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Apple!Freak

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 11, 2005
545
0
East Coast
What do you guys think? Is the Mac tailored towards certain careers or for anyone who just wants to check e-mail? If you think it's toward certain careers, list the 5 most popular for Mac owners.
 

PlaceofDis

macrumors Core
Jan 6, 2004
19,241
6
certainly that Mac platform doesnt work for all carreers, but will fit the bill for most of them no problem. I do think however that Macs are tailored for all home users though, with iLife and the ease of use, just about anyone who wants to use a mac can with no problems. its great for the everyday tasks and doesnt get in your way.
 

pdpfilms

macrumors 68020
Jun 29, 2004
2,382
1
Vermontana
Apple!Freak What do you guys think? Is the Mac tailored towards certain careers or for anyone who just wants to check e-mail? If you think it's toward certain careers, list the 5 most popular for Mac owners.

I definetly think it's tailored towards the mediaheads. Sure, it's great as an email reader or movie maker for your everyday joe, but do you see Apple releasing professional Lawmaker's software?

"Lawyer Studio Pro 3- Now has simultaneous multi client capability"

Nope. It's all about video, audio, and graphic design. Many would argue that Final Cut and the Studio are the best software out there for editing... and they're only for the mac. If given the software, a mac could certainly handle the same tasks as a PC does (and much better). But right now, the majority of the career-level software produced for the mac is media based.

And i have noooooo problem with that.

(Checks applestore for changes in Final Cut Studio shipping dates)
 

CubaTBird

macrumors 68020
Apr 18, 2004
2,135
0
theres the cliche' that mac users are the artistic types.. but then i can't draw for jack and am "okay" in my ceramics class... i think anyone can use a mac.. though its dumb ignorance that stops many from doing so
 

jessearl

macrumors member
Mar 7, 2005
89
0
I'm in the owner/operator of an independent retail pharmacy. We've just purchased a new pharmacy management software system to replace our existing system.

As a new Mac user of about a year now, when it came time to buy the new system, I searched high and low for a Mac-based pharmacy software system, to no avail.

There are scores of large and small pharmacy software companies, but all their systems run on either Windows of some verion of Linux.

It was very depressing not to be able to find a system that would run on a Macintosh.
 

Rod Rod

macrumors 68020
Sep 21, 2003
2,180
6
Las Vegas, NV
The only career Macs wouldn't be conducive towards is air traffic controller. Those people don't use Macs. However, at home they could load up the flight tracker widget in Tiger.
 

Rod Rod

macrumors 68020
Sep 21, 2003
2,180
6
Las Vegas, NV
jessearl said:
As a new Mac user of about a year now, when it came time to buy the new system, I searched high and low for a Mac-based pharmacy software system, to no avail.
I wondere whether Mango Dental could adapt their software to suit the needs of a pharmacy? I suppose it's too late for you now (unless the contract with your current provider is flexible somehow), but maybe another pharmacy could inquire about it.
 

mduser63

macrumors 68040
Nov 9, 2004
3,042
31
Salt Lake City, UT
Of course Macs are very well suited for media professionals. They're also great for general home computer users. However, there are some fields where they're not very strong. For example, I'm an electrical engineering student, planning to be an electrical engineer as a career, and unfortunately there are very few options for electrical engineering software. There's some old (run in classic) schematic programs still for sale, and one newish program (Eagle) that runs in X11. I found a (discontinued) shareware circuit simulation program, and was able to cobble together a combination of open source software to do Verilog (digital circuits) simulation, but overall things in that area are not really adequate on the Mac. Unfortunately, that means that at least for now, I have to use a Windows computer for school, and will have to use one for work. Hopefully, with the continued halo effect, and the growing popularity of Mac OS X among more technical people things will change for the better somewhat.
 

iMeowbot

macrumors G3
Aug 30, 2003
8,634
0
jessearl said:
I'm in the owner/operator of an independent retail pharmacy. We've just purchased a new pharmacy management software system to replace our existing system.

As a new Mac user of about a year now, when it came time to buy the new system, I searched high and low for a Mac-based pharmacy software system, to no avail.

There are scores of large and small pharmacy software companies, but all their systems run on either Windows of some verion of Linux.

It was very depressing not to be able to find a system that would run on a Macintosh.

Yes, vertical applications are the ones that will cause the most grief. Even the larger specialist software vendors usually aren't big enough to support more than one or two platforms, so they tend to go down the path of least resistance.

