At this point in time, who the fuck gives a DAMN about Microsoft? Or their products.
Who cares what they say or do? They spend billions to "develop" software that doesn't even approach the barest mediocrity, yet somehow some have convinced themselves that MS produces things that are barely good enough.
Go ahead.... pay MS to abuse you, waste your time and take your money. What a deal!
MS has a great deal to offer that Apple can't match in a multitude of areas. Besides the server OSes and other business prooducts like Office, even their Home and Professional OSes beat and will beat Apple. The reason is that Apple simply does not compete in the areas that MS excels in. MS has no real competition in this area and will likely continue to be dominate for a long time to come.
For instance, a company that needs to by new machines can't reasonably make it's entire business decision on the boutique selection that Apple offers. Not to mention the ability to lease PCs or the inability to get competive pricing on PC HW by having vendors compete for business while knowing that the OS will still be the same across all machines. And if you needed to buy new machines after the line is refreshed you would have to install Leopard, if that is even possible, if your companies IT has yet to appove Snow Leopard for whatever reason.
I don't care for MS for my personal use but to say they aren't important is simply not true.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alfiejr
and also, the really easy and seamless integration of MobilMe and its Gallery with iPhoto and iMovie in particular is simply the best available. instant uploads/downloads from inside the programs, auto folder synch updating, auto file size scaling, etc. works with iPhone too. Google, MS, nobody else has it all together in one "ecosystem."
To reinterate before we get attacked, if one doesn't need what MobileMe has to offer then the value may not be worth the $69/year, which is fine. But to say that you can get the same stuff with the same ease is a fallacy.
Hubba whoba? You mean you can get it cheaper at Apple's web-site or own store? I think not. You can save a few dollars at MacMall and such, but a true Mac 'sale' on a new product only comes once a year to the Apple store... web or retail.
Except that has nothing to do with retailer's margins or the point being made by the post you quoted. for someone who likes to tell us how he has so much money, it doesn't seem like you understand money too well.
All what other services? I am logged in to me .Mac right now (.Me... whatever) and it has Mail, Address Book, Calendar, Gallery, iDisk and Settings. They used to have a small web-site tool, but they took that away. But, you can still host 1 site on your .Me account (but they won't host the domain).
You don't need .Mac for screen sharing. I did that with Remote Desktop years ago on a PC, and use Screen Sharing on the Mac now... no MobileMe required. Syncing all my desktop items? Like what? My bookmarks? I have an easy way to sync my files... it's called a laptop...
Anyway... you're trying to convince the wrong person. I have a Mac, and I have MobileMe. I have an iPod Touch, a Nano, a Macbook, Airport Extreme, Airport Express, Logic, Final Cut, and iWork... So, I'm about as Apple as it gets.
All I am trying to say, is putting on the blinders and saying 'MobileMe is the ONLY way to go' is not true. It is good for the small set of tools that it is, but it needs to expand and grow because there is a ton of stuff in the works from the likes of Google, MS, and even Facebook. How about letting me load my iTunes to a .Mac account and stream them to another computer? Maybe I can get a domain hosted for my money? I dunno... but they have to keep it moving to keep it relevant.
Apple isn't oblivious to this - look at iPhoto - it syncs to Flickr and Facebook, as well as MobileMe Gallery. iMovie? Exports to YouTube. Apple's success will be because they are open to cooperation, and they can be, when they make lots of money on the hardware. All MS has is their software, and the more secrets they give away, the less they are worth. It's just two different models, and for the time being, Apple's is the more successful. But, just like GeoCities gave way to MySpace gave way to Facebook - you are always one good idea from your company being famous, or extinct.
you still don't get the point. yeah, sure can stitch together your own personal frankenstein of various third party software and web services that eventually adds up to all the functions of MobileMe on a PC. but "seamless" or unified it ain't. and it's beyond the skill or desire of most consumers to create that monster. whereas with Apple, it (almost) all "just works." Apple is also expanding iWork's integration with MobileMe, but not finished yet.
Apple keeps iTunes and all its stuff like the Store inside a separate sandbox. maybe they'll add some crossover with MobileMe, i dunno. but instead they focus the iTunes linkage with Apple hardware products. meantime, you wanna stream media from it, get SimplifyMedia, since you like third party software anyway.
Apple has not jumped at all into all the social networking stuff like MS has tried to do, with its Xbox base of young gamers. maybe Apple's too old school. that universe is a rapidly evolving mess right now, with so many competing services of all kinds and fads. anyway, they are all adopting the iPhone with their own custom apps. and you can get apps to manage several services at once.
This guys are going ballistic and are issuing out gestapo type tests of compliance to the poor souls who work at bestbuys of all types.
All of them with the usual tasteless touch of Redmond, dark green to light green background with white letters?
Who would have thought that they have a cokehead screaming unworldly noises and prancing around like a demented gorilla for their personal events. Boy does he love this company.
