Six reasons OSX will not go mainstream
section: common, for your questions: KezNews forum, 13.11.2008
Tip: Click here to update all your PC's outdated driversApple has a great consumer OS on its hands. Its sleek, it's easy to use and it will not ever make it to mainstream America.
There are 6 reasons why we will never see Apple take more than a third of the market share. For the sake of this article, mainstream will be referred to as greater than 33% of all computers.
Reason #6: The corporate world won't adopt OSX. Look around your office, more than likely you're looking at a Windows based environment. While it's true that not all companies run Windows, it is safe to say that the majority do in some form. Why wont corporations switch? Its simple, companies invest millions of dollars to keep up a Windows based infrastructure. The only thing costlier than maintaining thousands of computers is to replace them all, all with OSX.
If we can't convert our companies to OSX then we stand little chance in convincing institutions of higher education to do the same. The idea is based on a waterfall principle that we need a major change on one front to affect the rest. The problem is that the world revolves around money and it costs money to replace current infrastructures with OSX. While corporations are not the only user of computers they have a massive trickle down effect. The average person can pick up and use a Windows computer without a problem no matter what version they use; it's a 'comfortable' operating system. The same can not be said about OSX, while it may be easy to use, not nearly as many people have used OSX as compared to Windows. If our corporations use Windows our schools will teach upon it, how many people have taken a Windows based course before?
Reason #5: Software. Let's take a simple look at the available software titles out there for each platform. Regardless of the topic Windows based programs dwarf the OSX competition with ease. If your looking for a program to do a certain task you will, without a doubt, have more options on Windows PC. If you're a hardcore gamer there is no option but to have a copy of Windows at your disposal if you care to keep up on the most current titles.
If you're into business software the options for OSX are dismal at best. While it's unfortunate that Microsoft commands so much power, the latest versions of Microsoft Office always come out on Windows before OSX. While not a deal breaker for the home user it can be for reason #5.
Reason #4: Apples Image. Apple has built the image that it is modern and un-Microsoft. While this is working out great for Apple in the short term it also limits its user base. Take a look at any OSX vs Vista advertisement. It's always the cool kid making fun of the suit Vista. While this is great for the college student looking to get a computer it doesn't work so well with mom and dad who very well may see themselves as a 'suit' in that picture. Look around your dinner table and more than likely your father or mother is a suit at work. Professionalism is key to many adults and Apple has steered itself away from be the professional option. Good for poor college kids not so good for the hard working suit.
Reason #3: OSX is a closed platform. Want to build a custom computer with OSX; don't even try (legally). Apple has limited the configurations that OSX can be implemented on. This works well for Apple's business model but anyone who wants to construct a custom built computer is not able to use OSX (legally). If you're trying to build the ultimate computer with bleeding edge technology for your need, OSX is not an option. Lock the platform and you lock out consumers.
Reason #2: The Apple Tax. To get a computer running OSX you must buy a computer from Apple. Apple computers have a higher cost than a traditional PC from Dell or HP. Also it has to be mentioned that there is no low-cost option. The cheapest option is the Mac-mini which starts at $599.99. For someone looking to buy a budget PC, Apple is not an option.
Reason #1: Steve Jobs. To become a major competitor you must remain strong for the foreseeable future. Many people don't like to buy into a product that doesn't have a long life ahead of it. Regardless of how well OSX runs, how cool it looks, it can all be attributed back to Steve Jobs; he is the master of sales and marketing. Much of Apple's recent success can be attributed to his skills. Steve Jobs will not live nor want to work forever. When Steve passes the buck to the next person in line will his horde of followers accept this?
source:
neowin.net
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Comments(22)
thats soooo true man. windows have everything u need and with the new win7 a think apple
will fall from this "cool" look for sure.
if apple wants more market share, then open it up!! let people build and write whatever
hardware or software they want for it! stupid ass apple and jobs, bunch of control freaks.
mainstream? time changes everything like it or not!
mac os x sux!! windows is the best
one major consideration we steer our customers (corporate) away from osx is support
costs. no one is developing corporate support platforms that give you the flexibility
(read: cost savings)to manage this platform as well as ms. our experience also
contradicts the marketing hype that macs have less problems lowering support costs.
