Macs that run Windows will calm potential switchers’ irrational fears

“Turning a decades-long rivalry on its head, Apple Computer introduced software today that it says will easily allow users to install Microsoft’s Windows XP operating system on Apple’s newest computers,” Vikas Bajaj reports for The New York Times. “The software, Boot Camp, is available as a free download on Apple’s Web site and will be part of the next version of Apple’s operating system, Leopard… Many personal computer users have been reluctant to switch to Apple, because they cannot use software that is written to run exclusively on the Windows operating system, said Charles Wolf, a longtime technology industry analyst at Needham & Company.”

“Apple ‘can say the Mac is better till they’re blue in the face, but they’ve got to respond to people’s concerns about switching, no matter how irrational,’ said Scott Heiferman, an Apple user and the chief executive and co-founder of Meetup.com, the Internet site that helps groups form and organize. ‘I bet some people will switch, because of the safety that this news provides, but they’ll end up not rebooting to Windows very often.,'” Bajaj reports. “Mr. Wolf calculates that Apple’s biggest market share gains will be among users at home, who are more likely to be swayed by Apple’s design and media features, than among corporate and government customers, who will likely to stick with the cheaper hardware and software configurations they are used to.”

Bajaj reports, “The shift could mean an increase in sales for Apple over time, especially after Leopard becomes the standard Mac operating system late this year or early in 2007. But the company’s gains do not have to mean big losses for other hardware makers, Mr. Wolf said, because they will only lose a small fraction of their market share. ‘You are starting out with a market share of 2 or 3 percent and maybe going to a market share of 6 or 7,’ he said. ‘Apple is not going to take over the world.'”

Full article here.

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48 Comments

  1. ‘You are starting out with a market share of 2 or 3 percent and maybe going to a market share of 6 or 7,’ he said. ‘Apple is not going to take over the world.’

    Hmmm. As a Mac user old enough to remember the 50’s when GM rules the civilized world, I can remember someone saying the VERY SAME THING about Japanese car makers!

  2. Apple needs to redesign Boot Camp. OS X should load first…then if you want to use windows click on an icon in the dock. OS X should always be the main boot of a Mac. Fix this Apple we know you can.

  3. Consider this:

    Apple gets a bunch of hardware sales in the next 10 mos. from Switchers who may run a LOT in Windows… and switch over to do iPHoto stuff. Windows, with OS X on the Side, if you will.

    Vista is released.

    Say it’s not “YET” Supported by Boot Camp.

    People who want to upgrade choose Leopard, as it comes with virtualization software… to run Vista, meaning they’re essentially switching to OS X, with Vista on the Side.

    The transition slowly happens.

    People getting a little frustrated that they can’t use some features of OS X with windows, like the iSight, start using OS X more…

  4. ‘You are starting out with a market share of 2 or 3 percent and maybe going to a market share of 6 or 7,’ he said. ‘Apple is not going to take over the world.'”

    Buuuuuuuaaaaaaahhhhh BBBBBUUUUUUUAHHHHHH BBBBWWWWAAAAHHHHH!!!!

  5. You are starting out with a market share of 2 or 3 percent and maybe going to a market share of 6 or 7,’ he said. ‘Apple is not going to take over the world.'”

    But the loser now will be later to win for the times they are a changin.

  6. Seriously, Windows users are so……I can’t think of the word. Stupid? No. Dumb? No. Set in there ways? Yeah…kinda.

    Ok, I can see maybe using XP for Games. Perhaps Microsoft should come out with a GAMES version of XP.

    But why would I want to run it for email? To get a virus? To get a virus via Internet Explorer?

    It’s also amazing that all Windows users expect their 1999 or earlier hardware to work with a new system. Example is a music list I am on, where some guy has this sound card. You can get a BETTER one, for $100, which has more features, etc etc, but he wants to use the one he has.

    I don’t get it.

    MD News Magic Word: “Question” as in “I question the need for supporting hardware 7 years old”

  7. There’s too much irrational fear on the Mac side for what’s going on here. This isn’t some mythical thing Apple whipped up in a matter of a day…this has been planned for A LONG time by Jobs & Co. They know what they’re doing. And lest we all forget that Steve said in an interview many moons ago that he plans to RETAKE THE DESKTOP MARKET.

    Hasn’t anyone noticed why no word of Leopard has been released up until this Boot Camp program surfaced? There’s something much bigger here going on than many of use know about, least of all the Redmond group.

    Jobs & Co. are moving their pieces. They’re getting set to check mate the devil and remove his addictive evilness from our society.

    There’s something big that’s been in the plan for a while and I think we’re just now seeing the tip of it.

    Why do you think Mac OS X only comes with Chess? It’s because Steve & Co. have been secretly telling us they’re no fools and it’s time to put this OS game into check! M$ Windows comes with mindless wastes of time…exactly what their OS is.

