The problem of rich or super-motivated plaintiffs bringing defendents to their knees via lawsuits is the essence of the motivation behind the tort reform movement. Unfortunately, the trial lawyers who make a mint off the current system have united to become the largest funder (bigger than unions or minorities) of the Democrat party. Good luck getting tort reform passed until there's 60 Republicans in the Senate (or close to it).
Apple's actually not at the high end of expenses in certain configurations anymore. It's not for the 3rd world but it is certainly much more price competitive than it used to be, especially in servers where the xServes are beating up Windows solutions left and right.
Sometimes the job description is "look at MS Project files coming from client and review schedule, making necessary edits". In fact, that happens more often than you might think.
People don't just jump off MS file formats for a reason. Very often they're part of an ecosystem that has certain software requirements. I expect that a 970 running VPC will run Project acceptably well and that's what I'm going to end up having to do. I wish I didn't.
Let's see, firewire trailed the PC architecture? No. legacy free model trailed the PC dominance of the format? No. And is Apple likely to follow the PC in BIOS? No.
Where the PC has its act together, Apple no longer marches to its own drummer but brain dead decisions like retaining the BIOS format instead of moving to the more capable open firmware will never have Apple following.
I can't believe it's 2003 and Wintel machines still occasionally have IRQ conflicts. How brain dead is that?
Motorola sells a lot of embedded PPC chips but not too many desktop models. IBM is selling blade servers, and will be selling all sorts of workstations around the new chip (RS/6000?). It's also highly likely that IBM is simply a more efficient chip producer than Motorola with lower prices and higher yields on identical volumes.
So let's see, before that upgrade where were they? Oh, around $17 per share, now they're around $19. I don't know about you but $1.50-$2 a share pop in one week is a pretty nice result from a simple announcement of good iPod sales.
It used to be that Microsoft people used to club Mac fans with the epithet that the Mac was a 'toy' computer. The main argument against a mac these days seems to be that it isn't as much of one as the Windows computers.
ProEngineer is under consideration for porting to Mac OS X according to their website. Complex graphical manipulations have always taken boatloads of RAM. With Macs looking like they're going to ramp up to an 8GB capacity this month, it looks like there's a compelling hardware story here. I think that the 3D/CAD market is something like Apple's business enterprise strategy. It's being assembled in silicon and metal and they'll get around to product announcements when it's not vaporware.
The perceptive market participant would start to seriously keep an eye out for developments in the space.
pro/Engineer is soliciting feedback on porting to Mac OS X (from remarks on their website). By no means is the Apple position on 3d CAD design solid but it certainly bears watching. One of the things that may tip things over for people to start port efforts is whether PPC is significantly faster and more capable than Intel. If you can get an 8GB machine that's faster and cheaper, and only runs *your* 3D/CAD software it makes for a compelling story, no?
Try Inside Mac Games for a read on what's available. You might also find that there are a few game houses that have titles *only* for the Mac. If gaming's your thing, visit them every once in awhile to see whether the state of mac gaming has hit your comfort zone or whether there is a mac only must have game that'll turn you to bi-platform gaming.
There is also a surprising amount of software in the 'Windows only' stores that run on macs. I think this thread got kicked off with an observation that Circuit City doesn't carry mac software. It does, though they don't count it as such. I would expect that some of the early growth in mac software availability would be in dual-platform single box titles.
Software is stocked on a $$ profit / linear foot basis. Literally, they count up how much money a shelf/foot is making and if it's not making enough they change their product mix. Back when I was much younger I worked mac sales at CompUSA. When I started there was one shelf of Mac software, when I left, 1/3 of the software selection was Mac. The reason was simple, the mac stuff was selling so they got more of it. It works the same way everywhere in retail.
Mac owners generally buy over the web or via catalog because of it. If mac marketshare grew due to PPC 970 being the fastest chip available then the software choice at retailers would follow by about 3 months lag as the sales figures adjusted.
One thing about Mac software though, Mac owners won't buy crap so there's a lot less garbage available on the platform that barely ekes out an existance based on the law of large numbers. Some people think that's an advantage.
There are actually a couple of MS applications that preclude Apple from winning a lot of business among managers (for which it would be otherwise perfect), namely Project and Visio. You can run them in VPC but native Project hasn't been developed in years (though I'd buy it in a second if it did) and Visio has never run mac native.
Well, not quite *everything* but it's getting close and will likely be true in a year or two. There are still some unix apps that are Mac OS X incompatible but nowadays you really have to look hard for them.