And then of course the typical, crass, illiterate errors all around. Like back when they issued the zune hd advance promo ad with the marketplace tag having the last e chopped off. This time around they chopped off the ' in "its [sic] possible to get a PC". Shouldn't the "grammar" error correction in word that the world on the whole has paid some trillions of $ for have picked that up? That somehow you can't structure its possible to? Let me give the algorithm for that Redmont: If string="its possible to" then output MS Bob and have him prance around a bit before he tells you this is an error.
Or maybe we 'll get this new error correcting feature word 2010, "added ability to detect it's and its type errors".
Don't you morons have a couple of people to read through the trash you publish? In hate to take the lords name in vane, but Jesus Christ Redmont, you sloppy sods.
While talking blatant lies and sheer garbage about the best os-es in the world, namely os-x and the linuxes, you might as well get a couple of kids with an A in spelling and grammar out of high school to go over your promo trash so you don't embarrass yourselves...
Of course there's no point going into an "arguments" discussion with them...
Don't worry Redmond, keep that spectacular fall of yours, and you ll figure it out by the huge bump on your behinds and the dreadful noise when you hit rock bottom.
What the heck was all that dribble about? I don't know if you're pro Mac pro or PC but none of it made any sense to me. If you're pro Mac then it would explain the non-sensible gibberish you've spewed.
If you’re pro PC then I’m at a total loss of words on how to reply, because you said nothing. There is a Free solution to everything you've (I think) tried to spew.
but the point really of the whole Best Buy thing is, nobody plays fair. the Apple Mac/PC ads are not fair at all either. so this is the MS equivalent, longer and more complex of course. what is interesting is that a retailer that sells both brands would allow its staff to be trained to so blatantly favor one and attack the other. i bet there are some blazing hot messages going from Cupertino to wherever Best Buy is HQ'd today.
Except that has nothing to do with retailer's margins or the point being made by the post you quoted. for someone who likes to tell us how he has so much money, it doesn't seem like you understand money too well.
The point the original post made was to suggest the high price of Mac's was due to retail/reseller markup, and NOT Apple's markup. But, Apple sets the price and they don't have sales on their web-site or stores. The odd reseller will save you maybe 3 to 5 percent... not much of a sale...
I didn't say I have 'so much' money. I have enough that I don't worry about getting some spectacular 'value' from MobileMe. Like a lot of Apple products, I'll pay more for simple design and convenience. You can't tell me that the end results/output of most gadgets today isn't essentially the same... iPods/MP3 all sound the same, all cheapo super-mega-multi pixel camera's spit out more dots we can use...
I understand the value of money just fine, and the value of time. Once upon a time, I (and I'm sure there are lots like me here) would spend a lot of time in search of the next great video card, or sound card, or another 2x on the CD-ROM drive... and tinker away on my old Windows machine - just for fun. Because in those days, there wasn't really a lot you could actually DO on a computer other than keep in running.
Now, my life is filled with digital floods of data. Gigabytes of photos and video, iTunes libraries on their own drives... My 'hobby' is now actually DOING something on a computer, so I don't have time to tinker and screw with keeping a Windows system running. To this end, Apple has realized that being able to DO something has a certain appeal to people that, well, want to DO something. Microsoft is still stuck in the world of the tinkerer and having to make every antiquated piece of junk run their software from the last 15 years.
It's really only recent history where Apple took the risk to move to non-expandable all-in-one's and focus on making them useful instead of endlessly expandable. For me, it was great timing, as OSX matured into a super OS, the hardware moved to near-parity with PC's when they switched to Intel, and their support is great. It's a great time to buy a Mac and be a Mac owner.
You all seem to missing the point I a trying to make though - and it is simply this... No company can spend much time grinning at itself in the mirror these days... Yes, Apple seems to have the perfect-storm of products and 'hipness' right now... and really, I can't understand how so many other manufactures have been sooo slow to react. How hard is it to rip-off an iMac? (I guess pretty hard).
If Apple didn't control all the hooks into the 'cloud', there is no special magic about MobileMe. It is only a matter of time before someone else creates a portal that wraps the same features together - so Apple must continue to evolve and keep it relevant. ie, the 'Find my iPhone' feature.
Just as Apple wasn't that fancy-ass a company not too long ago, there is no predicting what great idea could be the next scene-stealer.
you still don't get the point. yeah, sure can stitch together your own personal frankenstein of various third party software and web services that eventually adds up to all the functions of MobileMe on a PC. but "seamless" or unified it ain't. and it's beyond the skill or desire of most consumers to create that monster. whereas with Apple, it (almost) all "just works." Apple is also expanding iWork's integration with MobileMe, but not finished yet.
Apple keeps iTunes and all its stuff like the Store inside a separate sandbox. maybe they'll add some crossover with MobileMe, i dunno. but instead they focus the iTunes linkage with Apple hardware products. meantime, you wanna stream media from it, get SimplifyMedia, since you like third party software anyway.
Apple has not jumped at all into all the social networking stuff like MS has tried to do, with its Xbox base of young gamers. maybe Apple's too old school. that universe is a rapidly evolving mess right now, with so many competing services of all kinds and fads. anyway, they are all adopting the iPhone with their own custom apps. and you can get apps to manage several services at once.
