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PC Users Switch to Apple
JHromadka writes "Apple has setup a special website with real users explaining why they switched from the PC to the Mac. There's a full compliment of commercials, Mac OS X reviews, the works. Now we know why they didn't renew that agreement with Microsoft. :)" I like the commercials, they're funny, though probably not so much intentionally. Apparently the commercials begin airing this week.
Usually when people say somebody switched they think that person switched from using MS OS', not entirely true, I switched from Linux, so what Apple can offer many alternative OS' users to switch to overpriced patform
Sure I added OS X to the OSes I use but I still use several systems and several OSes on those systems. Linux, FreeBSD, OS X, Irix and the various Windows are all great in different ways and I'd hate to better locked in to one OS or even one OS per architecture.
Uhm, actually that's not true. It's ignorant and unfounded to attempt to make this type of comparison between CPU speeds. There are several factors that contribute to the type of performance you get from a cpu and from the overall system speed. The macs have always had a significant of integrated hardware, that the OS has been optimized for (much like Suns) which makes a HUGH difference in overall system performance. Unlike windows which is optimized for being a doorstop. As far as cpu speed goes, if you are comparing raw cpu cycles, sure, a P4 1.4GHz is faster than a 500Mhz G4. But now lets compare floating point operations, and multimedia extensions to the cpu, and int spec, and.... If all you want is to be able to show your gamer friends that you do indeed have the biggest dick (cpu speed), then get the latest P4. I for one actually need to get work done so I'll take a G4 (or an UltraIII for that matter) anyday.
Quite honestly, I love Linux. I use it as a destop and a server on several PCs.
Laptops are another story...
I've owned 3 PC laptops in the last 5 years, and never had Linux working 100% on any of them.
Power management has never worked 100% properly for me. Even though I can get hardware video acceleration, switching to a tty, then back, breaks XFree and freezes my machine. etc... Basically the Open Source community can't keep up with the proprietary innovations going into new laptops.
Enter OSX. Now I know I can get a cutting edge Laptop, who's hardware is 100% supported by a UNIX based OS, at a reasonable price. I don't remember an opportuinity like this existing before.
I'm trading my (almost) new PC laptop for an (almost) new iBook this week.
-... ---
Although the small increase in processing power may be far outweighed by the ease of use and stability of the Apple platform.
:).
:D
That "may be" is the big thing Apple are addressing. While there's no doubt there ARE things about macs that grab people (and being a fanatical user with 36 of the things myself I've been firmly grabbed!), there are also turnoffs. For people to be able to make decisions on what suits them best, whether it be linux/bsd/solaris/windows/macos/amiga/a tin can with a string/etc, they need to have the information. Just getting over the hurdle of "But it's a mac!" is the big thing. I find the best thing I can tell potential converts is "It's just a bloody computer!"... it has a cpu, ram, gui, I/O stuff... And let people see for themselves what they want. Taking a unbiased-seeming view kinda rubs off on people and opens their mind
After getting over silly little hatreds of what's just an inanimate electronic machine - some choose macs, some don't - and we're all happy
a grrl & her server
but for things that actually matter to me like kernel compiles, mp3 encoding, or gaming
Under OS X kernel compiles are a non-issue unless you're hacking around inside the Darwin kernel. MP3 encoding is pretty quick. I believe the MP3 encoding routine used by iTunes is Altivec optimized so it encodes as fast as it suck the music off the cd. Gaming is the only thing on your list that would be difficult for anyone to argue..
Anyway, saying to people that you were smart enough to buy a Mac is probably not the best approach. Putting "real people" like this on TV, talking about their experience, is something I wish Apple did a long time ago! I think campaigns like this will get a lot of people's attention, and at least make them consider a Mac next time they buy a computer.
I don't see that these ads show people who were too stupid to make their Windows computers work. I think these are people who want to get something done with their computers, hated the experience they got with Wintel, and are happier now that they've switched.
"I was smart enough to buy a Mac because it works better than what I had before. It looks and feels better, too."
The message seems to be:
Marketing 101, second week.
The most important feature of the DJ spot isn't that she thinks her Mac is pretty. It's that someone told her to buy Wintel, she did, and didn't like it. She then bought her own Mac, and she likes it a lot more. She went against the flow, jumped off the bandwagon, and bought a "niche" computer. As a result, she's happier. The marketing message is: Maybe you'd be happier like our friend Liza here if you did the same thing she did.
I much prefer advertising trying to influence me with real people saying they're getting more done with less headaches as opposed to advertising trying to influence me with a fictional glue addict whose catchphrase is "Dude!" Talk about "loser"...
The TV ads on the site are aimed at the edges of the WinTel user base, not at it's core. While I'm not happy about that at a 'gut' level, I think it does make sense. At first I wanted to see a suburban/small town shmoe dressed in Wallmart fashion with a stock car racing cap because that's the core of mass market home purchasing. Instead it's a bunch of people (like me) who wear black (other than to funerals) and roughly half of them are writers. But it dawned on me that they are at the edge between the Mac/Windows world, and just ended up on the wrong side for whatever reason. The are the next 5% who can most easily be brought over. It does require a bit of technical sophistication to switch over (e.g. you might need to know what an ethernet crossover cable is to move your old files over if you don't have access to a network). Thus, there's a big hump to get over for a big part of the market. Once wireless networking is stock, this might become easier. Imagine that part of the out-of-the-box wizard asks you if you want to move files over from the PC that it found (wirelessly) in the same room. They're going after SOHO users because there's a lot less 'inertia' to deal with - "You need a new computer every 2 to 5 years, make it a Mac this time. It's easy. Give it a try." They don't mention it in the ads, but MSOffice is a big part of why this will work for a lot people. "You word process, you prepare presentations, you e-mail and web surf. A Mac works better for these things." For Wall Street a few percent shift would be a big thing and would strengthen the perception of Apple, so it seems like the place to start is with the fence sitters.
the term "linux crash" brings up about 445,000 hits. Your point?
I hate when people fall back on Google hit statistics. They are absolutely useless! Google is an unthinking search engine that will return any document with the terms you ask for, regardless of their context. You're bound to get all kinds of documents included in your results that have no place in your argument whatsoever. For example, you might get the weblog of a guy who says "My friend was in a car crash." and later says "I tried out OSX."
Please don't use Google this way. It does nothing to prove your point.
I have no idea or a good reference to point at to say that this has worked before or not. But I believe it's the best way Apple can get the word out, since the Mac platform seems to be fighting an uphill battle with old myths and a "wierd image" pushing converts away... However, in future campaigns I'd like to see some important CEO's or education "officers" recommending the Mac, because it's simply the best tool for the job. Other than that I'm just really glad to see that Apple - being the only real Microsoft competitor - is so focused on getting some of Bill's cake!
Simply stated, if Apple were to offer up X windows as a GUI option and developers could count on it being on every mac, we'd see a bunch of shallow ports of X windows apps, which would pollute the platform with UI that in many cases is even worse than that on MS Windows.
By keeping X windows as a separate thing you have to find and install, the pressure remains on the developers to make a native Mac app if they want to be on the volume-leading UNIX.
-jcr
BTW, don't even start with me about calling it "X Windows".
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."