MAC OR PC which is better?

[KSXNSX]

Microsoft is dying a slow death.

http://brooksreview.net/2011/05/ballmer/

It really is amazing that the shareholders have allowed Ballmer to stay this long.

You can't really attribute all the blame to Ballmer. Gates left because he knew MSFT had peaked. With competition from Google (and computing going to the cloud) and Apple's rise, MSFT was bound to begin its slow decline.

Yes, CEOs are to "blame" no matter what the real causes are, but I would never personally say he caused MSFT's decline.

Overall, I am not a fan of his. But I do love his videos on youtube, especially the early windows ads and the developers dance.

 

[Jimbo]

You can't really attribute all the blame to Ballmer. Gates left because he knew MSFT had peaked. With competition from Google (and computing going to the cloud) and Apple's rise, MSFT was bound to begin its slow decline.

Yes, CEOs are to "blame" no matter what the real causes are, but I would never personally say he caused MSFT's decline.

Overall, I am not a fan of his. But I do love his videos on youtube, especially the early windows ads and the developers dance.

Well, the steps Ballmer did take were really lame and poorly executed. He's the wrong kind of guy for that position. There were a lot of moves that could have been taken.

 

[Arshad]

I credit Jobs with vision, an eye for design, and simplicity (which may be due to his lack of technical expertise). The reason why Apple products are so easy to use is because Jobs is not an engineer, and he selects, chooses and tells his designers to make simple easy-to-use products.

Making something easy to use is actually a lot of work. Making something that's hard to use is easy because you don't have to put any thought into it. Apple in particular is a company that spends an inordinate amount of focus and money on human computer interaction and the overall experience, which is what makes their products easy to use.

People tend to think Jobs invented the ipod, mac, etc. These were all designed, engineered, etc. by people under Jobs. I give Jobs the credit for the overall path the company has taken, and the products he has selected to put into production/fund.

Jobs is not a technical person, and it's quite true that it's the people underneath him who do the actual engineering, but you would be SHOCKED at how much influence and direct interaction he has on the engineering and design. I've seen this with my own eyes, when I was working on a special project at Apple campus and had the opportunity to interact with him directly. He is the most hands-on CEO I've ever seen in any company, even more so than small startups.

 

[Budweiser®]

Mac sales are doing very, very well. 28% over last year, many of these sold to first time Apple buyers (formerly owned PCs). Continued gains in market share too. It's not exactly like iPhone/iPad is the only game in town for Apple.

http://www.9to5mac.com/62853/apple-...2-revenue-of-24-67b-95-percent-profit-growth/

I don't dispute that but without the iPhone, Apple's market cap would likely be 50% or less of what it is now.

EDIT: 75% of AAPL revenue comes from iPod, iTunes, iPhone, iPad, and iPod has been in decline. I'm guessing that iPad revenue will grow at a faster rate than their computers, so next year that number could very well be 85%. Looks like a case could be made for iPhone and iPad being the only game in town.

Page 26: http://files.shareholder.com/downlo...131-4ebbabc128fb/AAPL_Q2FY11_10Q_04.21.11.pdf

 

[Budweiser®]

Really?

Assuming you are serious...

Yes, I know all about what MSFT did in their early days. I made that comment because Vancehu said "PC dominated the market because of what Bill Gates did back in the days, if Mac the did same, I highly doubt PC will dominate today."

I don't get it? So if Apple used a licensing model they would dominate? (Which is against their philosophy and would never happen) The fact of the matter is, at the time, MSFT made the right moves and AAPL didn't. Bringing up hypothetical situations is pointless.

 

[SilverStone05]

I can recognize PC designers from far away!

LOL.

Tell that to my fiance. Whose primary workstation at home is a rather expensive MacBook Pro.

And whose primary machine at work - where she is the Lead Graphic Designer - is a windows machine.

 

[SilverStone05]

The only thing about a MAC I really hate is the price.

Yep. And the keyboard and mouse are annoyances to me as well.

They sure look good, though.

 

[Jimbo]

Regarding keyboards and mice. This is a really individual thing. You can of course, swap keyboard and mouse to your current PC favorite.

And there's none of this on a Mac...

http://www.nsxprime.com/forums/showthread.php?t=148598

-Jim

 

[KSXNSX]

I've seen this with my own eyes, when I was working on a special project at Apple campus and had the opportunity to interact with him directly. He is the most hands-on CEO I've ever seen in any company, even more so than small startups.

That's awesome. What is he like in person, especially in the work environment?

I heard he used to be a draconian tyrant, but may have changed after coming back to Apple.

However, I just read an article describing him as chewing out and cursing at employees over his disappointment in MobileMe (indicating his hands-off approach to its design, and more of a director's approach to guiding what he wanted).

 

[NetViper]

That's awesome. What is he like in person, especially in the work environment?

I heard he used to be a draconian tyrant, but may have changed after coming back to Apple.

However, I just read an article describing him as chewing out and cursing at employees over his disappointment in MobileMe (indicating his hands-off approach to its design, and more of a director's approach to guiding what he wanted).

There is a good article in Fortune about Apple this month. Check it out.

Doesn't sound like he changed at all.

 

[NetViper]

http://www.bgr.com/2011/05/17/mac-sales-slow-in-april-according-to-npd/

Sales of Apple’s Mac line of personal computers slowed in April, leaving a question mark for analysts who have lofty expectations of Apple computers in the June quarter. Industry tracker NPD Group on Monday issued its estimates for Mac sales in the month of April. While the firm found that sales did grow compared to the same month last year, growth has slowed substantially. NPD says Apple shipped 9% more Mac computers in April 2011 than it did in the same month last year, but analysts are expecting shipments for the full quarter to jump 22% over 2010 to 4.2 million units. The decrease in growth is attributed to the fact that Apple refreshed its MacBook Pro line in the middle of April last year, but analysts obviously accounted for that when issuing estimates for Apple’s fiscal third quarter.