If 2.0 Ghz 64bit PPC chips are as fast as advertised, you'll be able to run VPC and keep your software running at decent PC speeds. So where's the need to ditch software? If you've got an established Windows library of titles run it in emulation and with acceptable speed and all the *advantages that come with emulation. You know, like when the next virus infects you, you copy your new data off the disk and just wipe and replace with an uninfected image? Or having different software installs for your different roles so your gaming software doesn't screw up your work software and vice versa?
There will be nit pickers who will never be satisfied with emulation but past a certain point of responsiveness, emulation's *better* than running it native.
The thing is that with Apple in compliance with so many more industry standard specs the vendor independent argument has lost most of its punch. So, Apple tries to lock you in and jack up prices? You just buy FreeBSD machines and go forward. You'll lose the ease of use but you won't lose much absolute functionality (aside from MS Office).
Apple's purposefully put its head in the noose to guarantee that they can't pull that proprietary BS anymore. If they did, their userbase can just shift to a different Unix.
Being in the running, as you say, means the difference between treading marketshare water and growing the platform, eroding Windows dominance.
For the millionth time, build your own is not the competition for Apple. It never has been. Build your own machines are for people with entirely different wallets and lifestyle decisions. I can build my own if I wanted to. I just don't want to. That's why I'll end up buying a name brand whether it's x86 or PPC.
You obviously don't see the value in that. Go play in your own market segment.
It's also a matter of volume. Since these chips will also go into IBM's computers, Apple is not the sole large customer for them. For the G4's for Motorola, the desktop line was pretty much a solely Apple affair. Embedded was a different story but who else was using the exact chips that Apple got besides Apple?
Obviously the moderators have never come into contact with this particular brand of ex-mac user. This is *FUNNY* (though I get it more often from old Apple II die hards) because its *TRUE*. People like this do exist.
If the 'leak' is accurate, it'll be shipping Monday at the spec referred above and in a month or two shipping even faster. That's what's going to make the Monday announcements so interesting. The speed crown for PCs might just durably shift camps for a few rounds.
That's definitely news for nerds and stuff that matters for those who use their computers for more than office work.
It's also likely that IBM will not come out with a version of AIX for the Macs and OSX for RS/6000? That's only going to happen if SCO improbably wins its court fight.
Does anybody realize what this will do to marketshare when Apple can functionally substitute for RS/6000 workstations as the low cost provider on the low end?
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The problem of rich or super-motivated plaintiffs bringing defendents to their knees via lawsuits is the essence of the motivation behind the tort reform movement. Unfortunately, the trial lawyers who make a mint off the current system have united to become the largest funder (bigger than unions or minorities) of the Democrat party. Good luck getting tort reform passed until there's 60 Republicans in the Senate (or close to it).
Apple's actually not at the high end of expenses in certain configurations anymore. It's not for the 3rd world but it is certainly much more price competitive than it used to be, especially in servers where the xServes are beating up Windows solutions left and right.
I think DFS is their start at doing just that.
Sometimes the job description is "look at MS Project files coming from client and review schedule, making necessary edits". In fact, that happens more often than you might think.
People don't just jump off MS file formats for a reason. Very often they're part of an ecosystem that has certain software requirements. I expect that a 970 running VPC will run Project acceptably well and that's what I'm going to end up having to do. I wish I didn't.
Let's see, firewire trailed the PC architecture? No.
legacy free model trailed the PC dominance of the format? No.
And is Apple likely to follow the PC in BIOS? No.
Where the PC has its act together, Apple no longer marches to its own drummer but brain dead decisions like retaining the BIOS format instead of moving to the more capable open firmware will never have Apple following.
I can't believe it's 2003 and Wintel machines still occasionally have IRQ conflicts. How brain dead is that?
No, no. That would be an appleseed.
Motorola sells a lot of embedded PPC chips but not too many desktop models. IBM is selling blade servers, and will be selling all sorts of workstations around the new chip (RS/6000?). It's also highly likely that IBM is simply a more efficient chip producer than Motorola with lower prices and higher yields on identical volumes.
So let's see, before that upgrade where were they? Oh, around $17 per share, now they're around $19. I don't know about you but $1.50-$2 a share pop in one week is a pretty nice result from a simple announcement of good iPod sales.
It used to be that Microsoft people used to club Mac fans with the epithet that the Mac was a 'toy' computer. The main argument against a mac these days seems to be that it isn't as much of one as the Windows computers.
What a joke, what a really big joke.
But who would write such a thing? Apple can't as it would piss off their major new CPU provider. What 3rd party would want to take it on?
ProEngineer is under consideration for porting to Mac OS X according to their website. Complex graphical manipulations have always taken boatloads of RAM. With Macs looking like they're going to ramp up to an 8GB capacity this month, it looks like there's a compelling hardware story here. I think that the 3D/CAD market is something like Apple's business enterprise strategy. It's being assembled in silicon and metal and they'll get around to product announcements when it's not vaporware.
