Walk into a PC store and “ask what Macs are better for compared to PCs and see what your average salesperson concedes,” Les Posen blogs for CyberPsych. “Once they’ve said ‘graphics‘ or some similar narrow usage confined to the creative, but not corporate enterprises, surprise them by asking,
“Why is it better than the PC for graphics?”
“Note what responses you get. Is it confined to better software choices on the Mac? A better user interface? Better graphics processor? Faster CPU? Really try to pin them down,” Posen writes.
“Then, when you’ve collected the answers, ask why a system that has these advantages isn’t suitable for corporate use. Then watch the squirming and justifications begin,” Posen writes. “Then, when all is said and done, and the salesperson has done their song and dance act of justification (you’ll know they’re clutching at straws when they cite ‘price‘ and ‘upgradibility,’ neither of which can be sustained as a differentiator in 2006), ask if the current Macs can also run Windows, including Vista.”
“Then prepare to watch cognitive dissonance in action,” Posen writes.
Posen writes., “You see, one of these days, not far away, Steve Jobs will know he has succeeded in his efforts to make the Mac a sensible choice for all kinds of IT use, when you walk into a computer store, and overhear the salesperson say: ‘You want a Windows PC? Are you sure? You know they’re only good for running games. The rest of the time you don’t want to trust them with your mission critical applications and data.’“
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “vitaboy” for the heads up.]
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Dude, you got a Dell? What are you, stupid? Only Apple Macs run both Mac OS X and Windows! – April 05, 2006
Why buy a Dell when Apple’s Intel-based computers will run both Mac OS X and Windows? – June 08, 2005
Defending Windows over Mac a sign of mental illness – December 20, 2003 (Stockholm Syndrome and cognitive dissonance)
Nah, if I want to play a game, I’d much rather go with a game console that easily connects to the living room bigscreen TV than any malware infested Windows PC. If games are all Windows PCs have going for them, then they’re really screwed…
thats exactly what i’ve been saying for years
Microsoft is heading into some choppy waters. Their new push touts Windows as being the platform of choice for games; yet on the other hand they’re trying to win over the games market with the XBox. They’re losing money on the XBox and consumer discontent with Windows is through the roof. Are they trying to cannibalize XBox sales to save Windows?
To paraphrase myself: “As I tell my internal and external customers”…
“If you want to play games, get a Windows-based PC. If you want to get something done, get a Macintosh.”
As SJR said, a dedicated console is what people should run games on!
God, most of the American public is so unbelievably gullible.
For the most part games really are the only REAL thing that pcs have going for them – now if only the rest of the planet would get that through their collective heads.
I have a couple of Macs and 1 overpriced PC games machine – I have a console as well but I almost never use it, I prefer to play games with keyboard and mouse and it seems that I will be able to get rid of my win$ box very soon with these new intel Macs.
Games are for kids. If you are an adult, you use a Mac, because time is precious.
Ummm, new Mac’s can run windows just as fast or faster than a PC, using bootcamp, so you shouldn’t ever need a PC. Just have bootcamp and a striped down version of windows to run games. That is of course, if you aren’t using a game console that is ment for hard core gaming, like NES.
I’m with A31kiwi. Keyboard and mouse is the way to go for games. Consoles blow.
m
A31kiwi,
Wii. Welcome to the 21st century.
A dedicated console still isn’t as powerful as a fully loaded pc with cutting edge video card.
I, for one, want to take the Mac plunge and I’m waiting for the new ‘boxes’ to come to market so I can have both OS on separate HD.
I prefer board games. Anyone ever played 13 Dead End Drive?
I’m an artist. The mac is my power tool.
RE: Jim
I agree 100%. Most of the Windows users who show up here – MacRealist comes to mind – are game players – not serioius computer users. That’s been their only reasoning for using Windows pcs, as if that’s all that exists in the world – games and comic books. Unless you are a game programmer or light game player (someone who uses them to wind down after a long work day) my suggestion would be to get out and find a job.
Macs are for people who want to be productive.
The mac is better as a professional tool because it’s easy to use, stable and powerful. I mostly prefer the mac because of the elegance and simplicity.
Being a long time Linux user (and now a Mac convert), a couple of years ago, I thought about using one of my boxes as a Windows gaming machine, installing Windows after over 5 years.
So, I went with Windows XP. It was a nightmare. A virus got in right after I connected it to the internet (no, I did not install an antivirus, not I used a firewall, as the Windows experts suggest. I believe an OS out of the box should not be as crappy as getting infected by doing nothing).
The time it took to make it “stable” was so much, that my final conclussion was “I don’t have time for this crap”.
