On Jun 18, 2005, at 11:20 PM, David Savage wrote:
It's just like Bob said, I use a PC because it's what I use at work.
I think it's more than just that.
A lot of people also consider:
1) Most people know at least a couple of computer whiz-kids who know
Windows back-to-front. So they know they can call on free support if
necessary. This is far less likely with a Mac. This is regardless
of how much support may or may not be required. People have become
conditioned to unusable and unreliable software so they do expect it
to fail.
2) All their friends also have PCs so they can "share" software.
Nevermind uhhh "borrowing" software from work. As an aside, one
package we use at work is licensed to the actual person who uses it.
So technically I can install it on as many machines of any platform
that's supported, as long as I'm the only one who uses it. This is
what all commercial software licensing should be like.
2a) If they already have a Windows machine, all their current
software is basically toast. And what about importing all of their
emails and bookmarks?
3) When someone tries out a Mac in the shop, it makes them feel
uncomfortable because it's unfamiliar. It took me about two weeks to
become fully confident in working this thing. So five minutes of
playing in a showroom isn't going to help.
4) Games. We know that we justify getting a computer for the kids'
homework, research etc. But we all know what they end up actually
being used for. The Mac typically comes somewhere after PS2, XBox
and Wintel. The latest craze is yesterday's news by the time your
kids can play it.
5) Dollars and Gigahertz. You still get a bigger number for your
dollars when you buy from Dell, regardless of how cheap the bottom-
end Mac is, and how much more or less efficient it might be. People
love great design but when it comes to the crunch it's always the
dollars that talk the loudest.
A computer is a tool, and whether it's running XP, OSX, Linux etc.
they can all produce the end result.
Spot on. The best tool for a particular purpose is the one that gets
in the way the least. That does of course vary by both individual
and application. Many people run different OSes for different purposes.
Cheers,
- Dave
http://www.digistar.com/~dmann/
