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Microsoft Says It Is Winning Its New War Against Macs (cultofmac.com)
Windows PCs are starting to chip away at Apple's strong grip of the high-end computer market, Microsoft CFO Amy Hood said on an earnings call Thursday. From a report: Microsofts licensing business, which sells Windows to third-party PC makers, was up 5 percent last quarter, confirmed CFO Amy Hood during an earnings call on Thursday. The "non-pro" (consumer) market grew 5 percent, beating the overall decline of the PC industry. "Our partner ecosystem continued to see growth and share gains in the Windows premium device category," Hood continued. Those gains would have eaten into Apple's share of that market, which has been dominated by Macs until recently. There are other things that could have contributed to this, of course. Many long-time Mac users have been somewhat disappointed with Apple's most recent releases, which come with big changes that not everyone is willing to embrace.
Apple is self destructing. Minor difference, but it makes it sound like Microsoft is all of a sudden making better products. That would be a first, and probably not far off.
Had a mac since '84 and I think my current macbook is the last I'll buy.
I find it funny that the only Windows win is against a platform that Apple has all but abandoned for years. I wonder if Microsoft realizes how much trouble Windows is in.
Microsoft is only shooting itself in the foot while its opponents over at apple have somehow lodged their guns into their own rectums. Its not so much that microsoft is winning the battle, as apple is just failing worse.
I'll be hanging on to my retina mb pro for the foreseeable future [however short that is]. I like having the built in HDMI and SD card slots, along with the possibility of upgrading the internal storage. For a tru 'pro' Macbook, I would like to see Apple revive the old 2012 form factor, with single mini display port / thunderbolt 2 replacing the firewire port, 1 USB A & 2 USB C/thunderbolt 3 ports - and if possible both magsafe & hdmi ports. The old design's optical bay could hold either an optical drive, or extra battery, or extra storage - all user serviceable. The user should also be able to upgrade the RAM - up to 32 Gig.
Caution: Do not stare into laser with remaining eye.
Sorry but uptake of Win10 is still dismal. even with giving it away for free.
If you count the latest macbook? yes, as it's more of a netbook.
Microsoft needs to fire all it's marketing department and executives and get some people in there that have a clue. They botched a lot of the 10 rollout that made people distrust them more.... They need to desperately change that and the only way is to clean house at the top.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
It may well be, but it's not because of anything Microsoft is doing.
Virtually every professional I know have all but given up on Apple thanks to the idiocy they've been pulling in recent years. At this point, it is so beyond glaringly obvious that they're now just taking the piss out of their customer base, that people no longer feel that that apple tax is worth it.
I just priced out a 13" MBP for myself. The MINIMUM viable product for my use is almost $3000. And this is minimum viable for my CURRENT needs, never mind what I might need a couple years from now. And of course, Apple forces me to plan ahead cause they solder everything onto the main board with no option for future upgrades. And this price doesn't count the bajillion dongles I'll have to buy (since the bajillion I already own are now useless), nor apple care.
The part that pisses me off the most is that they are very obviously gimping their lower priced products to force people to buy the more expensive stuff. For example, the base 13" MBP with a memory and storage bump would have been good enough for me.... EXCEPT IT ONLY HAS TWO TB3 PORTS AND ONE GETS USED FOR POWER. So you have literally ONE whole port to do *everything*.
And as of right now, there is literally NOT ONE single TB3 port replicator or hub available on the market to purchase (Yes, I've looked. Even OWC won't be available for at least a couple months from now at the soonest), so my options are to cobble together some ridiculous spaghetti mess of dongles, USB hubs and other nonsense just so I can use an external monitor and ethernet at the same time, or I spend the extra $700 to get their highest end model that graciously allows me to upgrade both ram and storage, AND has 4 TB-3 ports to use. (Their mid-range specifically does NOT give you the option to upgrade storage. You can have any size you want as long as it 256GB)
The currently generation of macbooks are flat out inexcusable.
I wonder if Microsoft realizes how much trouble Windows is in.
Microsoft is making tens of billions in profit from Windows every year with no end in sight. If that's trouble then give me some of that. PCs might not be the dominant force they once were but they aren't going away any time soon and there is nothing that is likely to displace Windows as the dominant operating system in PCs either. Furthermore Microsoft is the only ones doing anything even kind of innovative in traditional PCs these days. Their work in merging tablets and laptops is actually working in some areas (after a LOT of false starts) whereas Apple's big "innovations" are removing keys that nobody had a problem with and taking away ports people actually use. I'm not going to be a Windows fan any time soon but at least they are trying. Apple seems to not give a shit about the Macs anymore and they certainly haven't done anything in that space worth mentioning for several years now.
