"Adders" vs. "Switchers"
David Coursey finally "gets it".
[quote] Apple's advertising notwithstanding, most new Mac customers aren't "switchers" so much as they are "adders." These are people who add a Mac to their lives but keep a Windows machine around as well.
That describes me and most of the people I've talked to, many of whom purchased a Mac after years of using Windows. Microsoft research says that three-quarters of MacOffice buyers also have a copy of Windows Office they can use. Clearly, many people do just fine with a foot on both sides of the Apple/Microsoft fence. <hr></blockquote>
I think that describes a lot of people I have seen posting here and on other boards - WinTel people who have added a Mac to their hardware collection.
Of course, I think that most "adders" become "switchers" eventually, as they get used to their new Macs, they find themselves booting up their PC less and less.
<a href="http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/stories/story/0,10738,2898453,00.html"; target="_blank">Coursey's Lastest ZDnet AnchorDesk article</a>
[quote] Apple's advertising notwithstanding, most new Mac customers aren't "switchers" so much as they are "adders." These are people who add a Mac to their lives but keep a Windows machine around as well.
That describes me and most of the people I've talked to, many of whom purchased a Mac after years of using Windows. Microsoft research says that three-quarters of MacOffice buyers also have a copy of Windows Office they can use. Clearly, many people do just fine with a foot on both sides of the Apple/Microsoft fence. <hr></blockquote>
I think that describes a lot of people I have seen posting here and on other boards - WinTel people who have added a Mac to their hardware collection.
Of course, I think that most "adders" become "switchers" eventually, as they get used to their new Macs, they find themselves booting up their PC less and less.
<a href="http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/stories/story/0,10738,2898453,00.html"; target="_blank">Coursey's Lastest ZDnet AnchorDesk article</a>
Comments
i still have the old peecee. but it's a continuous switch peecee, it ran only linux before getting the mac... and now again it will run only linux. the stupid windows didn't want to run BeOS...
i still switchin with the peecee (redhat -> some other linux) as i've never been happy with it. or, i think i'll better just give it away... 95-99 % of the time i'm on the mac anyway..
If Market-share stays small, or as long term trends show, continues to shrink, then the problem will only get worse. Internet and Office work, by far the most prevalent "computing" tasks are just way easier on a PC. A cheap machine gets you in, and everything works and works fast. Attachments open and work without a problem, Office docs share without a hassel, banking just works, and all those Microshaft semi-standards populating the web just work. For now, that means better porn access, but as withthe banking example, some (and possibly a lot of) web-sites will just decide that it isn't worth it to test anything other than the latest IE for windows. In the future that might also mean that DRM and online content "works" on your PC, but only sorta works on your mac.
If you create movies or music or 2-d art, then this means nothing to you. But most users don't, and won't do that. They rip movies and music, and share it or play content from their computers. Even web-designers have PC-mac issues. You may like to work out the art on a mac, but most of the web people I talk to really feel the need for a PC to test out what they've done. (I don't know how to design anything, so I wouldn't know, but I'll trust them). The percentages dictate they can get by with a PC-only setup, but they need a PC to supplement a mac (if that's their preferred weapon). Just last week, I had a computing in education consultant, not an idiot, a very smart guy who deals in training technological development in education (he doesn't sell anything), a mac guy actually, lecture that the web experience was only truly complete on IE (for windows) -- [complete with viruses??? hehe]. He wasn't happy about that, but grudgingly admitted/counciled it to the group.
Unless Apple can impose/promote open standards as widely as M$'s semi-standard standards, there will always be issues with being mac only. And, if market share remains small, Apple will increasingly bear the burden of solving those issues on their own.
Market share matters, from drivers to affordable peripherals to open standards. As long as Apple is an island, true "switching" won't happen. I don't think it's as simple as the old machine hanging around, the old machine needs to hang around in a lot of cases.
Most propritary office programs and school educational software are for the windows only. And many websites such as some banks do not support the Mac.
The Mac do offer a greaert computing experience than windows. but u can survive without the Mac, not the PC.
Sad, but true
But I'd only pick up a PC if it was for next to nothing.
However, it's different at work. We had to get one PC. MS files for the most part translated perfectly, but occasionally, I'd have to walk through something on the computer with the client who almost always has a PC.
At work (small nonprofit org.), we have 6 Macs and 1 PC. Still use the PC for some proprietary Web stuff and also for testing Windows software I developed. But over 95% of what we do, gets done on our Macs.