“Apple is already gearing up for a major marketing campaign for the holidays, and if they’re able to ramp up demand, and then deliver the system when they say it will be delivered, it could trump Microsoft in a way that Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs would crow about for years,” Elizabeth Millard reports for NewsFactor.
Millard reports, “Before Apple’s recent announcement that it would be releasing OS X 10.5, called Leopard, it appeared that Apple would be drawing mainly on its streamlined OS interface to try and best Microsoft, along with emphasis on its switch to Intel. But the recent news that it would be building robust features into Leopard puts the fresh system directly in competition with Vista, changing the rules of engagement.”
“As Microsoft began its campaign to ease users into thinking about Vista, it seemed that Apple’s only answer would be to point out that it now runs on Intel chip, and emphasize the ability to toggle between Windows and Mac systems thanks to new software,” Millard reports. “But beyond Boot Camp, it turns out, Apple intends to intensify its chances of winning Windows users, and wasn’t about to rest on the laurels of Boot Camp. With the new OS X 10.5 version, planned for shipping in spring 2007, users will be able to tap into new backup and recovery technology, introduce virtual desktops, and have more powerful iChat functions.”
“Another potential advantage for Apple has nothing to do with Leopard’s features, and actually doesn’t depend on anything the company can do internally with development: it’s the ability of Microsoft to release Vista on time and address potential bugs in its beta versions,” Millard reports. “In other words, Apple seems to be fighting Redmond on two fronts, countering Microsoft with its OS features as well as slamming the company through marketing efforts and general commentary.”
“Jobs also noted that some of the features of Leopard would be kept under wraps, not just because Apple is notoriously secretive with its upcoming releases, but because the company didn’t want Microsoft to ‘start their photocopiers,'” Millard reports.
“Although Leopard might present a challenge to Microsoft — and likely inspire some zesty new Mac v. Windows ads — some analysts note that it won’t exactly become an Apple-driven world anytime soon,” Millard reports. “Windows still commands a sizeable chunk of the OS market, with most estimates putting it around 95 percent. Since it’s used in so much of the corporate world, it’s not likely that IT departments will skip Vista and turn instead to replacing desktops and servers with Apple’s lineup. Where companies go, consumers do tend to follow, since many people find it useful to have the same type of system at home as they do at the office, making for easy file transfers and telecommuting.”
MacDailyNews Take: Apple Mac can run Windows, so what’s the problem? Answer: there is none. People, especially those who shop based mainly on sticker price, can quickly understand that only Apple’s Mac offers a “twofer” – run Windows if you need it and also get the superior Mac OS X, iLife, etc. for the price of one computer.
Millard continues, “In other words, most of the world will still buy Windows, no matter what bugs the first version of Vista might have, and although there could be some converts, it’s still more cult than religion.”
MacDailyNews Take: Illogical. Apple Macs can run Windows and Mac OS X. Nobody else can do so. Apple’s strategy is to first embrace then extinguish. Enough people will do so to create a marked change. And nobody makes a better Mac advocate than a recent Windows to Mac switcher. These people will tell their friends. Apple’s Mac platform has the capacity to grow faster and take more share from Windows than most people think. Some people are going to be very surprised.
Millard continues, “Some might counter with the fact that Boot Camp will make that issue irrelevant, but others believe that the limitations with running Windows on a Mac — most notably, in having to buy a full Windows license — will create limitations.”
MacDailyNews Take: Buy an Apple Mac and, for the price of a boxed copy of Windows, get two computers or buy a Dell, HP or anything else and be stuck with just Windows. That’s the proposition. We think even Joe and Jane Wal-Mart Shopper will be able to easily grasp that one – if Apple can get the message out effectively.
Millard continues, “But just because it won’t become standard equipment in the corporate world in the near future doesn’t mean that Apple can’t increase its popularity — after all, to belabor the analogy, some groups once called cults really did become full-blown religions… If Vista continues to be delayed, and can’t meet its January target, it could greatly benefit Leopard, especially if Apple is able to get the OS shipping earlier than expected.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “LinuxGuy and Mac Prodigal Son” for the heads up.]
