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It's an exciting time to be a Mac user. Widespread vindication is near. When Microsoft collapses and all the people who doubted me and told me I was wrong to use a Mac come crawling over, well, they can suck it.

While I love to hear this kind of thing, I really wish Cramer would make up his mind. As I've mentioned before, I sat here not two months ago and watched him shaking his head and saying "I think you missed your chance with Apple, I think you missed your chance with Apple".

Apr 23, 08 - 08:33 am Comment from: John

I like his closing comment: "it just takes one session with a 13 year old [using a Mac] to see that the others are completely irrelevant"

What I've been saying for 24 years now!

Apr 23, 08 - 08:35 am Comment from: ken1w

So, just wait about five years, when those 13-year-old kids are starting to spend their own money, and in ten years when they start influencing business decisions. Apple has a bright future.

Apple blew it the first time, when they had Apple II's in all the schools. Apple was giving them away to schools, to get kids using Apple tech. Apple did not take advantage of that opportunity.

Apr 23, 08 - 08:42 am Comment from: Harvey

I remember Mac users (and maybe Apple advertising if memory serves me right) saying, "It's not a computer, it's a Mac." Now that has all turned around.

Apr 23, 08 - 08:44 am Comment from: Zune Tang®

Oh great. So using Microsoft's mature Windows makes me some old fuddy-duddy? I'll have you little baby MAC sheep know that I can get quite of bit done on my trusty Dell rockin' Windows Vista.

Just this morning I made an "OUT OF ORDER" sign for a broken urinal in the bathroom next to marketing the second floor. In color using Powerpoint with clip art. Perhaps when you snot nose teenagers get REAL JOBS you'll know what I'm talking about. Until then keep wasting your time with your toy MACs. Dorks.

Your potential. Our passion.™

I really hope, that one day in the near future apple and only
apple computers will be the leaders!

Apr 23, 08 - 08:55 am Comment from: F1Mikal

Friends,

That guy Cramer is totally schizoid;

one day on CNBC (in 2008) he says that Apple products have no place in the business environment
(to Erin Burnett after she comments she wants an iPhone), those products are strictly for consumers; and the iPhone is just an accessory. Apple will go nowhere in Enterprise, the IT people will not allow it.

I have never forgotten that.
He was sitting in a tall directors chair, stage right/screen left to Erin Burnett.

grrrrrr.

And I actually do not wish everyone to use Apple products. Call me elitist but Apple is not for everyone.

F1Mikal in NYC

It's simple: Windows is the Russian Lada versus the Apple Macintosh/BMW 3-series. No match. Six years ago my kids were the first ones in their grades to have iPods. Now all of their friends do. Now they are all buying Macs to take to college. Cramer's just doing CYA here. Especially funny is his fascination with the amazing "iChat." Where ya' been, Cramer?

I thought so you were 80, now I'm sure of it!

LOL
the look on that lady's face was like "huh?"
Cramer flew right over her head with that one.
Adults have pc's at home for work, what kinda of job does a
12 year old have? Chief corporate lead accounts manager?
NOT!! They want to do fun and creative stuff to . . .
expand their minds maybe?
Get A Mac.

Apr 23, 08 - 09:06 am Comment from: Metryq

Many people still aren't getting it because they equate familiar with better. After showing someone how to set up things like network and printer, my Windows suffering student seemed amazed, "And that's it? It's all set up?" Yet still remarked, "but Windows is better."

Apr 23, 08 - 09:06 am Comment from: Spark

"PC box assemblers don't get it. They stuck themselves to Microsoft Windows ..."

With all due respect, MDN, PC assemblers didn't stick themselves. They got stuck with the only game in town. History shows that there were plenty of box assemblers ready to jump on the Mac train when Apple allowed it. And it is obvious that the same would happen now if only Apple allowed it. PC box assemblers don't have much of choice right now NOT to tie themselves to MS Windows. (Oh, and the 90% of computers sold being Windows based factors in, I guess).

