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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."
I don't mean to be pedantic, but Dell, HP, Panasonic, and Sony all make Microsoft Windows PCs. Apple is the only company that makes Apple computers. If my calculations are correct, Apple is the one with continued minimal marketshare and Microsoft will ride along with those aforementioned four to grand success.
If all your sales outlets have really high customer satisfaction, it's not really a big deal if your customers hate your guts.
...unfortunately indicating that outrage over the Sony rootkit was a tempest in a teacup.
All MS has to do is keep backward compatibility for legacy apps and most everyone already using it will simply stay with it.
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?
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While most people distrust Microsoft, I wouldn't say a big influx will happen. True or Not most people even the ones who are considerably well "Tech smart" will probably stay with windows because they don't want change to that scale. Still most will look at the software available for Windows and how much for Mac. Even now that you can run windows on the Mac it doesn't alsways make sence for them to do so. Plus fears of needing new hardware, replaceing a lot of their extra cool stuff (even though it may work better on the mac) are afraid of loosing their investment and will not switch. Better the Devil you know then the Devil you don't
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
In other news, in preparation for the possibility of mass exodus from Microsoft products, Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft and long time aerobics enthususiast, has commissioned a secret project codenamed the "Chair Launcher 3000".
According to highly sensitive information that was leaked to us by an individual known only as "Dark Ottoman", the "Chair Launcher 3000" will combine real-time satellite imagery with a state-of-the-art targeting system making it capable of executing high-precision long-range chair-based attacks. To be more specific, you could be walking out of your local Apple store with you shiny new Macintosh in your arms, a smile stretched across your unsuspecting face, only to find yourself, moments later, crushed by a Windsor or an Adirondack dropped from a clear blue sky.
On an even more ominous note, shortly after providing us with this classified information, "Dark Ottoman" broke contact and vanished without a trace. While we are not sure of his fate, several days later an as yet unidentified Seattle man was found dead in a Best Buy parking lot, killed by a barrage of wicker chairs from the heavens. Steve Ballmer was unavailable for comment.
--
Was it the sheep climbing onto the altar, or the cattle lowing to be slain,
or the Son of God hanging dead and bloodied on a cross that told me this was a world condemned, but loved and bought with blood.
And here we have all been predicting that some user friendly Linux distro will cut into Microsofts market share.
SecurityPub.com
Why should I place any more weight in this article, than, say, something out of Redmond touting Microsoft?
...about computers. Sony got high marks this year in customer confidence. That proves it pretty much.
Weaselmancer
rediculous.
Computer specialists and hard core Linux users and stuff may have a distrust towards Microsoft, but I think the general public probably could give a rats ass, and probably trust MS as much as any other company. iPod sales are more likely to cause conversion due to interest then distrust of the alternative. And most people that use a computer for email/web and don't really like to fixate on it would probably prefer to follow the "If it isn't broken, don't fix it" philosophy, which will lead them to using Windows systems for a very long time. I'm a big Mac user, but from most people I've talked to that use a computer as a tool for communication and that's all dislike OS X, because it's too different.
In undeveloped countries, the consumer controls the market. In capitalist America, the market controls you.
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."
After they get the hang of OS X, they will wonder why they ever tolerated Windows. . .
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I would love to switch over to an apple macbook pro, but frankly their laptops are too expensive, and for a student purchasing something so expensive to replace a laptop that still works fine isnt worth it. Many other people are already comfortable with windows, are uninformed about OS X, and are unwilling to shell out that much money for a laptop, particularly when they can go to Dell and buy a laptop for dirt cheap with an operating system that they don't have to relearn how to use. It would be great if people would switch away from Windows, but I don't see it happening to a large extent right now.
