[Pepi Picklefoot]

Probably not...but it'll never recover. Or at least not in the next 10 years.

Rumor has it that Apple will have a word processor app out by the end of this year. Hopefully it'll be a Word-killer that will be able to read the Word .doc format. If this app is bundled with every new Mac, Apple will have the ultimate consumer package:

*(Good word processor)
*iMovie 3
*iDVD 3
*iPhoto 2
*iCal
*iChat
*Address Book
*Sherlock 3
*iTunes
*Mail
*Safari

All this on top of an excellent OS that seems to have made leaps and bounds since Public Beta.

By the end of this year, all Macs will have all these apps, and probably 10.3 (or whatever version number Apple is going to decide using for their next release) bundled and installed out-of-the-box.

What else is a consumer supposed to ask for? These are all quality apps and they come with the Mac for free (well, Macs are more expensive than PCs...but let's face it, most PCs are made of cheaper hardware and don't have this kind of bundled software...add 300 for MS Office here and 100 for decent movie making software there and you're pretty much paying the same price you would if you had bought a Mac.

So why in God's name are so many people buying PCs? I don't know. The Mac offers the best out-of-box experience out there and yet people don't seem to know or care.

I don't think Apple can ever recover. Apple won't disappear, but they'll never get a double-digit marketshare. I don't see what else Apple can do aside from pushing Motorola to produce faster processors or going with IBM's 970 processors. If Apple catches up in speed with the Intel side...what else can it do? If they've got the speed, and the good-looking hardware, and the best OS out there, and the best free software bundle, what else can they frickin' do? To attract people?

It's up to you guys to spread the facts: That even though you pay premium for a Mac, you get an excellent software bundle and a great OS, (and hopefully eventually, speed that's on par with PC offerings). People still look at Macs as a possible compatibility problem. This is just not true anymore. Yes, you can't buy a PC program and run it on the Mac (without some kind of emulation software)...but you can open most files created on a PC. And a lot of the Mac programs are better and more simple to use than their PC equivalents.

Once Apple closes the gap with a word processor and hopefully a spreadsheet that can read MS's .doc and .xls formats, there will simply be no excuse not to get a Mac. You'll pay more to get the Mac, but you'll get more. And 'pay more to get the Mac' is really debatable since you'd be paying for this software on the PC side.

All the consumer software you need is available on Mac and is, IMO, better than what the PC side offers.

So why? If you're my little sister, or my grandma, or uncle Harvey that doesn't know anything about computer, why are you buying a PC if all you want to do is surf the web, e-mail, chat, write essays, listen to music, make DVDs and schedule your week. Whyyyyy...for the love of God...

...if your answer is 'because I want to play games'...then ok, get a PC. But there are consoles that cost much less if you're really into games.

[suhail]

AppleWorks opens .doc fies. But has been abandoned by Apple for quite a while now!!

P.S. That was a TROLL's Topic!!!

[Too Much Coffee Woman]

i think market share is overrated


even 5% represents million in users and billions in revenue

[Pepi Picklefoot]

Originally posted by Too Much Coffee Woman:
i think market share is overrated


even 5% represents million in users and billions in revenue

Hmmm...good point. I have often thought about that. 5% awhile ago might have meant something serious (when not many people had computers)...but now that everyone has a computer or two, 5% does mean millions in users and billions in revenue.

More points:

Apple's semi-closed hardware platform means less hardware conflicts/problems...which means less and easier troubleshooting.

It's obscurity means less virus. I have yet to see a single virus for OS X. Heck...I haven't had a virus in about 7 years. And most of the pre-OS X viruses were harmless. I have never installed a virus detection program ever. I never worry about viruses. I can open up any suspicious e-mails without fear. I can surf the web to suspicious sites that download .exe files to my computer and not have to worry about them auto-executing or worry about myself or others executing it.

People are wrong about the price. People have to start realizing that even though you're paying $500-1000 more for a Mac, you're also getting bundled software that makes up for the premium you're paying. Not to mention the comfort of knowing you're pretty much invicinble to viruses and free of odd hardware problems that can't be dignosed easily.

On top of this, you're getting the latest in non-CPU related tech...things like Airport Extreme, Bluetooth, Firewire 800, etc...

The *only* thing that just isn't right, is the processor speed. The rest is right on par with the price of the machine.

There's no excuse...for most people, the Mac has all the software they'll ever need. Being a *NIX-based OS, OS X opens up the door to all UNIX apps, all OS 9 apps, as well the native OS X apps.

Open source projects are made to be cross platform...a lot of them are available for OS X.

OS X has pretty much all the console emulators you need if you're into old school gaming. The best games on the PC normally get ported to Mac. So we're getting a filtration process...the crappy games don't make it to Mac and that's fine with me. The other games are best played on consoles such as X-Box, GameCube and PS2.

No excuse anymore.

[maxelson]

Yah, yah, Apple dead, dying, cancerous, only a matter of time, blah, blah, blah. Recover from what?
C'mon. Have we not been through this for the last 15 years?


Riddle me this:
What Auto maker woulod not KILL for 5% market share?

[wdlove]

An Apple replacement for Word that sounds great. What about Filemaker?

[maxelson]

FileMaker IS Apple. Owned by Apple. Isn't it? Why kill their own (great) product?
Wait. Am I reading this wrong?

[snotnose]

Apple is stronger than ever! believe it!