Something is fishy about all those numbers of market share and units sold. Lets see;
I know more people with iPhones (4) than use Vista (3) and they only sold 1.2 million iPhones in the U.S so far. 100 million copies of Vista? Maybe, but Idunno. Can't see them anywhere. Of the three people I know with Vista, two hate it and are ready to buy Macs. I know many many more people who used to own PCs who now own Macs (about 30 over two years). Seeing as one in every six laptops sold in the U.S. is a Mac, that market share claim is further in doubt.
Very few corporations have switched to Vista. There weren't any lines at Best Buy to get boxed Vista when it was released. Who's buying it? How many Vista machines have been rolled back to XP? How's XP selling next to Vista? Apparently enough to force Microsoft to allow it to be installed on new computers.
So, in the time Vista has been around, Vista shipments slumped in Q3, Apple has jumped a few percent in market share, Dell is selling Linux computers fairly briskly and Ballmer has been VERY noisy about little Linux blip on the radar. Something doesn't add up here - like someone is lying about it all.
Microsoft better watch their backs - looks like the user satisfaction figures are becoming leading market share indicators.
It really looks like Apple is getting momentum lately, although I can't confirm where the momentum comes from... I'm seeing it firsthand from clients, co-workers and people I know. Macs are showing up at accelerating rates in the hands of people who were always classic PC users. Universally, they'll tell you they love their new Macs.
You think I'm making this up? If "Freedom Fries" is the only thing a pundit can point to in the U.S. as being anti-French, that's pretty thin. France has a long history of being an obstacle to U.S. influence in the world - unless they benefit from it. Depending on which snapshot of time you look at, the sentiments change and the French people may not necessarily agree with the stance of their Government toward the U.S.
France has had an active anti-Americanization policy for a long time, mostly cultural. More importantly, it has meddled in countless delecate situations involving the U.S. without invite. The French Government's ego gets damaged if it isn't included in important world affairs. That's why you'll find French diplomats popping up when there's a conflict brewing with the U.S. and anyone else. They play themselves for "good cop" and cast the U.S. as "bad cop". They're heros for the little guy if they hold off the U.S. somehow, and they'll wish them luck and stand aside if it doesn't work. During the first Gulf war when Iraq invaded Kuwait, French diplomats were circumventing embargoes against Iraq supplying them with aid and advice until the shooting started. Then there's that "Food for Oil" thing with French in the middle and the result of propping up Saddam in spite of the fact he was the biggest danger to the Middle East at the time (lets invade Saudi Arabia and split the spoils). No, there weren't any Weapons of Mass Destruction found later. France, Germany Britain and others all believed they had WMDs but France tried several times to get the inspections stopped. France would happily poke a stick the the eye of the U.S. at any opportunity - except for now when they actually are getting fearful of Iran. Does France fear the Iranians getting nuclear weapons or do they fear going down yet another notch on the International Influence Circuit? Hard to tell.
It's been a while since I was in France (and Belgium) but they struck me as some of the most openly hostile people toward Americans. At the same time, American popular culture was enthusiastically embraced by the French - so much that the Government launched a continuing series of efforts to de-Americanize their own culture through legislation. Yes, the Americans and French have had their ups and downs but there's still a latent hope that the U.S. will fall flat on its face. Occasionally, a common enemy will bond France and the U.S. together but that's historically been quickly discarded once the issue has passed. My dad is still mad at De Gaulle over NATO!
There are more Linux users than OSX Users. Really? Not here there aren't. There are two photos side by side, so stitch them together to recognize the true power of the X!
True. The Soviet backward slide possibly started in earnest as far back as 1980 with Lech Walesa and the Solidarity movement gaining traction, causing them to eventually lose their grip on the "Iron Curtain" holdings. They exited Afghanistan in 1988 with a little help from CIA supplied Stingers and some other advanced hardware. Desert Shield/Storm was between August 1990 and February 1991. The shooting, and CNN's vivid coverage, started in January. The Soviet Union was dissolved nearly a year after Operation Desert Shield/Storm started - December 25, 1991 and many of the old government institutions continued to operate into 1992. I do recall speculation that the CNN Mini-Series "War In The Gulf" and the timing of the Soviet Union's disassembly wasn't a coincidence.
You're also quite right about the warm water port. Looking at a map of the world at the time, it didn't take much imagination to see where they were headed. Their Navy was either frozen into or out of port half of the year - and that wasn't working for them.
Just before the U.S. turned South Vietnam's "security" over to their own inept government, Americans were testing early "television guided" munitions, laser targeting systems and other outlandish items on North Vietnamese bridges and buildings. One shot, one kill. That was version 0.8b of what we have now. The Soviets wanted the Vietnam war to end more than anyone as they watched advanced battlefield technology, which they couldn't replicate, being developed and tested by the Americans.