Here is some karma suicide for yah:
I agree, MacWorld is a glass always full kinda publication. And as an avowed mac freak, i for one do NOT want there to be a mass exodus of sheeple to the mac platform. One thing that keeps mac great is that in order to survive in the mac market, your software has to be pretty damn good and it has to just work. I do not look forward to our new Apple overlords. Being the little guy means more innovation, new interesting technology. As soon as Apple becomes the new M$ then it becomes all about keeping the cash cow alive at all costs. So, please, all you windows apologists! get crackin! We dont want your market share!
Don't be fooled by current trends or market statistics. Remember, Japan claimed they wanted to get into the auto business many decades ago. We laughed at them. What has been the popular choice for the last 20 years may or may not sustain. Taking gradual small percentages of market share over the 5-10 years will be the sneaking dagger. Apple is making distinct changes in how they are positioning themselves. Microsoft is just patching and repatching the same old monolithic liabilities. I mean who needs 6 different versions of the same crap? You can take fecal matter, shape it into bunny shapes, squirrels, etc. but at the end of the day it is still fecal matter. Look at the latest rewrite decision. I would bet that the personal home computer in it's current config will be a dinosaur prior to MS tanking though.
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.
Mod me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
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.
Like they did last August, when they released the Mighty Mouse?
For once, the Slashdot headlines are far more sane;
*Some* defections are a pretty good bet, seeing as how people have been leaving windows for Mac OS for the last several years now. Of course, you're right that the macworld headline is fairly optimistic; to double market share would be quite an accomplishment. But does it really seem that far out? Apple has what, a 3.5% market share or something like it? To get to 7% seems very doable so long as Vista is delayed long enough, or just plain sucks. Just imagine if everybody who has an iPod bought a Mac MINI. That would far more than double their market share. Of course, I realize that's unlikely, but the iPod does make an excellent transition device. When people are exposed to the Apple interface, they often get hooked.
The idea that thousands of employees would leave because some survey says the brand name is poor is absurd to me. MS is making a killing and their quarterly profits year in and out are unreal.
Who cares about some brand recognition study? These people are all supposed to ditch their stock and steady income over an article on the web? Give me a break.
Last I checked Walmart sure has a lot of employees. Do any of you associate walmart with high quality?
"Microsoft faces big consumer defection risk: One measure of consumers' dissatisfaction with Microsoft is seen in the 5.4 million households that gave it a brand trust of 1 (distrust a lot) or 2 (distrust a bit),"
5.4 million customers? Such a staggering number, for Apple maybe. Really folks, how much revenue are these people going to generate for MS? A hundred bucks a pc, every 5 years?
If users need office they will have to buy it either way. In addition, it will be cheaper to buy the bundled version with a Windows based PC.
The salient point the article fails to make is that the real risk is to Apple. By not converting these people they miss out on revenue generated by hardware and software. Incidently, if you are a Mac owner, and you've paid for every major release of OS X, you've paid about $500 over the last 5 years for your operating system. Compare this with $120 (assuming 2k upgrade) for the last 5 years for an XP owner.
The article goes on to say that many people don't associate the iPod with Mac Computers. An interesting point - however it is going to be difficult for Apple to upsell people on a $3K computer, from a $300 purchase.
After recent news, I know a lot of people that want to switch. I want to switch as well. However, it's cost prohibitive. Most of the people I know are students, and students trying to afford college at that. Apple hardware is just out of our small budgets.
Fun Zoid RPG
I use Microsoft products daily.
Do I trust Microsoft? No way!
I would agree that (among my client base) there is a general uneasy feeling building towards Microsoft. So the idea that their ranking is lower does not surprise me at all.
Do I trust Apple? Not anymore than Microsoft.
The conspiracy theorist in me believes the real motive behind their switch to Intel has to do with standardizing DRM.
When all of the hardware is "Trusted" then who will you trust at all?
"Kittens give Morbo gas!"
Be careful not to interfere with the two animals while they are in their natural habitat. On the right, you can see the Windows troll. He is identifiable by his tendency to make sharp insults that are long outdated. Here we see him make a jab at a Mac user.