Windows was good for the first generation of computer users who knew no better, could not discern and used what they were given. Wow!

When you can choose, when you know more, when you expect more, you would not now choose Microsoft Windows.

Cramer gave a left-handed compliment to Apple. What he was really saying is that Macs have become cool and trendy with younger users, fashion accessories he called them. While they are hot now, what will happen when those items lose their panache? Will the Apple stores remain trendy or become passe'?

If any of us were able to guess at the next hot trend we could all retire early.


I

Apr 23, 08 - 09:23 am Comment from: UltraVisitor

Why do these PC makers keep sticking with Windows? Is Microsoft holding a gun to there head? They could easily buy or develop there own OS if they just put some money and man power behind it. What do these people do all day?

Apple is on top of there game, while every other computer company seems totally oblivious.

"Why do these PC makers keep sticking with Windows? Is Microsoft holding a gun to there head?"

Yes, it is.

It is, metaphorically speaking, holding a gun to their head.

You see most of them have plenty of customers who want Windows. And why that is is obvious enough: Windows may not be very good, but it's now got a dug-in position, being it's what lots of people already use and what lots of existing software runs on.

If an OEM seriously offered an alternative then Microsoft would make it extremely painful for that OEM. Don't forget, right now, these OEMs need Windows for many of their customers. The OEMs do what Microsoft says or they don't get favourable terms when licensing Windows.

Yeah, they _could_ use an alternative. In fact, right now Dell _does_ offer Ubuntu Linux:

http://www.dell.com/content/topics/segtopic.aspx/ubuntu

But Dell don't offer it too obviously.

Is there any mention of Ubuntu on Dell's homepage?

http://www.dell.com/

Have you seen any nationwide advertising campaigns from Dell for pre-installed Linux?

They don't do these things because if they did Microsoft would come down on them like a ton of bricks.

Apr 23, 08 - 09:43 am Comment from: Cubert

Mac sales started accelerating in February???

Only if that is February 2006.

Apr 23, 08 - 09:43 am Comment from: Buster

Suck that Mac...errrr....PC dorks

OK. I have to chime in on this. It is said over and over again that "The PC box assemblers are stuck with Windows.... blah blah blah." They are actually not. Before I switch over to the Mac about 5 years ago, I came from a technical background where my OS of choice was either Linux or Solaris. Indeed, anytime I bought a so-called "box assembler's product" (usually generic), I slapped on either Linux or Solaris. These two environments are GREAT for software developers. Well, when Apple finally did something right - and this is the biggy - Apple switch over to UNIX - I tried it out. Well, needless to say, I haven't looked back. But the first thing I attempted to do was create a dual boot of OS X and Linux on my Power Mac G5. Yes, I could do that. I had limited success doing the same with Solaris. But lest I go on in this trend of though, my point is, box assemblers can install Linux or Solaris on their boxes, and those are great environments for software developers like me. Indeed, where I work, we have rooms of Linux generic boxes which simulate fluid dynamics for missiles. OK. My point:

Stop calling those boxes OS limited - they aren't - they easily run Linux and Solaris - and I'm still to get Solaris running properly in my Parallels desktop.

Yes, I have 6 Macs, and a Linux box, and Windows XP in bootcamp (when I have to run it), but those generic "Windows" boxes Are Not OS limited. Yes, they cannot run OS X, but some would say that Solaris is way more advanced in software development than OS X. Not necessary so, Linux, but that's another story. And, consider this, Linux and Solaris, plus all the tools they provide are free.

Thanks, for listening.

Apr 23, 08 - 09:48 am Comment from: AppleMacMan

WOW! I just love the headline of this article! It's hilarious...lol But Cramer is right, PC's are glorified typewriters and Macs are REAL computers. Simple. 