All this came to fruition during the Gulf War nearly 20 years later with the debut of effective standoff weapons and "pushbutton warfare". That was somewhere around version 3 of these weapons systems. American forces were flying invisible bombers and could vaporize anything they put crosshairs on, mostly Soviet battlefield hardware. This dynamic was not lost on the Soviet leadership watching Iraqi forces on CNN abandoning Soviet tanks or getting blown up with them, or watching munitions fly through selected windows in office buildings. The Soviets quickly realized their forces would sustain the same 1,000:1 kill ratios if they ever made good on the threat of invading Western Europe with the same hardware. Generally, it is believed this technological edge accelerated the downfall of the Soviet Union.
Here we are at version 0.8b again developing these new battlefield systems designed for urban warfare by foot soldiers just before we turn "security" over to another inept government. Threat visibility and real time data to the individual soldier will help them survive and overcome some schmuck running around with an RPG and a walkie talkie. I'm for it.
Without his marketing machine and the desire/means to wring every last cent from his foolish customers Apple wouldn't have gotten anywhere lets face it.
Ahhhh... bullshit, AC (should be "Anonymous Blowhard"). Same as with nearly 100 people I've introduced to the Mac for the first time (forced most of them, actually) I've "suffered" through loving taunts like "You've turned me into a Mac head!".
My reply is "No, I just introduced you to something different and you made up your own mind". That's all Steve Jobs is doing. Nothing elite about it - more like "enlightenment". You clearly know nothing about Macs except that they're a threat to your little mind.
And "Technically illiterate"? You must think that a computer isn't good unless it's really hard to use. Fact is the more advanced computer is easier to use.
Roger that - the complaint was a lot of tab-tab-tab-tab-tab-tab-tab-tab action when you have a bunch of things open. Running the mouse [cursor} over the items was a shortcut. Holding alt-tab down makes them run around as you noted and, of course, smashing the/Shift/ button makes them run backwards - handy when you overshoot the target.
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My Novell server is still disconnected.
Something is fishy about all those numbers of market share and units sold. Lets see;
I know more people with iPhones (4) than use Vista (3) and they only sold 1.2 million iPhones in the U.S so far. 100 million copies of Vista? Maybe, but Idunno. Can't see them anywhere. Of the three people I know with Vista, two hate it and are ready to buy Macs. I know many many more people who used to own PCs who now own Macs (about 30 over two years). Seeing as one in every six laptops sold in the U.S. is a Mac, that market share claim is further in doubt.
Very few corporations have switched to Vista. There weren't any lines at Best Buy to get boxed Vista when it was released. Who's buying it? How many Vista machines have been rolled back to XP? How's XP selling next to Vista? Apparently enough to force Microsoft to allow it to be installed on new computers.
So, in the time Vista has been around, Vista shipments slumped in Q3, Apple has jumped a few percent in market share, Dell is selling Linux computers fairly briskly and Ballmer has been VERY noisy about little Linux blip on the radar. Something doesn't add up here - like someone is lying about it all.
Microsoft better watch their backs - looks like the user satisfaction figures are becoming leading market share indicators.
Is this anything like Microsoft demanding you buy an OS license for each computer in your building on the basis that it MIGHT run Windows, whether or not it's a PC? Now THAT is a TAX!
Rack-em-up!
I call it "Internet Exploiter".
As long as nobody is following my Dad around...
Exactly - that's the only thing propping up most of Microsoft now. They'd have to figure out how to actually make good on marketing claims to survive.
Here ya go, Woz.
Makes me fuzzy thinking about the possibilities.
Stealth at its best.
Then I'll stand corrected and take that as good news.
You think I'm making this up? If "Freedom Fries" is the only thing a pundit can point to in the U.S. as being anti-French, that's pretty thin. France has a long history of being an obstacle to U.S. influence in the world - unless they benefit from it. Depending on which snapshot of time you look at, the sentiments change and the French people may not necessarily agree with the stance of their Government toward the U.S.
France has had an active anti-Americanization policy for a long time, mostly cultural. More importantly, it has meddled in countless delecate situations involving the U.S. without invite. The French Government's ego gets damaged if it isn't included in important world affairs. That's why you'll find French diplomats popping up when there's a conflict brewing with the U.S. and anyone else. They play themselves for "good cop" and cast the U.S. as "bad cop". They're heros for the little guy if they hold off the U.S. somehow, and they'll wish them luck and stand aside if it doesn't work. During the first Gulf war when Iraq invaded Kuwait, French diplomats were circumventing embargoes against Iraq supplying them with aid and advice until the shooting started. Then there's that "Food for Oil" thing with French in the middle and the result of propping up Saddam in spite of the fact he was the biggest danger to the Middle East at the time (lets invade Saudi Arabia and split the spoils). No, there weren't any Weapons of Mass Destruction found later. France, Germany Britain and others all believed they had WMDs but France tried several times to get the inspections stopped. France would happily poke a stick the the eye of the U.S. at any opportunity - except for now when they actually are getting fearful of Iran. Does France fear the Iranians getting nuclear weapons or do they fear going down yet another notch on the International Influence Circuit? Hard to tell.
