How do I talk to potential switchers now?

[Phatpat]

Alright, I'm a Mac zealot, I admit it. I love OS X, I love Apple, and I want others to see the same thing I do.

When the inevitable potential switcher comes to me and says "I was thinking about switching...but if everything is going to be different in 18 months, I don't thing I should" What do I say?

Sure, I can say there will be strong emulation that will work both forwards and backwards. The programs you buy now will still work then, and you'll still be able to use the new programs that come out in a couple years. But that doesn't sound so positive.

 

[slb]

Just tell them Apple made it so it doesn't matter which processor they're using, so they don't have to think about it. Nothing will change around in a year for end-users. It will all be invisible to them.

 

[James Philp]

I would say this, though as i say it I'd be crossing my fingers (for both hope and the fear of lying!):

Apple has a very good history of supporting its old hardware. Personally I have a PowerBook at home that is 5 years old, and is currently running the latest version of OS X. In general Mac computers last a lot longer than other kinds of PCs.
I believe that this will continue, and any system you buy right now should last you a long time, at least as long as 3 years, if not much longer, on both a hardware level (the computer working correctly) and a software support one (people and Apple still producing software that runs on the hardware).

But it's that last sentence I'm not too sure about.

 

[Applespider]

There are people (my downstairs neighbour included) happily running on OS 9, 5 years after OS X came out.

There will be people happily running on OS X Jag/Panther/Tiger when we're an OS beyond Leopard.

We'll have to wait until the developers figure out exactly how easy it is to hit that 'compile for Intel/PPC' and ship binaries for both... but it should be fine.

Even in a worse case scenario, they buy a Mac now that will last them for minimum 2 years (probably longer if Apple stick to supporting an OS one release behind). If they buy a PC now, chances are they'd have to update it to run Longhorn anyhow... (since apps don't run as admin user in Longhorn unlike XP)

 

[Cooknn]

I've switched 6 PC users in the last year. 4 iMac's, 1 Mac Mini and 1 Power Book. Not one of them would even care who made the processor. It's not that big of a deal to Windows users who are losing valuable productive time due to security vulnerabilities. They are all just as happy as campers with OS X - and of course the design of their new Mac's.