Market Share Pales In Importance To Smugness For Mac Zealots
from the cool-kids'-club dept
In the runup to Apple's 30th birthday, a tech columnist notes that the company's market share for PC operating systems has dropped by half since Steve Jobs returned to the company in 1997. He then goes on to explain how Apple -- with booming iPod sales -- doesn't mind, while its hardcore userbase takes more pride in the "knowledge that, by George, it is a better computer," as one zealot puts it, than any share figures. Seriously, though -- who cares? Few people really care about their computer operating system -- and even fewer care enough to rely on it to make themselves feel superior. The question of what OS is "best" is a subjective one (I'm sure plenty of you will line up in the comments to argue about it and call me a Windoze sheep, though I do use a Mac), and really is a pretty pointless thing to feel so strongly about. And, even if the Mac OS is superior to Windows, if everybody had it, the Mac zealots really wouldn't be so "special" any more.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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One Pump Chump
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Re: One Pump Chump
And FYI, you can plug in any USB 2-button mouse to a Mac and it'll work just fine. Right-click even brings up a task menu like windows.
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Re: Re: One Pump Chump
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http://www.apple.com/imac/design.html
Try to keep up, would you...
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Re: clsoed source
You can buy a Windows machine with an operating system from any vendor you want so long as the Vendor is Microsoft. :-)
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Um... You know macs run UNIX right.
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Funny...
Chris.
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Re: Re: Re: One Pump Chump
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The only good OS
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market share
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Mac Users
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Re: Re: Re: One Pump Chump
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Re: market share
Apple doesn't have to deal with legacy software issues becuase there is no software available for MacOS. Probably the only 3rd party software that was used was Photoshop, and comically enough, it doesn't work on the new macs until Adobe can get an Intel version released.
If the company I purchased my machines from hung me out to dry by releasing a new set of hardware that the one useful program wouldn't run on.... I'd be a bit upset. But I guess Apple can convince it's users that ANYTHING is a good idea.
And to the guy that asked abuot the mice, the brand new fancy MacBookPro laptop still only has one button. Who would pay 2000 for a laptop with one button?
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Re:
I can't believe how many people swallow Apple's marketing BS. Macs DO NOT run UNIX. They run Mac OS, which has a UNIX subsystem, which you can choose not to install and your Mac will run just fine. You just won't be able to do certain things on it. There are UNIX subsytems for Windows too, but that doesn't make Windows a UNIX machine.
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Try writing great software...
And Darwin is a UNIX as much as any other UNIX and it's open source. There is no standard "UNIX" and that was why it never took off in the PC market. I can grab almost any UNIX source code and recompile it for OS X.
You don't have be be a zealot to like OS X, just someone who understands elegant, stable design.
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Re:
Open-source would be if they were running a true open-source kernel, and made the code for their user interface freely available. They're not even close to doing that.
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You don't know what you are saying
That drivel you wrote just demonstrates your incomprehension of how the Mac is set up. Parts of what you say is correct, and it sounds like you are speaking truth, but then you quickly veer into wrongness.
http://developer.apple.com/opensource/overview.html
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Re: You don't know what you are saying
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No one cares about OS?
On a side note, don't these people realize they had to learn Windows before they became proficient? Same thing with a different OS. Not to mention that every Windows update makes enough changes to the UI that it takes upwards of a week to learn where everything is; think of the change from Classic Windows to the XP scheme.
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Re: One Pump Chump
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Re: Re: You don't know what you are saying
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Software
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re: Software
I do, however, use Linux at the house (Debian, Gentoo, and Slackware). It's mostly for fun though. I don't game, so I don't need a windows box.
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Silliest. Post. Ever.
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Its a nail or a screw...
Thanks for the humor y'all!
BTW - If you aren't running Virtual PC on a Mac with Linux on VMWare inside that running FreeBSD in a virtual machine that serves all your webpages and runs your climate control system then you are just wasting time... ;) peace. out.
(** yeah, this was useless, but that was the point.**)
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I would think it more likely demonstrates that both Harley Davidsons and Apple Computers are severely overpriced.
Owners of both pay extra for the prestige of paying extra. Self esteem can be purchased, evidently.
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Re: Silliest. Post. Ever.
You need to get out more.
Give me twm on freebsd any day.
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Macbook and OSX
Now I don't write code or use a computer for work, but from my standpoint, the Mac OS is fantastic. I can pretty much do most of the things on my PC that I can do on Mac, but it's just easier. At the end of the day, it's just nice to be able to do it easier.
Sure this isn't a scientific - I am not benchmarking the systems, etc. - but it's just a user friendly machine and paying extra for that would have been worth it, but compared machines with the exact same hardware configs, i don't think i did.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: One Pump Chump
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10 years ago, if you went out and bought a piece of electronic equipment, you would probably be prepared to spend a lot of money for a good piece of equipment that would last you for a few years. Those days are gone. The cheapest walmart special may not have the best sound reproduction on the market, but it's got decent specs and it will play burned dvds when the latest techno marvel dvd player that runs about 3000 dollars and looks like it came out of a woody allen film has a single tray and won't even look at a burned dvd.
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Screw OS cults and fanatics...