while i'm a proponent of both windows and os x, i feel this article was written by a
person that has actually never used os x for more than 5 seconds and has never really
tried to find programs for it. we've found that any useful app available to our windows
employees is available in mac form, in some form or another... and those who use macs at
work (with us, anyway) have significantly less issues, and the issues they do are often
easy enough for the employee to address themselves.
i would give you a bunch of
numbers about how windows and os x can co-exist in the work place, and actually help your
office to thrive... but obviously this was a not a journilistic piece, it was merely a
opinion paper, designed to help ms gain some corporate ground back.
p.s. ms is
paying bloggers to address the "macs in the corporate atmosphere" issue... as they are
seeing great pressure and compitition from apple these days. they offered $15,000 to an
apple blogger i know, to blog about how os x isn't good at the enterprise level, and that
vista is much better............... cheap.
bcode, fan boi's all around and you take the cake.
consumers are dumb, i work in
retail and most people think if your selling it you must know alot about it.
apple offend me on a personal level because they advertise apple as a cool computer, but
it isn't, it's not "hip" it's not "friendly" it's not "easy".
it is less
risky for computer illiterates or "new users".
it isn't more secure, far
from it, it's just less popular. it isn't easier to use and it's not innovative, people
point out ms stole from apple, but no one points out apple stole it first.
apple plays the underdog, they are a soccer player rolling on the ground calling fowl
everytime they slip.
that said, i do recommend apple to my customers that need a
dummy machine. the opinions voiced in the op are correct, and in my 2 year use at my
previous job, apple crash more than pc's. i can also quickly fix a pc's problem as more
often than not it's hardware, since apple is a closed machine it should never be a
hardware issue.
apple ads = fail.
apple = fail.
the only good thing
about an apple is it can now run windows. you'll find thats the biggest reason more
people are buying the machines.
+1 mate.
anyway - why buy a more expensive hardware which offers less to run windows
? (read - why buy mac to run win ? )
mac users please tell me why buy a mac to run windows? why would anyone want to do that?
if a mac is so great and osx is so great then why run windows? oh that's right because
windows is better and more user friendly. it's what people know. it also has way more
applications available to it.
i used to not hate apple until they started this
mac vs pc advertising. why do they feel they need to lie to consumers? maybe because
apple has a lesser computer and the only way to get consumers to buy into it is to lie
about the competition.
when i worked in retail i saw many macs get returned.
mostly because people didn't like them. also they have a tendency to overheat and blow
motherboards. there was constantly an abundance of macs in the shop from ibooks to
powermacs. yeah, they look fancy but don't operate worth a crap.
apple has
done a hell of a job marketing trying to make it's image "cool." they have succeeded
but like the article says it's alienated it's consumers. the older, professional crowd
doesn't buy into the hype and actually feels offended by it's ads. one thing i always
noticed when a mac was sold was the person buying it. they were either a college student
or some hippy freak. it just further proves the point of this article that mac is only
appealing to a certain demographic. that's not how you get ahead of the competition. as
others have stated, mac needs to open up. i don't see it happening though because steve
jobs is a control freak and has things just the way he wants it. he knows as soon as he
opens up mac and osx that he'll have the same issues that windows has to deal with and
that would kill his anti-windows campaign.
there are three consumers that
apple will never succeed in gaining and they just so happen to be the 3 most important
ones...the budget buyer, the gamer and the corporate it person.
steve jobs shot himself in the foot in the early 90's. greed makes it very hard for him
to not aim for his other foot now. yes, all the apple trinkets are "cool" now, but other
companies are putting out trinkets with the same features for half the cost. the trend
will die. his "buy only my hardware, use only the phone service that pays me" attitude
will bite him in the butt one more time.
osx is really a decent os, but will never
see the success of windows, because of one mans greed. he would rather take all the
profits from a smaller company, than a portion of the profits of a company 10 times
larger.
in the end, only his customers really lose. and yet (for now) they still line
up rank and file, bend over and say "me next". to the fan boys who believe osx is the
holy grail of systems.... get real. they crash. they do get virus'. they are less
customizable than a pc, and the price is sheer rape.