To a point, I agree... MobileMe is a decent one-stop solution. But, using some other services isn't really that hard. iPhoto hooks into Flikr already. Google makes nice Picasa plug in. It's not that 'Frankenstein' an experience really. And, having been a .Mac user, I can say that the first while of MobileMe was quite far from 'just working', and we all got many free months of service because of it.
Apple hasn't 'jumped' into social networking, but they aren't ignoring it. iMovie publishes to YouTube... iPhoto to Flickr... and these places are evolving into their own ecosystems. It will be interesting to see the next iTunes tomorrow - which may dip into the social networking pool a bit more. But, the iPhone and App Store are as much a fanboy hangout as Xbox live is...
Let's face it - it is cool to be a Mac user for the moment, and I except it will be for quite some time. Is everyone here so young to now remember when Mac users were just geeky off-shoots with nothing to do but play Ultima on their IIe? Commodore 64's were cool, then the Amiga was super-cool. And where is Commodore now? Atari 2600 - best game in town (only game in town?)... When did they last make hardware?
Anyway... I hope there is continued greatness from Apple. I like the company and their products. I also see lots of other great ideas coming that (oh my!) might NOT be an Apple invention, but may also be very cool. To pretend you're the only show in town is exactly the folly that is bringing the PC down...
It's really only recent history Apple took the risk to move to non-expandable all-in-one's and focus on making them useful instead of endlessly expandable. For me, it was great timing, as OSX matured into a super OS, the hardware moved to near-parity with PC's when they switched to Intel, and their support is great. It's a great time to buy a Mac and be a Mac owner.
That isn't true. Apple has been pushing AIOs since before the Mac even came to fruition. I do agree that OS X and the move Intel have been pinnacle to Apple's current success ( along with the Apple Stores), but this is the old and new Apple: when something is a dead end, you drop it for something that works. But that also has it's pros and cons.
Quote:
You all seem to missing the point I a trying to make though - and it is simply this... No company can spend much time grinning at itself in the mirror these days... Yes, Apple seems to have the perfect-storm of products and 'hipness' right now... and really, I can't understand how so many other manufactures have been sooo slow to react. How hard is it to rip-off an iMac? (I guess pretty hard).
If Apple didn't control all the hooks into the 'cloud', there is no special magic about MobileMe. It is only a matter of time before someone else creates a portal that wraps the same features together - so Apple must continue to evolve and keep it relevant. ie, the 'Find my iPhone' feature.
Just as Apple wasn't that fancy-ass a company not too long ago, there is no predicting what great idea could be the next scene-stealer.
Ask Dell. They have an aging XPS One that has much older tech in it and I more expensive than the iMac. Others have tried and they can't seem to make it work. Why is Apple desktop offerings the only part of desktop PCs that are growing each quarter.
BTW, one of the reasons Apple was able to survive was because it has always catered to a premium market. Many others are losing money, despite increading unit sales because they decided to play in the budget market.
All right, let me go through the rest of it then... since you are too lazy to do your own research...
Yes, Live has iDisk - it's called SkyDrive. 25GB free. MobileMe gives you 20GB to split between Mail and iDisk. To double the storage to 40GB is $50 a year (cdn). It is $129 a year for MobileMe in Canada.
I don't have an iPhone, and don't actually live where there is cell-phone service. It is a neat feature that you can locate your phone, and wipe it. I imagine this must be possible on most GPS-equipped phones?
Contact and Calendar syncing? Yup. You can hook into it with Calgoo and that opens up other services like Google... if you like to mix and match... I actually use Yahoo for my contacts myself... To each his/her own.
Anyway, this debate could be endless... you can do a lot of the same things on both PC and Mac, because a lot of it is web-services based. For example, I can use SkyDrive on my Mac... Can a PC user use iDisk? Which is the more 'open' solution.
I have only kept my MobileMe account because I have too much money to worry about it... I also hope there are new things on the way, but right now it should be a $29 a year service... not a $129 a year service...
Thanks for the info. I might have to get sky drive if it allows you to have a public folder that your friends can access without needing your password, which it looks like it does.
As far as I know, there is no other web service available to track and wipe a phone remotely. Regardless, Windows live definitely doesn't have the ability to find and wipe Windows Mobile equipped phones, which would be the equivalent. For the record, you can sync your yahoo and google contacts through address book and by extension through mobile me too.
I agree that $129 a year (in Canada) is probably on the high side of things, especially if you don't have an iPhone (I didn't get mobileme until I had an iPhone), but it does offer some features not available in windows live. Just not as many as I thought. The global settings sync would be nice if I used more macs, and the iphone features are a great thing to have just in case you lose your phone (and I have done that before, don't use belt clips, or make sure you have a good one). I'm hoping to see some more features come to mobile me if and when the tablet arrives. Maybe remote computing or something, Apple could greatly improve on the vnc clients out there. While the value of mobileme is definitely debatable, it does have features that windows live does not have.
That isn't true. Apple has been pushing AIOs since before the Mac even came to fruition. I do agree that OS X and the move Intel have been pinnacle to Apple's current success ( along with the Apple Stores), but this is the old and new Apple: when something is a dead end, you drop it for something that works. But that also has it's pros and cons.
