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I saw this domain for sale, according to the appraisals, its worth over $5000.00 usd. It has just the perfect amount of keywords….

- The Cat

Ah, yes. Everyone loves a smartass playing semantics pattycake.

They’re only slightly less annoying than the liars that say Macs don’t use proprietary hardware. Even today with Apple’s move to Intel x86, the majority of the hardware inside a Mac chassis is specially made and part of a single-sourced no-bid contract from Apple. Lefties bitch every time Halliburton does the same thing, but have no trouble with the morality of boxing their Mac up, driving to the Apple Store, and paying $200 + labor to Apple for a power supply. If it was a PC, a customer would pay $50 + labor for standardized non-proprietary ATX power supply.

If Bryan Preston was a Mac user, his post on Bioshock would’ve read:

“I’m waiting for Bioshock to come out for my Mac. The game looks great and gets great reviews, but I refuse to buy a PC.”

Macs are great for their intended audience of well-heeled lawyers, website designers, musicians, and artists. For the rest, there are PCs.

All I own and use are PCs but I wish I owned a Mac. Into which camp does that put me?

Closeted homosexual.

No, I’m kidding. If you’re wanting a PC with Mac-like styling, check out the new thin and light notebooks from Sony and Dell. For a desktop, it’s Alienware. If you want the HDTV media center experience, go with Niveus.

Not that you can compare Windows and Mac OS X meaningfully beyond superficials, as the two operating systems have very different ambitions. Windows is there to provide the underpinnings for a large base of applications that work together, Mac OS X is there to trick you into thinking you are creative and smart and funny because all your program windows look glossy/metallic/plastic/whatever.

I admit I was not specific enough with my use of the term “inertia,” so I’ll explain further. Because Microsoft can’t match the “it just works” nature of Apple’s integrated hardware/software, they are counting on their customers’ inertia (slow/scared to change) to maintain market share. And that strategy will work, to some degree. There will always be those for whom “good enough” is preferable to making a change. C’est la vie. Apple clearly isn’t competing for that segment. And, strangely enough, the majority of the profits aren’t in that segment. It’s almost as if Apple had a strategy or something.

God let it go man! Like the Apple commercials your convinced that those of us who won’t move to the Mac are just “slow or scared”. Well you seem just as ignorant to the fact that there are many industries that Macs simply suck at – such as CAD, FEA, IA, etc. Back in the old days while folks like you were beating off in front of their Apples, the PC world developed software and hardware that moved data and not just make a pretty graphic pictures. This forever relinquished Macs to be considered too useless from a serious computational (engineering, science, accounting, etc.) standpoint in a world where “good enough” meant accuracy with math precision. Macs were just to slow to be useful… but hey they sure were pretty!

And with regards to Windows crashes… Windows XP is as stable as any Mac OS…. most of the BSD was back in Win2K and earlier OS’s. Also 99% of these issues were with people who bough B grade equipment – which Apple won’t allow. If you own a eMachine PC chances are there’s a reason it’s crashing – they use crap components and inferior design. And as you point out Apple has great Hardware/Software control… that I’ll give them. But if you run a Top Brand PC you don’t have any issues. In my business I have dozens of PCs networked and running 24/7 for years with very few problems… and a lot of these machines are cutting edge for high end CAD and FEA.

So splash calm down, we all know how much smarter you are to let Steve Jobs tell you how to use a Computer. Remember that second Mouse button is soooo PC and dangerous. You might actually learn to do more “real” work! actually

I’m waiting for the uPhone.

It answers for you.

Has anyone seen this about Mac vs PC?

There are lots of fun parodies of the “I’m a Mac” commercials.

The interesting thing is, John Hodgman (aka “PC”) is by far the best part of Apple’s commercials. Justin Long (“Mac”) has the boring parts and comes off pretty flat. If Apple’s ad agency was intending to make “Mac” likable, they failed miserably. Whatever their actual goal, they succeeded in making commercials that people remember. A few of them are pretty darn funny, most are okay, and a few are just plain lame.

I said: “What non-Apple hardware can I run their OS on? ”
You said: “hardware that is not available for licensing.”
Thanks.

Ah, yes. Everyone loves a smartass playing semantics pattycake.

My original reference to proprietary hardware was in a response to a commenter who was recycling old FUD about Apple using proprietary components in their products.

So now you’re whining that Apple won’t license its hardware. Yawn. In other words, you want Apple, who gets 95% of their revenue from hardware sales, to slice their own throat by eliminating one of their largest competitive advantages — namely, their tight hardware/software integration. Yeah, that makes sense. Tell you what: go to an Apple shareholder meeting and repeat that suggestion. I’ll start a pool on how long you remain in one piece.

Wouldn’t you say their recent break from their past financially is due simply to the compatibility tie-in between iPods and Mac’s?

