’s been shown that cutting off Circuit City, Sears, and BestBuy has been a good thing for Apple. These retailers were hurting Apple’s image more than they were selling product. I would presume the same for Buy.com and Fry’s.
Thirdly, three of the companies mentioned as not re-signing are suing Apple. MACAdam has been struggling for a while, and Elite went out of business twice over and bought up a name that hasn’t helped them. Who’s biting who?
Adobe is burning itself. Apple and IBM’s partnership is stronger than ever. The MS relationship is the same its always been–combative. Quark has also hurt itself–I don’t see where Apple has done anything to hurt Quark–they’ve actually appeased them too much.
“The only people I see that care are the Mac users the PC users could care less, you guys need to grow up, a computer is a computer.”
Huh? I commented about Eugenia, and my post sparked FIVE quick responses from PC fanboys/MacHaters!
We’ve got rockwell acting all dramatic: “Think. Before. You. Post.” Whatever–when the topic isn’t cost of OS, AND MacOS IS cheaper than Windows.
Let’s get a little realism here. Mac defenders are vocal because every comment we make will prompt 5 dumbasses to slur us.
“More stable? Proof? ”
Well its always pretty anecdotal, but the general feeling is that *IX systems are more stable. I run both myself and while I don’t find either OS more stable in general use (e.g. Word/Email), I do find that a badly behaved app can hang WinXP totally I have to reboot far too often due to an app, whereas I’ve yet to have that experience in years of using Unix systems. Good old kill -9 !
Of course just my $.02
// .. $80 … lots cheaper than $90.
More stable? Proof?
I reiterate: Think. Before. You. Post.//
The $80 you are refering too is only for an upgrade where http://www.macsales.com is selling the full lisence and media.
And stable. Yes it is more stable! I run a Debian box, XP pro box and a B&W G3 w/OSX 10.2 and the uptime on that machine is just unreal. Installation of apps, utilities and other is just too easy. And it never goes down ! NEVER … where I have to reboot the XP Box for a damn scanner driver!
I also controll 5 Compaq Proliant app servers and take care of 293 agent machines Compaq Deskpro 500 model 1.7 mhz. And a novell 5.0 domain … And YES I Would say that OSX is more stable that any Windows 9x versions Adn Windows W2K or Xp. Though W2k is up there.
Ya know – MS Windows downfall is the “the registry” the single point of failure. One corruption kills all — MacOSX and other Unix and Linux flavors do not have this centralize point of failure.
PC fanboy? No. Mac hater? Maybe.
I have been using Macs since the SE. I use one everyday at work. I use Linux at home, as well as Solaris and OpenBSD.
As far as I can tell, with my long history with Apple is they continually shoot themselves in the foot, screw their customer base, and release shitty excuses for OS’s and lay it on top of overpriced non-standard hardware.
They do some things right. They do a lot wrong.
Mac Fantards are the only group in the computing world that *flip the f#ck out* when someone critiques their beloved platform. They are the ones that spew unfounded, delusional marketing propaganda like so many Kraketoas.
Its just sad.
//The $80 you are refering too is only for an upgrade where http://www.macsales.com is selling the full lisence and media//
https://eshop.macsales.com/Catalog_Item.cfm?ID=5439&Item=APLOSX102CD
so .. they are lifting cd’s from e-mac retail boxes .. and reselling them.
Apple’s gotta love that tactic. Nothing fishy there.
No thanks. I’ll stick with full retail.
I’ve got an XP box that I’ve had to reboot a few times, granted. I’ve also got a B&W G3, with Jaguar, that I’ve rebooted several times as well.
IMO, the XP box does more, and *much* more quickly, than the G3. I guess I dont’ view the G3 with OS X 10.2 being way more “stable,” but YMMV.
“The only thing that matters is that some choice remains, would MS (or any other company with a monopoly) keep its quality high and its costs low if there were no Apple or Linux? No, history proves that it would not.”