The early Mac's had the appearance of an AIO, but they had expansion slots and such. I think it is really the first candy-coloured iMacs that went to a closed-system.
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Originally Posted by Logisticaldron
Ask Dell. They have an aging XPS One that has much older tech in it and I more expensive than the iMac. Others have tried and they can't seem to make it work. Why is Apple desktop offerings the only part of desktop PCs that are growing each quarter.
BTW, one of the reasons Apple was able to survive was because it has always catered to a premium market. Many others are losing money, despite increading unit sales because they decided to play in the budget market.
iMacs are indeed doing well in the tight desktop space, but their runaway success is with the MacBooks. And really, until the latest unibody Macs, they were solid, but not amazing. They were respectable hardware with a great OS, and a hefty price for the big ones. Now, they are making a killing with the 13 inch 'Pro' which is a rock-solid, good looking machine. $3000 for a 17 inch Pro is a lot of bling. And, good on Apple for creating an image that you are actually getting something for your money. Good support, Apple stores, Geniuses... all good stuff. For me... I'm 1500 miles from the closest Apple store... so I need good warranty and something that works.
But, I also remember when Gateway was the 'most amazing' computer company with their fantastic products, home-town service, yada yada... and where are they now?
For the record, I am long on Apple stock... so I think there is a long way to go before 'the next big thing', which could also very well be from Apple.
Hubba whoba? You mean you can get it cheaper at Apple's web-site or own store? I think not. You can save a few dollars at MacMall and such, but a true Mac 'sale' on a new product only comes once a year to the Apple store... web or retail.
No, you seem to be missing the point, a retailer selling an Apple product only has a small margin on the sale (it was around 8%), other computers, and electronic devices will have a larger margin for the retailer.
At least right at the end they start competing by pointing out some of the new features in Windows 7, some of which are good like the UI changes.
But the rest of it it just a load of lies.
It makes me laugh when they talk about the sales staff making more money by selling a cheaper PC and upselling the customer on extras. Those extras are things that aren't needed on a Mac like "PC Doctor" and "Antivirus", so the customer is hardly being put first.
And, good on Apple for creating an image that you are actually getting something for your money. Good support, Apple stores, Geniuses... all good stuff. For me... I'm 1500 miles from the closest Apple store... so I need good warranty and something that works.
For the record, I am long on Apple stock... so I think there is a long way to go before 'the next big thing', which could also very well be from Apple.
I had no idea how much the Genius Bar was a selling point until yesterday morning. Yesterday I dropped by an Apple Store in suburban Atlanta to pick up a USB cord for my iPhone. When I walked in, the store was packed with people. These folks aren't the kind of people who want to figure out things for themselves, they're the kind of people who would otherwise be paying some "Geek Squad" retard $50 for the unimpressive task of setting up an email client. They were all in there learning about the software they bought, and they were doing it for free. Based on what I saw, they weren't just having things done for them. They were actually learning how their systems work in the process. One elderly lady came in looking for her "Genius" and knew him on a first name basis.
I have no need for such a service. I'm the "Genius" who sets up networks and fixes computers (Mac or PC) whenever my friends and family have an issue. But thinking about it from the perspective of the average user, it is hard to top that Genius Bar concept. Even though Mac buyers are paying for the service when they spend extra money on their hardware, you can't beat the perception of a personal relationship with the staff that comes with getting their help for "free" and without an invoice.
People are sick of the complexity of computers. As someone else has mentioned, most folks buy computers as a place to use email, store photos, and surf the internet. They're tired of the days when you'd have to navigate through sub-menues in the control panel just to find network and firewall setting options. They're tired of the days of paying some jack-hole $50 to set up an email client or network printer. That is the market Apple targets. "Spend some extra money, get value for that money." Microsoft seems to be saying, "Go with the low entry level price, then give them death from a million cuts as you charge them $50 FOR A FREAKING EMAIL CLIENT!"
All Mac users should boycott BestBuy. Does Sony do the same thing with BestBuy employees with television sales? No. Hence reason #837 why Ballmer et al. are Mafia$oft.
The point the original post made was to suggest the high price of Mac's was due to retail/reseller markup, and NOT Apple's markup. But, Apple sets the price and they don't have sales on their web-site or stores. The odd reseller will save you maybe 3 to 5 percent... not much of a sale...
no...no, that wasn't the point of the original post...
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Originally Posted by jlandd
Unfortunately for Apple fans who work in sales, not only are Mac margins lower but there's practically no opportunity for upsells, while the PC world lives on them..
Quote:
Originally Posted by charlituna
actually research has shown that there are major markups on Macs. that laptop that costs you $1699 plus tax cost them like $400 to build.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jfanning
Retailer margins, not Apples margin
The point being made was that margins are thinner on macs for retailers and salespeople. Someone started talking about the markup based on the cost to build, which was confusing retailer's margins with apple's margins.
And using foul language is going to help you make a point...how? Emotional baggage much? What did MS do to you as as a small child?
How's about destroying our whole computing experience and forcing us to spent countless hours figuring workarounds for their shoddy workmanship, viruses, blue screens of death, crashes, lost data.. it would be surprising if people DID NOT have emotional baggage with them, not that they do.
