MacDailyNews - Where Mac news comes first

Imagine that. Someone else can see it, too.

~M

MW growth (wow)

total bullshit. Run the numbers.....11% is totally bogus.

Plus, how could those dumb windows users suddenly become so smart? Do they pass the income test?

Three switchers I know didn't own iPods before they bought Macs. After the umpteenth time I helped them with cleaning their PCs, they finally gave in and got the Macs that I've been telling them to get every time their PCs crapped out. Now they've become evangelizers in their own right.

One was so impressed with his Mac, he decided to buy the new iPod and is having a ball. He was actually complaining that the weekend was too short; he was just having a joyous time doing stuff on his Mac (digitizing slides and photos, etc) and loading movies on his iPod. Another switcher I know is getting the nano for herself for Christmas.

Seems like a reverse iPod effect to me.

Okay, now I'll say it: I'm getting tired of this arrogant MDN Takes. Almost any posting that involves an analyst or a competing product produces a Take that is degrading and negative to someone. That's not what we want. We want something mature and objective. At the very least, if you're going to put someone down, make it humorous and light-hearted.

Yah, I've sold three Macs and three iPods all to one family here in town. My parents started out as Mac users 15 years ago, but switched to Windows in the 90s when Macs were suffering. Now they are skeptical of the platform because of their outdated perception. I guess the only way to show them is to buy them Macs for Christmas.

I was suffering tonight. I was performing the occaisional delousing (removal of viruses and spyware) from the Win XP at the non-profit I volunteer at.

Every time I have to do it, I'm reminded how much I really, really hate Windows.

I like Macs because they are cute like me.

What we are really talking about is Branding.

The Microsoft/Intel/Dell brand names once stood for industry leading quality (come on MDN, even you can admit that Windows 95 and MS Office certainly had their day int eh sun).

But times have changed and just like "Honda" originally was looked at quite skeptically, It became synonymous with "Quality", while other long trusted brands..well..didn't.

So turns this tide as well. Apple's brand used to stand for "The Others" or perhaps "The Creative Types" but today it is standing for "Cool" "Quality" and "Fashionable" and that is something Nearly impossible for Microsoft or Dell to do (and dare I say Intel's last shot at "Cool" left the building with the dancing space suit people and Blue Man Group).

So it matters less and less the technical merit - hell look at Cars or Clothing or even chain restaurants and you will find it is far less about the product or the service as it is the associative Brand Image.

Apple got it.

PC's don't.

MDN word: mind

I tried maintaining the computers for a non-profit after school program running Windows. It was a nightmare. They couldn't go more than a week without loading them with so much garbage that opening their browser took about 3 minutes. I gave up, spent some time figuring out Linux and other than the occasional hardware failure, they have been working great with OpenOffice and Firefox for about 10 months. I really wanted to get them Mac Mini's, but they just didn't have the money for it. They barely scrape by as it is. And, I'm not sure where the Windows licenses were, so they might not have been legal - didn't matter for Linux. If you are interested, here is a link explaining why I switched them:
http://asianyouthservices.org/computers.html

Yeah Yeah Yeah. I have a Mac too, but Windows still dominates and always will.

Reading the BW article, you realize Wolf's model has Apple tripling its sales in 10 years, which would mean Apple might sell about $45 to $50 million worth of stuff. That's Dell's current size of sales. However, it appears that Wolf's model also predicts the market is doubling in size in that same period.

Alright, I admit it: I'm too stupid to realize that MDN's take actually WAS fair and objective.

You got me.

But I'm cool. You've gotta admit. Coolfactor. Cool.

"Mom! . . . Meatloaf!"

Why is it so hard to say, "No viruses, spyware or worms"?

Come on, BW, for once show some hoden, cuilles, ballar, gao-wan, palle, or in English: cojones, bolas, pelotas, huevos, ayotes, albondigas....

Stercorem pro cerebro habent.