MS is keeping it’s quality high? Microsoft has never had high quality products. Let’s see, IE cannot block pop-ups or turn off JavaScript. Yes I know it says you can, but it only half asses it. The OS itself is very unstable (Blue Screen of Death, a single app can cause the entire OS to lock and usually does) and not very well made (Reboot after install?…wtf is that?). As for Mac vs. PC, they are both computers with some architecture differences, but all in all they are the same damn thing.
“MS is keeping it’s quality high?”
now imagine what they would be like if they were still the only act in town, we’d all still be stuck with Win98 (shudder..), W2K isn’t a bad desktop OS, I curse it from time to time and it stops responding for no good reason from time to time, but its not terrible.
Good point about the registry, *IX can be confusing at times having to remember which files to edit for what, but the worst that can happen is you loose one or two, very, very rare to loose a system (and never one that can’t be put back together).
//The $80 you are refering too is only for an upgrade where http://www.macsales.com is selling the full lisence and media//
https://eshop.macsales.com/Catalog_Item.cfm?ID=5439&Item=APLOSX1…
so .. they are lifting cd’s from e-mac retail boxes .. and reselling them.
Seeing how Mac sales is an Apple authorized reseller — I will assume that this would suffice the legal and install issues – especially with a full license. Weather OSX is/was PPC or x86 I would use it over Windows for personal use. And Professional use if allow by my company. It just brings more to the table minus all off windows shortcomings and vulnerabilities. Not sure how one could say it’s not stable — Anyways some interesting reading concerning the 2 OSX and XP is here http://www.xvsxp.com/
this comment block shows it, thus i don’t need to go into detail. may all your fingers fall off so i don’t have to read your pathetic banter in every mac news blurb.
Maybe Apple should take a lesson from Sun and let someone else provide the OS, like YDL those boys at Terrasoft know what they are doing, Yellowdog Linux is more robust and a much better OS. In fact Im willing to say that Yellowdog Linux runs better on a Mac than Mac OS X does, but thats my opinion.
…in the moment that Apple is pushing their Apple Stores. Cool, eh?
“Maybe Apple should… yellow dog linux”. You might be right on that one. Linux would have given Apple for synergy. I don’t here any news about people plugging away at the Darwin kernal. It is not evolving. If they did choose linux they could have had OSX serve running on IBM mainframes!!!
Dan
This was a business news article about Apple’s partnership with retailers. This *could* have been an insightful and intelligent conversation. Instead it quickly degraded into the same old Mac vs PC blathering.
(yawn…)
Been here, done this.
Is it my understanding then that Apple makes that amount from 50 resellers? People accuse MS of costing too much but with only 3% of the computing market, doesn’t that mean Apple makes a couple billion in revenue for a piddling amount of customers.
– I really don’t understand finances of large corporations having never owned/been high up in one so my math is probably a bit out.
One about the contracts
One about the Adobe Issue
One about Apple Remote Desktop
Makes things less confusing.
Anyway if what was posted in the article is true, then Apple is really stupid. They do not need to lose dealerships right now. Sorry but Apple cannot survive on the Apple Stores alone.
While i can see why Apple might have done this the idea of forcing your distributors to wave the right to litigation in court is somewhat obscene. I had a sicko employer who tried to get me to wave my rights to litigation in a share holder contract. My lawyer laughed at him. I was so disgusted that i quit.
net: apple can’t burn all these bridges. they have to stop that. This sounds like jobs is being the old jobs.
Yes, Apple makes several billion in revenue a year (between 4 and 6). Profits are usually in the low hundreds of millions. They sell several million desktops per year. They have (possibly) a userbase of 20 million. They have over 10,000 employees. Over 4 billion in cash. What’s so shocking?
Maybe what’s off is your sense of what “piddling” is.
