Mass Microsoft Defections to Apple Possible

An anonymous reader writes to mention a MacWorld article covering research by the Forrester group. Their report shows that mass dissatisfaction with Microsoft and its products could lead to defections from the company. From the article: "Over all, only Apple and Tivo saw their brand trust rise in the last two years, according to the report. The final tally saw Bose, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Panasonic and Sony earn the highest marks, while Microsoft, Gateway and LG ranked lowest. The low scores for Microsoft could mean good news for Apple as consumers showed their distrust of the Redmond-based software-giant."

Comments

Defect my butt

[Anonymous Coward]

All MS has to do is keep backward compatibility for legacy apps and most everyone already using it will simply stay with it.

Argh.

[superdan2k]

Okay, I'm a Mac geek, and as much as I'd like to see that, please, for fuck's sake, consider the source -- MacWorld has always been a pie-in-the-sky wishful thinking magazine. Back in the day, when Apple was one bad day from becoming a memory, MacWorld had a glowing-postive view of the future. A little success now, and they think that every bad review for Microsoft means that millions of users are just going to jump ship in a heartbeat.

I mean really? This is news? Product-specific magazine predicts rosy future for the product it reports on? No shit?

Re:Argh.

[MBCook]

It's true, if you ask me. I defected. I was sick of MS so I tried the change. There were other benefits (I got to have Unix, I got to try iLife), but I did it.

I help people around my area with computer problems, advise them on software, teach them how to do things, etc. Every single one hates windows. To them it's a bit like gas. No one likes paying for gas, but your car won't run without it. When I mention they have an alternative (Apple) many are somewhat interested. None of them want to go out and buy a new computer just for the OS, but they are fed up with MS. Even with the cost of having to learn a new OS (despite the similarities which they don't know of), they are ready to do almost anything to get a computer that "just works".

When it comes time to buy a new computer, many of them will be considering Macs. That may not be for two years or so (due to recent purchases or just hanging onto a computer for a long time), but if they ask me I'll be steering them towards Macs. I use my Mac at home and at school, doing all sorts of stuff. Then I get a call to fix a printer and have to go through tons of hassle to fix the printer on Windows. Or to make the internet work again. Or to remove spyware. Or to fix some odd windows problem (DNS just dies, only on one machine) that seems to require a reinstall to fix.

Windows is a pain. It always has been. It's gotten better, but not nearly enough. If I could turn back time and give all those people who I help a Mac instead of a PC I can not tell you how much easier of a time they would have had of things.

You won't see 20 million switchers a year. But they will switch. They've been doing it and it's been accelerating. Remember that with MS's market share, if even 1% of home users were to switch that would be a HUGE number. If this story gets "debunked" later and they say "only 0.25% of Windows users switched last year", remember that would be about a 10% boost to Apple's market share.

People are fed up. The only people I know who are NOT fed up with Windows are those who love to constantly tinker. I used to be that way, but I got tired of having to tinker. They will too one day.

If you build it, they will come.

If you advertise, they will come faster. I can't tell you how much Apple's sales would go up if they brought back the kind of ads they had during the first iMacs ("My family needed to do X and with their windows computer they had to do this and that and... and it didn't work. We plugged in my Mac and it worked instantly.").

Yes, mass defections are *possible*, but...

[JacksBrokenCode]

I wish the article had more numbers and less hypothesis. The gist seems to be "people distrust Microsoft, therefore Apple could get bigger." Now, how long has Forrester been conducting these surveys and for how many years in a row has Microsoft been un-trustworthy in the public eye? If 5 million MS users have distrusted MS for years but are still using Windows, the survey doesn't mean anything.

Of course "Mass Defections to Apple are Possible". But they've always been *possible* and yet Microsoft still holds the majority of the market share. Too bad this article couldn't shed more insight than "Survey confirms what Slashdot already believes - people don't trust Microsoft."

Trust report?

[grasshoppa]

Sony? Highest level of trust?

Sony?!

The public is either a mass of idiots waiting to be fleeced, or..uh...

I think I just answered my own question.