... Yes, I'm glad you mentioned that! While it is not true of the entire species, many Apple fanatics are in fact unable to perform even basic math operations.
Apples tend to be 60% overpriced anyway.
On the left, hidden by the foliage, you can barely make out the Mac fanatic. He is identifiable by his quick defense of the Mac platform. Sometimes this species puts together coherent thoughts, but as you can see in this case, he is more interested in showing his rainbow-striped plumage than engaging in an actual battle. He is hoping that the Windows troll will be frightened away by the display.
show me any PC that can match every spec on an iMac or MacBook Pro that costs 60% less.
You in the back. You had a question?
Now let's head back to the classroom so as to let these little buggers get back to their routine.
...would be able to quote this as a good thing. The fact that Sony, Dell, and Bose also scored high shows that the study has nothing to do with quality of company at all. Look at Dell, its outsourced support, its inferior products. Look at Sony, rootkits, proprietary formats, total lack of quality in most components... Look at bose, in the industry it stands for "buy other sound equipment", and frequently people say "no highs, no lows, must be bose", there's also a slogan that alters the company motto: "bose: better sound through marketing". These companies aren't being graded in this article because of _quality_ as the other companies listed are hardly quality players themselves. If Apple fans want to be taken seriously, they should stop worrying so much about winning converts or market share and start worrying about how to make cheaper or actually superior products. Anything short of wanting this end, instead of just popularity, is just brand loyalty and nothing else. So if this makes you smile, it's probably because you are a fan boy.
Judges and senates have been bought for gold; Esteem and love were never to be sold.
Funny, my picture tells a different story.
Warning: Apple/Nintendo fangirl. Likes her electronics cute & cuddly. May be rabid.
The people that make up the population in the survey say they distrust MS. Okay, fine. What they distrust is their business practices, not MS's software itself (rightly or wrongly).
What makes you think that? Why would a whole user population constantly under attack from viruses and spyware not fall into a dislike of Windows itself? That's what I have seen with a lot of people.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
The salient point the article fails to make is that the real risk is to Apple. By not converting these people they miss out on revenue generated by hardware and software. Incidently, if you are a Mac owner, and you've paid for every major release of OS X, you've paid about $500 over the last 5 years for your operating system. Compare this with $120 (assuming 2k upgrade) for the last 5 years for an XP owner.
Yes but OS X users are running the equivilent of Vista right now. How much is Vista going to cost, and wouldn't you be willing to pay a little more to be running it about two years earlier? You are ignoring the beenfit I get for my exta feature with reduced time spent on tasks and the ability to make use of new system features.
I think it's pretty funny that you've managed to spin Microsoft's lack of ability to deliver on Vista into a major price comparison plus for Windows!
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
"Informative"?!?? "Flamebait". "Troll".
As always, all IMO. Insert "I think" everywhere grammatically possible.
I know a genuine Panaphonics when I see one! And there's Magnetbox, and Sorny.
BARSTOW, CA (AP) - Today, computer scientists at the DeVry Institute claimed to have solved the Halting Problem, a classic thought experiment of theoretical computer science. The problem's insolvability, a landmark in the field, was proposed by theoretician Alan Turing in 1938.
"We were skeptical at first, of course", said Dr. Ephraim P. Fingerbottom, emeritus professor of computability theory at DeVry. "The Halting Problem's intractibility is one of those snippets of lore we love to torture undergraduates with, so we really had no practical motive for accepting this hypothesis. Come to think of it, we have no practical motives at all, we're theoreticians. Anyway, our faces fell when we proofed the submission, let me tell you. Never ask a theoretician to come up with new material. Hell, now we may to juggle teaching and the hunt for grant money like everyone else."
Nonetheless, Dr. Fingerbottom was heartened by the new-found stature of his department in light of these findings. "We're attracting some exciting new talent here", he said, perspiring under the layers of chalk dust that have covered his face since 1962. "This development, coupled with our reduction of the '3-SAT problem' to a scientific proof of the existence of God, has swelled our ranks with students who want to do something else other than write software and make money."