As for cost, how does Apple having billions in rev make them more costly than MSFT? MSFT is expected to have 32 billion in revenue, and basically two products earn the money with an 85% margin, everything else loses money. As for Apple’s margin’s you are talking between 23-34% on hardware, but Apple has zero operating margin. Dell on the other hand sells at about a 9% margin but has an operating margin of 25%. So this means that even though the savings are passed on to the consumer, Dell is making as much if not more than Apple on its products because it doesn’t have the R&D, support, service, software development costs that Apple has.
Maybe that clears up some misconceptions.
You tell me. Apple or Microsoft. Both do it. I had to reboot Mac OS X 10.2.? today because I installed an updated mouse driver (Kensington). For cying out loud… why doesn’t it just restart the input_server? Oh yeah. It wasn’t designed intelligently like that. I’m sick of installation programs too. Drag it, drop it. That’s how it should be. But no… we have to have a million different components that all need to be modified… Stupid.
I hate them both and will continue to hate them until dumbass stupidity in the design like this changes.
“Think. Before. You. Post.”
Grow up. If you need to point something out, do so, but don’t be an asshole. Just shows how socially inept you are.
Contract revisions like Apple’s just turn my stomach. There’s no reason for it other than to use the contract to get out of a previous caused legal jam. It’s abusive! Many of these resellers have been plugging away for years helping keep Apple afloat only to get bitten now when Apple is “up”. Apple’s not raceteering, they just are going to destroy the businesses of the dissenters that expected them to hold up their end of the bargin. After all, the resellers end is to sell Apple stuff–once it’s sold there’s no reason for apple to keep them, grab the customers and run!
Just when I think I might like to buy one this stupid politics happens. First .mac, then OS upgrades, then this–when will they learn not to ruin a good thing when they have it! Keep this up and they won’t be open in 3 years to worry about–that’s one reason more people don’t buy them.
I’ve noticed this happening with increased frequency in businesses in general lately. My own shop has been pulling this type of stuff on the hourly workers-to a lesser extent on salary. Our customers have been sending do-or-die contract changes lately-often before the ink is dry on the one just negotiated! The automakers have been doing it to suppliers; the states to the education systems. Not to worry though, eventually the courts will be so full of breech-of-contract cases against big corps that it’ll take years to get them thru, or make them unenforceable due to time constraints, returning control to the little guy again! [or the govt will step in and pass a law to make negotiating prices upward with a buyer illegal.]
MACAdam and Elite and these undisclosed Mac resellers usually only sell Macs. Does that mean that all of these stores are willing to cease to exist as soon as they run out of inventory? Certainly, switching for them would be difficult, and how many little independent PC dealer shops do you see succeed?
So… I find it hard to believe that this is what it is. I’m sure Apple is driving a hard bargain with a tight contract, but to imagine these Mac shops that have been around for 20 years just disappear doesn’t make much sense. Nor does it make sense that Dell and Target are all that afraid of the liability restrictions when they’re only selling PC iPods…
And note: Nick says his source on this is another reseller.
Just thought I’d point that out.
It almost seems like Apple wants to open their own stores. The one in San Fransisco looks cool but its cost them a fortune. It also looks really sterile and cold. They’ll have to theme the other stores in the same way. I want to walk into a store that feels more comfortable to buy stuff in and welcome my business. If Apple is pushing on-line sales like Dell where they can’t get stores, I hope they have REALLY quick servicing and return time.
As has been pointed out by several other posters, sadly, contracts such as these are becoming more common these days.
Would anyone here sign a contract in which you:
1. Allow your supplier to dictate the terms (inventory and pricing) of your business.
2. Waive your rights to recover damages in a court of law, even if those damages were incurred by actions of your supplier.
3. Allow your supplier to sell directly to your own customers at whatever pricing they feel is appropriate.
I HOPE no one here would be that short-sighted.
I agonize over the way that Apple has consistently and without fail managed to build themselves up, over and over again, by offering a technologically superior, higher quality product and then knock themselves back down by pursuing courses of action that anger and alienate their customers and potential customers. This has happened over and over again, and every time, they lose yet more marketshare. Mr. Jobs, guess what? There’s not much left to lose!
