Apple: People Will Upgrade to Macs, Not Win 7

[r3t4rd]

[citation][nom]dc_webster[/nom]I tried to be succinct while at the same time state my complete case for sticking with Windows / Windows 7. I guess others have much more simply made the same point. But I wanted to give readers my take on the attractive reasons for staying Windows. Admittley it probably wasn't needed in this forum as most of us here are enthusiasts and know full well what can be done with Windows. I just felt like making the case in writing for others. My apologies if it was time consuming/or seemed condesending to you.[/citation]
Some people who post here are just people who think they are Tech Savvy when...they are not. I know lots of programers/coders etc who knows nothing about computer hardware. THey know what codes to include to call the command that is it. So your Post was a good read and to the point of why Windows PC's are more versitile thatn MAC PC's. And also take into account, there are different levels of computer knowledge. And again, all people who post here are not equal in that knowledge...even though they think they are - especially the Mac Fanboys.

For you Mac Fanboys....go read dc_webster's post. It will enlighten you.

 

[safcmanfr]

You ever heard of the theory that humans are going to split into two groups? One intelligent, tall group and one small, stumpy, stupid group.

People who change to a Mac PC for the reasons in above article are the beginning of the small stupid ones. "OMG, I cant install a new OS and reinstall my software - so I am going to buy a new system for $2000 which will make me reinstall my software anyway. and oh yeah, half my current software wont work with the new system anyhow"

 

[tanderskey]

i like Macs for all kinds of reasons but Schiller's comments do seem a bit ... um ... well ... optimistic.

people, being people, often dont look beyond what's in front of them (mostly Windows) for anything different. especially if theyve already become familiar with or built their lives on the idiosyncracies of that system's methods.

neither Windows nor Mac should really expect some dramatic change in the landscape of the computers sitting on people's desks just because a version number changes.

someday we'll all have dumb terminals again ... this time with web interfaces linking to some grand computing service in the sky ... and we'll forget about all this client-based operating system nonsense and we can argue about whose BIOS is best (unless of course you dont use a BIOS).

 

[JohnnyLucky]

Interesting but rather strange comments made by Schiller.

 

[decepticon]

[citation][nom]djackson_dba[/nom]How many steps does it take to upgrade from XP to OSX?[/citation]

LMAO! It takes one...giant...overpriced....convoluted...step.

 

[aeurix]

"you will upgrade to macs... you have no interest in lower priced better quality windows 7" /waves hand in star wars fashion

 

[mofogo]

Man, if its that difficult to install why would they buy a 2000$ piece of hardware when they can purchase a 700$ piece of hardware with Windows 7 installed on it. Then he says that the Snow Leopard upgrade is only 30$. Yeah if already own a Mac, which contradicts the entire point of this article!

 

[eccentric909]

[citation][nom]dc_webster[/nom]I tried to be succinct while at the same time state my complete case for sticking with Windows / Windows 7. [/citation]

While the post was long, I enjoyed reading it and it hit home to me, since those are many of the reasons I prefer Win to Mac. Good post!

I also take it English isn't your first language?

 

[Miharu]

I'll tell same as most of you...
I don't understand Mac at all...
The part "New Windows, and the message is you need to upgrate to the customers" Ok...
BUT! customers doesn't want old hardware like a MAC.
They don't run on new i7 cpu...

Feel like customers feel retard and go buy old hardware and a Mac ?!?

Vista failed... ok but why Win7 will get less upgrade to the Snow Leopard... It's just speculation without any arguments.
I feel bad hearing stupidity like this.

 

[ceteras]

[citation][nom]Spanky Deluxe[/nom]Some of this does make sense. Most windows users don't 'upgrade' their Windows version after all. They tend to buy a whole new computer. [blah blah blah] .[/citation]

Hm, indeed, I will buy a new computer, a new win7 laptop.
I would only use a Mac if it would be needed at work(such as my colleagues who can only develop their iPhone application on Macs). It wouldn't be a torture for me, but nor something to be grateful about.

 

[eccentric909]

[citation][nom]zelannii[/nom](Blizzard confirms 20% of their userbase is Mac users). [/citation]

No they do not. You don't have to make "facts" up about the Apple gaming platform's popularity.

"To be honest it's proably more like 90% PC's to 10% Macs"

From: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=19110419812&sid=1

I doubt his guess is considering users from Asia, SA and Europe. I'd expect that in Asia the percentage is even less than 10%.