The resulting paper will soon be published in the next issues of Communications of the ACM and the DIMACS Journal for Applied Math.
--- The American Way of Life is not a birthright. Hell, it's not even sustainable.
When I match the specs/features, I get $2,075 for the Dell and $2,399 for the Apple or a difference of $324. That's hardly 66%.
Here are the specs/features I used for each:
Apple
----------
$2,399
Dell
----------
$2,075
These really aren't even exact matches, but they're very similar and moreso than the prices you quoted.
* The Mac includes a backlit keyboard, remote control, OS X install disk, CD/DVD RW, Bluetooth, and ATI video standard while the Dell does not, which is why, aside from the backlit keyboard they're added to the Dell. Although the remote on the Dell won't work with XP Pro supposedly.
** Despite the limited web hosting ability of XP Pro, OS X more closely resembles WindowsXP Professional over the Media Center version. Macs always include an OS X install disk while most (if not all) PC vendors charge extra for the Windows disks.
Either the survey's methods are bad, or the American consumer's idea of what makes a company trustworthy is hopelessly muddled. Either way, they results of any "brand trust" survey that gives high marks to Bose (Wal-Mart quality at audiophile prices) HP (refilling our $50 ink cartridges that only last a month is illegal) and Sony (Played our music lately? You've got malware!) is worthless.
0 1 - just my two bits
I can't see a gamer spending a crapload of money on a system that they can't slap the latest video card into every 6 months.
First, gamers are a tiny segment of the market. Second, many gamers now use laptops to make LAN parties easier, thus have no upgrade option. Third, why can't you slap a new video card in the Mac tower when it is released?
And I can't see a business spending crap tons of money on a more expensive machine to do all the same tasks they currently do.
While some companies do use Macs for the simplified management and lower security costs, you're right that most won't be switching anytime soon. Rather, expect a slow migration towards Linux in the business space. That trend, I think, may open some doors for Mac purchases, as environments will become more friendly to standards compliant OS's
Maybe they'll sell some upgrades to people who use an older mac and want the ability to dual boot, but beyond that...?
Mostly I see this as a way to sell more Macs to potential "switchers." People might want to use OS X, but be unsure if they will like it in the long term. This gives them the security of being able to "switch back" at a low price point. The real market for new Mac users, in my opinion, are those who would love to ditch Windows, but require some Windows-only software. I foresee a lot more migration in this space as virtualization/emulation/reimplementation takes off. Here at work we get to choose among a few particular models of computers; one of which is a powerbook (used by maybe 55% the company right now). I know when the time comes to pick an upgrade several people in administration, sales, documentation, etc. who are now using a Thinkpad will probably go for a powerbook combined with something to run those Windows applications within OS X.
For some it will be their first experience using a Mac (or first using OS X anyway). They have at this point only looked over the shoulders of others and said, "hey how come you can do that?" and "wow that is really cool!" Another interesting item of note, is I don't know people that switch back. Well, I know one guy who bought a powerbook, used OS X for a while, and then went back to Linux as his main OS. But, by and large, when people buy a Mac, they continue to do so from then on. It is hard to lose all that functionality, once you get used to it. This will probably influence their next home computer purchase as well.
In summary, I don't see that bootcamp will be used much, but I do think it will drive some Mac sales. Further, I think other technologies (enabled by the switch to new Intel processors) that allow Windows software to run will drive even more sales. I think this particular article was empty fluff, but I do foresee increasing market share, especially among power users.
If Apple is going to capitalize on the distrust people have for Microsoft, they need to get OS X 10.4 running on any Wintel box and they need to do it now, and have it for sale on shelves before the eye-candy smoke-and-mirrors that is Vista can be shoved out the door by Microsoft.
I am amazed that anybody could seriously believe that Apple could profit by going head-to-head with Microsoft for its core business. Microsoft has previously shown a willingness to cut prices radically when necessary to protect its near-monopoly. So you have Apple taking on enormously increased support costs, while getting into a price war with a much wealthier competitor? And you think this will benefit Apple?
