Return of Mac Clones?

[ioinc]

Adam Smith

This is exactly the kind of attitude that people who shop at Walmart have. Sometimes it isn't just about the deal, but sometimes people will buy a product based on the fact that they want to support a company, or sometimes not support a company.

This is how one gets a smacking by Adam Smith's invisible hand.

If you buy a product (any product) because of the company that makes it (rather than it is the best product/deal) you are potentially enabling a company to make an inferior product.

The reason to buy an Apple product is because it is the best product you can find for the price.... not because the Apple sticker is on it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invisible_Hand

 

[LimeiBook86]

This?
http://www.thedailymac.com/clone.mp4

Hahahaha, sorry for the semi-off-topicness but, when was this video made? It's pretty damn funny! Hahahaha The icon garden is awesome, I'm surprised Apple let them film that there

 

[7on]

This is snobbery. Apple 20" Display is a lot of money and certainly not the best quality by any means.

... and what is wrong with choosing a superior monitor over an Apple product?

Its not food or a sub $100 product, this is a $1000 ( Canadian ) product - a slight difference... your labelling is quite unfair in this instance.

Research has shown that Apple uses a different blacklight in their monitors. Thus the resulting image is cooler than the Dell (which is warmer). Whether that means anything to you or not is up to the consumer. Someone might prefer a cooler colored screen just the same way some people prefer a certain earphone. And depending on how much this difference affects the consumer, he may choose to buy the higher cost of the Apple display.

I'm not arguing the better deal here - just explaining that there is a difference; a difference that depends on the consumer whether or not it is worth the extra money.

 

[edcrosay]

Anybody else see a coorealation between Apple and Nintendo?

1. Both companies virtually created the market in which they operate in.
2. Both companies are now niche players in that market.
3. Both companies are seen as major innovators.
4. Both companies value well designed products.
5. Both companies control both the hardware and software aspects of their products.
6. Every year the Apple clone debate rises: People argue Apple should be a software only company (except the iPod).
7. Every year people argue that Nintendo should be software only, and develop for other platforms.

I don't want to see either of these companies become purely software developers, instead of hardware manufacturers that happen to have a kick-ass software division.
By allowing mac clones (and Mario and Zelda on the PS4), these companies will destroy what makes them so great: the coupling of well designed hardware with well designed and intuitive software. If you take the hardware out of the equation, the companies will lose what attracts so many people to them: seemless integration with hardware and software.
Although this wouldnt be a problem for Nintendo, OSX, if released widely, must take into account the millions of different hardware specifications and arrangements out there. One thing that makes OSX so great, is it isnt bloated by having to worry about if an ISA card made 10 years ago will work or not. Apple, since the make their own hardware, will just stop manufacturing computers with old technology, i.e nubus and now PCI-X.
By having complete control over both the hardware and software aspects of their product, the companies are allowed greater freedom for innovation.

 

[ioinc]

Anybody else see a coorealation between Apple and Nintendo?

1. Both companies virtually created the market in which they operate in.
2. Both companies are now niche players in that market.
3. Both companies are seen as major innovators.
4. Both companies value well designed products.
5. Both companies control both the hardware and software aspects of their products.
6. Every year the Apple clone debate rises: People argue Apple should be a software only company (except the iPod).
7. Every year people argue that Nintendo should be software only, and develop for other platforms.

I don't know thtat Nintendo created the market.... Atari?
I don't know that Nintendo is (currently) considered an innovator. What have they done latley?
I don't know that Nintendo products are any different than those of their rivals in terms of quality.

What Nintendo are you thinking about? A string of poor decisions has virtually taken them out of the market.

 

[slooksterPSV]

I don't know thtat Nintendo created the market.... Atari?
I don't know that Nintendo is (currently) considered an innovator. What have they done latley?
I don't know that Nintendo products are any different than those of their rivals in terms of quality.

What Nintendo are you thinking about? A string of poor decisions has virtually taken them out of the market.

Virtually is what he said. That's completely different than starting the whole thing. They started to virtually build a mass market of Video Games, Consoles, and Players - Virtually is what I'm saying.

 

[yellow]

*sigh* Not this again..

Blah blah hardware company first and foremost blah blah

Apple has a lot more marketshare to capture with OS X before it can try and make the switch to selling THAT as it's premiere (non-iPod-related) cash cow.

 

[edcrosay]

I don't know thtat Nintendo created the market.... Atari?
I don't know that Nintendo is (currently) considered an innovator. What have they done latley?
I don't know that Nintendo products are any different than those of their rivals in terms of quality.

For one... I said "virtuallly" created the market. Atari was indeed the first pioneer into video games. They also, however, destroyed the market. Many at the time thought Nintendo was foolish for releasing the NES in a market that has so much customer dissatisfaction and was pretty much dead. They went against odds and blew open a dead market with an amazing product that was leaps and bounds greater than its competition.

Nintendo not an innovator? I can write for hours on this.... Well on the software front, they re-invented the 2-D platform genre with Super Mario Bros, they invented the 3-D platform genre with Super Mario 64 and so much more.

On the hardware front, specifically controllers, Nintendo introduced the following to console gaming: analog stick (N64), touch screen (NDS), force-feedback (N64), 1st-party wireless controllers (GC), digital pad (NES), trigger buttons (N64), shoulder buttons (SNES), and if you havent yet... you need to see what they are doing for their next console, codenamed revoluion. Check out a story here http://cube.ign.com/articles/651/651301p1.html

And with quality issues... I've known many a friend with a broken PS2, I even have 2 dead Xboxs in my apartment. I've never in the 20 years of owning a Nintendo system have had anything break on me. I'm still running my NES that I got in 1986, it doesnt work perfectly, but it works better than my Xboxs.

 

[EricNau]

And with quality issues... I've known many a friend with a broken PS2, I even have 2 dead Xboxs in my apartment. I've never in the 20 years of owning a Nintendo system have had anything break on me. I'm still running my NES that I got in 1986, it doesnt work perfectly, but it works better than my Xboxs.

I can back that up. I still have an original gameboy, works perfectly. I also have a Gameboy color, and gameboy Advance SP, and a Gamecube, all are in perfect condition.
Then again, Sony makes good things also, but Microsoft...that's another story.

 

[steve_hill4]

I can back that up. I still have an original gameboy, works perfectly. I also have a Gameboy color, and gameboy Advance SP, and a Gamecube, all are in perfect condition.
Then again, Sony makes good things also, but Microsoft...that's another story.

All my Nintendo systems work great, even my NES. Surprisingly even my Atari 2600 still works fine, (despite having a loose connector on the power supply).

Sony CD player, bust. Only plays Cds, (automatically), when I either close the lid or plug in power supple. No controls work, batteries don't work either. Headphone jack and optical out still fine, but can only play from start to finish. Great when I needed it to copy to my minidisc player through the optical out, but not for playing. Thank goodness I use my iPod now.

 

[ioinc]

All my Nintendo systems work great, even my NES. Surprisingly even my Atari 2600 still works fine, (despite having a loose connector on the power supply).

Sony CD player, bust. Only plays Cds, (automatically), when I either close the lid or plug in power supple. No controls work, batteries don't work either. Headphone jack and optical out still fine, but can only play from start to finish. Great when I needed it to copy to my minidisc player through the optical out, but not for playing. Thank goodness I use my iPod now.

All this and PlayStation still beats Nintendo by a significant amount.

Kind of makes you think that the majority of people are voting differently with their money.