Comments
At this point in time, who the fuck gives a DAMN about Microsoft? Or their products.
Who cares what they say or do? They spend billions to "develop" software that doesn't even approach the barest mediocrity, yet somehow some have convinced themselves that MS produces things that are barely good enough.
Go ahead.... pay MS to abuse you, waste your time and take your money. What a deal!
MS has a great deal to offer that Apple can't match in a multitude of areas. Besides the server OSes and other business prooducts like Office, even their Home and Professional OSes beat and will beat Apple. The reason is that Apple simply does not compete in the areas that MS excels in. MS has no real competition in this area and will likely continue to be dominate for a long time to come.
For instance, a company that needs to by new machines can't reasonably make it's entire business decision on the boutique selection that Apple offers. Not to mention the ability to lease PCs or the inability to get competive pricing on PC HW by having vendors compete for business while knowing that the OS will still be the same across all machines. And if you needed to buy new machines after the line is refreshed you would have to install Leopard, if that is even possible, if your companies IT has yet to appove Snow Leopard for whatever reason.
I don't care for MS for my personal use but to say they aren't important is simply not true.
and also, the really easy and seamless integration of MobilMe and its Gallery with iPhoto and iMovie in particular is simply the best available. instant uploads/downloads from inside the programs, auto folder synch updating, auto file size scaling, etc. works with iPhone too. Google, MS, nobody else has it all together in one "ecosystem."
To reinterate before we get attacked, if one doesn't need what MobileMe has to offer then the value may not be worth the $69/year, which is fine. But to say that you can get the same stuff with the same ease is a fallacy.
Hubba whoba? You mean you can get it cheaper at Apple's web-site or own store? I think not. You can save a few dollars at MacMall and such, but a true Mac 'sale' on a new product only comes once a year to the Apple store... web or retail.
Except that has nothing to do with retailer's margins or the point being made by the post you quoted. for someone who likes to tell us how he has so much money, it doesn't seem like you understand money too well.
All what other services? I am logged in to me .Mac right now (.Me... whatever) and it has Mail, Address Book, Calendar, Gallery, iDisk and Settings. They used to have a small web-site tool, but they took that away. But, you can still host 1 site on your .Me account (but they won't host the domain).
You don't need .Mac for screen sharing. I did that with Remote Desktop years ago on a PC, and use Screen Sharing on the Mac now... no MobileMe required. Syncing all my desktop items? Like what? My bookmarks? I have an easy way to sync my files... it's called a laptop...
Anyway... you're trying to convince the wrong person. I have a Mac, and I have MobileMe. I have an iPod Touch, a Nano, a Macbook, Airport Extreme, Airport Express, Logic, Final Cut, and iWork... So, I'm about as Apple as it gets.
All I am trying to say, is putting on the blinders and saying 'MobileMe is the ONLY way to go' is not true. It is good for the small set of tools that it is, but it needs to expand and grow because there is a ton of stuff in the works from the likes of Google, MS, and even Facebook. How about letting me load my iTunes to a .Mac account and stream them to another computer? Maybe I can get a domain hosted for my money? I dunno... but they have to keep it moving to keep it relevant.
Apple isn't oblivious to this - look at iPhoto - it syncs to Flickr and Facebook, as well as MobileMe Gallery. iMovie? Exports to YouTube. Apple's success will be because they are open to cooperation, and they can be, when they make lots of money on the hardware. All MS has is their software, and the more secrets they give away, the less they are worth. It's just two different models, and for the time being, Apple's is the more successful. But, just like GeoCities gave way to MySpace gave way to Facebook - you are always one good idea from your company being famous, or extinct.
you still don't get the point. yeah, sure can stitch together your own personal frankenstein of various third party software and web services that eventually adds up to all the functions of MobileMe on a PC. but "seamless" or unified it ain't. and it's beyond the skill or desire of most consumers to create that monster. whereas with Apple, it (almost) all "just works." Apple is also expanding iWork's integration with MobileMe, but not finished yet.
Apple keeps iTunes and all its stuff like the Store inside a separate sandbox. maybe they'll add some crossover with MobileMe, i dunno. but instead they focus the iTunes linkage with Apple hardware products. meantime, you wanna stream media from it, get SimplifyMedia, since you like third party software anyway.
Apple has not jumped at all into all the social networking stuff like MS has tried to do, with its Xbox base of young gamers. maybe Apple's too old school. that universe is a rapidly evolving mess right now, with so many competing services of all kinds and fads. anyway, they are all adopting the iPhone with their own custom apps. and you can get apps to manage several services at once.
Another day, another eff up at Redmond.
This guys are going ballistic and are issuing out gestapo type tests of compliance to the poor souls who work at bestbuys of all types.
All of them with the usual tasteless touch of Redmond, dark green to light green background with white letters?
Who would have thought that they have a cokehead screaming unworldly noises and prancing around like a demented gorilla for their personal events. Boy does he love this company.
