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Getting Rich Writing Mac Software
Udo Schmitz writes "Look at this as kind of a followup to an article from yesterday, which was weak and boring although the author had a point. Enter Wil Shipley of Omni Group and Delicious Monster fame. At WWDC 2005 he gave a talk (PDF) about why he develops software for the Mac, when "all the other kids" are programming for Windows. Choice quote: "Windows users only ever use three apps: Word, IE (for e-mail), and iTunes"."
I'm a 21 year Mac user, I buy all of my software to support the developers who code for our platform.
It was hard during the "dark years" while baboons ran Apple, but now it's getting so much better so fast it's not even silly.
You may say "games", I have bought 20 games this year alone at $50 or more a pop for my DP PowerMac G5
Why do you say? Why not a cheap PC instead?
Well first of all I'm older, my reflexes are not as good anymore to take on these kids online. I need a machine to do my work in peace and security and enjoying my mid-life crises with a occasional diversion into 3D games is a pleasant diversion.
Heck gaming is all going to X-Boxes and Playstations, they are cheaper and appeal to a mass audience.
Mac software has to be GOOD software, because well we are not as numerous as the common windows, so it really has to fill a need and a want well for a large percentage of us to buy.
Crappie office store programs need not apply.
The decision to shift to Intel processors is opening a lot of eyes, for us Mac users and developers of Wintel software to tap our rather lucrative pursestrings, with Apple giving away WebObjects (a $50,000) program that makes Java applications and runs Apple and Dells webstores etc. is a tremendous incentive.
All I can say is Steve Jobs has had many years to figure out what he could have done if he remained at Apple, now the has his second chance and who knows what to expect.
We need a revolution, change is good, innovation is good and the new Apple is gearing up to change the world once again.
Hello again!
Nero (because Microsoft doesn't have a media burning framework).
Yes, they do. As illustrated in this example [microsoft.com]
I'm a 2-year Mac user and a 10 year pissed off Windows user before that. I never got XP to burn a CD out of the box. They hint at the ability to do so but without the likes of Adaptec, Nero, or iTunes I could never do it.
DVD Express (because Microsoft doesn't have a DVD player).
Yes, it does: Windows Media Player. However, it requires a third-party MPEG-2 codec [microsoft.com], which are freely available.
Where are the free ones? You linked to a bunch of codecs that cost money. Way back when I paid either $20 or $50 for a WMP plugin that played DVDs and ripped CDs as MP3.
As someone whose been on both sides of the fence, I think I've got a good handle on the Mac vs Windows software issue. A Mac comes with a good selection of apps and utilities. You can do basically anything on a Mac right out of the box. If you need pro apps or other specialty stuff to enhance your computer usage it's out there. On the Windows side, you have to download and buy a whole lot of stuff in an effort to make Windows merely usable.
Again, I'm not just a Mac user bashing Windows for fun. It's years of Windows use that drove me to the Mac.
I am part owner/developer of www.xheadsoftware.com and we've had some success, but need to spread the word more. Will makes it sounds easy, but you don't make 54k in one day w/ zero advertising, he had to get the word out some way. We do press releases and are all over Google and the download sites and do some banner ads too, but I would like to know what other Mac related sites people use to get the word out. Which ways to spread the word are most effective in the Mac community? -Jeff
www.xheadsoftware.com
Heh. This weekend I gave away the 333 MHz iMac that's been my server the last few years, since it doesn't have FireWire so I couldn't upgrade it to OS X Server 10.4, and the guy I gave it to just sent me an email raving about how fast it is -- he'd been running a Performa 3600 up until yesterday.
:)
Now *that* is product life