Perhaps it had escaped your attention that iPods and iTunes software work just as well for Windows users?

Not that I’m arguing against the existence of the halo effect. But there’s no reason for anyone to switch to a Mac just because they want to use an iPod. Conventional wisdom is that iPods (and Apple retail stores) are exposing people to Apple’s design philosophy, and making them realize that there is something else out there to choose from besides “good enough.” At that point, Apple’s products sell themselves.

It’s still certainly possible for Apple to shoot themselves in the foot with more stupid business decisions, and MS to ultimately reign supreme. But it’s Apple’s game to lose. I’d hate to be an MS investor right now.

LINUX RULES

-Wasteland Man.

You said: “hardware that is not available for licensing.”

Thanks.

Then you said: “There will always be those for whom “good enough” is preferable to making a change.”

Wouldn’t you say their recent break from their past financially is due simply to the compatibility tie-in between iPods and Mac’s?

Speaking of advantages, here’s one genuine advantage that Windows will always have over OSX. And remember, it’s a feature, not a bug.

What non-Apple hardware can I run their OS on?

Let’s get our terminology straight, shall we? Ask 100 industry people what “proprietary hardware” means, and they’ll tell you either “non-industry-standard hardware” or “hardware that is not available for licensing.” It has nothing to do with the OS — hence the term “hardware”. Apple used to use lots of proprietary hardware (ADB, for instance), non-standard processors (PowerPC) and other superior-but-expensive components (SCSI). Not any more.

As for Microsoft’s inertia, they are growing very rapidly both in profitability, number of employees, and product areas…

I admit I was not specific enough with my use of the term “inertia,” so I’ll explain further. Because Microsoft can’t match the “it just works” nature of Apple’s integrated hardware/software, they are counting on their customers’ inertia (slow/scared to change) to maintain market share. And that strategy will work, to some degree. There will always be those for whom “good enough” is preferable to making a change. C’est la vie. Apple clearly isn’t competing for that segment. And, strangely enough, the majority of the profits aren’t in that segment. It’s almost as if Apple had a strategy or something.

As for Microsoft’s 90% market share, that is mainly attributable to Apple’s boneheaded business decisions of the past, as I have already mentioned. Now that Apple management has pulled their heads out of their butts and dramatically lessened barriers to entry, their marketshare is going up and the future is bright. Investors seem to agree. MS, on the other hand . . .

Into which camp does that put me?

Anyway, if you can afford them and you aren’t into gaming, the “joy” of fiddling with components, and you have the money, Apples are clearly the superior alternative. To whomever said above that Apples are good for “working”, I think he’s stuck in 1997 or so. Whether it’s plain old file compatibility or a bit more complicated emulation, Apple’s can pretty much do anything and run anything you could ever want. The move to a Unix based OS code and the Intel chips have made quite an improvement in this regard.

At this point, Apple has zero proprietary hardware, and hasn’t for years. …
Microsoft’s current business strategy can be summed up in one word: inertia.

Splashman on August 25, 2007 at 1:35 PM

I don’t have a problem with everything else you wrote, but those two statements. What non-Apple hardware can I run their OS on? iTunes and some minor stuff like Quicktime run on any hardware, but what else?

As for Microsoft’s inertia, they are growing very rapidly both in profitability, number of employees, and product areas. They are in a vast array of service areas that Apple is nowhere near. Apple has a nice niche for people who like a certain style, but evidently 90% of us don’t care or actually prefer the greater functionality that MS products provide. I can definitely see why MS would prefer their version of the iPod box. That’s definitely the one I would buy, because I could take the time to know what I was buying. The time it takes it learn a piece of software is far more valuable than the price you pay for it, and I have enough exposure to Apple products to know they are crippled even in comparison to MS products. I prefer products that I can stay with as my need for new features grows.

There’s nothing wrong with a PC–I have a few, but please don’t lecture anyone on who’s greedier–Steve Jobs or Bill Gates. And yes, everyone that uses a Mac or an iPod is ipso-facto GAY. And everyone that uses a PC can make a kick-ass spreadsheet while playing Doom at 80fps. People use the machines in different ways for for different reasons. But to get upset or angry at someone because they use a Mac is silly.

I also have a CL Zen Touch and a video iPod. The Zen definitely sounds better–CL uses a much better decoder than Apple, but my iPod is WAY less complicated to use.

And I love the whole “MS has not been nasty enough” meme. Very cute. What’s next — Microsoft as the victim of big, bad Apple?

ADS is evident in Apple’s commercials… They need to poke fun at PC users in order to convince their own they’re superior… very much a Democrat tactic!

Bob on August 25, 2007 at 1:51 PM

Bingo!

And they were totally incorrect in their “touche” commercial. They tried to make fun of PC with an incorrect definition of “touche”. Very liberal.