Probably time to chime in. This is not meant to push one direction or another, just offering a viewpoint. One thing to keep in mind is that many Windows users (myself included) are plenty happy with their computing. I have no desire or need to consider a Mac, because I am not bothered or annoyed by my current system and I can get all the work done that I want. It seems that many of the Mac users are disgruntled Windows users who have made the switch and are much happier. That is great for them, but there is still a huge number of users who are not going to switch to a Mac, because they don't care to. That is one of the reasons that the Mac market share hasn't changed all that much since it was released. It has floated in the under 10% range for as long as I can remember.
So, how does Apple increase market share? By offering something to the other 90% that they would want. That is not a Mac (especially OS). But what do all of us Windows users buy? Hardware. Do most of us stay brand loyal to our hardware - I doubt it. Some are looking for cheap and some are looking for service and some are looking for high quality. By Apple providing a way to natively run Windows, they are opening up a huge avenue of potential sales that have hitherto been unavailable. So someone like me, who would have never considered a Mac before, will now look at Apple as another vendor to consider when purchasing my next computer. Even if I bought a Mac, I would have no initial intention of running Mac OS - to me, it would be another Windows box and maybe a pretty high quality one at that. For company growth, I think this is a smart move for Apple. The most interesting angle to this is if Apple is successful in this avenue, will they eventually ship Windows pre-installed like other vendors? Will they start to provide support for Windows users like other manufacturers? If very successful, this could make the Mac OS inside of apple company structure become the smaller force. Interesting future. I, for one, will consider Mac hardware for my next Windows machine purchase and I suspect so will many others. -- Best regards, Bruce Thursday, April 6, 2006, 9:48:43 AM, you wrote: BS> On Apr 6, 2006, at 12:22 PM, Shel Belinkoff wrote: >> It's not a "one size fits all" solution .... there can be a variety of >> brands, machines, and styles and features, but all can do the same >> work. >> Just like there are a variety cars, all of which can drive on the same >> roads. BS> Or a variety of cameras, all of which can take the same pictures. BS> Bob