So, Windows is not even good for games. I would suggest a video console (PS2, Xbox, Nintendo) instead of Windows. How about some Aspyr games on your Mac?
“The history here is that whenever I mention the Mac as a viable business platform he sneers at it.
It was no different on Monday when I ignored my better judgement and suggested he look at the new Macbook range.
And what followed was the usual tirade which you might think was so passé now, but evidently might be a view held by many within the Windows sphere of influence:
“Apple? They were good when you had to do graphics. But no one thinks about them now. Hardly anyone buys them. They would be out of business if it wasn’t for the iPod.””
My word, does that sneering remark from his friend sound familiar!!!! I really am sick and tired of being sneered at by blobs who either don’t know what they’re talking about, or are stuck back in 1996 relative to the Macintosh. Oh, well … perhaps when the whole Mac line is back up to about 10% market share, the Microsloth minions will shut up.
Yeah … I won’t be holding my breath.
BrooklynNYC – “Unless you are a game programmer or light game player (someone who uses them to wind down after a long work day) my suggestion would be to get out and find a job.”
That doesn’t make any sense.
I always thought Windows was for solitaire.
There are four markets for computers: the enterprise, education, standalone professionals, and consumers.
Microsoft has the enterprise market sewn up. Apple will have the consumer market sewn up, and Microsoft doesn’t even know the standalone professional market exists. The two companies share the educational market–Microsoft prevails when the school is preparing students for careers in the enterprise.
Apple can’t address the enterprise market very well–there’s a lot more to it than workstations and servers. Apple doesn’t have any products that compete with SharePoint, BizTalk, Commerce Server, or Microsoft SQL Server. It doesn’t have or doesn’t market a technology like ASP.NET, which the enterprise uses to build web-based applications.
Microsoft is klutzy with the consumer market, and I think Apple stands a good chance of taking it over. It’s entirely possible that in a year or two Windows won’t be the best platform for games any more. However, Apple does not have the product line to compete with Microsoft in the enterprise, except for workstations and laptops.
I don’t think it would be a good idea for Apple to move into the enterprise market. It would require a different corporate culture, a different product focus, and it would require disclosure of future plans–Microsoft has to make its plans known in advance for OEMs and the enterprise, and they have to suffer embarrassment if they don’t work out. If Apple plans something, and it doesn’t work out, we never hear about it. It’s a corporate secret.
I think it’s wisest for Apple to focus on eating Microsoft’s lunch in the consumer market.
Ken,
Interesting perspective.
I understand all but one of these markets — standalone professionals.
Is that SOHO or small biz, or something else?
Where would Apple fit in the standalone professional market?
[Not trying to be a jackhole.]
Computing paradigms change. Glacially, mind you, but they change. Anyone old enough to remember when the choice was between a Macintosh or a PC running MS-DOS? The same type of people who cling to their precious Windows were dismissing the mouse as a toy. Real computer users learned a command interface. Now those same people happily point-and-click away on their Windows PCs.
Now those same people happily point-and-click away on their Windows PCs… with their two-button mouse.
Standalone professional: novelist, artist, musician, photographer, or in my case, the pastor of a small church. I need much of the same software as an enterprise–web development, word processing, database, spreadsheet–but consumer versions aren’t suited to what I need. I also don’t and can’t have a personal IT department. Apple addresses the needs of standalone professionals, Microsoft doesn’t know the market exists.
Jim,
Having worked part-time at Electronics Boutique (now EB Games) from age 17 through college. I will tell you that the majority of game players are 18+.
Most games are bought by people who make the money to play them and most of those games, particularly for PC, are of a more mature nature. The location I worked in San Diego, Ca had many customers who were doctors, lawyers, engineers, financial advisers, and programmers (game and otherwise). Of course, we also had our share of local military. The kids with seemingly wealthy parents from La Jolla were the minority.
In conclusion, about 2/3 of game players are over age 18 and from my experience employed. http://www.theesa.com/facts/gamer_data.php
No Kool Aid here,
A dedicated console is more powerful than most PC’s purchased and at a fraction of the cost of the gaming PCs you speak of. The powerful PC exception is the hard core PC gamers’ computer. Even then, consoles often have a hand up on PC’s for a short time after their release and work out of the box on a large television.
On the article
This doesn’t warrant an MDN story, these are a subjects more often found in the forums. Otherwise, we’d see an story like this every few hours. I have several of my own, as I’m sure most readers here do. I remember discussing the uninformed sales person back with the “Best Buy sales Mac” story a few months ago. We discuss the misguided friend almost daily.