John Dvorak examines the Mac vs. Windows vs. Linux debate and “the never-ending moaning about the superiority of the Mac versus the Windows platform versus Linux. According to each camp, their solution – their choice – is superior. By what criteria? If you were to rate the platforms by the total amount of software that can run on them, then Windows is clearly superior. What other criteria would you suggest? If you were to choose the cheapest, highest-performing platform, then Linux is clearly superior. It runs faster than Windows and runs on the cheapest hardware. If you make coolness and usability the main criteria, then the Mac easily wins.”
MacDailyNews Take: Criteria we would suggest is how integrated and seamless do you want your personal computing to be? The Mac wins here. Or how much time are you willing to waste on viruses, adware, spyware, and security issues? The Mac wins here, again. How many word processors do users need? Most people use one. If the Mac has the top five word processor options and Windows has those options plus 30 more junky word processor choices, how does the amount of software available make Windows superior? The “more software available” argument is the only place Windows can really claim “superiority.” Too bad it’s a canard, it’s a meaningless “advantage” in most cases. Except for gamers, in which case Dvorak is right. Yes, there are custom Windows applications for specific work situations, but there is also a large group of best-in-class applications that are Mac-only: iMovie, iPhoto, iSync, iDVD, Final Cut Pro, etc.
Dvorak writes, “You must ask yourself exactly what you want the device for. Reverse-engineer market-share numbers and decide what aspect of the leader makes it so popular. With computers, you have to conclude that the most desired features among consumers are the number of software options and the price. The Mac was much more competitive and had a larger market share when Apple was throwing systems at developers and subsidizing code.”
“I don’t want to sound like I’m bashing Macs again, because I’m not. I’m trying to make the point that the criteria that define the Mac as a superior machine are not the ones typical PC owners use. For some niche users, they are: If you’re an art director working almost anywhere, your criteria lead you directly to the Mac,” Dvorak writes. “Most buyers are not art directors, however. The factors of versatility (lots of available software) and price (the cost of a machine) seem to be what the public cares about when buying a computer. Those are the only two points on which the PC beats the Mac. It also tells me that Linux boxes, which are actually cheaper, could surpass Windows machines if only there were more software for them. It’s not because Linux doesn’t have the perfect GUI, or that it’s too hard to use, or anything else. It’s just about the software.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: This is a good article by John Dvorak. If the criteria that average personal computer customers are using to determine their purchases don’t lead them to the Mac, what can Apple do to change perceptions and circumstances so that the Mac becomes the logical choice for more people? What can Apple do to add to the short list of reasons people buy a PC, currently topped by “sticker price” and “lots of software,” so that “ease-of-use,” “security,” and “fun instead of frustration” become important reasons for choosing a personal computer? And does Apple need to challenge the “Macs are incompatible with Windows” myth in a more public manner than they are currently?
we should all know by now the reason people often buy pcs is not based upon a logical run down of the pros and cons associated with the computing experience. it is something much more complicated, having to do with what is familiar, individual perceptions, and resistance to change.
…. yes i recently graduated from college
There’s also the issue of precedent. More zealous Mac faithful may object, but until OS X came along I thought the Mac OS was dreadful (and even early OS X wasn’t so great). I was a Windows user until then, and my experience with Macs (monochrome interface running system 7) was enough to scare me away for a LONG time. But now I think that OS X Panther is the best, and love using it.
me’s comment above brought this thought to mind; Dell and the other wintel vendors are quite happy with MS windows the way it is. Any performance issues with the computer can safely be blamed on MS rather than hardware quality. As people get more and more frustrated with their computer (their $499 computer) the more likely they are to be incline just to buy a new “clean” computer (at $499) just to be rid of the hassle they have encountered with the software. If you don’t become proficient at troubleshooting Windows, then you could easily spend more than $500 a year just having software issues fixed on your PC. All this plays right into Michael Dell’ hands (and checkbook). Heck, at the rate they are going, Dell & friends would be glad to see an even higher replacement rate as a result of MS incompetence.
To Glick7, who said:
We now have 31 months on OSx…that’s 31 months without a virus, without downtime, without data loss.
Thank you Apple.
I’m a Mac user, and agree it’s far far better than my experiences with XP, but please don’t create falsehoods to spread the Mac word, it’s simply not necessary. Examples:
� 10.2.8 update killed Ethernet on many older Powermac G4s. For many, that’s definitely downtime.
� Firewire 800 drives in Panther 10.3.0. Data loss.
� Filevault in Panther 10.3.0. Data loss extraordinaire.
Now compared to Windows, these three examples (possibly there’s more, can someone fill us in?) are minor compared to the glut of examples of each of these issues that XP has had since release, but to say that OS X has had absolutely no such problems is – to put it bluntly – crap.
OS X is good enough to defend without making facts up.
Clark Steve: You’re repeating the Market Share Myth, but it’s a good question to bring up. You have to consider the secure nature of the OSes, not the market share per se. The Market share may have a little bit to do with it, but it’s really the ease with which virus writers can create exploits, malware and viruses that makes Windows their bigest target. OS X isn’t as easy to create malware, though there have been 2 failed attempts so far to prove it’s possible. These were extremely basic examples, but one was merely a proof of concept that was exploited for financial gain by a French Anti-virus company, and the other was a completely inept attempt at fooling people that a 2k file on Kazaa was a complete install of Microsoft Office for the Mac. It is considerably more difficult to create any kind of Virus, Worm or Trojan that can replicate from a Mac to other Macs running OS X, since the OS is very tightly locked down. If something were to successfully get out, it would not be widespread, and the damage it could potentially cause would more than likely be limited to the one machine only.
In the end, it’s not the marketshare…it’s the security of the OS. If you don’t have to work hard to create havok on Windows Machines…why bother with breaking a sweat trying to hurt OS X?
