Slashdot Mirror


Noise Over Mac OS Market Share "Slip"

OakDragon writes, "Mac OS market share actually slipped since last September. This reverses a trend in the winter and spring months that showed some slight growth. The actual percentage loss is small: 0.02%. But it may be significant since it follows a solid growth trend. It must be disappointing to Apple and Mac fans to see what is basically a flat line in desktop market share." Mac-oriented sites are pointing out the unreliability of the metrics from Net Applications, which are based on users of the HitsLink service.

8 of 481 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Price much? by tomstdenis · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Trust me, surface area is precious to me. But I'd still rather have a tower I can put things like my TV TUNER CARD in [thus removing the need for a TV] or a half-way decent GFX card in. MacMini is basically a laptop without a screen, keyboard or trackpad. You can't add a PCI device to it, etc... Even given my limited horizontal surface area for stuff I'd much rather have the tower. I can [and do] stack shit on top of it anyways so the loss is trivial.

    Oh, and it being a better box underneath is a nice feature too...

    Tom

    --
    Someday, I'll have a real sig.
  2. Re:Not at all reliable by linzeal · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    I mean Jesus H Christ hasn't anyone at Slashdot taken statistics?

  3. Re:Macintosh = Dell PC = HP PC by drinkypoo · · Score: 0, Flamebait
    Well, I just priced out a new workstation comparing the top of the line MacPro and an equivalently configured Dell. I ended up buying the 3.0Ghz version of the MacPro for $1000 cheaper than an equivalent Dell.

    I haven't checked prices in a couple weeks but I am currently using a Compaq nw9440 laptop, which is pretty much the same machine as a MBP but with some different doodads. Same LCD, same size, about the same weight, etc. It was the same price with onsite service contract as buying the MBP with the non-onsite service contract where you have to take it to an apple store and get sneered at by so-called geniuses.

    Have you ever unboxed a new Mac? Have you ever really spent time with a Mac? While the OS is most of the experience, it goes beyond the OS.

    "Have you ever unboxed a new Mac"? What does that have to do with using the computer? This statement of yours hurts your argument more than it helps it, and makes it clear that your love of the Macintosh is pure fetishism.

    I have not only unboxed new macs of every generation except the G5 (but I have unpacked a G4, WOO FUCKING HOO, I'M LIVING NOW) but next to my HPQ laptop is a dual G5 2.0GHz. It annoys the piss out of me. The Dock? Stupid. NeXTStep's dock was at least reasonable from a usability standpoint. Applications have inconsistent looks to them, and the appearance was supposed to be the selling point really. Menus misbehave constantly. And yes, I am fully patched, although I am running 10.3 - work is unlikely to shell out the $120 for the OS upgrade until one comes along that we either need for a new program, or one comes out that actually delivers $120 worth of new functionality instead of just being released to give them an excuse to change the API and break a bunch of their own programs again (like xcode - why can't the fucking IDE properly run on newer/older versions of the OS?)

    Using some simple patches/tools, you can run Windows XP on the Mac. With a little effort, you can run the x86 MacOS on a Dell PC or an HP PC.
    And with some simple tools, I can run Windows on my Mac. So?

    And with some simple tools, you can run Windows on your Mac.

    Redundant much?

    Since the Mac is now essentially a PC clone, why would you pay a premium for Mac hardware?
    See my above comment. It turns out that for the high end at least, the Macintosh is MUCH less expensive than a Dell or HP.

    But why would a nerd buy a Dell or HP when you can build a clone for half the price? (Half might actually be literal in the high end...) You can argue that it's comparing Apples to Oranges, for lack of a better pun, but since you don't have the capability to do that with a Mac, I think it's a valid comparison.

    I think Apple should start selling ATX CPU/MB combos. They could pick up the people willing to build their own machines that are currently avoiding them, probably without hurting prebuilt system sales much at all because most of the people who buy Apples now (not all but most) are not the types who will or even can assemble their own computer (even though it's so pathetically easy these days that anyone with two neurons to rub together ought to be able to do it.)

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  4. Re:Talking about using CP/M is funny, but... by drinkypoo · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    Please don't explain jokes. It doesn't make them funny for the people who only understand them after you explain them, and it makes them a lot less funny to those of us who DO understand them. I've owned two different CP/M machines (A Kaypro 4 and then later an Altos with 8" floppies, two of 'em) and your explanation makes me sad. Also, the majority of CP/M machines used the Z80, not the 8088. This is especially significant because the Z80's instruction set is a superset of that of the 8088 and your 8088 programs might run on Z80 systems, but Z80 programs probably won't run on 8088-based CP/M systems.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  5. Re:Price much? by tomstdenis · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    1. My custom box is cheaper.

    And

    2. I already own a TV tuner card.

    I suppose if I didn't own one and I didn't know how to build a custom box ... I'd buy the $300 TV tuner [my PCI card cost $100 retail in 2001...]. But I'd also be a starbucks latte sipping poetry writing retard with money to spend foolishly.

    Tom

    --
    Someday, I'll have a real sig.
  6. Re:I'm calling bullshit on ya by jmorris42 · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    > Are you sure you are entering the dual core architecture Xeons? Are you sure you are adding the second
    > Xeon dual core chip, because funny enough, but I get this:

    My bad, you called my booboo exactly. Add in the second Xeon and I get $5,924 for the Dell. Still a Dell win. Mind you I wouldn't be caught dead buying a Dell, but then I probably wouldn't buy an Apple either. I'd probably either roll my own or go with a GOOD smaller white box vendor that can put good stuff into a box, not the 'special' OEM squeezings Dell shits into their boxes. Any PC company that can't even put in a standard f**king ATX power supply isn't getting my business, just for starters.

    --
    Democrat delenda est
  7. Re:Market share fascination? by gnasher719 · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    '' Market Share is an excuse for web sites to only support IE for Windows. ''

    As a marketing person, I would do everything in my power to keep people away from my webpage who spend ridiculous amounts of money for flashy overpriced products. I wouldn't want someone who spends thousands and thousands on an overpriced MacPro and two 30 inch displays as a customer. I would very much prefer customers who spend $300 on a Dell computer.

  8. Re:This argument has NEVER made sense. by drsmithy · · Score: 0, Flamebait
    (and that does NOT include the inherent better security design of OS X which is MUCH better than windows)

    No, it's not. At *best* the two are equal and in most aspects Windows has the better design. OS X is, after all, just another unix under the hood.