Trying a Mac

[MCSEBear]

The old school reasons for not even trying a Mac have fallen away. The old saw was that Macs used nonstandard parts that were more expensive. The truth is that you can buy a cheap Mac Mini which uses standard RAM and notebook hard drives, and has a socketed CPU which can be upgraded. You don't have to give up your investment in Windows software, since Boot Camp lets you run Windows on your Mac if you wish to. If you end up deciding that you don't like MacOSX then you have a very classy super small mini me Windows based computer. No wasted money.

Windows users who give MacOSX a try find that they like it quite a lot. Anand Lal Shimpi over at Anandtech.com springs to mind. Windows uber user Paul Thurott also couldn't review the CTP of Vista without saying "I have certain misgivings about Vista resembling Mac OS X. With its translucent windows, such comparisons are going to be hard to avoid. But Vista's similarity with OS X goes well beyond window dressing. Certain applications, such as Calendar, Sidebar, and Photo Gallery, appear to be directly, ahem, influenced by similar applications in OS X." This is an OS that geeks can't help but love once they use it.

The really amusing thing is now the Mac supports more software than Windows does. You can run everything that runs on Windows, everything that runs on MacOSX, plus quite a bit of the software that runs on Linux. It's geek nirvana.

There really isn't any reason not go give a Mac a chance anymore. I'm an MCSE (gee, did you guess from my handle?)and I like OSX quite a lot. I can't wait to see what they do in the next version of MacOSX since it looks like Vista is going to be used dog food.

Re:Are we reading the same data?

[jocknerd]

That's good to know because Apples tend to be 60% overpriced anyway. I guess you can call it a deposit.

Enough with the overpriced BS. Prove it to me. You show me any PC that can match every spec on an iMac or MacBook Pro that costs 60% less.

Re:Are we reading the same data?

[GutBomb]

That's true. The real problem for Microsoft would be if Dell starts selling (and advertising) PCs with Linux. Consumers trust Dell, so if Dell says it is good, they will buy it.

consumers would stop trusting dell as soon as they got their computer and can't run all the easy to use and easy to install software that dells are supposed to be able to run because of this weird "linux" thing they have on their computer. It will never happen in the consumer market.

Re:Are we reading the same data?

[badasscat]

Dell = No Bluetooth, No DVD Burner, No Gigabit Ethernet, 20GB less HD space, No built in webcam & much worse graphics.

While I still think that Apples are priced highly, you do get alot of features built into the system.

A lot of which are useless for most people. Are laptop webcams in any danger of becoming standard-issue items? Are most people's homes wired for gigabit ethernet (heck, are most businesses)?

I think a big part of Apple's perception problem is that they focus so highly on the high end where you get diminishing returns for extra features and specs. A PC with exactly the same specs as the $2,000 MacBook Pro probably would cost close to $2,000, but a PC with 90% of the features specs of the MacBook Pro might only cost $1,000. In fact, I just went to HP's site right now and built a PC with everything the MacBook Pro has except the webcam and the gigabit ethernet, and with a 64 bit AMD CPU and a 1280x800 screen, and the total was $1,033.99. That's still with a DL DVD burner, ATI graphics card w/ 128MB dedicated, 1GB of system RAM, same hard drive, etc.

I mean the question is what are you paying literally 100% more for? Most people just aren't going to see it. Yeah, component-wise, maybe Apple is pretty close to what those specific components cost. But they could choose only *slightly* less powerful stuff and shave a huge amount off the price. They choose not to do that, and that gives them the perception of being overpriced.

I realize they have the iBook line, but until they actually update/replace that line, it's really a joke at this point. Nobody takes a G4 seriously anymore, and the $1,000 HP laptop I just priced absolutely blows the doors off the $1,000 iBook. (Again, I realize the iBook is smaller and lighter, but when you're comparing overall specs and features, it appears the iBook is way overpriced.)

Re:Are we reading the same data?

[Total_Wimp]

It's hillarious that people are arguing which is better. Which is better is not relevant. What's relevant is that Microsoft OSs currently have a lock on the market for applications that are commonly desired by a wide range of consumers and businesses. Even a huge number of desirable web apps do not work as well with non-MS browsers. As long as this is the case, neither Apple, Linux or any other kind of OS has any real chance of dethoning the king.

Apple may make better computers and may have a superior OS. That will not be enough to have consumers or businesses switching in numbers significant enough to threaten Microsoft's monopoly.

TW