And a question for the gentleman here who stated that losing retail outlets such as Fry’s, Circuit City, Best Buy and Sears would be a good thing for Apple-please justify that claim. How does cutting off the public (the great unwashed non-Mac using masses) from having access to Macintosh computers in the four largest retailers of consumer electronics HELP Apple? I’m really curious as to how you possibly could have reached such a conclusion.
We dont even know if this story is true and I doubt Apple will confirm or deny, so we will have to wait to see whats going on, after all think secret it a rumor site.
“MACAdam and Elite and these undisclosed Mac resellers usually only sell Macs. Does that mean that all of these stores are willing to cease to exist as soon as they run out of inventory? Certainly, switching for them would be difficult, and how many little independent PC dealer shops do you see succeed? ”
More than you know. I’m personal friends with a couple of them.
The mac stories always get the traffic up… but all the arguing… ok here’s a joke for the mac users, don’t take yourself too serious
How many mac-heads does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
7
1 guy to design the 20 watt iBulb and special connector,
1 guy to evangelize this hip iBulb to everyone,
1 guy to stand there and admire the iBulb,
1 guy to pay $59.99 for this iBulb,
1 guy to convince everyone and himself that this iBulb really is better than those $.99, 100 watt ‘ordinary’ bulbs sold at walmart,
1 guy to put a video on the web detailing his story about how he was trying to unscrew one of those ‘ordinary’ bulbs one time while it was on, and burned his finger, so now he uses these nifty iBulbs and has never had any problems,
1 guy to set up a website dedicated all thing iBulb,
and finally, one guy to constantly surf the iBulb site wondering when the hell a 100 watt iBulb will be released
Of course this is not an allegory in any way… hehe
” “So for real life computing, PCs are still faster, simply because most of the software is not written with multithreading in mind.” So you are saying that in high-end video users want the fastest machine but they don’t care about the fastest software? Right. The point is: in the mid- to high-end video market all of the other software options ARE SMP-optimized but AE is NOT. ”
This is funny. When I read about “high-end” and Software along the lines like Premiere, AE, etc… this tells me that you don’t know much about it. This is not “high-end” by any means. High-end is still done with dedicated hardware + special software of which you obviously haven’t even heared before. And in the high-end sector Macs are as common as pink elephants for years by now.
It is clear that Apple wants to move to a 100% direct + Apple stores business model.
With a shrinking marketshare, it makes sense that Apple narrows their channel. Having no share and a broad channel is dangerous to the company as it is more difficult to keep prices high, control information flow, and regulate supply and demand.
In the big picture, Apple doesn’t care about third party resellers. I would expect in 5 years to not find anyone selling Apples other than Apple.
one has to laugh at the folly of the mac-head trying to do anything with technology that requires more than one click from a one button mouse.
I can’t believe what I have been reading. YDL over OSX? You must be joking. On my 300Mhz G3, OSX.1 goes way faster than YDL 2.3. YDL was so unusable that I had to delete it, and the install hung on first try,
The story says target is one of those companies that won’t be carrying apple products any more. I certainly hope that apple will seek to keep target. It is an excellent outlet for ipods and they actually do a good job of presenting it too. The dell model is great for Pcs but you need more extensive distribution for consumer electronics.
@the iBulb.
//Grow up. If you need to point something out, do so, but don’t be an asshole. //
Ah. I see. Instead, I should be more articulate, and unnecessarily use swear words. Much like yourself.
I change my mantra, just for you:
Think. Before. You. Breathe.
it was funny the first time. now though…
Shut. The. Fuck. Up. Already.
1. “And a question for the gentleman here who stated that losing retail outlets such as Fry’s, Circuit City, Best Buy and Sears would be a good thing for Apple-please justify that claim. How does cutting off the public (the great unwashed non-Mac using masses) from having access to Macintosh computers in the four largest retailers of consumer electronics HELP Apple? I’m really curious as to how you possibly could have reached such a conclusion.”
