Windows 7 Vs Mac – Apple Has Plans To Spoil Windows 7 Party?(techdusts.com)
techdusts.com
Windows 7 Vs Mac – Apple Has Plans To Spoil Windows 7 Party?
http://techdusts.com/2009/10/16/apple-trying-to-steal-the-limelight-from-microsoft-on-windows-7-launch/
Just a week left before the official launch of Windows 7 on October 22nd, but it seems like Apple is not going to sit quietly and watch the launch party of Windows 7.
19 comments
I'm not clear whether these are from Apple folks or the writer himself. But I don't see them strong.
# Macs are easy to connect with widespread iPhones and iPods
well.. Is there any difficulty connecting them with windows?
# About 80% of PC users are still using Windows XP and
upgrading from XP to Windows 7 is a arduous and punishing task.
If the problem is pain of _upgrading_ getting a mac won't help.
There should be stronger points I guess :).
# Macs are easy to connect with widespread iPhones and iPods
well.. Is there any difficulty connecting them with windows?
# About 80% of PC users are still using Windows XP and
upgrading from XP to Windows 7 is a arduous and punishing task.
If the problem is pain of _upgrading_ getting a mac won't help.
There should be stronger points I guess :).
these are frm apple
What's the point of Apple spitting on Windows 7? It's not as if that huge market of existing PC owners just wanting to upgrade their machines can go out and (legally) put OSX on there.
The point is that people with eight year old computers are going to get new hardware and not just the OS, and then when they realize that it's a big jump to go from XP to Win 7 (copy files over, install all their old apps and hope they're still working, etc), they might as well get one of them cool Macs.
Something like that.
Something like that.
Sure, except that these companies don't seem to realize that the average computer user today doesn't like having to figure things out.
If you just use your computer for email and a bit of web stuff every other day or so, and you've been using Windows XP, you don't want to move to a Mac. You'll find it frustrating because things aren't where you expect them to be and you don't get to have all the same programs on your computer. Likewise, if you're a long-time Mac user, it doesn't matter how good Windows 7 is -- you don't want to use it, because it's too different from what you know.
The majority of computer users now are not hobbyists or tinkerers, and these two companies' marketing strategies are so out of sync with their customer base that it would be hilarious if it wasn't sad.
If you just use your computer for email and a bit of web stuff every other day or so, and you've been using Windows XP, you don't want to move to a Mac. You'll find it frustrating because things aren't where you expect them to be and you don't get to have all the same programs on your computer. Likewise, if you're a long-time Mac user, it doesn't matter how good Windows 7 is -- you don't want to use it, because it's too different from what you know.
The majority of computer users now are not hobbyists or tinkerers, and these two companies' marketing strategies are so out of sync with their customer base that it would be hilarious if it wasn't sad.
Don't forget, though, the size of the XP userbase. A mere fraction of a percent might be enough to make marketing effort pay off for Apple. They don't need to tap into the average person when tapping into outliers could do the trick.
I don't think there are that many viable outliers; this sounds like the "if just 1% of X people, and just 1% of those ..." argument that some young businesses use as their market research.
Let's consider some of the demographics and logic here. First, we're specifically talking about XP users. Vista has been available for quite a while, and despite all the bad press and the vehement hatred that the tech sector has for it -- a lot of users aren't all that bothered by it. It works OK.
So, if someone is still using XP, then it's probably safe to conclude that either they're apprehensive of change, or that they don't consider their computer to be something that they should spend much money on.
In both cases, Apple loses at converting them. Macs are more expensive, and the operating system is completely different from the user's perspective.
The only outliers that leaves us with is those folks that have more than one computer in their home, of which one or more of their systems is XP. In those cases, either they already have a Mac in their home -- and Apple isn't winning a conversion -- or they don't, and Apple is not really likely to get a conversion.
But all that's just theory and guessing. Fortunately, one of my two businesses currently is in tech services for individuals and businesses. Of the roughly probably 100 systems that we currently care for, just 9 of them are Macs. Of those, 7 are used by people who will give up their Macs when you pry them from their cold, dead fingers. (Which is fine by us, we like -- and support -- Macs too.) Of the remaining two, one is an older laptop with persistent hard drive and charging issues which almost drove the client to get a PC replacement.
The other one is a more interesting story related to what we're talking about here. The client was persuaded to get an Apple at the behest of a friend who really really likes Macs, and is one of those misguided evangelists that believes that everyone else should like them too.
The problem is, this client doesn't play with computers. He just wants to get work done. So, one of the first things he did with his Mac was get an early beta of Boot Camp -- and install Windows on it.
Apple since then has done this really neat trick where a bug in that version of Boot Camp prevents the user from upgraded to XP service pack 3, and you can't upgrade Boot Camp to fix the bug without buying Leopard.
Meanwhile, the user is frustrated as all hell because the machine is really quirky. He hates it. He just wants to get work done, not dick around with it all the time. To him, the Mac is always slower than his other PCs, it's always more troublesome, and it was more expensive.
As a result of that "conversion", Apple has just won an enemy for life. He'll never buy one again.
I used to do the whole "you're better off with a Mac" evangelism thing -- essentially doing Apple's marketing for them -- years ago. That got old pretty fast when all those people started coming back to me with complaints, and most of their complaints distilled down to, "it's not Windows!"
Now we recommend people just use what they're familiar with. They're much happier that way.
The marketing strategies from both Microsoft and Apple right now are completely irrelevant to their prospective customers.
Let's consider some of the demographics and logic here. First, we're specifically talking about XP users. Vista has been available for quite a while, and despite all the bad press and the vehement hatred that the tech sector has for it -- a lot of users aren't all that bothered by it. It works OK.
