Say what you want about stock price and quarterly increases that in the
big
picture, don't say much. Apple has product placed and spent millions of
dollars on advertising (and with the exception of the more recent "I'm a
mog"
ads) have been quite good. Yet, they're still in that lower,
single-digit,
market share area that they've always been in since at least the late
80's...at about 3 to 5%.
I'm happy to hear that you haven't turned off your Mac since 1997, because
that's when I bought a Mac too. I bought the Power Mac 7300 (with the old
604e Power PC processor) just before they introduced the G3. What a
clunky
pile of junk that computer turned out to be. Not only was it at least
$1500
more than a comparable PC, I additionally had to buy a CRT monitor
separately
(and this was during the era when Mac did license its software...remember
the
Maclones?). The mouse was so slow and draggy and the OS was drab and in
my
opion, put strict limits on what I was to know/comprehend about its
functioning. So when I had a problem with an application or something, it
was this big mystery 'cause it wouldn't tell you whether you had a faulty
driver, extension, etc. Instead, i would have to either reinstall the
software or the OS and I got so sick of hearing that lame
"startup/showdown"
chord/sound droning over and over again. In a years time, after my
warranty
expired, the floppy drive gave out and the CD-ROM tray became unreliable
even
though I hadn't used it much since they're wasn't much software out there
for
MAC that interested me. I eventually threw the system in the garbage
within
three years, the last year of which I just held onto it needlessly because
I
had spent so much money on it. Since then I've stuck with with PC's and
have
never had a hardware problem that was the result of the manufacturer or
windows software.
Apple sells fully featured computers? Sure, but at a premium and with
very
little choice. The Mac Book has less features than my HP ZV6000, but
costs
more and only gives you a 12 or 13" screen. Add a couple hundred dollars
more and I could get it that puny computer in Black...ooooh. If I don't
like
the look of the MacBook (white/black), then my next option for a laptop
would
be the MacBook Pro which is a jump in price of at least $700-$1500. And
what
if I don't like that drab and cold aluminmum case, well then I guess I'm
out
of luck, 'cause that's all there is. Having different PC manufacturers
provides diversity of styles and competitive pricing (not rock bottom
quality...unless that's what you want because it would YOUR choice, not
Apple's).
As for this Boot Camp thing...doesn't that, in a way, make OSX
superfluous?
and make Apple just another PC manufacturer? (albeit, an expensive,
over-hyped one at that).
Again with regard to the OS security issue: What hacker would invest so
much time and effort into hacking an OS that only 5% of the entire
personal
computer market uses. That would be a waste.
And if you're so proud of your precious "OSX" that you so adamantly
defend,
what are you doing on the Windows Vista help and Support website in the
first
place? Go back to your "la la" world of overpriced, overhyped,
overheating
Macs and listen to more childish, "chip on his shoulder" speeches by Steve
Jobs about how Vista is a copycat when, at the same time, he calls Leopar
"Vista 2.0." Huh?
I guess when there's no new innovation, Apple just starts up the mud
slinginger 2.0.
OSX SUX!
mmmmark said:
Why then is Apple's stock price the ONLY PC manufacturer with positive
earnings in the last 12 quarters? Why is their stock price the only one
that is not in the crapper? Why is their market share growing faster
than
any other PC manufacturer? The short answer is they have chosen not to
be a
bargain basement seller but focused on quality, longevity and value.
Dell
has run out of room to compete in the discount sector--they are
scrambling
to upscale to recoup falling market share and presence.
Compare "apples to apples" and you will see that Apple's hardware is not
really more expensive, especially when you factor in the quality of
components and support. [speaking of quality components--I have a Mac I
bought in 1997 and it has not been turned off since first plugged in.
All
original components--still serving up thousands daily!] Apple sells
fully
featured computers while most everyone else sells them bare bones so they
look cheaper and then kill you with up-selling options (Dell is the worst
in
this regard).
I'm happy to run XP in Parallels (for those few things I need XP for) and
I'll happily pay an upgrade tax about yearly. Each of the upgrades since
10.1 have dramatically increased speed. Can you say that about XP SP2
and
all the millions of lines of bloat?
Say what you want about vulnerabilities, but in over five YEARS of OS X
use,
I've yet to get ONE virus, trojan or exploit without any protection
whatsoever. Can you say this? And going back to Parallels, I have an
instance of XP saved on another hard drive so that whenever XP gets
killed
due to virus or its own ineptitude, all I need to do is delete that
instance
and reload the one saved from disk. Total time to restore ALL apps and
OS?.......10 minutes tops. If I needed game functionality, I'd boot into
XP
with bootcamp. I'm no longer much of a gamer, so not needed. Parallels
is
a great way to run any other OS on OS X.
I think you are disallusioned and not willing to learn what Apple has to
offer. I work in corporate america and work with windows machines all
day
long, but I prefer to spend my hard earned money on an Apple.
Before you dismiss Apple and Macs, just learn a few things. If you have,
then you can say what you want.
--Mark
Tom said:
Hell no. The overpriced proprietary hardware, the abstract UI (they'd
call
"simplified"...I'd call "dull". And this Boot Camp
"innovation"-please!
If
OSX so much better, why are they breaking their backs to come up with
these
"innovations" on how to run Windows XP?
And the OS "software upgrade" is not cheaper unless you like paying
$130
for
what is more like a service pack that Windows gives out for free.
The system vulnerability of OSX cannot be compared to Windows unless of
course Apple had 95% of the PC market, making it the target hackers all
around the world. The only apparent protection the Mac has from
hackers
is its overall unpopularity in the personal computer market.
I could go on, but I see that I already did...
:
Hey folks
Looking at OSX Leapord
http://www.apple.com/macosx/leopard/ makes me
want
to
switch to mac apart from the price of the hardware.
If Apple decided to release OSX for any pc (or as close as), do you
think
you would ditch widows altogether?
I would like to see how many people would actually take the plunge. As
you
can clearly see, with the superb streamline support and all the
extras,
and
MUCH cheaper software it already slams Vista in the face.
Common folks, be honest, i'm a pc user too, but i have to say that if
i
could install this baby, instead of vista, i would be there in a shot!