And then of course the typical, crass, illiterate errors all around. Like back when they issued the zune hd advance promo ad with the marketplace tag having the last e chopped off. This time around they chopped off the ' in "its [sic] possible to get a PC". Shouldn't the "grammar" error correction in word that the world on the whole has paid some trillions of $ for have picked that up? That somehow you can't structure its possible to? Let me give the algorithm for that Redmont: If string="its possible to" then output MS Bob and have him prance around a bit before he tells you this is an error.
Or maybe we 'll get this new error correcting feature word 2010, "added ability to detect it's and its type errors".
Don't you morons have a couple of people to read through the trash you publish? In hate to take the lords name in vane, but Jesus Christ Redmont, you sloppy sods.
While talking blatant lies and sheer garbage about the best os-es in the world, namely os-x and the linuxes, you might as well get a couple of kids with an A in spelling and grammar out of high school to go over your promo trash so you don't embarrass yourselves...
Of course there's no point going into an "arguments" discussion with them...
Don't worry Redmond, keep that spectacular fall of yours, and you ll figure it out by the huge bump on your behinds and the dreadful noise when you hit rock bottom.
What the heck was all that dribble about? I don't know if you're pro Mac pro or PC but none of it made any sense to me. If you're pro Mac then it would explain the non-sensible gibberish you've spewed.
If you’re pro PC then I’m at a total loss of words on how to reply, because you said nothing. There is a Free solution to everything you've (I think) tried to spew.
Except that has nothing to do with retailer's margins or the point being made by the post you quoted. for someone who likes to tell us how he has so much money, it doesn't seem like you understand money too well.
The point the original post made was to suggest the high price of Mac's was due to retail/reseller markup, and NOT Apple's markup. But, Apple sets the price and they don't have sales on their web-site or stores. The odd reseller will save you maybe 3 to 5 percent... not much of a sale...
I didn't say I have 'so much' money. I have enough that I don't worry about getting some spectacular 'value' from MobileMe. Like a lot of Apple products, I'll pay more for simple design and convenience. You can't tell me that the end results/output of most gadgets today isn't essentially the same... iPods/MP3 all sound the same, all cheapo super-mega-multi pixel camera's spit out more dots we can use...
I understand the value of money just fine, and the value of time. Once upon a time, I (and I'm sure there are lots like me here) would spend a lot of time in search of the next great video card, or sound card, or another 2x on the CD-ROM drive... and tinker away on my old Windows machine - just for fun. Because in those days, there wasn't really a lot you could actually DO on a computer other than keep in running.
Now, my life is filled with digital floods of data. Gigabytes of photos and video, iTunes libraries on their own drives... My 'hobby' is now actually DOING something on a computer, so I don't have time to tinker and screw with keeping a Windows system running. To this end, Apple has realized that being able to DO something has a certain appeal to people that, well, want to DO something. Microsoft is still stuck in the world of the tinkerer and having to make every antiquated piece of junk run their software from the last 15 years.
It's really only recent history where Apple took the risk to move to non-expandable all-in-one's and focus on making them useful instead of endlessly expandable. For me, it was great timing, as OSX matured into a super OS, the hardware moved to near-parity with PC's when they switched to Intel, and their support is great. It's a great time to buy a Mac and be a Mac owner.
You all seem to missing the point I a trying to make though - and it is simply this... No company can spend much time grinning at itself in the mirror these days... Yes, Apple seems to have the perfect-storm of products and 'hipness' right now... and really, I can't understand how so many other manufactures have been sooo slow to react. How hard is it to rip-off an iMac? (I guess pretty hard).
If Apple didn't control all the hooks into the 'cloud', there is no special magic about MobileMe. It is only a matter of time before someone else creates a portal that wraps the same features together - so Apple must continue to evolve and keep it relevant. ie, the 'Find my iPhone' feature.
Just as Apple wasn't that fancy-ass a company not too long ago, there is no predicting what great idea could be the next scene-stealer.
you still don't get the point. yeah, sure can stitch together your own personal frankenstein of various third party software and web services that eventually adds up to all the functions of MobileMe on a PC. but "seamless" or unified it ain't. and it's beyond the skill or desire of most consumers to create that monster. whereas with Apple, it (almost) all "just works." Apple is also expanding iWork's integration with MobileMe, but not finished yet.
Apple keeps iTunes and all its stuff like the Store inside a separate sandbox. maybe they'll add some crossover with MobileMe, i dunno. but instead they focus the iTunes linkage with Apple hardware products. meantime, you wanna stream media from it, get SimplifyMedia, since you like third party software anyway.
Apple has not jumped at all into all the social networking stuff like MS has tried to do, with its Xbox base of young gamers. maybe Apple's too old school. that universe is a rapidly evolving mess right now, with so many competing services of all kinds and fads. anyway, they are all adopting the iPhone with their own custom apps. and you can get apps to manage several services at once.
To a point, I agree... MobileMe is a decent one-stop solution. But, using some other services isn't really that hard. iPhoto hooks into Flikr already. Google makes nice Picasa plug in. It's not that 'Frankenstein' an experience really. And, having been a .Mac user, I can say that the first while of MobileMe was quite far from 'just working', and we all got many free months of service because of it.
