Its actually not going for the toes, but the heel.....
Apple is getting to M$. But its not a direct onslaught yet.
I am an Apple specialist reseller, and I have been noticing some interesting trends in the shop lately. Pc users coming to us asking to buy a mac. No argument about which os is better. No discussion of apple going out of business. They just come in to see the "cool new iMac ", check out OS X ( and virtual pc to let their $3 staples bargain rack cooking program if they choose) and they buy one. Or two in some cases. I have never seen anything like this in all the years I've been using and selling macs.
OS X is the key to close the sale. The iMac brings people in. Virtual pc is the safety blanket that allows them to save face with friends in family about leaving their pc "investment" in software behind. Sales have been incredible , and pc users and new users are helping to boost them.
Now, lets look at tomorrow ( literally) - Rack mount server. Most of my corporate clients and education clients have a main server ( usually NT or windows 2000 pro) and multiple platform clients. Primarily, these clients are windows , with die hard lone mac users around and marketing departments, video and graphic design departments and anyone on a real deadline using macs-) Thats today. Tomorrow, if Apple nails it with the rackmount server ( I cant believe they wont- they have no problem waiting to bring things to market until they are ready *cough-cough G5*), I can actually start moving larger clients to OS X server for most if not all of their enterprise needs. I have never had this tool in my tool pouch before. Once they go to an OS X server, guess what? They'll starting noticing the performance differences between OS X server and ANYTHING else. They'll also start to notice that the mac machines using the OSX server tend to perform much better than anything else on the network. They'll also start to realize "hey, we havent had a virus in any of the mac departments or on the server itself, well, EVER" - Its all about mindshare and changing peoples perceptions of how computing should be. Apples ALWAYS been wonderful at showing this to the single user ( c'mon- how many "DELLRUMOR" sites do any of us troll or bother to post to? Now, Apple is getting set to go after the achilles heel by taking a back door into LOTS of client machines operating at gigabit ethernet speeds, virus and crash free with an OS that encourages inexpensive software titles. Hmmmm.... I cant wait to get the specs on that server tomorrow.....
Dont get me wrong. Apple will never take microsofts market dominance. By the nature of the two companies, they cant without apple turning into microsoft. I will note this though. Microsoft $ucked as many dollars out of the public through windows as it could before getting sued, and now it is looking for alternative markets to get into. They have peaked on their size. They have been exposed by several lawsuits and the shine is off their apple ( no pun intended) - Microsoft now wants .net and XBOX to bail them out as new markets, but they have lost their focus on the desktop and server market IMHO. Apple is actually more focused than they have ever been on the desktop, but are also making wonderful ties into the peripheral market through extending and licensing quicktime to people who make the new breed of digital gadgets. Anyone here think windows is going to get any better at using quicktime any time soon? Me neither- so basically, to sum up.
1) Apples comin. Get out of the way
2) Rackmount servers are the last major hardware piece of currently existing hardware they needed to start going for education, gov. and corporate massive accounts.
3) Microsoft has peaked. Watch them squirm. Sure they'll always be huge (unless the lawsuits actually beat them back) - but they do not want to be exclusively in the computing market anymore. Wonder why?
4) I love having the macrumors forum to have threads like this encourage me to write long winded dissertations on whats going on in the world from my personal perspective.
Peace and protection to all---- Tech
Apple is getting to M$. But its not a direct onslaught yet.
I am an Apple specialist reseller, and I have been noticing some interesting trends in the shop lately. Pc users coming to us asking to buy a mac. No argument about which os is better. No discussion of apple going out of business. They just come in to see the "cool new iMac ", check out OS X ( and virtual pc to let their $3 staples bargain rack cooking program if they choose) and they buy one. Or two in some cases. I have never seen anything like this in all the years I've been using and selling macs.
OS X is the key to close the sale. The iMac brings people in. Virtual pc is the safety blanket that allows them to save face with friends in family about leaving their pc "investment" in software behind. Sales have been incredible , and pc users and new users are helping to boost them.
Now, lets look at tomorrow ( literally) - Rack mount server. Most of my corporate clients and education clients have a main server ( usually NT or windows 2000 pro) and multiple platform clients. Primarily, these clients are windows , with die hard lone mac users around and marketing departments, video and graphic design departments and anyone on a real deadline using macs-) Thats today. Tomorrow, if Apple nails it with the rackmount server ( I cant believe they wont- they have no problem waiting to bring things to market until they are ready *cough-cough G5*), I can actually start moving larger clients to OS X server for most if not all of their enterprise needs. I have never had this tool in my tool pouch before. Once they go to an OS X server, guess what? They'll starting noticing the performance differences between OS X server and ANYTHING else. They'll also start to notice that the mac machines using the OSX server tend to perform much better than anything else on the network. They'll also start to realize "hey, we havent had a virus in any of the mac departments or on the server itself, well, EVER" - Its all about mindshare and changing peoples perceptions of how computing should be. Apples ALWAYS been wonderful at showing this to the single user ( c'mon- how many "DELLRUMOR" sites do any of us troll or bother to post to? Now, Apple is getting set to go after the achilles heel by taking a back door into LOTS of client machines operating at gigabit ethernet speeds, virus and crash free with an OS that encourages inexpensive software titles. Hmmmm.... I cant wait to get the specs on that server tomorrow.....
Dont get me wrong. Apple will never take microsofts market dominance. By the nature of the two companies, they cant without apple turning into microsoft. I will note this though. Microsoft $ucked as many dollars out of the public through windows as it could before getting sued, and now it is looking for alternative markets to get into. They have peaked on their size. They have been exposed by several lawsuits and the shine is off their apple ( no pun intended) - Microsoft now wants .net and XBOX to bail them out as new markets, but they have lost their focus on the desktop and server market IMHO. Apple is actually more focused than they have ever been on the desktop, but are also making wonderful ties into the peripheral market through extending and licensing quicktime to people who make the new breed of digital gadgets. Anyone here think windows is going to get any better at using quicktime any time soon? Me neither- so basically, to sum up.
1) Apples comin. Get out of the way
2) Rackmount servers are the last major hardware piece of currently existing hardware they needed to start going for education, gov. and corporate massive accounts.
3) Microsoft has peaked. Watch them squirm. Sure they'll always be huge (unless the lawsuits actually beat them back) - but they do not want to be exclusively in the computing market anymore. Wonder why?
4) I love having the macrumors forum to have threads like this encourage me to write long winded dissertations on whats going on in the world from my personal perspective.
Peace and protection to all---- Tech