If you actually have a source or quote from Blizzard for your 20% claim, I'd be interested in reading it. Because I think even 10% is being a bit too generous.

 

[Ciuy]

you wish ...

 

[Techman_15]

I love my iphone - but that's about as Apple as I will go. The last desktop I bought was in 1990 (built all of the rest myself) and I would only consider an Apple Laptop if they were in the same price range as a windows laptop.

Since you can't install An apple OS on a home built system, and since Apple Laptops are way overpriced, it looks like for the foreseeable future I'll be using windows.

 

[Intel_Hydralisk]

I thought this article sounded familiar. Indeed, this is the second time Marcus has posted this. Nice going Tom's.

 

[Yoder54]

[citation][nom]coonday[/nom]I don't think he actually believes any of this bs he's spitting out. I think Apple is just worried because once they can't bash Vista in their commercials any more they will have nothing left to criticize.[/citation]

They already have all that they need to begin the attack. Recent tests by CNET where they ran Win7 against Snow Leopard showed that SL was faster in almost all areas except gaming. Their conclusion was that unless you are a gamer, then get a Mac.

Also, the comment was made in reference to historical data. Every time MS releases an OS, then Mac sales go up and there is data that shows such. If anything, the comment was anything but "new."

Many of us here will upgrade to Win7, but the average consumer is afraid of doing such and they would rather buy a new box, especially since many are running antiquated hardware. Consequently, there will be a large number of people who are going to be buying a new computer between now and Christmas. The stock numbers for the fourth quarter will tell us who shows any increases in sales.

 

[vaskodogama]

yeah, from the comments I read here, schiller must be nuts!
and IF people start switching to Macs, The Macs will have viruses and spywares and malwares too, because of the ratio people using macs, and so the ratio of important data stored on a mac increases. That's when a weak OS in security shows itself.

 

[datawrecker]

[citation][nom]Spanky Deluxe[/nom]Keep in mind that what I've written above is not typical of the average user on here who is far more likely to buy a Windows 7 upgrade and is very unlikely to buy a Mac ever. I'm not talking about gamers, I'm talking about the average user, the average college student, the average housewife, the average parent etc.[/citation]

My wife, average housewife, average parent, level III Chemist going back to school. She hates having to upgrade to anything new and having to relearn it. I had her use Windows 7 and a hackintosh. After about 2 months of using both her exact words were.

"Why would I buy a Mac and have to learn the whole ins and outs of a operating system again when I can get an upgrade to Windows and already have a good grasp on where things will be located and what software I can buy. I just doesn't make sense and will not make sense to any other woman."

Not to mention I can upgrade upgrade 4-5 computers to Windows 7 at $300 a piece for the same price as an average Mac. But then again she is a student, she can pickup Win 7 under $100. Hell with that price I can update all 10 of my systems.

 

[Guest]

Well Shiller is right. I upgraded my iMac to Snow Leopard...however, that was just to make sure I could install Windows 7 in Boot Camp properly... I hate the Mac O/S compared to Windows. I about woke my family this morning doing the upgrade as the DVD disc sounds like an airplane it vibrated so hard. I never have that issue with any of my other 3 PC's. Just that fantastic Mac hardware.

 

[mofogo]

That CNET article was about the most non-objective piece of crap I've read in a long time. At one point he said he let windows default its performance to what the computer could support (all things turned on, which would make a performance hit) and then he left the mac on "hi performance". Also, would it have been that difficult to buy the same hard drive and not two different ones with "similar specs"?

 

[christop]

Good luck apple with your idea... People will love 7 I do and have been using it for a while. Let see what makes more sense to buy a 1500 machine with osx or a 500 pc with 7 which has kinda the same gui interface as osx but even better...

 

[choujij]

The title is a bit misleading, it should say:
"Apple: Stupid People Will Upgrade to Macs, Not Win 7"

 

[datawrecker]