Apple hasn't 'jumped' into social networking, but they aren't ignoring it. iMovie publishes to YouTube... iPhoto to Flickr... and these places are evolving into their own ecosystems. It will be interesting to see the next iTunes tomorrow - which may dip into the social networking pool a bit more. But, the iPhone and App Store are as much a fanboy hangout as Xbox live is...
Let's face it - it is cool to be a Mac user for the moment, and I except it will be for quite some time. Is everyone here so young to now remember when Mac users were just geeky off-shoots with nothing to do but play Ultima on their IIe? Commodore 64's were cool, then the Amiga was super-cool. And where is Commodore now? Atari 2600 - best game in town (only game in town?)... When did they last make hardware?
Anyway... I hope there is continued greatness from Apple. I like the company and their products. I also see lots of other great ideas coming that (oh my!) might NOT be an Apple invention, but may also be very cool. To pretend you're the only show in town is exactly the folly that is bringing the PC down...
It's really only recent history Apple took the risk to move to non-expandable all-in-one's and focus on making them useful instead of endlessly expandable. For me, it was great timing, as OSX matured into a super OS, the hardware moved to near-parity with PC's when they switched to Intel, and their support is great. It's a great time to buy a Mac and be a Mac owner.
That isn't true. Apple has been pushing AIOs since before the Mac even came to fruition. I do agree that OS X and the move Intel have been pinnacle to Apple's current success ( along with the Apple Stores), but this is the old and new Apple: when something is a dead end, you drop it for something that works. But that also has it's pros and cons.
You all seem to missing the point I a trying to make though - and it is simply this... No company can spend much time grinning at itself in the mirror these days... Yes, Apple seems to have the perfect-storm of products and 'hipness' right now... and really, I can't understand how so many other manufactures have been sooo slow to react. How hard is it to rip-off an iMac? (I guess pretty hard).
If Apple didn't control all the hooks into the 'cloud', there is no special magic about MobileMe. It is only a matter of time before someone else creates a portal that wraps the same features together - so Apple must continue to evolve and keep it relevant. ie, the 'Find my iPhone' feature.
Just as Apple wasn't that fancy-ass a company not too long ago, there is no predicting what great idea could be the next scene-stealer.
Ask Dell. They have an aging XPS One that has much older tech in it and I more expensive than the iMac. Others have tried and they can't seem to make it work. Why is Apple desktop offerings the only part of desktop PCs that are growing each quarter.
BTW, one of the reasons Apple was able to survive was because it has always catered to a premium market. Many others are losing money, despite increading unit sales because they decided to play in the budget market.
All right, let me go through the rest of it then... since you are too lazy to do your own research...
Yes, Live has iDisk - it's called SkyDrive. 25GB free. MobileMe gives you 20GB to split between Mail and iDisk. To double the storage to 40GB is $50 a year (cdn). It is $129 a year for MobileMe in Canada.
I don't have an iPhone, and don't actually live where there is cell-phone service. It is a neat feature that you can locate your phone, and wipe it. I imagine this must be possible on most GPS-equipped phones?
Contact and Calendar syncing? Yup. You can hook into it with Calgoo and that opens up other services like Google... if you like to mix and match... I actually use Yahoo for my contacts myself... To each his/her own.
Anyway, this debate could be endless... you can do a lot of the same things on both PC and Mac, because a lot of it is web-services based. For example, I can use SkyDrive on my Mac... Can a PC user use iDisk? Which is the more 'open' solution.
I have only kept my MobileMe account because I have too much money to worry about it... I also hope there are new things on the way, but right now it should be a $29 a year service... not a $129 a year service...
Thanks for the info. I might have to get sky drive if it allows you to have a public folder that your friends can access without needing your password, which it looks like it does.
As far as I know, there is no other web service available to track and wipe a phone remotely. Regardless, Windows live definitely doesn't have the ability to find and wipe Windows Mobile equipped phones, which would be the equivalent. For the record, you can sync your yahoo and google contacts through address book and by extension through mobile me too.
I agree that $129 a year (in Canada) is probably on the high side of things, especially if you don't have an iPhone (I didn't get mobileme until I had an iPhone), but it does offer some features not available in windows live. Just not as many as I thought. The global settings sync would be nice if I used more macs, and the iphone features are a great thing to have just in case you lose your phone (and I have done that before, don't use belt clips, or make sure you have a good one). I'm hoping to see some more features come to mobile me if and when the tablet arrives. Maybe remote computing or something, Apple could greatly improve on the vnc clients out there. While the value of mobileme is definitely debatable, it does have features that windows live does not have.
That isn't true. Apple has been pushing AIOs since before the Mac even came to fruition. I do agree that OS X and the move Intel have been pinnacle to Apple's current success ( along with the Apple Stores), but this is the old and new Apple: when something is a dead end, you drop it for something that works. But that also has it's pros and cons.
The early Mac's had the appearance of an AIO, but they had expansion slots and such. I think it is really the first candy-coloured iMacs that went to a closed-system.
Ask Dell. They have an aging XPS One that has much older tech in it and I more expensive than the iMac. Others have tried and they can't seem to make it work. Why is Apple desktop offerings the only part of desktop PCs that are growing each quarter.