MacDailyNews Take: From everything we’ve seen, Apple’s Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger – released April 2005 – is itself quite superior to Microsoft’s Windows Vista. Apple’s Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard will only increase the superiority gap over Windows Vista which looks like nothing more than a warmed over Windows XP. Another Microsoft pig adorned with lipstick is not much to which Windows sufferers can look forward or get excited about. Change is coming.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Gartner: Microsoft’s Vista will be the last of its kind – August 26, 2006
Microsoft develops new consumer product: selling vaporware for the holidays – August 22, 2006
Development approaches of Mac OS X Leopard vs. Windows Vista yield very different results – August 15, 2006
Apple’s Mac OS X Leopard is 64-bit done right, unlike Microsoft’s Windows Vista kludge – August 14, 2006
Microsoft Windows Vista: If you can’t innovate… try to impersonate Apple’s Mac OS X – August 10, 2006
InfoWorld: With Mac OS X Leopard, Apple aims to ruin Vista’s chance of gaining early traction – August 09, 2006
Big race? Which will ship first, Microsoft’s Windows Vista or Apple’s Mac OS X Leopard? – August 09, 2006
Analyst: Apple’s new Mac OS X Leopard sets new bar, leaves Microsoft’s Vista in the dust – August 08, 2006
Gartner analyst: It’s a ‘distinct possibility’ that Mac OS X Leopard will ship before Windows Vista – August 07, 2006
Apple WWDC banner: ‘Mac OS X Leopard. Introducing Vista 2.0’ – August 07, 2006
Ballmer analyzes Microsoft’s One Big Mistake, Vista… er, ‘One Big’ Vista Mistake – August 02, 2006
Leopard attack on Vista: Apple taunts Microsoft with much faster operating system launches – July 05, 2006
What Microsoft has chopped from Windows Vista, and when – June 27, 2006
Microsoft botches another copy job: Windows Vista Flip3D vs. Apple Mac OS X Exposé – June 26, 2006
Windows Vista rips-off Mac OS X at great hardware cost (and Apple gains in the end) – June 13, 2006
Computerworld: Microsoft Windows Vista a distant second-best to Apple Mac OS X – June 02, 2006
Windows Vista to be Microsoft’s last operating system? – April 21, 2006
Thurrott: Microsoft collapsing under its own weight, Gates has driven Windows Vista into the ground – April 20, 2006
Thurrott: Microsoft going to get eaten alive over Windows Vista’s resemblance to Apple’s Mac OS X – March 09, 2006
NY Times’ Pogue on Gates’ CES demo: Most of Vista features unadulterated ripoffs from Apple Mac OS X – January 05, 2006
Analyst: Windows Vista may still impress many consumers because they have not seen Apple’s Mac OS X – January 05, 2006
Gartner: Ignore Microsoft Windows Vista until 2008 (why not just get Apple Mac OS X Tiger today?) – November 12, 2005
Microsoft’s Windows Vista strives to deliver what Apple’s Mac OS X already offers – October 10, 2005
Thurrott: many of Windows Vista’s upcoming features appeared first in Apple’s Mac OS X – September 26, 2005
Microsoft’s Ballmer: It’s true, some of Windows Vista’s features are ‘kissing cousins’ to Mac OS X – September 18, 2005
Windows tech writer Thurrott: ‘In many ways, Mac OS X Tiger is simply better than Windows’ – May 07, 2005
Thurrott: Longhorn demos ‘unimpressive, fall short of graphical excellence found today in Mac OS X’ – April 26, 2005
eWEEK Editor Coursey: Longhorn so far ‘looks shockingly like a Macintosh’ – April 25, 2005
Due in late 2006, many of Windows Longhorn’s features have been in Mac OS X since 2001 – April 25, 2005
Microsoft’s new mantra: ‘It Just Works’ ripped straight from Apple’s ‘Switch’ campaign – April 22, 2005
Apple CEO Steve Jobs on Microsoft’s Longhorn: ‘They are shamelessly copying us’ – April 21, 2005
Microsoft’s Windows Longhorn will bear more than just a passing resemblance to Apple’s Mac OS X – April 15, 2005
Steve Jobs: Microsoft copied original Apple Mac with Windows 95, now they’re copying us again – February 08, 2005
The Age: ‘Apple’s Mac OS X at least a generation ahead of Windows XP, iMac G5 clearly the best’ – December 15, 2004
Silicon Valley: Apple CEO Steve Jobs previews ‘Longhorn’ – June 29, 2004
Apple CEO Steve Jobs: Mac OS X Tiger ‘is going to drive the copycats crazy – June 28, 2004
PC Magazine: Microsoft ‘Longhorn’ preview shows ‘an Apple look’ – May 06, 2004
Windows ‘Longhorn’ to add translucent windows that ripple and shrink by 2005 – May 19, 2003
Apple leads; Wintel follows as usual – November 11, 2002
The ability to deliver Vista “on time and to address potential bugs” Microsoft has never been able to do anything on time and as far a fixing potential bug, Windows 98 still has unfixed bugs. Vista has to be two or is it three years behind schedule at this point in time. By the time it comes out it will be another year at least. Where else can you be four years, and more, off schedule and still be “on time” except at Microsoft and the Federal Government.