I care about the hardware too and there still isn't a real improvement out there to the 2012 15 inch macbook pro I already have. I'm still waiting on an actual hardware upgrade after 5 years.
I'm with you. MacOS is the best GUI OS I have ever used, and I've used everything from GeOS to BeOS, Amiga, AT&T, Lisa, you name it. I've never heard anyone of any importance say anything bad about MacOS. VMWare Fusion fills in if I need Windows or Linux.
No it isnt.
I've never heard anyone of any importance say anything bad about MacOS.
But the people of importance are now saying Windows 10 is as good as or in some ways better than OSX.
So you CAN be correct and wrong at the same time.
"You, sir, are an unmitigated moron."
Funny. I feel the same way about you. You are spouting absolute nonsense. We're both modded +5. Neat.
5k is irrelevant. its irrelevant today and it will still be irrelevant in 5 years. if anything, we'll move to 8k before 5k gets any real traction.
Go to Amazon. No need to carry "a bag of accessories". Just buy something like THIS, or THIS, or even THIS or THIS, and you're all set for "Legacy Ports".
Yeah... buy a laptop missing a bunch of features, and then attach another smaller box to it to make it an actual pro laptop. That's brilliant. Pro users want a workhorse like a truck and you think they should just buy a car and trailer, and that that it is just as good? You know any contractors who drive a civic and pull a trailer around? Ever wonder why not? BECAUSE THEY CAN BUY A FUCKING TRUCK.
That shit on amazon wouldn't be necessary if you could buy a proper laptop in the first place.
Once again, "My Use Case MUST be EVERYONE'S Use Case. WTF is wrong with you???
The difference between my examples and your is the users I am representing is the *actual majority of users*, and the use-cases you are campaigning for are the tiny niches. Which use case is more common?
a) A pro user who needs to attach a flash drive to their computer, or an HDMI projector in a board room?
b) A pro user who needs 5k screen and 4 4k screens all attached to his laptop; because he doesn't already have a desktop?
Catering to b) is perfectly fine, but claiming a) is not the far more common and important feature to support is just rectal cranial inversion.
If you look at the TrackPad on the MBP 2016, it is nearly the size of an iPhone screen. Next stop for that TrackPad will be to work with the Apple Pencil. Mark my words. THEN, it will make sense...
And if that happens in 2019 I'll give a shit THEN. But your wrong. Nobody wants to draw on the track pad. If anything Dell's convertibles have it right... flip it over and draw right on the goddamned screen.
This is hardly a Bugatti. This is a Laptop for PROs, that has an "Eye to the Future". But still practical today.
If it were there would not be a million articles taking a shit on it for not having the features people want TODAY.
That's why you can buy miniDP to ??? Adapters at WALMART these days, FFS!
I can buy tire irons at walmart too -- so what?
Doesn't mean my car shouldn't have one included in the tire change kit. Even my 911 has a collapsible tire change kit with everything needed to change a tire as standard equipment. Why? Because when I need to change a fucking tire i am not likely to be parked at a fucking walmwart where i can just buy a tire iron.
Likewise when I need to plug my laptop into a customers projector... that is not going to happen in the cable aisle at a walmart, where i can just reach over and grab the adapter i need. No. Instead it usually means NOT using the projector and having everyone gather around the tiny laptop, because in the real world you don't pause a meeting for 20 minutes to make a fucking trip to walmart.
And guess what? There are PLENTY of Non-Apple Laptops that have nothing but a miniDisplayPort Port. You'll be whipping out that "Bag Of Accessories" for them, too.
I can easily shop around bad design choices them when I'm buying Non-apple laptops. There are several vendors, with dozens of products lines that cater to pro-users. If apple is going to be the only vendor of OSX then it's under more pressure to get its one-size-fits-most to actually fit most.
If you are Pining for the USB-A, go to frickin' Amazon, and pick up a few of these $2.50 USB-C to USB-A adapters. They are cheap enough ($7 for 3) and small enough, that you can simply clip them onto your USB-A cables and LEAVE THEM THERE.
Yeah. I al