Apr 23, 08 - 09:52 am Comment from: loganson

Yes, this industry tends to follow trends but Apple is good at setting the standard for the next trend. Notice how much translucent stuff came out after the iMac. I mean everything from vacuums to irons were copying the look. This hasn't changed. Apple continues to throw off the old and do something innovative and new. Watch the world follow.

Apr 23, 08 - 09:52 am Comment from: Ampar

That's an insult to typewriters.

Apr 23, 08 - 09:53 am Comment from: Demon

The Kids do get and that is a good thing. If you ask kids what is best about the Mac they'll all give you a little different list but the key points will all be.
1) UNIX
2) True 64 Bit
3) Symmetrical Multi processing
4) Fast OS with great UI

If asked if they like Windows they'll have these things to said.
1) Old
2) Slow
3) outdated 8,16,32 Bit OS and the 64 bit versions is just a memory management patch
4) No support for symmetrical multi processing
5) my parents use Windows cause they use it at work and the sales guys told them Windows systems were better and cheaper.
6) Windows developers are stupid because they don't know how to writer proper multithread applications properly because Windows doesn't handle multithreading right. ( I teach kids at a youth center programming a few times a week. The kids are always telling me stories about their Windows usage. One of the Kids Mom is a programer for a software company, (she writes Windows Software), She was working on some code and she was stuck because the function wouldn't work. My student being a developer in training looked over the code she was writing and re-wrote to make it multithreaded and Symmetrical Multi processing optimized. When me showed the code to him Mom she started picking it apart on why his code wouldn't work and why it wasn't good code. He then brought the code to me and we reviewed it and his moms comments. I then asked the class if they want to learn about programing using Microsoft Windows and the Microsoft programing tools, I then gave a demo and the class agreed that Windows Programming was bad and not very useful. As for the Kid's mom well we had a chat and she didn't mean to criticize his work and I've given her a few refresher classes and she changed employers, She now works at Google.

@MacCloskey

You fail to understand the problem. No-one ever said those boxes *couldn't* run *nix.

The technicalities are *not* the issue. The lock-in is.

It's a social or economic or legal or even political problem; it's *not* a technical one.

@Zune Tang®

I always find your posts entertaining, I don't really think that you that believe what you write, but it's very funny. You should have a blog, maybe like fake steve balmer's.

@ Spark,
With all due respect, PC makers did stick themselves, because as UltraVisitor said, they could have built their own OS. Consortiums of PC makers are already rumored to be thinking about collaborating on a new OS, and they should. Indeed, with no OS and no apps to develop, I can't imagine what they do all day besides wait for Microsoft to f-up.

Apr 23, 08 - 10:11 am Comment from: Dave - Colorado

Thankfully, my father's box was an Apple II. So he was right once in his life. Well, twice. He advised me to buy Apple stock.

Apr 23, 08 - 10:11 am Comment from: Jubei

I don't like that guy too much, but that statement is just brutally awesome. LOL

"Jim Cramer: To today’s teens Apple Macs are computers; Windows PCs might as well be typewriters"

"Gates sold the world a bill of goods. A copy can never measure up to the original. That the world accepted such a bad copy is a testament to the widespread tech illiteracy of the 1990s and earlier. The Windows mistake has now been recognized by the tech literate and the correction has begun."

I remember back in the 80's people preferring Windows 3 over the Mac OS. I have professionally used every Windows OS to date. In all that time, the only one that impressed me when it was released was NT. But as impressive as it was at the time, the quality of the user experience was no where near as close to the Mac OS.

The whole "beige box" thing boggled my brain too. Remember the "Turbo" button? How stupid was that?! It was not intended to speed the computer up, it was intended to slow the computer down for compatibility reasons. It just toggled between two clock speeds, normal and slow.

And then there was the 486 DX/SX processors. The SX processors were just gelded DX processors that sold for a little less. The dye was the same, just that the connection to the FPU was cut in the dye. You could buy a seperate FPU, a 487 processor, but that was just a DX processor with an added pin to keep you from using it as a DX.