  8. Roy, it’s not for you then. Boot Camp is for those of us that switched to a Mac or otherwise love our Macs but *must* run some Windows software for work. I fit in this category. I have a PowerBook G4, but I also have to keep a Dell laptop with me in case I have to do any work for my company. Being able to take one laptop, use OS X for everything, but having XP there in case I need to get into something at work, will be awesome. I have two applications that I need for work that define my entire career and they do not have Mac versions. So, this is for people like me and others whom situations I have not thought of.

  9. iDont – I’ll be glad when the day comes that you Apple head Kool-Aid drinkers are in the minority and find something else to whine about.

    I’ll be happy when Trolls get a life and don’t feel so insecure that they need to go to Mac sites to show how desparate they really are. Physcotherapy is another forum, we talk Macs here. I wouldn’t go to a site on painting and offer unsolicited opinions if I was blind from birth.

  10. iDont – I’ll be glad when the day comes that you Apple head Kool-Aid drinkers are in the minority and find something else to whine about.

    I’ll be happy when Trolls get a life and don’t feel so insecure that they need to go to Mac sites to show how desparate they really are. Physcotherapy is another forum, we talk Macs here. I wouldn’t go to a site on painting and offer unsolicited opinions if I was blind from birth.

  11. iDont – I’ll be glad when the day comes that you Apple head Kool-Aid drinkers are in the minority and find something else to whine about.

    I’ll be happy when Trolls get a life and don’t feel so insecure that they need to go to Mac sites to show how desparate they really are. Physcotherapy is another forum, we talk Macs here. I wouldn’t go to a site on painting and offer unsolicited opinions if I was blind from birth.

  12. iDont – I’ll be glad when the day comes that you Apple head Kool-Aid drinkers are in the minority and find something else to whine about.

    I’ll be happy when Trolls get a life and don’t feel so insecure that they need to go to Mac sites to show how desparate they really are. Physcotherapy is another forum, we talk Macs here. I wouldn’t go to a site on painting and offer unsolicited opinions if I was blind from birth.

  13. I think alot of people have missed the real point.

    Vista is late for the holiday selling period and won’t be here until 2007.

    Someone wants to buy a replacement of their old PC. They might have brought a PC with Vista but it’s not here.

    Oh, there’s a MAC I can buy now and it runs windows.
    I think I’ll get this and when Vista comes out I can buy that too.

    But wait, After a few weeks – why do I need to buy Vista?? I have Windows XP on MAC and it runs everything I need, especailly the stuff that doesn’t run on MAC’s. I’m really fallin in love with Leopard. I’m sticking with what I have and there’s no need to buy Vista.

    CHECKMATE – Vista sales don’t capture the upgrade market. More people buy MAC with Leopard. Only new users will get Vista when they buy Dell or HP, etc.

    See the market erosion of MS.

  14. I bought a MacBook Pro yesterday and brought it into work, which is entirely Windows-based. What a reaction it got! Everyone loved the look of the machine, but above all, everyone was amazed with OSX. I showed them Expose, spotlight, iPhoto – they couldn’t believe it. Even dumb visual candy things, like minimising documents into the dock, amazed them.

    It helped make up the mind of one of my colleagues – he’s buying an iMac today. Another colleague asked my opinion about whether she should get a Mac, and my response was – why would you choose Windows? Another colleague is curious and wants to see it run AutoCAD (which it can, now that I’ve installed Boot Camp) and doesn’t quite believe that it’s compatible with Windows.

    Most people out there have no idea that alternatives exists, let alone what the alternatives can do.

  15. This is not the end of the mac but a new beginning to exciting possiblities. Never underestimate the ability of Steve Jobs to prove everyone wrong. All the tech writers said no one would ever buy an iPod because its price was too high. They said no one would want to download their music because they would want to own a physical copy of it. They said Apple was going to be dead (not sure how many times this was said). Jobs is on a mission. Boot camp is the beginning of something big. All we have to do is to sit back and see what else comes out of Cupertino. Personally, I think this is a new approach to take back the desktop market from MS not give it to them totally. Don’t sound the death knell quite yet because I don’t think Jobs has even begun to fight.

  16. In a year or two the irony will be that like with iTunes and iPod where most owners/users will be Windows PC owners; most PC owners that buy a Mac will be using it to run Windows on their Apple computer.

  17. “Jobs & Co. are moving their pieces. They’re getting set to check mate the devil and remove his addictive evilness from our society.

    There’s something big that’s been in the plan for a while and I think we’re just now seeing the tip of it.”

    Jim you could not be more on the money! THIS IS A GAME OF CHESS AND STEVE and the boys at Apple are waiting to make their real move when Leopard comes out. This stuff has been in the works for YEARS. You are now starting to see a BIG part of the intel switch.

  18. But iWould,
    Its nuts like you and other Apple devotees that give Macs a bad rep. All the hate M$ might be justified but it does not help win converts people to Macs. The majority of people are turned off by blind hate of any type. I love Macs but dislike many Mac users. Especially you.

    MW: taking. Like in, you taking a long walk of a short pier.

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