Screw Unix and kernels and shells...
All I know is I play lots of games and I use lots of awesome peripherials and I have a kick ass PC that never gives me problems. my buddy has a MAC and he's always asking to come over and play on my PC, or XBox.
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Re: Try writing great software...
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Re: Re: Re: One Pump Chump
Also, it is highly likely that your work PC's case and peripherals, and most consumer products that you buy with your $6.15/hr. were designed on a Mac.
P.S. Sorry to be so rude and personal, but you do seem to be kind of stupid.
P.P.S. I run Linux
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Re: Re: One Pump Chump
You mean I ain't getting my PhD at a major university? Hahaha. I don't have to act like I'm in fucking school here, aight? I just wrote a long paper last night and have to do another homework set tonight.
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Re:
Apple is the company that brought the mouse to the personal computer. (officially)
Apple figured out how to accomplish the same tasks with 1 button, but everyone else needed 2.
I don't think you'll ever hear anyone say "boy, I really wish my iPod had an extra button", but you will hear them say "man, my iPod is really easy with so few buttons."
If we could have set the time on a VCR with only 1 button, VHS may have held on a little longer in the market.
P.S. I have a 2 button mouse with a scroll wheel. Every since my Apple IIC I never did like a 1 button mouse.
P.P.S. I run Linux.
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Unix, good marketing strategy for de pseudo-geeks
Mac OS X is made up of various technologies, some beeing opensource some beeing closedsource.
Mac OS X in its raw form is based on three basic components, a heavily modified Mach-3 microkernel, various FreeBSD code bits and a new driver API built by Apple ( IOKit anyone ? ).
This forms the basic structure of the OS, many components from various sources wrapped into a hybrid kernel ( wich is the type of kernel found in most modern OSes, including Linux and Windows NT x.x - kernel and NT Executive ).
But this doesn't make it a full featured operating system as we know it, it still misses things like a GUI f ex.
And so, the opensourceness of the OS ends here.
Its native UI, Aqua, legacy API ( Carbon ), various fundamental kits like the Cocoa API. Quartz graphics layer, the Finder shell and so on are all very closed-source.
Mac OS X cannot be considered a opensource just because it has bits of opensource software, yes they release de core system, Darwin, as opensource but thats beacause of license constrains.
"And where, pray tell, am I wrong? Macs do run a UNIX subsystem on top of the Mach kernel. You can choose to not install it when you install OS X."
You're confusing unix with X11, X11 is just a optional windowing server.
"Spend a few years writing software on the Win32 platform and the Mac Cocoa frameworks and see which is better. Windows is a mess to write for/on and the Mac OS X environment is clean and powerful."
If you still write software using Win32 API directly, maybe you shouldn't be writing software anyway. ATL or better yet WTL are far superior frameworks vs direct Win32. And the new Vista frameworks are VERY good.
"Macs run UNIX? Well, sort of. Really you're running a lot of proprietary crap on top of a UNIX kernel. It's actually as closed-source as Windows."
I wouldnt call it crap, Aqua e quite nice and 'well' built, but yes, Mac OS X is still very closed source. ( Don't mistake Darwin with Mac OS X, THEY ARE differente things ).
And to all calling it a UNIX operating system .... IT IS NOT AN UNIX SYSTEM! At best you can call it "based on a _unix-like_ kernel".
Cause if u dont know, for something to be called Unix it must conform to the Single UNIX Specification.
Unix IS a trademark.
An operating system can call itself as Unix only if it has an UNIX Certification.
PS: I own many computers, some running Windows, some running GNU/Linux distro's, and yes, i also use Mac OS X :)
PSS: And remember even Microsoft had one unix OS, Microsoft Xenix, you now know it as SCO UNIX ;)
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screw the rivalry. USE WHAT YOU LIKE. i dont care if you use windows, osx, or linux. i'll use mine, and you use yours. my computer suits my needs, and yours does the same.
just dont hate me when your piece of shit dell running virus infested windows crashes while my powerbook runs for another three years.
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that waqs Scully, not Jobs.
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One button mice
WHAT 'other machines'?
Or is this gonna be another of you hit and run, where you make a claim, then run away?
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Put a kernel on it?
You know, Linux is JUST a kernel, right? And kernels are rather non-user friendly, right?
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Re: Re:
Wrong, Apple and Microsoft stole that nugget from Xerox.
>>Apple figured out how to accomplish the same tasks with 1 button, but everyone else needed 2.
That sounds pretty Orwellian to me.
>>I don't think you'll ever hear anyone say "boy, I really wish my iPod had an extra button", but you will hear them say "man, my iPod is really easy with so few buttons."
But then, aren't most of those "few buttons" multi-function?
>>If we could have set the time on a VCR with only 1 button, VHS may have held on a little longer in the market.
So, does your $59 Wal-Mart DVD player have one-button time set?
>>P.P.S. I run Linux.
Good for you.
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Fear
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Re:
Seriously, what is the point of what you just said? it was bullshit.
I bet I could kick your ass, and I'm a girl.
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Re: Re: Re: One Pump Chump
We can tell your not.
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Re:
Amiga sucks!
Atari ST is where it's at!
That was satire - I think...
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