Yeah, well Wolf is playing both sides of the street. On the one hand, he says that Apple is doing really well, is gaining marketshare, has innovative products and is an innovative company, even owns Apple stock himself, yet he downgrades AAPL from buy to hold. The guy’s schizo (or just looking to move the stock downward to buy more for himself).

MW: Decided, as in decidedly crazy.

BusinessWeek have published this, but Charles Wolf has been pro-Apple for at least five years. He's always very prominent if you listen to the Analyst calls after earnings announcements.

Hey me: right, branding... Nope, it IS the quality, ease of use, no viruses, etc. that makes the Mac what it is, thus growing in sales. Not branding.

何の事だぜ、おめいてち。。。

MDB word: hundred, as in I've switched hundred(s) to the Mac

An executive from Microsoft was recently quoted as saying that the halo effect was a myth.

Good, let them think that. Before they realize what hit them, it will be too late if it isn't already.

My switch count is also in the hundreds. Yay me.

Some people will, some people won't.

Some people are stupid and some people aren't.

Life goes on. relate it to everything you have ever done?

Some know things and some don't. That will always be so.
SOoooo, there is no reason to be concerned for those that are not as quick to catch on as the MAC'o'files.

Give them time and they will be assimilated.

Borg

I switched becuase i found the powerbook to be the coolest looking laptop hardware. I didn't know jack about OSX at the time.

The sales person didn't mention anything about security, lack of virus and spyware, etc. I only found out after my purchase. I wonder how many people really know that the Mac doesn't have a virus problem? It's not like Joe and Jane six pack sit around reading Apple forums...

Coofactor and Me,

You two are idiots. "perception" is totally the wrong word. It should have been fact. MDN is right on the money as usual.

I love my PowerBook and my family has 4 Macs. We have been mac evangelists since we bought our first one in '94. However, I go into a Best Buy and see rows and rows of PCs and eventually find their Mac Mini tucked into the corner with a crap monitor attached and realize that PCs will continue to dominate. People are sheep and Microsoft has succeeded in smearing Macs by touting them as play computers.

We know different, but I am fine feeling a bit superior.

I am so tired of people complaining about the storys on MDN. If you don't like it, don't read it. Obviously you are reading the posts because you're complaining about it.

I am also very tired of people complaining about attitudes or personal attacks. If you bring a Pee Sea loving attitude in here you're going to be flamed. Standing up for XP? You're toast (and a piece of shit).

If you don't like what you see, change the channel, but damn it, stop complaining about it.

Whoops, I'm complaining. Better change the channel. Bye

Forgot to add, I like MDN and think they're doing a good job of keeping something for Mac lovers to read in a complete absense of real news.

For the rest of you who are complaining about the stories here... oh sorry, gotta change the channel, didn't mean to complain...

I had been a very long time Mac user. I purchased my first Mac in 1984. Unfortunately, circumstances led me to the dark side in the mid 90's. Well, a couple of months ago, I made the move back.

My opinion is that many of the Switchers might be like me. People who used the Macs many years ago, but haven't lately. Now, they are hearing about Macs once again, and they're coming back into the loop.

There was much discussion about the "Osborne Effect" and how it would impact Mac sales with the move to Intel. Many have dismissed the "Effect" pointing to the great sales of the Mac over the year (50% increase over last year)

I am going to suggest that the "Osborne Effect" is in full swing. That there are A LOT of people that are putting off a purchase of the Mac until the Intel Macs come out. These are almost all Switchers too. So, why are we seeing such an increase in sales if the Effect is in full swing? My theory is that the demand is so high right now, that even with the delayed purchasing by some, the impact is very high.

So, what's to come? Well, if rumors are true, Apple will announce the Intel Macs in January. For the first three months, people will sit back and watch for reviews and see how the hardware and software works. After that, if things go well, watch for a skyrocketing increase in Mac sales. There will be articles about how Apple is taking over the market "all of a sudden" and how the others are falling off.

These are only my views. I have backed up my views with my money. I've picked up a good number of shares in AAPL.