I am so tired of all these ‘compete with Vista’ articles. The Mac OS has always been in a market competition with Windoze from the day MS released it’s Frankenstein. Solaris, Lindows, Suse and all the rest compete with Windoze as well. These articles are thinly veiled slaps at the Mac OS like it has not been ready fro Prime Time.
MS–Still jealous because you can’t afford to live there?
I just happen to live in Valley Center, California, but was educated at Oxford, England. Ta very much.
Ampar — Good one about a Ferrous Wheel! LOL
Thanks, wonderboy! I was hoping that my humor wasn’t getting rusty.
If personal anecdotal evidence counts for anything, I’ve visited a local coffee shop twice in the last two weeks. Hadn’t been there in over a year. In two visits, I saw four Mac laptops being used (five including my own) and just one Windows PC. This is an amazing turnaround from the usual ratio of 1:5, or even 0:6, just within the last year. Change is happening.
“The thing that’s so unbelievably impressive about Microsoft is its understanding of how applications get built and deployed,” says Schadler. “It’s always been part of the company. With Apple, you have applications that are great with basics like Web browsing and photo manipulation, but you don’t have the sophisticated business applications geared toward Windows.”
what???? …. and they say mac uses drink too much from the punch bowl… sheesh.
When I think of vista I cant help but picture a middle adged balding skinny frail paraplegic man that reeks of stale clothes soaked in urine.
is it just me??
sputnik, purty funny…
I especially love the “happy XP users” comment. …good stuff.
Fact: 2 recent IP searches NASA wide (something like 11 centers across the US) has shown ~ 25% mac base in 2004, ~30% in 2005, the 2006 IP search is due any day now. From my talks with the IT people in my building, they’re guessing at LEAST >35% installed mac base for 2006. They think this is so because (a) their work load is getting lighter every quarter, even though we’re still adding people, and (b) they’re assigning more and more new mac IP addresses vs XP IP’s.
I’ll send out the latest report when I get it.
Commercially? I don’t know. But big gov’t labs are usually leading the way with tech trends cause they have larger discretionary budgets for new technology.
sputnik cant be serious, if he is he obviously hasnt done his homework… everything he said is wrong.
I’ll sum it up like this; OSX makes me happy, it damn near makes me cream. Windows just pisses me off… and yes I know everyhting.. everything.. the world would be so much happier on a mac.. they are jsut to stupid to realize it. fuck the world.
Lets be clear: m$ is an excreable company, a convicted felon and a reverse engineering/piracy house who couldn’t innovate to save their life.
That said, the single biggest advantage of os x over xp is, in my view, not running as the super user (root) by default.
The fact that xp does this is the single biggest reason the virus problem is so bad (not the only reason, just the biggest).
Vista, when it finally ships, is going to stop running everything as root, and thereby, in a single stroke, significantly improve their security. I am assuming they won’t pull this feature – a big assumption, given recent history
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”smile” style=”border:0;” /> but a fair one.
Assuming this isn’t pulled, realistically, we need to expect m$ to grossly oversell this, and expect that it will significantly help with windows malware. Accordingly, assuming Vista is vaguely workable, it will be very successful.
