How Would You Save
Apple?
Building A Better
Apple
by
Fake40
As a serious computer user, I have extensive exposure to both Mac and Intel
machines. This exposure leads me to conclude that the Macintosh platform
is superior to Windows in every respect. Why then is our beloved Apple at
the bottom of the PC heap? I think it is because Apple computer created a
culture, not just a computer and Apple has not addressed the needs of the
culture. The very first thing Apple needs to do is to play off all of its
strong points and realize how badly ( and how inaccurately) they are percieved
in the marketplace. They have been sucked into the OS wars by Microsoft.
When it was Apple's intent to make the OS transparent to the user, Microsoft
made a big deal over the fact that they had copied the Mac OS (and failed
miserably) The truth is that Microsoft software in general really isn't that
good. They only OS they ever had that was truly elegant was DOS and they
didn't write it! The great thing about Microsft is that when they cough,
the whole world is stepping and fetching to do their bidding. Why is this?
Lets look at what really goes on in the computer world:
Rule #1: Users are Losers.
Microsoft and Intel constantly up the ante in the computing arena. The Kids
in Redmond write some overstuffed code that wouldn't run on a Cray, so Intel
bellies up to the bar and cranks up the horsepower on the hardware. Gates
& Co. makes money selling yet another version of something other and
Intel sells more chips. Meanwhile all you really want to do is the same thing
you did yesterday, but because some fool went out and upgraded to version
xxx of Microsoft yyy you need to do it too. But it wont run on your old machine!
So you get a new one. As a Computer manager, I see the costs associated with
all of this stuff.... Of course PC'c are cheaper... Let's see, we upgraded
your 286 to a 386 and then we all bought 486's but now those are all yesterdays
news so you need a Pentium and now an MMX. By my count...that' 4 or 5 Intel
boxes to every Mac I bought, we're saving money alright!! My point? Users
are Losers!! Apple needs to let people know stuff like this.
Apple is a little too beat up to do this alone... rather than thinking about
itself as an island (which they once were), they need to work with all of
the Mac clone manufacturers and promote the platform as well as the company.
This should be done in 2 ways. Blitz the print and television media with
Mac platform info mercials... There are plenty of "Advantage: Macintosh"
examples that could be promoted. This would make inroads in an area where
the Mac platform is hurting badly: Many people still don't know what Mac's
are, how easy they are to use, or how cost effective they can be over a period
of 2 to 3 years. This "education" would reach people who would not normally
ask questions about which computer they should be using... these kind of
questions will put pressure on the real reason the Mac platform is a 2nd
class citizen and lead us to my second point:
The largest sector of computer users is commercial (business) installations.
Companys typically hire IM people to take care of specifying, configuring
and maintianing computers. Here's the rub... Guys who make a living off of
buying, setting up and fixing computers will specify the platform that needs
the most buying, setting up and fixing. It makes no difference to them that
you will have to throw out your whole PC in a matter of months because someone
at Intel or Microsoft decides you cant run whatever it is they want to sell
you this month on your old hardware or software.
It is my observation, and in candid comments from our IM people at my company
that the fact that PC's are much more support intensive than Macs is the
reason that they are so often specified by IM professionals. I know this
sounds warped and paranoid... but the guys tell me " If this place ran all
Mac's, we wouldn't have jobs!" In an employment environment where lots of
companys are downsizing...this is the ultimate hot setup.
Of course, another big piece of the picture is software developers. It goes
without saying that Apple has ticked off software developers by pulling the
plug on Copeland... even the best OS in the world is no good without good
software and there can be no good software without committed developers.
There needs to be some real work done to get developers excited about the
platform again.
If Appple can attack those 2 major issues, the perception of the platform
will be greatly improved
NEXT: Wearable
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