We Mac users still suffer from virii, spyware, and the like. We have to deal with Windows users bitching and moaning and half the time we know more about how to protect a PC then they do!! I guess that comes with the whole "more intelligent" classification, doesn't it?
I have a G5 and have to suffer everytime my dad calls me wondering why his new PC is acting funny and won't let him connect or his homepage has been changed without his consent!

It's funny how tech analysts were at first dismissing the iPod halo effect.

This guy is a Windows man to be sure. He is reluctantly admitting that people are buying Macs, but he admits no good reasons for the phenomenon. Instead, he brings up the "perception" of Macs being safer, and cites the misleading stat that Macs have 2% marketshare.

My brother introduced me to the Mac back in 1984. I was using a Commode-Door 64 (as a word processor). I would not go over to his house and even look at his Mac. So he brought it to my house in a cute carrying bag and left it with me for an afternoon. I went and bought one (with external floppy drive and printer) for $3100 the following day and have been using them ever since (still have my orig and it still works although it's been upgraded to 512K memory).

In the 90's I had a corporate client that forced me to do things on a PEE SEA. My brother started teaching at a Kansas University and switched to WinDoze. Since then he's reloaded his software over a dozen times.

Two years ago I switched off my last MS OS PC and have not missed it in the slightest. Well I have missed the virus plague but that's a good thing.

I might buy my brother a MacMini for Xmas just to reintroduce him to quality computing.

OK, I'd like a definitive, non-arrogant website that can be used to convince a semi-geeky friend that buying a Mac is the way to go. He has a decent knowledge of OS's, but he's convinced that he can't run the software that he needs to on a Mac. Any suggestions? I want a place that doesn't use MDN's approach of degrading anyone who isn't already a MacFan or doesn't entirely believe that Steve-O's s*** doesn't stink.

Any suggestions?

What's the surprise? Windows is a headache, a nightmare to support and really, really sucks. XP reminds me of a funky, unfinished bad copy of OS 9x.
Mac OS X isn't without it's issues, but they are few and not that bad compared to Windows.
The more that Windows users experience Mac OS X, more and more of them will switch.

All this talk of Windows switchers is ignoring a smaller, but perhaps still significant group of Switchers: Linux Switchers.

I like many other Linux users I know, got tired of an OS that requires constant messing around with text files to get hardware working, poorly supported hardware and clunky irregular user interfaces.

When Mac OS X came along, with its juicy UNIX core and fantastic user interfaces many of us former Linux users jumped and never went back. I've gone from having a linux box at home and one at work, to having 2 Mac Laptops, one of which I plug into a Dell 2005FPW flatpanel to work at home, while my beige linux box only gets fired up to ssh into for tough computational tasks. I also managed to be the first person at my work to get a Dual G5 instead of a Dell Linux box as my main workstation. Since getting that machine we've had 2 more switchers in my building, and the IT guy (who's Windows mainly) now recommends Macs for anyone wanting a new machine over Solaris or Linux boxes we were buyingn before.

Including some from PC-centric sources, not Mac-centric:

http://www.macmentor.org/switch

http://www.xvsxp.com

http://apple.com/switch

http://www.systemshootouts.org

http://securityawareness.blogspot.com/2005/09/mad-as-hell-finale-recommendations-and.html

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1851295,00.asp

http://www.syracuse.com/news/poststandard/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1122366971122720.xml

http://www.microsoftmonitor.com/archives/007717.html

http://versiontracker.com

As the former President and CEO of General Motors, I have to agree with "Bill Gates" (above posting). MS will ALWAYS be the biggest and best operating system provider in the world . . . just as GM will ALWAYS be the biggest and best car maker in the world.

ALWAYS! ALWAYS! It hath been written on high!

ALWAYS!

I dunno about OS wars but if winning means you gotta use something as crappy as windoze, I say let em win. I would like to see Apple get up to between 10 and 20 percent to make sure the software writers make a Mac version but don't really care if we get over that. There are certain advantages to being the few, the proud, the users in the know.

Thanks, Links!!!

I've sold 4 iPods, an iMac, and a pending Mac mini.