In the old days, software like that would be provided along with hardware (typically, some minicomputer and the terminals), and no one much cared what hardware the vendor used. With today's desktops, businesses expect the software (at least the client end) to run on what they already have, and in the common case that means the supplier supports Windows.

It's interesting that you mention some vendors offering Linux solutions in your market, though. Chances are very good that for them, a port to OS X would involve little additional work, and talking to them about it might not be futile. The resulting product may not look Mac-ish if, say, it relies on X11, but porting is (usually) trivial.
 

MisterMe

macrumors G4
Jul 17, 2002
10,709
69
USA
mduser63 said:
Of course Macs are very well suited for media professionals. They're also great for general home computer users. However, there are some fields where they're not very strong. For example, I'm an electrical engineering student, planning to be an electrical engineer as a career, and unfortunately there are very few options for electrical engineering software. There's some old (run in classic) schematic programs still for sale, and one newish program (Eagle) that runs in X11. I found a (discontinued) shareware circuit simulation program, and was able to cobble together a combination of open source software to do Verilog (digital circuits) simulation, but overall things in that area are not really adequate on the Mac. Unfortunately, that means that at least for now, I have to use a Windows computer for school, and will have to use one for work. Hopefully, with the continued halo effect, and the growing popularity of Mac OS X among more technical people things will change for the better somewhat.
Have you looked into DesignWorks?
 

Westside guy

macrumors 603
Oct 15, 2003
6,333
4,152
The soggy side of the Pacific NW
I think the old stereotype regarding Macs being for design/media folks is more legacy than fact anymore. I think if you were to look closely, you'll see that OS X has gotten a lot of attention (and business) from the scientific and technical community, due to its BSD underbelly. I know a number of engineering profs and grad students who were Linux-heads before, and have become rabid Mac converts.

Heck, it was the *nix stuff that brought me over to the Mac side as well. :D To say I wasn't a fan of Mac OS prior to OS X would be an understatement. But OS X is just so far ahead of any other *nix desktop that there's just no real comparison.
 

snkTab

macrumors 6502a
Nov 13, 2004
580
1
Cincinnati, OH
pdpfilms said:
I definetly think it's tailored towards the mediaheads. Sure, it's great as an email reader or movie maker for your everyday joe, but do you see Apple releasing professional Lawmaker's software?

"Lawyer Studio Pro 3- Now has simultaneous multi client capability"

Nope. It's all about video, audio, and graphic design. Many would argue that Final Cut and the Studio are the best software out there for editing... and they're only for the mac. If given the software, a mac could certainly handle the same tasks as a PC does (and much better). But right now, the majority of the career-level software produced for the mac is media based.

And i have noooooo problem with that.

(Checks applestore for changes in Final Cut Studio shipping dates)


actually I heard that apple had a nice grip on law.
 

neildmitchell

macrumors 6502a
May 21, 2005
564
0
Macs cover all grounds with their various lines of computers and software.

iLife vs. Final Cut Studio Pro
iBook vs. Powerbook

In the recent years they have done a great amount of work trying to get a larger more varied audience, and have developed or refined various Apple products that will help them compete in the marketplace.

Students, home users, creatives, scientific..... and now business

With Apple reinventing Appleworks into iWork, you will also see them going a bit more aggressively after the workplace. Appleworks mostly targeted education and students, iWork will target education,students, home users but also businesses looking to get away from Microsoft and microsoft office. They have revamped the word processor program of Appleworks into Pages, and same with the presentation program into Keynote. Soon we will probably be seeing a spreadsheet porgram, and maybe another database program based on Filemaker packaged all together into an office suite.

If you are scepticle on Apple going after business, look at the relationship between Apple and Adobe. Adobe and Apple are starting sever ties and are now competing with the development and release of Final Cut Studio Pro Vs. Adobe's Creative Suite.

Dont you think that they want to Squeeze out Microsoft Office for the Mac?

We shall see.......
 

mkrishnan

Moderator emeritus
Jan 9, 2004
29,776
15
Grand Rapids, MI, USA
Well, I think clearly Nuclear Power Plant Engineer is not the ideal career for a Mac. :D

Seriously, I think this sort of thing is partially intentional, but also partially the chaotic result of market forces. Macs obviously have a strong history in graphic arts, audio and video. But you find people from many fields using them.

Engineering (esp. outside of architecture and software development) is probably one of the worst fits, since so little of the software is available (of the UG, Catia, FEA, CFD, and AFAIK also the VLSI type of stuff, etc, variety), but you still see engineers successfully using them successfully.
 

dotdotdot

macrumors 68020
Jan 23, 2005
2,391
44
snkTab said:
actually I heard that apple had a nice grip on law.