So, if someone is still using XP, then it's probably safe to conclude that either they're apprehensive of change, or that they don't consider their computer to be something that they should spend much money on.
In both cases, Apple loses at converting them. Macs are more expensive, and the operating system is completely different from the user's perspective.
The only outliers that leaves us with is those folks that have more than one computer in their home, of which one or more of their systems is XP. In those cases, either they already have a Mac in their home -- and Apple isn't winning a conversion -- or they don't, and Apple is not really likely to get a conversion.
But all that's just theory and guessing. Fortunately, one of my two businesses currently is in tech services for individuals and businesses. Of the roughly probably 100 systems that we currently care for, just 9 of them are Macs. Of those, 7 are used by people who will give up their Macs when you pry them from their cold, dead fingers. (Which is fine by us, we like -- and support -- Macs too.) Of the remaining two, one is an older laptop with persistent hard drive and charging issues which almost drove the client to get a PC replacement.
The other one is a more interesting story related to what we're talking about here. The client was persuaded to get an Apple at the behest of a friend who really really likes Macs, and is one of those misguided evangelists that believes that everyone else should like them too.
The problem is, this client doesn't play with computers. He just wants to get work done. So, one of the first things he did with his Mac was get an early beta of Boot Camp -- and install Windows on it.
Apple since then has done this really neat trick where a bug in that version of Boot Camp prevents the user from upgraded to XP service pack 3, and you can't upgrade Boot Camp to fix the bug without buying Leopard.
Meanwhile, the user is frustrated as all hell because the machine is really quirky. He hates it. He just wants to get work done, not dick around with it all the time. To him, the Mac is always slower than his other PCs, it's always more troublesome, and it was more expensive.
As a result of that "conversion", Apple has just won an enemy for life. He'll never buy one again.
I used to do the whole "you're better off with a Mac" evangelism thing -- essentially doing Apple's marketing for them -- years ago. That got old pretty fast when all those people started coming back to me with complaints, and most of their complaints distilled down to, "it's not Windows!"
Now we recommend people just use what they're familiar with. They're much happier that way.
The marketing strategies from both Microsoft and Apple right now are completely irrelevant to their prospective customers.
On a similar note, let's not forget the amount of corporations that run Windows XP because it's the most ideal solution for their software. I don't know about most other corporations, but our company doesn't readily run out to buy every new version of anything, no, we're normally upgrading every other version.
On that note, we're probably going to be upgrading to windows 7 eventually, though not until a machine is out of warranty I wouldn't think.
On that note, we're probably going to be upgrading to windows 7 eventually, though not until a machine is out of warranty I wouldn't think.
"In both cases, Apple loses at converting them"
Yeah, once you have accepted a false dichotomy, you can conclude anything you want to. It's very unlikely that the entire set of XP users cleaves nicely into the two categories that just so happen to resonate with your own personal anecdotes.
Edit: I'm not ideologically aligned, here. I was only responding to your tacit assumption that Apple needed to target some sort of "average" user in order to get a return on their marketing investment.
Yeah, once you have accepted a false dichotomy, you can conclude anything you want to. It's very unlikely that the entire set of XP users cleaves nicely into the two categories that just so happen to resonate with your own personal anecdotes.
Edit: I'm not ideologically aligned, here. I was only responding to your tacit assumption that Apple needed to target some sort of "average" user in order to get a return on their marketing investment.
shrug
I gave you a distillation of the actual opinions and decisions of a not-small number of users, all of whom I interact with on a regular basis. They represent a fairly even mixture of individual and large business clients.
You can take that anyway you want.
I'd love to sit here and continue arguing ideology with you (not really), but I've gotta go meet with some more of my personal anecdotes ...
...and fix their XP issues.
I gave you a distillation of the actual opinions and decisions of a not-small number of users, all of whom I interact with on a regular basis. They represent a fairly even mixture of individual and large business clients.
You can take that anyway you want.
I'd love to sit here and continue arguing ideology with you (not really), but I've gotta go meet with some more of my personal anecdotes ...
...and fix their XP issues.
But there are lots of Mac users who used to be Windows users. Apple would like them not to switch back. So it's not in Apple's interest for Windows 7 to be perceived as "Windows done right". Hence their attempt to ensure that idea doesn't take hold, right from the get go.
All they need to do is force the Mac users to use Windows for an hour. I had to do that last week and I'm still recovering.
And I've used both every day for years. I don't cringe moving from OSX to Windows 7 and back (even XP isn't that bad, just less fun). In fact, I don't even blink an eyelash over it.
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"PC users are waiting eagerly for Windows 7 as they want to get rid of their eight year old ancient Windows XP"
What?! Wasn't it just discussed a few days ago that most users couldn't care less?
What?! Wasn't it just discussed a few days ago that most users couldn't care less?
I've spent quite a bit of time on windows 7. My dev box with 3 monitors and two video cards as well as my $300 netbook run Windows 7 Ultimate very very smoothly. I think Apple is right to be a bit concerned.
The upgrade to windows 7 was no more "arduous and punishing task" than upgrading to Snow Leopard.
Windows 7 never wiped out all my data when I logged in as guest or deleted all my Flickr photos.
Windows 7 never wiped out all my data when I logged in as guest or deleted all my Flickr photos.
Apple is feeling the discomfort regarding the windows 7 launch... nothing more..!
well.... may be yeah... if windows 7 is a success then share of mac might take a hit. let v how good is win 7. i just hope it is not as bad as vista.