On the other hand, Apple has had a much better reputation than MS with consumers for a long time, and it hasn't helped them build market share. However, the Forrester report predated the ability to dual boot Windows on new Macs. I'm surprised at the number of Windows owners I'm now seeing talking about buying Macs. It seems that the major obstacle for many people switching to the Apple was the fear of getting locked into OS X and then finding that something they needed was only available for Windows. That concern has now vanished. It will be interesting to see whether that frees up all of this pent-up Apple envy and translates into big sales for Apple.
Until Microsoft does a real ground-up re-write, XP is the final, penultimate version of Windows
Something cannot be both the "final" and "penultimate" version.
"it is the last, next to last, version."
It doesn't make any sense, does it? Penultimate does not mean "extra-ultimate."
...that makes the transition difficult. For a long-term Windows user it would mean buying a new software suite unless vendors start giving good cross-grade pricing. There's lots of money tied up in software and shifting it to a new platform may well cost several times the cost of the platform itself. Looking at my quad-G5 I see that I have well over the cost of the machine and its 30" display in software.
The user experience would have to become very bad for me to move.
On the other hand the troubles friends have with the Windows machines seems to suggest that they have passed that line already!
I went to the Inspiron E1505 page. I started with the 80GB one, i.e. same size hard drive as the MacBook Pro. I upgraded the processor to 1.83GHz core duo, to match the MacBook Pro. I upgraded the OS to XP Pro with a real reinstall CD, to match the full version of OS X with dev tools that you get on CD with the Mac.
I gave Dell the benefit of the doubt for the LCD quality, and left it with the cheapest. I added a DVD burner and Bluetooth, like the Mac has, and a 128MB Radeon to approximately match the Mac's video. I left the Dell with the cheapest battery, even though it has less capacity than the Mac's.
The resulting price is $1891, vs $1999 for the Mac. That's including an "instant $200 discount" from Dell. So when you actually configure them similarly, the Mac is about 6% more expensive than the Dell.
And I strongly suspect that you really need to go for the better LCD on the Dell, in which case the price premium for the Mac drops to just $8. And that's for a machine that's thinner and weighs less.
GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
I just started a new job and got a brand new MacBook Pro. I have it running Windows XP just fine. I forgot how much better virgin Windows was than installs you get from Dell, HP, etc... I also have Parallels running ok. There are still a few issues with that beta, but it's developing very rapidly and is already useful in many ways. Since starting a few weeks ago, our office is switching over pretty much daily with a new MacBook Pro. It's pretty cool to have happen...especially when we want to do video conferencing. Boot Camp is definitely a strong selling point. It's allowing us to run a few pieces of software that are Windows only, or that we don't want to cross-grade. Plus it's a safety net of allowing people to run Windows if they find they don't take to OS X, though so far everyone has.
Sure, mass numbers of Windows users MIGHT defect to the Macintosh and OS X. They might also just defect to Linux, which runs on the hardware they already have. That seems more likely to me. Realistically, though, Windows users aren't about to move to the Mac in any great numbers. There are lots of reasons.
Already here in the comments, Mac users have boasted about Macs giving you more for the money. Shortly after the MacBook Pro was announced, I published this article showing that the Apple laptop offered little or nothing over a comparable Dell, HP, or Acer laptop. Then a bit later on, I wrote another. Again, Apple has little to offer. I'm not the only one who thinks so.
As for resale value, it's no surprise that a Mac retains more of its value. Faced with paying $2,500 for a new Macintosh with marginal speed improvements over the previous generation unit decked out for $1,800 I would imagine many users on tight budgets would opt for the older unit. Or they might look at a brand new Dell machine running Windows for $600-1000. As noted by other writers here, if Apple had to compete with some other brand on equivalent Mac hardware, their resale prices would change accordingly.