Initial price is what keeps people coming back. When they can buy a “good enough” desktop PC for $399 that will last them 1-2 years they’ll buy it instead of a $799 eMac that would last them 2-3 years and is far more reliable and easier to use. It’s no different than those that buy a cheap used car every 2 years instead of a new one every 4 years. The other segment is gamers, but I’d always rather have a console like the PS2 to do my gaming than to play games on a computer anyway.
hey “me”….
You called it WinDoze 98 …. we called it Mac OS 8..
Believe me…. OS 8 was still far better than any WinDoze OS…
If only you gave it a chance
As a Mac user in an engineering faculty, I know that Mac will never be takes seriously unless it can run Solid Works, AutoCad, ProEngineer, and Ansys software, to name a few
hey art…
I may be wrong,… (and someone will surely point it out, if I am)… but, I’m pretty sure there is an AutoCad program that runs on Mac OS…. I have no idea about the others you mention, but could it be.. since its relatively a simple matter to write Apps in Cocoa … given the free SDKs from the Apple Dev Center….that the problem you mention is more on the part of the Software Developers themselves and not one of the Apple platform ??
Just a thought
Users needs and desires are changing… security and painless use are now becoming the top priorities… In the last 2 weeks I have moved three PC only users to Mac’s and two of those users (company president other is head of IS for another company) are using their personal purchase to evaluate possible use in their companies..
Check out this article about MSN’s online music store! Kinda funny.
http://www.insideapple.com/article.php?id=76_0_1_0_C
“what can Apple do to change perceptions and circumstances so that the Mac becomes the logical choice for more people”?
simple, the $999 g5 mac with a modern vid card, harddrive etc etc all that stuff we have talked about here a hundred times.
Thing is they don’t want supply headaches. Without a huge increase in manufacturing capacity, something that would fly off the shelves would instantly be backordered for months, and it really isn’t fun to sell stuff under those conditions.
Why else work for months on the new imac, which few want? Life is good for Apple, its stockholders, and those who can fit a mac into their life, so why change?
It’s just more spin to help PC users feel safe in their decisions. That’s what people do when change quietly tells them they’ve made a wrong decision. They feel all uncomfortable inside and begin to search for articles to tell them they have nothing to be afraid of and their decision was still correct after all. Just ask any Bush supporter.
I am not sure but I think Glick7 was talking about his OWN experience at his own company and not the experience of ALL mac users all over the world.
So he personally may not have had any data loss etc. I didn’t.
A good article by Dvorak. What a laugh.
MDN you should be ashamed.
Dvorak completely ignores spyware, adware and malware in his premise.
If your computer is completely isolated and is never exposed to the outside world then his arguments make sense.
If you do use the internet, play games or work on a LAN or share files with friends then his arguments are seriously flawed, as usual.
You said “good” and “Dvorak” in the same sentence? I think the end of the world is near now………
G-Spank, lets not get in a political romp, at least Bush supporters read.
as for the sub-thousand dollarr mac, what is the eMac? The only reason the average consumer had PCI ports was for SCSI printers and adding other fuctionality such as external HDD or maybe another Monitor or modem. USB and Firewire technologies as well as modems and ethernet standard have pretty much KILLED the need for PCI slots for the average consumer and I dont know any non-pro user with 2 monitors (there is a DVI out anyways). If you are so hard-up for expansion ability, get a pro tower, thats what they are their for.
Not a very clever comment about Bush at the end, since–as of today, at least–a lot more people who voted for Al Gore are leaning toward Bush than the other way around.
Cheers.
Mac Citizen
Buffy, thats the Apple line for sure.
but we were talking about what would sell, a completely different topic.
Anyone who wants expandability can buy the $1999 g5 tower, or a pc for less than half that. Sort of a big diff.
Ure, buy a PC for half, than spend the other half on upgrading the innards, and some more on Virus protection. High end units are all expensive. Expansability for expandabilties sake is pointless.
I understand if people have old stuff they need (we have tape drives), The other day my inlaws called and said “My work is throwing out some old stuff and there is a printer made for macs, do you want it?” out of curiosity and because my printers broke, I said yes. Why would it be JUST for Macs I wondered. SERIAL! SERIAL! what the hell can I do with a serial printer? its been like 8 YEARS since macs have had a serial port. They are CLUELESS. They think they know stuff about computers, but dont understand the concept of usb/firewire are different from SCSI/serial. The bought a Dell, againt my objections, with PCI ports for their 8 year old SCSI printer, not realizing they could have gotten a new one free and not paid for the SCSI upgrade
“Sure” is what i meant
And what sells is salesman.
Also, if you want a cheaper mac tower, get one from a secondhand store. All Dell does is sell 3 year old technology for cheaper.
Im still using my 450 cube just as well, 4 years and counting.
mac dood,
As you predicted…
The last version of Autocad that ran on Mac was Version 12, more than 10 years ago, and it was horrible. Autodesk made the Mac version only because Apple paid them to make it. That may be what Apple needs to do again because developers not making Mac version is not really the developers’ fault. If they don’t see a market for it, they won’t develop it, and if there is no software for it, there is no market for them to see.
Of course if the Mac version of horrible like ACAD 12 was, there is no point (which is partially why the Mac version died then).
Who is it? J Dork ! Yawn!!!!
Buffy, congrats on the cube. Very much like my 333 and 450 AMD’s that just won’t break. Believe what you want about pricing, but it isn’t just your inlaws’ lack of knowledge that keeps Apple from selling more computers. It is, as I said Apple’s choice to offer stuff that is either unpopular or expensive so that they don’t have to become commodity salesmen. As much as you would like the rest of the world to wrap itself in Steve’s vision, it looks like it won’t.