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TC · Feb 20, 2003, 06:05 AM

http://www.bluearc.com/barrall/0203_switch.shtml

I have a PC which just sits there for days at a time not being switched on. Then one day I need to use it for something, like testing a web site in explorer. In the last few weeks it has given me a new problem almost every time I try to use it. The normal one is that I am connected to a LAN and it always tries to dial when I want to access a web site.

It runs Windows Server 2000 and it sucks ass.

mitchell_pgh · Feb 20, 2003, 08:01 AM

.

sniffer · Feb 20, 2003, 10:20 AM

From the article:

Sometimes it is important not just to Think Different� but also to Be Different.

He had problems with MS office on his PC so he bought a mac to use with MS Office. I am speakless..

Boochie · Feb 20, 2003, 11:14 AM

Next he'll be installing Virtual PC on it...

Originally posted by sniffer:
From the article:
He had problems with MS office on his PC so he bought a mac to use with MS Office. I am speakless..

dlefebvre · Feb 20, 2003, 01:03 PM

And next, someone will bitch about it and someone will reply with another complaint and so on giving us a never stoping argument like every single thread in these forums lately. It would be nice to be constructive about something for a change.

Hi I'm Ben · Feb 20, 2003, 01:33 PM

i actually like this story, it makes sense... it's similar to the reason i switched to mac. But not. Hell i didn't even switch to mac for good, i still use a PC

typoon · Feb 20, 2003, 03:33 PM

This is a pretty good story. :-) score another for the Mac

The Evener · Feb 20, 2003, 05:41 PM

I liked the story, too, particularly because it involved someone making the simple decision to try another platform and enjoying it once they did.

The upside is that it shows that system interoperatibility is something Microsoft is perfectly capable of doing, despite a marketing strategy over several years that emphasized the exact opposite (ie. WordPerfect versus MS Office with MS Windows).

The downside is that it's something MS can easily take away if Apple should ever assume a kind of critical mass, especially in a business environment where making "profit" is no longer good enough, but hand-over-fist profits. With the Dept. of Justice giving MS a "Get Out of Jail Free" card, the day of MS announcing the end of Apple support because of their small market share (despite making money) is not out of the realm of possibility. That would hardly mean the end of the Mac as a great computing platform, but it would be a move that most analysts would seize as "The End."

Spheric Harlot · Feb 20, 2003, 06:09 PM

Originally posted by The Evener:
The downside is that it's something MS can easily take away if Apple should ever assume a kind of critical mass, especially in a business environment where making "profit" is no longer good enough, but hand-over-fist profits. With the Dept. of Justice giving MS a "Get Out of Jail Free" card, the day of MS announcing the end of Apple support because of their small market share (despite making money) is not out of the realm of possibility.

Except now they're perfectly poised to continue selling their software even to Mac users to run via Virtual PC, which they now own.

"No, we don't make a version of XXX for Mac, but - here - you can buy Virtual PC (=$) with Windows XP (=$), so you can run our XXX (=$) on your Powerbook."

They only lose if Apple can keep up fast enough with their own fully compatible version of XXX - which they're increasingly doing in most of the software where Microsoft-compatibility is paramount for users.

Keynote is an example, and I'm sure a new version of Appleworks is in the works to replace the rest of Office. And if people don't want to spend money, there's even OpenOffice via the surely-to-be-bundled X11 to install for free.

That actually sounds like a pretty good future for the Mac platform, I have to say. Especially since it'll remain a pretty attractive environment for the *nix crowd.

-s*

TC · Feb 21, 2003, 07:54 AM

I thought it was nice to hear from a business point of view and not just how good the mac is at connecting to cameras and mp3 players.
We all know the mac rocks for multimedia but it now plays nicely in the office environment.

Keynote is a step in the right direction for Apple. Business people won't switch just to use the same Office suite on a different computer. If Apple could give them a better (or just simpler) Office suite then it could convince people to switch.

sniffer · Feb 21, 2003, 09:26 AM

Making a complete competable office package is a big step. Perhaps Apple could come up with something nifty in the same way they did with Safari trought open source? Thought Keynote might not get open sourced..
Apple have a potential to benefit a lot trough the open source community (E.g. in the way they already do now with darwin and Safari), especially since their income is a lot based on hardware sales.

TC · Feb 21, 2003, 11:01 AM

Originally posted by sniffer:
especially since their income is a lot based on hardware sales.

Kinda like IBM producing Linux servers.

Problem for Apple is why would someone pay for their expensive hardware when they could buy a cheap PC and run the same open source application?

(Not bitching about Apple's expensive hardware, I believe you get what you pay for.)

mitchell_pgh · Feb 21, 2003, 11:50 AM

Originally posted by TC:
Kinda like IBM producing Linux servers.