… continued
Remember the windows 95 blue screen of death? Being fair, that was fixed with xp. Now Vista will fix the next biggest problem – running as root, and try and reverse engineer aqua at the same time.
Apple’s possible counter may be performance, which is significantly improved with Leopard according to highly preliminary reports, and significantly worsened with Vista according to preliminary reports. I don’t think this will be as strong an incentive as today’s big incentive: being malware proof, so far, however.
The answer for windowsheads will be to buy a faster box. This will be a big hardware sales boost for windows assemblers. What will Apple’s market share be next quarter? Next year? Year after?
I’l love it to be a lot higher, but realistically, it would seem doubtful that it will break 10%.
Hopefully we’ll see a revese lemming effect someday, but….
I can’t see even the m$ felon being stupid enough to release an unworkable Vista – they’ll just delay it some more. Apple has a good chance of releasing Leopard before Vista, may 60%. But when Vista finally arrives, a big chunk of the Apple advantage will have gone. Apple elegance, asthetics, thoughtful design, quality isn’t enough.
Let the 95% drown in their XP/Vista crap. What do I care. OS X rules and I can get everything done. Besides, I’ve forgotten what does it mean to worry about viruses. I don’t care about market share increase…why? So more lunatics will start writing viruses for OS X? No thanks. I like it this way.
What about you?
“In Government, we care about what works, is affordable, and can get the job done. “
Funniest line of the day…
I wholly agree with you sputnik..most these folks here dont realize that its pretty much dreaming that leopard will counter vista. aint no way thats gonna happen coz m$ is the OS of choice in corporate environments and no one is using leopard or cheetah or whatever soon. people please..dreaming is good..but in the morning after youre done with dreaming, u wake up to the real world, which reminds u that WINDOWS RULES.
Tiger is here NOW, Vista is a long delayed joke.
’nuff said.
Pluto’s no longer a “planet”
The shuttle is delayed
Karr is just a fruit
I like eggs
Apple will never achieve the market penetration as Microsoft has no matter how sucky Windows is or how superior OS X is or even if Macs can do Windows. Why? Because there are far more companies and stores selling PCs than Macs. If Apple wants to signicantly increase marketshare, it needs to get Macs into more retail stores and not just their own. Microsoft stumbled on Windows development by licensing it out, but it was a genious marketing move.
Ampar said:
“BTW, is a circle of Fe a Ferrous Wheel?”
Well,I don’t know, but I guess a Ferrous Wheel is quite much better than a Will Ferrel
I’d be happy with a niche of 10% of global sales. That would be a nice little earner for Apple (along with its domination of digital media).
Sure Am Relieved: Vista won’t be as much of a catch-up as you think. But unfortunately the ignorant masses will believe it’s on a par with the Mac, despite never trying Tiger or Leopard.
Heard around the watercooler November (2017):
“Your emulation is inferior. My parsing environment allocates abundant resources, and is impervious to microbial overtures.”
“Yeah, yeah, but what about the twelve terrabyte hit you took last month. All your auto-replicaters smoked for a day.”
“Maybe, but my Microsoft artificial life form is getting very good marks. She is in ninth grade already, and looking hot!”
“She?”
Coroner: Nice!
tt: “When I think of vista I cant help but picture a middle adged balding skinny frail paraplegic man that reeks of stale clothes soaked in urine.
is it just me??”
Nope. He also nervously sniffs his fingers, has breath like death and frightens small children.
The main problem i see here is that apple logo. face it, apple sucks, windows rocks. done and done.
Pluto may have lost planetary status but many people don’t realize that Ballmer and Rob Glaser are in the top five for consideration.
See the copyright symbol at the end of Sputnik’s post? The guy actually thinks his one sided dribble is worth copy protecting?
But … the way MDN comments on articles, I can’t blame sputnik or anybody else spewing shit. MDN can be such smug trolls, I’m a big mac fan and even I get offended, yeah get back to earth both sputnik and MDN. Vista looks crap we know, we know, we know …
MacOS X has been demonstrably superior to Windows XP for the past five years, but there’s hardly been a tidal wave of switchers. Why do people think that the release of Leopard will change all that – particularly as this coincides with the release of Vista which, superficially at least, will offer an experience much closer to that of MacOS?
Wishful thinking.