BTW, one of the reasons Apple was able to survive was because it has always catered to a premium market. Many others are losing money, despite increading unit sales because they decided to play in the budget market.
iMacs are indeed doing well in the tight desktop space, but their runaway success is with the MacBooks. And really, until the latest unibody Macs, they were solid, but not amazing. They were respectable hardware with a great OS, and a hefty price for the big ones. Now, they are making a killing with the 13 inch 'Pro' which is a rock-solid, good looking machine. $3000 for a 17 inch Pro is a lot of bling. And, good on Apple for creating an image that you are actually getting something for your money. Good support, Apple stores, Geniuses... all good stuff. For me... I'm 1500 miles from the closest Apple store... so I need good warranty and something that works.
But, I also remember when Gateway was the 'most amazing' computer company with their fantastic products, home-town service, yada yada... and where are they now?
For the record, I am long on Apple stock... so I think there is a long way to go before 'the next big thing', which could also very well be from Apple.
Macscoop
Hubba whoba? You mean you can get it cheaper at Apple's web-site or own store? I think not. You can save a few dollars at MacMall and such, but a true Mac 'sale' on a new product only comes once a year to the Apple store... web or retail.
No, you seem to be missing the point, a retailer selling an Apple product only has a small margin on the sale (it was around 8%), other computers, and electronic devices will have a larger margin for the retailer.
But the rest of it it just a load of lies.
It makes me laugh when they talk about the sales staff making more money by selling a cheaper PC and upselling the customer on extras. Those extras are things that aren't needed on a Mac like "PC Doctor" and "Antivirus", so the customer is hardly being put first.
And, good on Apple for creating an image that you are actually getting something for your money. Good support, Apple stores, Geniuses... all good stuff. For me... I'm 1500 miles from the closest Apple store... so I need good warranty and something that works.
For the record, I am long on Apple stock... so I think there is a long way to go before 'the next big thing', which could also very well be from Apple.
I had no idea how much the Genius Bar was a selling point until yesterday morning. Yesterday I dropped by an Apple Store in suburban Atlanta to pick up a USB cord for my iPhone. When I walked in, the store was packed with people. These folks aren't the kind of people who want to figure out things for themselves, they're the kind of people who would otherwise be paying some "Geek Squad" retard $50 for the unimpressive task of setting up an email client. They were all in there learning about the software they bought, and they were doing it for free. Based on what I saw, they weren't just having things done for them. They were actually learning how their systems work in the process. One elderly lady came in looking for her "Genius" and knew him on a first name basis.
I have no need for such a service. I'm the "Genius" who sets up networks and fixes computers (Mac or PC) whenever my friends and family have an issue. But thinking about it from the perspective of the average user, it is hard to top that Genius Bar concept. Even though Mac buyers are paying for the service when they spend extra money on their hardware, you can't beat the perception of a personal relationship with the staff that comes with getting their help for "free" and without an invoice.
People are sick of the complexity of computers. As someone else has mentioned, most folks buy computers as a place to use email, store photos, and surf the internet. They're tired of the days when you'd have to navigate through sub-menues in the control panel just to find network and firewall setting options. They're tired of the days of paying some jack-hole $50 to set up an email client or network printer. That is the market Apple targets. "Spend some extra money, get value for that money." Microsoft seems to be saying, "Go with the low entry level price, then give them death from a million cuts as you charge them $50 FOR A FREAKING EMAIL CLIENT!"
Why, just this month it gained support for these great offerings!
Troj/Invo-Zip
W32/Netsky
Mal/EncPk-EI
Troj/Pushdo-Gen
Troj/Agent-HFU
Mal/Iframe-E
Troj/Mdrop-BTV
Troj/Mdrop-BUF
Troj/Agent-HFZ
Troj/Agent-HGT
Mac is a premium brand, and I have the resources to buy it...
I have only kept my MobileMe account because I have too much money to worry about it...
I didn't say I have 'so much' money.
::rolls eyes::
The point the original post made was to suggest the high price of Mac's was due to retail/reseller markup, and NOT Apple's markup. But, Apple sets the price and they don't have sales on their web-site or stores. The odd reseller will save you maybe 3 to 5 percent... not much of a sale...
no...no, that wasn't the point of the original post...
Unfortunately for Apple fans who work in sales, not only are Mac margins lower but there's practically no opportunity for upsells, while the PC world lives on them..
actually research has shown that there are major markups on Macs. that laptop that costs you $1699 plus tax cost them like $400 to build.
Retailer margins, not Apples margin
The point being made was that margins are thinner on macs for retailers and salespeople. Someone started talking about the markup based on the cost to build, which was confusing retailer's margins with apple's margins.
your point was, and is, non sequitur.
And using foul language is going to help you make a point...how? Emotional baggage much? What did MS do to you as as a small child?
How's about destroying our whole computing experience and forcing us to spent countless hours figuring workarounds for their shoddy workmanship, viruses, blue screens of death, crashes, lost data.. it would be surprising if people DID NOT have emotional baggage with them, not that they do.