The perceptive market participant would start to seriously keep an eye out for developments in the space.
pro/Engineer is soliciting feedback on porting to Mac OS X (from remarks on their website). By no means is the Apple position on 3d CAD design solid but it certainly bears watching. One of the things that may tip things over for people to start port efforts is whether PPC is significantly faster and more capable than Intel. If you can get an 8GB machine that's faster and cheaper, and only runs *your* 3D/CAD software it makes for a compelling story, no?
Try Inside Mac Games for a read on what's available. You might also find that there are a few game houses that have titles *only* for the Mac. If gaming's your thing, visit them every once in awhile to see whether the state of mac gaming has hit your comfort zone or whether there is a mac only must have game that'll turn you to bi-platform gaming.
There is also a surprising amount of software in the 'Windows only' stores that run on macs. I think this thread got kicked off with an observation that Circuit City doesn't carry mac software. It does, though they don't count it as such. I would expect that some of the early growth in mac software availability would be in dual-platform single box titles.
Software is stocked on a $$ profit / linear foot basis. Literally, they count up how much money a shelf/foot is making and if it's not making enough they change their product mix. Back when I was much younger I worked mac sales at CompUSA. When I started there was one shelf of Mac software, when I left, 1/3 of the software selection was Mac. The reason was simple, the mac stuff was selling so they got more of it. It works the same way everywhere in retail.
Mac owners generally buy over the web or via catalog because of it. If mac marketshare grew due to PPC 970 being the fastest chip available then the software choice at retailers would follow by about 3 months lag as the sales figures adjusted.
One thing about Mac software though, Mac owners won't buy crap so there's a lot less garbage available on the platform that barely ekes out an existance based on the law of large numbers. Some people think that's an advantage.
There are actually a couple of MS applications that preclude Apple from winning a lot of business among managers (for which it would be otherwise perfect), namely Project and Visio. You can run them in VPC but native Project hasn't been developed in years (though I'd buy it in a second if it did) and Visio has never run mac native.
Well, not quite *everything* but it's getting close and will likely be true in a year or two. There are still some unix apps that are Mac OS X incompatible but nowadays you really have to look hard for them.
If 2.0 Ghz 64bit PPC chips are as fast as advertised, you'll be able to run VPC and keep your software running at decent PC speeds. So where's the need to ditch software? If you've got an established Windows library of titles run it in emulation and with acceptable speed and all the *advantages that come with emulation. You know, like when the next virus infects you, you copy your new data off the disk and just wipe and replace with an uninfected image? Or having different software installs for your different roles so your gaming software doesn't screw up your work software and vice versa?
There will be nit pickers who will never be satisfied with emulation but past a certain point of responsiveness, emulation's *better* than running it native.
The thing is that with Apple in compliance with so many more industry standard specs the vendor independent argument has lost most of its punch. So, Apple tries to lock you in and jack up prices? You just buy FreeBSD machines and go forward. You'll lose the ease of use but you won't lose much absolute functionality (aside from MS Office).
Apple's purposefully put its head in the noose to guarantee that they can't pull that proprietary BS anymore. If they did, their userbase can just shift to a different Unix.
Being in the running, as you say, means the difference between treading marketshare water and growing the platform, eroding Windows dominance.
For the millionth time, build your own is not the competition for Apple. It never has been. Build your own machines are for people with entirely different wallets and lifestyle decisions. I can build my own if I wanted to. I just don't want to. That's why I'll end up buying a name brand whether it's x86 or PPC.
You obviously don't see the value in that. Go play in your own market segment.
It's also a matter of volume. Since these chips will also go into IBM's computers, Apple is not the sole large customer for them. For the G4's for Motorola, the desktop line was pretty much a solely Apple affair. Embedded was a different story but who else was using the exact chips that Apple got besides Apple?
When they're on special at SAMs Club they get to replace my parent's 6100 whether they like it or not.
The G3s will be with us for *quite* awhile, just not on sale at the Apple store.
Obviously the moderators have never come into contact with this particular brand of ex-mac user. This is *FUNNY* (though I get it more often from old Apple II die hards) because its *TRUE*. People like this do exist.
If the 'leak' is accurate, it'll be shipping Monday at the spec referred above and in a month or two shipping even faster. That's what's going to make the Monday announcements so interesting. The speed crown for PCs might just durably shift camps for a few rounds.
That's definitely news for nerds and stuff that matters for those who use their computers for more than office work.
It's also likely that IBM will not come out with a version of AIX for the Macs and OSX for RS/6000? That's only going to happen if SCO improbably wins its court fight.
Does anybody realize what this will do to marketshare when Apple can functionally substitute for RS/6000 workstations as the low cost provider on the low end?