[citation][nom]zelannii[/nom]Well, lets take a look: Mac game titlesnD OnlineWOWCity of Heroes/villiansEverquestDiablo II (and soon III)Starcraft (and soon II)warhammer onlineNeverwinter nights 1 + 2Eve onlineHALODoom 3Command and conquerCall of Duty (all)Civilization seriesAVPFord racingLoTR onlineMedal of Honor seriesSporeQuake 4Age of Empiresmost of Lucas Arts games (and all upcoming ones for PC will be Mac as well)UnrealI could easily go on.....Every upcoming game from EAEvery upcoming game from BlizzardEven TURBINE (aka microsoft) has comitted to releasing every upcoming mass market game for the Mac going forward.Needless to say, this is a lot more than 1% of the gamers out there. (Blizzard confirms 20% of their userbase is Mac users). Why? 2% of PCs come with the graphics capability to run modern PC games. 80% of Macs in the wild can already, and 100% of shipping macs can play most games in at leats low res, with 60% of shipping macs including the most powerful mobile GPU (or better) available now. The Mac user base is actually a MORE attreactive user base for game companies... Mac users typically have more money, have stable hardware, have fewer support calls to game companies over compatabiltiy/performance issues, and more.Oh, and you can always dualboot XP anyway... without needing a second HDD, and without needing to be a PC expert to figure out how (and without loading Linux to be a multi-boot assistant).[/citation]

This is true that more and more games are coming out for Mac. I most of these for both Mac and PC. From my experience, Macs have a LOOONNGG way to go to compete with PC gaming. The games do not provide the same stability as you find on PCs. WoW has twice as many issues with Mac users than they do with PCs. Why is this? When all of your hardware is the same for every system and a there is a known issue with the interaction between the two there is a greater percentage of users affected by the bugs. My oldest PC uses an 512 8800GT (still a great card btw)and it runs circles around the Mac Pro I bought 6 months ago. Side by side viewing shows how badly one of the latest Macs has trouble keeping up with a budget gaming PC built two years ago. This happened for WoW, Warhammer Online, DnD Online, Age of Empires, Call of Duty, and Quake 4. What makes it even more sad is that the PC was running Vista Ultimate.

There is something that Apple and you are forgetting to realize. Devs will realize it soon enough.

There are three basic markets for gamers.

1. Casual Gamers
2. Recreational Gamers
3. Hardcore Gamers

Casual gamers play games that do not require any special hardware at all and tend to partol sites like Popcap for the latest and greatest of Plants Vs. Zombies, Peggle(which I love), and Zuma. Those are leading titles in that market. Any system available today can run them. I have them loaded on a Vostro A90. The majority of these users are women ages 40 and older, also the fastest growing demgraphic of gamers. Housewives and mothers that play games when they get a chance, and chances are they could care less about what they play their games on. They are more concerned with family budgeting, which leaves Mac out of the picture. They want a PC for Facebook, email and web browsing. I highly doubt the majority of the market is going to choose a $1000 Mac or Macbook over a $300 desktop that can play their games or a $300 netbook that does it as well.

Recreational gamers just want to play the games and tend to be males that do not have a large budget or a lot of time to really get into a long session. These users tend to be where the budget gamers are. They are also where are lot of the more tech savvy users. They know what the best hardware is, but they know how to get the most bang out of their buck. Most of these users are you console players. This is the largest market. These users are looking for the cheapest way to have a good balance between graphics and gameplay. (Crytech missed this one completely and Crysis was not that good) With the limited upgrade capacity and extremely high pricing, this leaves the Mac off the radar of Recreational gamers. (It certainly explains the dismal sales of Mac games, even when you consider the numbers difference)

Harcore gamers, the maniacs and crazy people. Hardware manufacturers LOVE these guys. If a new product comes out, it will be in their system in less than a month. Extreme highend hardware is what they want. Thier goal is to squeeze every last drop of graphics and performance out of a game. Sad to say, Macs nor consoles will satisfy these guys. If a title hits multiple platforms, their platform of choice is the PC. IF you ask these guys if it runs Crysis, they will tell you it will Crysis and two instances of WoW at once. Hardware for these guys is just not available for Macs. They have no problem spending $1500 a piece for video cards, $1000 on a processor, money is not an issue, it is performance. And no Mac can perform on this level. Even if Apple did support the latest and greatest hardware, even a 1% loss in performance will keep them away.

Macs have come a long way for gaming. But they are not even halfway there yet.

 

[ant1-b0dy]

Wow - WTG Marcus! For the LOVE OF GOD, stop posting these stupid articles that are fueled by your own childish behavior to believe that Macs are superior to PCs. Nothing in life is perfect, GTFO!

 

[lashton]

why would customer iuse the worlds number 2 top hardware line, for less you can buy a whole new computer, this way users know how windows works and dont have to use the mac osx, which i hate, remember apple people dont like change fools!

 

[dextermat]

Yah, positive thinking won't cut it here, it's not because you think so that it will happen!!!

I tried both and i am more comfortable with the pc and his range of flexibility.

that's it that's