Problem for Apple is why would someone pay for their expensive hardware when they could buy a cheap PC and run the same open source application?

(Not bitching about Apple's expensive hardware, I believe you get what you pay for.)

Great comment.

Actually, I think this is what Apple is dreaming of. More mainstream Open Source applications...

M$ makes money on software
Apple makes money on hardware

---------- Think about that for a second. ----------

M$ wants hardware to be very inexpensive (so more people can buy their software) and software to be expensive (so that they can make money)

Apple wants hardware to be expensive (so that they can make money) and software to be free (so that more people buy their hardware)

--------------------------------------------------------------

Apple must realize that the only way they will ever gain wide acceptance is if they play ball with Open Source (and more to the point, Open Standards). I think they would be more then happy to take Open Source applications and essentially port them to OS X (embedding the extras we have come to expect from Apple software) and distributing them as standalone applications that they can showcase.

If you note, all of the new applications are based around open standards.

iTunes: MP3
iMovie: DV
iPhoto: JPEG, TIFF etc. (not Open, but you know what I mean... they don't reformat the applications into some Apple only file type)
Keynote: XML
iCal: iCalendar object
Safari: Open Source Core + HTML based

Open Source/Standards creates an even play ground for Apple. It's the proprietary formats that are killing us...

dfiler · Feb 21, 2003, 05:19 PM

Wow, you're so right. All new software from Apple appears to be designed with standardization as the paramount goal. I haven't checked on Keynote but it seems that ALL new apps are based upon open document formats. Rendevous, NetInfo (changes), Safari, x11... Apple really seems to have changed their corporate stategy. I think we will soon be capitalizing on the bennefits this transition...

KeynoteHQ · Mar 14, 2003, 02:56 PM

Keynote files are actually a package that contains the graphic files (.jpg, .gif, .pdf, psd, etc.) plus an XML file that defines the layouts. While not really a "standard," it certainly is open. Apple has even published the file format details.

Control-click and Show Package Contents to browse a keynote briefing.

mitchell_pgh · Mar 14, 2003, 05:07 PM

Think about this.

If Apple would make a free, easy to use, open standards based office application (based off of either Open Office or any of the other Open Source Office applications) and deliver it not only to OS X, but to Windows and Linux, I think we would have a major winner on our hands (If marketed properly).

1) 100% free to download (for all platforms)

2) Mac/Windows/Linux versions are all on par with one another

3) Application opens and saves to the M$ Word format (Ick, I know)

4) Ability to request a free copy on CD (for those who have low speed internet connections) NO S&H charge

5) Have NICE online documentation

6) Have HUNDREDS of amazing templates.

7) Market it as a $400 application FOR FREE!!!

Is it just me, or is paying $400 for a F@#$ing OFFICE SUITE just CRAZY?????
P.S. Remember that Apple hired most of the Gobe Productive team a few years back.

I wonder what they are working on? :-)

Saetre · Mar 14, 2003, 05:41 PM

Originally posted by mitchell_pgh:
Think about this.

If Apple would make a free, easy to use, open standards based office application (based off of either Open Office or any of the other Open Source Office applications) and deliver it not only to OS X, but to Windows and Linux, I think we would have a major winner on our hands (If marketed properly).

1) 100% free to download (for all platforms)

2) Mac/Windows/Linux versions are all on par with one another

3) Application opens and saves to the M$ Word format (Ick, I know)

4) Ability to request a free copy on CD (for those who have low speed internet connections) NO S&H charge

5) Have NICE online documentation

6) Have HUNDREDS of amazing templates.

7) Market it as a $400 application FOR FREE!!!

Is it just me, or is paying $400 for a F@#$ing OFFICE SUITE just CRAZY?????
P.S. Remember that Apple hired most of the Gobe Productive team a few years back.

I wonder what they are working on? :-)

This is basically what Sun is doing with StarOffice.

gunnar · Mar 14, 2003, 05:48 PM

I had a visitor over the other day who has a laptop with XP. In installing Acrobat she lost all sound on her machine. Reinstalling, uninstalling, updating, tweaking the system- nothing fixed it. A reformat was the only option. I was making fun of her about paying for this kind of crap and her reply (seriously) was "It's okay, I never had sound in the old days."

The moral of the story is that no matter how many of these switcher stories show up in these forums, most people just don't care at all about their computer. They're not even swayed by the economics of it, let alone ease of use, speed, or reliability.

When Apple can somehow appeal to this lowest common denominator (which I think is a huge percentage of potential "switchers") they might have some success. OpenSource and standards and PPC970s are great for readers of this forum to trumpet but they're not going to sway the average person unless it's wrapped in much more compelling, emotional package. And we know how effective Apple is at championing its strengths...