Here's some reading from an outfit that knows more than most about this. I also learned a little more from this article. Draw your own conclusions.
It's been a while since I was in France (and Belgium) but they struck me as some of the most openly hostile people toward Americans. At the same time, American popular culture was enthusiastically embraced by the French - so much that the Government launched a continuing series of efforts to de-Americanize their own culture through legislation. Yes, the Americans and French have had their ups and downs but there's still a latent hope that the U.S. will fall flat on its face. Occasionally, a common enemy will bond France and the U.S. together but that's historically been quickly discarded once the issue has passed. My dad is still mad at De Gaulle over NATO!
I am one and still say "bleh".
See? We should have let the Germans keep France.
Exclusivity deals with a sub-desirable carrier is working against Apple but "Designed in the USA" is probably hurting them worse in France. Next.
They probably used it to translate the instruction manual into Engrish.
Most of the intended client base is leaving it alone already. No need to shout.... heh.
True. The Soviet backward slide possibly started in earnest as far back as 1980 with Lech Walesa and the Solidarity movement gaining traction, causing them to eventually lose their grip on the "Iron Curtain" holdings. They exited Afghanistan in 1988 with a little help from CIA supplied Stingers and some other advanced hardware. Desert Shield/Storm was between August 1990 and February 1991. The shooting, and CNN's vivid coverage, started in January. The Soviet Union was dissolved nearly a year after Operation Desert Shield/Storm started - December 25, 1991 and many of the old government institutions continued to operate into 1992. I do recall speculation that the CNN Mini-Series "War In The Gulf" and the timing of the Soviet Union's disassembly wasn't a coincidence.
You're also quite right about the warm water port. Looking at a map of the world at the time, it didn't take much imagination to see where they were headed. Their Navy was either frozen into or out of port half of the year - and that wasn't working for them.
Just before the U.S. turned South Vietnam's "security" over to their own inept government, Americans were testing early "television guided" munitions, laser targeting systems and other outlandish items on North Vietnamese bridges and buildings. One shot, one kill. That was version 0.8b of what we have now. The Soviets wanted the Vietnam war to end more than anyone as they watched advanced battlefield technology, which they couldn't replicate, being developed and tested by the Americans.
All this came to fruition during the Gulf War nearly 20 years later with the debut of effective standoff weapons and "pushbutton warfare". That was somewhere around version 3 of these weapons systems. American forces were flying invisible bombers and could vaporize anything they put crosshairs on, mostly Soviet battlefield hardware. This dynamic was not lost on the Soviet leadership watching Iraqi forces on CNN abandoning Soviet tanks or getting blown up with them, or watching munitions fly through selected windows in office buildings. The Soviets quickly realized their forces would sustain the same 1,000:1 kill ratios if they ever made good on the threat of invading Western Europe with the same hardware. Generally, it is believed this technological edge accelerated the downfall of the Soviet Union.
Here we are at version 0.8b again developing these new battlefield systems designed for urban warfare by foot soldiers just before we turn "security" over to another inept government. Threat visibility and real time data to the individual soldier will help them survive and overcome some schmuck running around with an RPG and a walkie talkie. I'm for it.
Where do you clip the iPod?
This sounds like Martha Stewart.
Ahhhh... bullshit, AC (should be "Anonymous Blowhard"). Same as with nearly 100 people I've introduced to the Mac for the first time (forced most of them, actually) I've "suffered" through loving taunts like "You've turned me into a Mac head!".
My reply is "No, I just introduced you to something different and you made up your own mind". That's all Steve Jobs is doing. Nothing elite about it - more like "enlightenment". You clearly know nothing about Macs except that they're a threat to your little mind.
And "Technically illiterate"? You must think that a computer isn't good unless it's really hard to use. Fact is the more advanced computer is easier to use.
Roger that - the complaint was a lot of tab-tab-tab-tab-tab-tab-tab-tab action when you have a bunch of things open. Running the mouse [cursor} over the items was a shortcut. Holding alt-tab down makes them run around as you noted and, of course, smashing the /Shift/ button makes them run backwards - handy when you overshoot the target.