Performance is important to many computer users, especially most Windows users I know. This is one thing that will keep the masses from moving to the Macintosh. OS X can't outperform Linux on the same hardware, doing the same tasks with the same software. OS X can't outperform Windows on the same or comparable hardware. OS X has lots of little hidden performance problems just waiting to be found.
Consistency is also important to many computer users. It's not uncommon for a major Service Pack for Windows to break something, but it rarely breaks anything major. It is, however, extremely common for even minor updates to Apple technology to break things. Just this week I found that the OS X 10.4.6 update broke a script we've used at login to set up home directories for network authenticated users. The same update on Intel-based iMacs broke the same script in a different way. I spent hours troubleshooting that, all for a minor update of dubious value. It took a slight change to how I installed the script and one command change to one line of the script, but finding those needed changes wasn't easy. This isn't the first time OS X has done this to me in the past year. Windows hasn't done this to me since Service Pack 2, and a quick update to the affected software fixed the only compatibility problem I had in seconds... not hours.
Gaming is important to many computer users. Most new commercial games are released on Windows first, and later (if ever) to the Macintosh. Now that Apple has offered "Boot Camp" as an option, it has been suggested that Mac-specific gaming might be dead soon. Why create a Mac-compatible game when you can release just a Windows version and tell Mac users to run that on their Intel-based Mac? Sure, you'll always have little Mac boutique companies putting out Mac-only or Mac-first games, but the Electronic Arts' of the world likely drop any Mac support quickly.
Build quality is also important. Where I work, we get hundreds of new Dells in per year and a handful of new Macs. In 2005, we got in 6 Macs. 3 of them were dead out of the box. 1 had to be taken completely apart and replaced piece by piece for the tech to figure out that the power cable had been crushed into the motherboard at the factory, shorting out the system and preventing it from booting. In about 400 Dell systems (desktops and laptops) we received
Five million subscribers play World of Warcraft... and it runs just fine on OSX.
People like you are nothing but whiny little wannabes, too cheap and shortsighted to justify the added purchase price of a quality Apple product, but nevertheless frustrated by your unfulfilled desire to own one. You wear $15 Wrangler jeans from WalMart and try to convince yourself that they're just as good as a pair of Diesels. And for special occasions you dine out at Denny's, while proudly announcing that their $6.95 shoe-leather t-bone steak is just as good as the aged prime rib sold in that fine steak house downtown for $30.
In other words, you know the price of everything and the value of nothing.
If you folks really couldn't care less about Apple, then you wouldn't swarm to these Apple discussions to vent your frustrations.
"I know of many people switching from Windows to MAC for video editing and graphics simply because the software on the windows side is utter garbage compared to the apple offering, and the regular consumer is starting to see that."
Aren't most of the apps for those purposes the same? But Windows probably got more of them, and the hardware is cheaper and perform better.
"When you get high end hardware with high end software and couple it with a system that you do not haveto hire a company every 2 months to clean it out you get the general public looking at it very closely. The mac-Mini entices them further as it's cheap and will use their monitor. (Actually a Dual G5 tower will use their PC monitors, just the FUD surrounding the apple products leads them to think otherwise.)"
Two letters: BS
"Also faced with dropping $300.00 for Vista and the requirement to double ram, speed,etc... people will really look at apple closer as their current system ages."
Yeah, because it's much better to pay $120 or whatever for each "upgrade" of MacOS X? All the time?
Also MacOS X uses a lot of resources, and you pay a premium for the hardware. So this doesn't make sense either.
"Other than games or wierd business apps from the vertical market, there is no real reason to not switch to a more stable, secure and user friendly platform like OSX."
Except that I do belive I would like MacOS X more than Windows there are no reason to switch either. Windows is stable, and what says MacOS X would be much more secure? User friendly depends on what you like I guess, the GUI are probably less retarded on MacOS, but the lack of some apps and the fact that it's "different" will make many people think it's harder to use.