use what works in your environment. i used to work for a large corporation that all the
"c-level" people wanted and had to have macs. why? so they could f*cking run windows on
them?! that is the apple marketing scheme right there, if you want to be cool or hip then
go with apple.
functionality wise both platforms are almost identical. windows
might have a slight advantage but if you want to be a player in the corporate software
market you have to play well with os x. windows might make more money in software or have
more titles, but how much shitware is out there for windows. there might not be as many
titles for os x but there are a bunch more programs that are a lot better for os x.
however it makes not sense to run os x against an active directory environment, yes it
will work but it works like shit. the same can be said for windows in an os x enterprise
environment, yeah it will work but not very well.
one thing apple has going for
it is innovation. the iphone revolutionized the mobile industry much the same way rim did
when blackberry was first coming out. as a smart phone the only thing that comes close is
the t-mobile g-1, and maybe the blackberry storm (but it doesn't have wifi, or an
appstore). also the ipod revolutionized not only the mp3 player market but also made mp3 a
household name.
so apple will get it criticisms and so will microsoft, but
apple will only continue to harden its market share and loyalty a mung it's users, and
gain new users, but i don't see it overtaking microsoft. if anything eventually i hope
that all software companies will work together to make 1 os and then revolutionize
computers so they cna acellerate the process of taking over the planet.
iphone is innovation? i'm really not an apple hater, but that is blindness. the iphone
represents innovation no more than japanese electronics did in the 80s. they took
existing technology and slightly tweaked it and added marketing. a leader doesn't have
to license someone else's software to be competitive.
all apple did with the iphone was take an ipod and turn it into a cell phone basically.
since then others have come out with even better products. the sprint instinct is a
better product than the iphone and it's plan is cheaper too.
apple did not
make the mp3 a household name. they made the ipod a household name. it's a good product
other than the fact you have to use itunes with it. again, more control by ol' steve.
my mp3 player i just plug in and transfer whatever songs i want to it like a
big flash drive. the only thing i have to use is the software to recode video files to
watch on it. it comes with other software but i choose not to use it. at least i have
that choice!
the iphone and ipod are good products and they are marketed very
well. you don't see the commercials for those products put down other competitors. why?
probably because they are already the top sellers. which proves my earlier post that
apple has to slam the competition in order to try and gain sales. it's pretty much the
strategy used by election candidates when they slam each other to sway voters. it's the
lowest form of campaigning and the sole reason i hate election time.
apple's
strategy is pretty clear. make apple products as cool as possible. it doesn't always
work out that way though. remember the cube? that was the single biggest piece of junk
apple ever made. i remember it flew off the shelves and everyone came right back! i
remember when you had to have a special high cost video card just to run their large
screen lcd monitors. i would also tell the apple lovers that i bought a 27 inch lcd tv
that hooked right up to my pc for the same price as the video card they had to buy. then
there was the cost of that large apple display! wayyyy over priced! that little apple
emblem costs a lot of money! when you buy a new tv today what do you see on the back?
that's right a pc compatible vga port. i'm typing this right now on my 52inch lcd tv.
another part of the market apple fails to be compatible with.
compatibility and
flexibility is key in the computer world and apple just doesn't have it.
look at the mac, in 1984 it was more hi tech than pc, the apple newton handheld, even the
apple 2 gs/ii e, was more populat in households than any pc.
but pricing and
holding all secrets close to heart always kill them. why do we use symbol mobil pcs for
out handhelds at work instead of the newton?
why did i have an apple iie as one of my
first home pc's?? they all went down to toilet.
quote: "also the ipod revolutionized not only the mp3 player market but also made mp3 a
household name."
not true. piracy made mp3 a household name. people have been
heavily downloading/making mp3s for over 15 yrs....lonnnng befor ipod was ever dreamed of.
ipod made p-a-y-i-n-g for mp3s a household term.
i mostly agree with you.
my main reasons:
1. apple computers are
expensive. with the 599$ of a macmini i can get a quad core, a radeon 4670, 4gb of ddr2
and a 350gb sata hdd ( look in www.alternate.de ).
2. imacs concept sux. in
one year your computer will be obsolete... and then you need to buy also a monitor...
