Absolutely....? So more people using Macs *really* means they're using Windows! Yes, of course. Up is down. Blue skies are red. Why don't you and lilo777 and AidenShaw and Winni and Applescruff just lay down and take your nap.
While I don't really disagree with you, Mac sales did begin to take off once Apple switched to an Intel processor, which meant that Windows could run natively and not emulated. Then MS came out with Vista, which was such a poor product that Windows users began to look to the Mac as an alternate. Finally, the iPhone halo effect gave the Mac a boost due to Windows users looking at the Mac in a new light. None of those things, in themselves, meant that Macs began to be used as Windows machines, However previous Windows users always knew they could reboot into Windows mode if they needed to; the move to the Mac wasn't irrevokable.
In the same way, old Mac users were comfortable moving to OSX knowing they could switch back to OS9 if they had a program that wasn't OSX ready. I enjoyed that option even though I only switched back to OS9 one time, I knew I was not making an irrevokable move to OSX.
So, whether one is going from Windows to OSX or OS9 to OSX, it is easier to put your money down, knowing you have an option you may never use.
"It seems highly unlikely that a "convert" would want to install the same old Windows OS that they are running away from. Why cripple a Mac? "
Sure, it's a creaky MS OS, but it's one that a "convert" knows well. When you buy a new pair of shoes, no matter how much you like them, you bring the old pair home with you "just in case." Whether Windows gets installed on the Mac or remains in the desk drawer, it's around somewhere "just in case."
Word. I have never heard any home user ( and by that I do not include geeks, who , after all, make up only 1% of all computer users) checking out a Mac in a big box store mutter "I wonder if this will run Excel ?" They are happy to try Numbers. Who cares what the software is as long as you get your job done?
MS Word and Excel still trump their equivalent iWork apps for many home users. Often because they need to open, read, or edit work documents from home. Additionally, many people are comfortable with using them at work and don't feel a need to learn something new.
For those "converts" who don't feel a need to buy and use Office for Mac, then you are right. It's enough for some people that they are changing the OS, they can still be comfortable with their known applications.
Since this discussion is about Macs, I will diverge for a moment and say that currently only iWorks is available on the iDevices. Either MS will have to make Office available for the iDevices or the Apple iWorks may get some serious traction as an acceptable alternate for more people.
I'm curious to see how this all plays out over the next several years.
With regards to Mac buyers installing Windows - I never have, never will. I'm on my fifth Mac (since 1991) and it does everything I want it to, from book-keeping to website design, video editing and DVD design and production. I was editing video tape and exporting back to a VCR in 1986, at least a year before I saw any PC user friends doing it.
Scientific usage ? I worked in a large med. school in the UK for 18 years. We started with a Mac Plus and it grew from there. One of our doctors came in on the weekend and installed our own network. The med school IT dept. hated us because we never called them so they coudn't bill us. The lab became a world class communicable diseases research establishment using 90% Macs and attracted a million pound research grant.The secretaries were the only holdouts. Go figure.
When I returned to Canada and started to work at a med. school there in 2005 I was astounded at the number of Mac laptops I saw - easily 40%. I doubt any of the med. students felt hard done by.
Cost of Ownership - my 2001 graphite iMac was handed on to my brother in 2004 and lasted until 2009. My 2004 sunflower iMac died in 2009 from a power surge. They may have been derided as "expensive" in their day but quality build pays for itself in the end.
My 77 year old father bought, in spite of my pleas, an Asus laptop for $850 because a MacBook was "too expensive". Of course by the time the salesman sold him, a lamb to the slaughter, an extended warranty and a subscription to McAfee it was the same price. It was crammed with useless demos but nothing practical and no email software. He ended up using netmail and thought that was just the way things were.
The Asus lasted 2 years and died.
The rest of your post is spot on. I'm very happy to see Apple being taken much more seriously since 2007. It was a long time coming!
