OK hinkhous and the rest of you. I checked with my cousin Steve, he is the most PRO Mac person I know (notice i actually capitalized the first letter of Mac that time
.) and there isnt much if anything in hardware that you cant do on a Mac these days, although its definately not the way its always been. However, as he said.."the choices are definately limited." Which is unfortunate.
But when it comes to software there is a lot you cant do. Although the same could be said from a mac point of view about the wintels.
The Macs have come a long way from my perspective (wintel enthusiast), and I give them credit for this.
But to gain market share they have a long way to go.
One day they may view resellers as a formidable "sales force" and if they open those gates up, they might find a larger chunk of the market awaits them.
I love linux for what it is good for. I could never push linux boxes to the average person, nor could I do what i do on a linux box everyday. I definately could never ask my wife to learn linux. I see Mac the same way but BETTER. I could get my wife used to a Mac. But the fact is a reseller I dont expect to pay FULL price for a box, but with a mac I would have too. Furthermore there is no profit for me to sell them. Mac SHOULD consider me a "sales person" and get something set up so i can make money selling and pushing their systems, but instead they align themselves as my competitor, which means I will not push their products.
As we all know, when it really comes down to it, you can survive and prosper with a Mac or a Wintel. That applies to ALL OF US. There really isnt anything that you HAVE to do on a Mac or a Wintel. They both are formidable systems that cover all of the bases.
But this was all started because of market share.(?) And Mac is definately missing the boat on many issues. Even if they DONT drop prices, they could create a reseller program that allows the systems to pass through a reseller who can make a profit for pushing the system, and therefore more systems would be sold. The reseller deals with support, sells perepherials etc..and its all good.
But..Mac wants to stay secluded....hence the small market share.
I live in a medium sized town in Indiana. All of my business customers ask me what to buy, what technology to use. And since I can accomplish their goals with either Macs, or Wintels, I choose Wintels because I can make a profit selling them. Although two of my largest customers are radio stations and we have to use Wintels. Most companies do. Most people are FORCED into using wintels by third party companies and other reasons, but of course this is not microsoft's fault. In fact, Microsoft is NOT a monoply, we all have a choice, a clear choice. But the fact is, for most Microsoft and Intel are the BEST choice. You all think of it in terms of performance and speed etc. But the fact is that it is ALL ABOUT MONEY. If i have a client that pays me 30,000.00 for x number of computers and time spent configuring software for business purposes, there isnt much doubt that to accomplish the same general task in a mac world it would take a greater amount up front, not to mention to train people how to use the macs.
That is the bottom line, and its the ONLY line that matters.
So the issue is really two fold. Cost, and resellers. That is the heart of Macs' problem with gaining market share. As a man who enjoys options, I would love to have Mac in my stable of "solutions." but the fact is I wont sell their product for them, they wont allow me to make money selling their product...so they can just stay at 5% market share.
Several people in these forums have referred to wintels as just "word processor machines." That actually is a gross exaggeration, BUT..the fact is that documents, spreadsheets and databases are what drives the world for most people on their computers.
So excelling in that, specifically microsoft with their office suites is just good business. In fact, I would say its better business than what Mac manages to do. !
What are they really thinking I wonder ???????
The computer industry is all about compatiblity and the number of users/market share you have.
Why is Corel down so much ? Because Microsoft got Office packaged with so many OEM systems that it basically became the "norm" for wintels. So if you are on a wintel and use corel people look at you funny !
Is that monopolistic practices on microsoft's part ? NO NO NO, that is just good business.
All the people that criticize microsoft should remember this is AMERICA, home of free enterprise. There has never been anything that microsoft has done or been charged with that cant ALSO be argued is just good business, and there are some formidable people that do argue exactly that. And i mean objective third parties.
So to you all...lighten up !
If you were microsoft, you would have completly different opinion. And mac..is mac..and mac is where..it is..because they CHOOSe to be there. Or they are in denial..or they are greedy !
I think they are afraid to open up their systems to us resellers and other business, for obvious reasons. But the fact is that intel and microsoft to NOT drive the computer industry, not does compaq, dell, ibm etc.
The fact is that most systems are wintels but they come from so many different Oem's and clone builders that NO ONE has a overwhelming chunk of the share. That is how it should be !
Mac..is the one going against the grain, being greedy, and trying to gain market share and not let ANYONE else share in the profit. As long as that is their attitude, they will remain ALONe and not a major player. ANd in all actualy, in terms of dollars and cents they ARENT a major player in the computer industry, not relatively speaking they arent. 5% is NOTHING when you consider they numbers of everyone else. And when you consider 5% is what they represtent in terms of their systems, technology and OS..its really bad.
They should perhaps design the Mac os to run on an Intel based, or build a intel based Mac...they need some cross over and to open their world...they will do nothing but benefit from it. And if they fold...they deserve it.
[Edited by justthefacts on 12-07-2001 at 12:10 AM]