3. apple computers cannot the nicely upgraded. the motherboard and connectors
aren't standard. you cannot replace the motherboard or other components. with a pc you
aren't limited.
4. macosx does not have apps. look at 3dsmax for example... or
lots of games.
5. why to pay for the os? use linux or opensolaris.
why i
cannot use macosx in any pc? that's other mystery. apple does not want to expand their os
or what? it's ridiculous.
6. apple does not care about developers. they don't
help opensource(or free) application programmers at all... if they don't help them... how
are they going to port theirs programs to macosx? homemade/ hobbyist projects need to buy
an expensive macmini(600$) or imac($1000) plus the adc member fee(500$ a year for
support)... what a joke.
7. osx has very strange things: it does not show the
complete path in the window title by default, it manages very strangely the hidden files,
they're developing now 64bits(when linux and windows had it years ago...), it requires to
learn objectivec and cocoa, etc, etc... all are handicaps.
just my 2 cents.
yeah that apple sux. but id like to separate the osx and apple politics. the same is
valid for microsoft and winos.
thoug i think osx aswell winos are good os its mostly
3rd party apps that hurts windows and less existing apps for osx that hurts apple. so both
company could meet each other in the middle.
remember when windows implem. that
driver signing thing? the os would unlike ever crash if users wouldn ignore that warning
and still installing unsigned sw. if windows would deny to install sw that are not checked
certified tested by microsoft then they would be where apple put osx, with alot less
problems but also less freedom of sw. at the end its all the users choice to fu.ck up the
system.
most of us probably thought the u.s.a. was the most secure country.. but now
its all crisis and panic.. and the cause wasnt really a terror. 1 filty little zuper virus
name it bush. the downfall came from the inside..
but i would never ever consider
using an apple book... cmono that thing just has 1(one) mouse button??? its like a mouse
with one ear... im just a context meu frak and also linux understans me better.... 2.5
european cents!
buy a mac and you can run both osx and vista.
do all your important work, finances,
web browsing, email etc under osx with no virus worries and play games with vista.
you pc users don't know what your missing.
wake up!
wake up! :)
then why the turn to using generic pc hardware assembled in china
like dell?
guess apple didn't want to take a risc.
they are blinded like
religious freaks, pointless debate really..
so what is apples solution for an
application like outlook and exchange collaboration on osx? there is none and that is why
it is making no headway in working its way into the majority of corporations. apple shot
itself in the foot by allowing microsoft to dictate what mac users use for office software
and microsoft crippled it's main major application outlook (well why not hey, jobs
deserves it, go billy!).
i suspect the main reason why apple does not want to open up is to maintain some form of
market share at least. if the system were to open up, people would soon realize that the
machines and software are of poor quality that will result in mass exodus from apple
computers and related software. because if they truly believe that osx is that good, why
wouldn't they want to compete in the open market directly with windows? some thoughts for
those who want to think, think, think...!
i have stated it before...
simple = mac and its user base.
complex
= linux and its user base
professional = microsoft user base
simple
people are dumasses who dont want "virus" eating there system so they hide behind a lie.
linux geeks like me. use complex strait forward linux boxes to get the job done
in a stable atmosphere where everything is visible... darc_net
windows is for
people who want exactly what they get and when they want more they make more with an
awesome ability to create and invent apps that is almost par with linux...
the
point being macs are for slow dumb retards from the mental ward... any collage student who
buys one is stupid..
just that simple your friend that has one is gay kill him!
steve hand jobs is the biggest boner in the world with no puss to bump...
the whole of the mac fag boi's needs to be gathered up and drowned in a pool of powdered
mac computers...
ps gays is another way of saying mac fag boi...
this whole business of mac vs ms only concerns people who make a handsome living by
telling the rest of us how great their latest product is... who cares..most of the world
could do what it needs to do on a very simple machine, read inexpensive.. why would i fork
$1500 for a computer, even to ms if i can get the same thing for $450. as far as apple is
concerned anybody that understands a little bit about computers now can use osx on a dell
or windows hardware, so much for is "the best thing around and you don't know because
you have not tried it yet"
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Microsofters
By Lucas on 14.11.2008 - 01:11