I think that today's teenagers and young adults are a lot more technology aware. They may lack common sense, but they would not fall for the SX processor or the "Turbo" button. The web spreads information too quickly for this type of marketing nonsense to stick for too long.

Thanks "chair-throwing, simian-like CEO"

OK. I see that point. Where I work, nobody would consider switching off of Windows - except the engineers - we all hate Windows. But we do feel the "lock-in." The IT department and all the bean counters/management have us stuck with Sh*t. Good point.

"I remember back in the 80's people preferring Windows 3 over the Mac OS."

I should have said 90's. For some reason I thought Windows 3 came out in the late 80'. After looking at the release date...

Speaking of early Windows. Remember when the Windows were only tiled!? Ughhh...

Macs are the future because 13-year-olds play with them, and pink hula hoops are the ultimate fashion acessory.

Hula hoops are the future because 13-year-olds play with them. And when those 13-year-olds go to college, they'll take their hula hoops with them — or better yet, buy new hula hoops because they'll be so much rounder.

Then they'll use hula hoops in the business world because everything else will be like the New Coke.

Idiot.

Love the obscure Star Trek reference!

Zune Tang,

I gotta say, your sense of humor is great. Most days the only reason I read the comments is to find one of your gems. Thanks for putting a smile on my face.

Thanks for reminding me of the turbo button. I think I actually had one of those on a crap computer 15-20 yrs ago.

This is a rare bit of insight from Cramer. I suspect his kids gripped him gently by the throat one day and said: "If you buy me another PC, I'll put you in the Retirement Home as soon as I can!"

Apr 23, 08 - 11:15 am Comment from: AlanAudio

@Demon

That list of Mac advantages doesn't sound like anything that any kid would say, it reads more like the sort of reasons that their father would talk about. We've long passed the point where most people need to concern ourselves with technicalities like Unix, 64 bit or symmetrical multi processing.

Kids like Macs because everything simply happens, they're fun to use, they can easily create cool stuff on a Mac, music and video are handled flawlessly and there aren't annoying things that get in the way of them enjoying using them. Their reasons are more to do with how a Mac feels and operates, how the user interface feels right, but most important of all, what they can do with a Mac.

That's not to say that the technical reasons aren't significant, but it's not necessary to understand the technicalities in order to appreciate the Mac advantage. I don't know much about fuel injection, suspension geometry or aerodynamics, but I know that there are some cars that I enjoy driving and others that I don't.

Great! So using Microsoft's immature Windows makes me some old fuddy-duddy! I'll have you great, smart Mac users know that I can get absolutly nothing done on my piece of crap Dell hobblin' with Windows Vista.

Just this morning a made an "OUT OF ORDER" sign for a broken urinal in the bathroom next to marketing the second floor. In color using Powerpoint with clip art. Perhaps when you snot nose teenagers get REAL JOBS, unlike mine, you'll know what I'm talking about. My job sucks! And using Windows Vista made that sign look fugly!

Think Different.™

Apr 23, 08 - 11:59 am Comment from: Demon

@ AlenAudio

They're list contain a lot of the cool & fun features about the MacOS too. But, the Kids I teach and kids in general are tech savvy, we adults often don't give them credit for knowing the differences in the fundamentals of technology. Kids pick things apart they want to know why!. Answering the why for kids is pointing them to the information sources letting them do the research and then draw their conclusions (or at least that's my method).
As an adult I don't care how my Aston Martin DBS works or what it's specs are it's just a lot of fun to drive and this is true. Kids on the otherhand are wired different because they do want to know and will dig up the information to satisfy that curiosity. For the kids I teach making their programs run faster, better and more user friendly is the goal for each of them and they to the research and put in the effort to make their programs the best they can be, to impress each other, to impress me and to impress themselves is import. I have one kid who has written one of his project programs for Solaris 10 on Sparc just because Solaris 10 offered a speed and usability advantage over the Mac OS X, Linux and Windows on Intel. While the advantage was a small 2.5% speed improvement, being a web base application that small speed boast added a lot to the user experience.
Don't dismiss the savviness of todays youths because they will surprise you.