How could I reach such a conclusion? Because it has proven true. I didn’t say Fry’s because that’s happening now, but if you know Apple hsitory there were disputes between them and Best Buy, Sears, and Circuit City which have been resolved over the past four to two years. Since then Apple has gotten more control of their image and sales have increased (except for short-term/temporary effects like recession and lags between product cycles). The growth in Apple sales can be shown leading through larger distributionts to Ingram Micro, in-store staff at CompUSA and tighter, stronger policies for CUSA staff and better displays, and through their direct sales–the stores and the online store is still rapidly growing.
The image of outdated, poorly-maintained, beaten up Macs at Sears, Best Buy, and CC were a problem; not to mention sales staff that would help or worse would say: “You don’t want to buy that” and would then proceed to misrepresent the features of Macs.
2. As for the dude saying I’m misinformed to say AE is high-end. I said mid- to high-end, and I was actually comparing AE to other packages. I’m fully aware of high-end video production, and I also know its getting cannabalized by mid-range consumer options on high-end hardware.
Well guys here in NC Both Target and the Dell Direct stores have quit selling the iPod. I went into the Dell Direct store at Triangle Towne Center and asked for one, the salesman said he didnt have any in stock and when he asked the Manager in front of me the Manager said they will no longer carry the iPod, It might be because of lack of sales though but when I drove my little butt down to the Target Superstore in Wake Forest and when I went to electronics and asked about the iPod, I was told they were out of stock and they might not be bringing them back. So there actually might be some Merit behind this, MicroCenter and Fryes while yes they sold Macs, Macs were not the only thing they sold, so I doubt they will suffer much since Mac sales are down anyway. I went into PC Warehouse an established Computer store down here that sold three models, the iMac the TiBook and the G4 tower, they sell so little of the Macs I doubt they will suffer either if there is merit behind this. Either way Apple has always been a universe of its own and they always pulled through, I doubt if they lose resellers it will kill them. If they need to cut down costs, adopt YDL help terrasoft enhance it and run with it, who knows, it might be a great thing. Yes I know realistically this will never happen.
What are you guys smoking? and why aren’t you sharing?
The software is what is drawing people to the platform (OSX, istuff, “user experience crap”).
Maybe you guys haven’t been keeping up with current events, but, Apple’s hardware hasn’t been winning many races lately.
Linux on cheaper, faster, pc hardware will be the same user experience only, um… CHEAPER AND FASTER.
Apples value proposition is their software, with their hardware integration as an additional benefit.
If apple solves it’s hardware problem, they are in a fantastic position to make some great profits.
This will hurt Apple. They need to show their hardware in order to have people switch. Only when you see a demo of OSX on those expensive pieces of computer can you decide to make the switch. It usually makes sense if you’re in the graphic business (although Flash MX is too slow…).
Up to now Macs were for an elite, most of whom did not know much and did not care about the price of components. Some of Apple’s resellers abused the situation by charging insane margins on regular PC components. New Mac users coming from the unix world can’t get fooled that easily and those resellers are going out of business.
So…
no macs for network machines -> why buy a mac when you can run linux on a standard PC
no macs for end user -> You need to try before you buy such an expensive computer. You need to have better support.
This leaves Apple with the usual people in the graphic industry. The same people who will always be loyal no matter what (10.1 was awesome, fluid,etc. Only with 10.2 did we admit that those were lies)
I don’t see how Apple could get more market share if they stay with this niche. They need money to pay for R&D, support and the insane $116 Million Jobs’ salary
“Let’s get a little realism here. Mac defenders are vocal because every comment we make will prompt 5 dumbasses to slur us.” –anonymous @ geomatrix.com
Alternatively, five people swear at Mac defenders because they are irritatingly loud and not necessarily right.
So, was it the lady, or the tiger?