Nope...

1 - Judges use Windows PCs because the stenographer sends the data to the computer and it pops up on the screen for the judge
2 - Lawers use Windows PCs (some use macs) because of the fact that Windows PCs use Office 2000. Office 2000 was the greatest version of Office microsoft ever released, and because its for Windows only, they use that... Office is very easy to find files, etc.
3 - Windows PCs are, honestly, faster than OS X with a lower configuration. So if you went out and got a $300 dell with monitor, mouse, kb, speakers, and a 250 GB External drive, but you only had 128 MB RAM and slow ram at that, you would be fine.
4 - Windows is less flashy. I have never seen a lawer that has a computer running the XP Style - its always set to classic mode.

AND

5 - Windows PCs are cheaper.

---------

BTW, Macs are very good for education and schools, so I have no clue why most schools use Windows?! The school I'm going to for 9th grade uses Windows ME but for 10th grade through 12th grade will use OS X!!!
 

mkrishnan

Moderator emeritus
Jan 9, 2004
29,776
15
Grand Rapids, MI, USA
dotdotdot said:

Just to add, there have been a number of threads here recently on a new computerized exam system that's used in the classroom in many US law schools, which has each student take an exam on their personal notebook computer, and which is not usable on a Mac even in VPC (AFAIK) because it takes full control of the PC and reboots it, in order to "ensure" test protocol security.... :rolleyes:
 

link92

macrumors 6502
Aug 15, 2004
335
0
Mac OS X Licence Agreement:
Extract 2C said:
THE APPLE SOFTWARE IS NOT INTENDED FOR USE IN THE OPERATION OF NUCLEAR FACILITIES, AIRCRAFT NAVIGATION OR COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS, AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEMS, LIFE SUPPORT MACHINES OR OTHER EQUIPMENT IN WHICH THE FAILURE OF THE APPLE SOFTWARE COULD LEAD TO DEATH, PERSONAL INJURY, OR SEVERE PHYSICAL OR ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE.
 

mad jew

Moderator emeritus
Apr 3, 2004
32,191
9
Adelaide, Australia
snkTab said:
actually I heard that apple had a nice grip on law.


dotdotdot said:


Umm, I think it was a joke - that whole suing habit Apple has seemed to pick up from somewhere.

As for the Mac being bias toward certain professions, well, I think most companies could use Macs but don't because of cost, ease-of-use, and ignorance.
 

Jaffa Cake

macrumors Core
Aug 1, 2004
19,801
9
The City of Culture, Englandshire
dotdotdot said:
Macs are very good for education and schools, so I have no clue why most schools use Windows?!
I think you answer your own question...
dotdotdot said:
5 - Windows PCs are cheaper.
Unfortunately people often don't look beyond the initial purchase price when they consider value-for-money. Otherwise they'd see that the cost to keep the PCs running in good health is usually much higher than that for Macs – in this instance running costs for an university's Macs were substantially cheaper (although the exact figure is 'open to debate' ;)).
 

iGary

Guest
May 26, 2004
19,580
7
Randy's House
I discovered Macs in the publishing world, but have always admired them and probably woul dhave gone down the path of the dark side anyway.
 

nbs2

macrumors 68030
Mar 31, 2004
2,719
491
A geographical oddity
dotdotdot said:
2 - Lawers use Windows PCs (some use macs) because of the fact that Windows PCs use Office 2000. Office 2000 was the greatest version of Office microsoft ever released, and because its for Windows only, they use that... Office is very easy to find files, etc.
3 - Windows PCs are, honestly, faster than OS X with a lower configuration. So if you went out and got a $300 dell with monitor, mouse, kb, speakers, and a 250 GB External drive, but you only had 128 MB RAM and slow ram at that, you would be fine.
4 - Windows is less flashy. I have never seen a lawer that has a computer running the XP Style - its always set to classic mode.

AND

5 - Windows PCs are cheaper.
Except....our office uses Office 2003 and none of lawyers, clerks, paralegals or assistants use classic mode. I'd say that no more than two or three of us are generally computer savvy (although I haven't been here long enough to know the quirks of the network) and I don't know if more than two would know how to switch to classic mode.

And we use Dells because that is what out IT staff is willing to support. And because there is a handful of software that we do use that is PC only. But, I think that if things go well over the next several years, there may be a slow shift to OS X. Of course, most of the office would freak out at needing that much retraining, but...
 
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