Can I ask a simple question? Why is Linux a better or best platform to develop on? I am not saying better than just osx.

Actually let me rephrase, WHY do developers tend to favor using linux to develop on? What is it about linux that makes it a faverable OS?

I have not used linux, I do some web development using ASP, vbscript and javascript and I do it on ether my mac or pc but I have not used Linux. Thanks for the insight.

@joe

Which developers are you referring to?

It is a widely held belief that in general software developers and web developers prefer the Linux platform. I am not saying u do or that the people around u do or that that should, just that it is said that they do. I am interested in know why this is the case.

just caught the enderle on bloomberg tv re:apple. the tool speaks as bad as he writes! trips himself up about every sentence! considers the mac line a "luxury" item. thinks the macbook air is for a limited audience & needs to be refreshed often to keep going. says AT&T;is unhappy w/the money they're making from the iphone. is afraid for apple that their governance for last quarter will only be "accurate"! ya can't make this stuff up...

I'm really starting to enjoy Zune more and more, ... Sign for the urinal. Rofl

You have to wait to the very end of the video, but Jim Cramer's take is priceless: "The companies that make other devices are no longer relevant."

I gotta say that my last trip to an Apple store -- at 1:30 PM on a Tuesday -- was eye-opening. The store was PACKED. I don't even want to imagine what it must be like on a weekend.

Apr 23, 08 - 01:42 pm Comment from: Connor MacBook

So much for Macs not being "real" computers!

Apr 23, 08 - 06:34 pm Comment from: Christian_Messer

I know I'm repeating others here - but it really is a joy to be a Mac user and fan.

Apple has done an amazing job with its branding and marketing. Things that one would never associate with a Windows computer or Microsoft (at least I wouldn't) - except at a HP conference.

Example: One thing that really took me by surprise was when I went to the Apple store here in Portland, Oregon - and they had a live band playing, in the store!

@ Ral - I am throughly mystified when I happen to be downtown on a weekday, at like, say 10am - and the store is packed. It's packed every time I go in there.

I ran across a memo when doing some research that kinda says it all. Here it is from Tech Sanity Check by Jason Hiner of Tech Republic:

In a January 7, 2004 e-mail, the chief of the Microsoft Windows team, Jim Allchin wrote to Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer:

“I am not sure how the company lost sight of what matters to our customers (both business and home) the most, but in my view we lost our way. I think our teams lost sight of what bug-free means, what resilience means, what full scenarios mean, what security means, what performance means, how important current applications are, and really understanding what the most important problems [our] customers face are. I see lots of random features and some great vision, but that doesn’t translate into great products. I would buy a Mac today if I was not working at Microsoft… Apple did not lose their way… They think scenario. They think simple. They think fast.”

Mac OS is dead. It died a long time ago, crushed by Windoze 98 & NT. What is called Mac OS X is NextStep with QuickTime thrown in for a little flavor.

It's the software.
Always has been, always will be.

Apr 24, 08 - 07:49 am Comment from: jocknerd

I'm a web developer. Most of the Developer Conferences I've been to the last couple of years, PyCon, RailsConf, CFUnited, Macs rule. At the most recent PyCon in Chicago in March, I would estimate that 60% of the laptops there were Macs. Of the remaining laptops, it was probably a 50-50 split between Linux and Windows.

I prefer Macs to Linux for my development because of OS X doesn't need as much tweaking as Linux does and Textmate just flat out rocks.

But when its time to deploy, I want Linux or BSD or Solaris on the servers. OS X Server may be fine for a workgroup, but its performance lags the others and I like the tweakability factor of the others on a server.

My motto is OS X on the desktop and Linux/BSD/Solaris on the server.