 

[Arshad]

That's awesome. What is he like in person, especially in the work environment?

I heard he used to be a draconian tyrant, but may have changed after coming back to Apple.

However, I just read an article describing him as chewing out and cursing at employees over his disappointment in MobileMe (indicating his hands-off approach to its design, and more of a director's approach to guiding what he wanted).

I guess I should be careful in what I post publicly, but I would say that he has a huge and direct influence on many of the engineering activities at Apple. He's extremely focused, knows exactly what he wants (but is known to change his mind on a whim), and expects excellence from everyone. Of course there are way too many projects going on simultaneously at Apple for him to be directly involved in everything, but like I said, he's way more involved with low level decisions than I would expect from a CEO -- especially for a company of this size.

 

[NetViper]

I guess I should be careful in what I post publicly, but I would say that he has a huge and direct influence on many of the engineering activities at Apple. He's extremely focused, knows exactly what he wants (but is known to change his mind on a whim), and expects excellence from everyone. Of course there are way too many projects going on simultaneously at Apple for him to be directly involved in everything, but like I said, he's way more involved with low level decisions than I would expect from a CEO -- especially for a company of this size.

The Fortune article certainly makes it sound like he is the heart of the operation.... when he is gone it will not be the same.

 

[Arshad]

http://www.bgr.com/2011/05/17/mac-sales-slow-in-april-according-to-npd/

Sales of Apple’s Mac line of personal computers slowed in April, leaving a question mark for analysts who have lofty expectations of Apple computers in the June quarter. Industry tracker NPD Group on Monday issued its estimates for Mac sales in the month of April. While the firm found that sales did grow compared to the same month last year, growth has slowed substantially. NPD says Apple shipped 9% more Mac computers in April 2011 than it did in the same month last year, but analysts are expecting shipments for the full quarter to jump 22% over 2010 to 4.2 million units. The decrease in growth is attributed to the fact that Apple refreshed its MacBook Pro line in the middle of April last year, but analysts obviously accounted for that when issuing estimates for Apple’s fiscal third quarter.

I wouldn't read too much into numbers for a single quarter when it's hugely influenced by when a particular machine is released. They are selling more Macs then they ever have in their existence and greatly outpacing growth relative to every other OEM on the planet.

 

[Arshad]

The Fortune article certainly makes it sound like he is the heart of the operation.... when he is gone it will not be the same.

No question about that in my mind. He drives the culture at Apple. There's a lot of very smart, very innovative people at Apple and they will continue to create great products and do very well as a company even without him, but it will not be the same.

Then again, even with him, nothing goes up forever. They may have hit a number of home-runs, but it doesn't mean that everything that comes out of there is a hit. There have been several "dog" products that they've released over the years, even with SJ at the helm.

 

[flaminio]

And there's none of this on a Mac...

http://www.nsxprime.com/forums/showthread.php?t=148598

At least, none that you would ever hear of from Apple.

 

[NetViper]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life...-treat-gadgets-like-god-study/article2028023/

The holy Apple? Fanboys treat gadgets like God: study

 

[Budweiser®]

At least, none that you would ever hear of from Apple.

Time to update their website :biggrin:

 

[Arshad]

At least, none that you would ever hear of from Apple.

Wait, someone is stupid enough to type in their administrator password on some random program that asks for it, and then they want to moan and bitch to Apple and demand that Apple staff clean their system for them?

Last time I checked, if you get a virus on a Windows box, you're on your own too. There's no retail Microsoft outlet that you can take your machine to and have them fix it for free either.

 

[Budweiser®]

Wait, someone is stupid enough to type in their administrator password on some random program that asks for it, and then they want to moan and bitch to Apple and demand that Apple staff clean their system for them?

Last time I checked, if you get a virus on a Windows box, you're on your own too. There's no retail Microsoft outlet that you can take your machine to and have them fix it for free either.

I just think its ironic that Apple proclaims their stuff as "virus and malware proof" and sells customers systems based on that premise, then when their computer does get malware on it Apple employees are instructed to neither confirm or deny what has happened? Seems a bit two faced to me.

 

[flaminio]

Wait, someone is stupid enough to type in their administrator password on some random program that asks for it

Clearly you haven't worked with "real" end users in a while. The prompt comes up for their admin password, and they type it in. They usually have no idea what program is asking for it.

Last time I checked, if you get a virus on a Windows box, you're on your own too. There's no retail Microsoft outlet that you can take your machine to and have them fix it for free either.

Actually, there kind of is -- you can call 1-866-PCSAFETY and a Microsoft genius will help you get your computer clean.

 

[Russ]

PCs make you click on crap all the time. Macs know what you want to do and they do it. Also +1 to Apple for never making software with a talking paper clip.

 

[NetViper]

I am still trying to figure out how all of these MAC users - who are clearly superior to us PC users - are stupid enough to fall for that virus.

 

[Gansan]

I was surprised to see a screenshot if one of the new Mac malware screens. I had seen it on msnbc.com of all places. I must have accidentally clicked on one of the ads or something, and suddenly the web browser was full of a fake ugly file browser claiming I was infected and needed to install something. Obviously I wasn't fooled, but I'm not sure if my parents wouldn't have been.

Even though there has never been a successful worm on the Mac clearly the human using the machine is going to be the next weak point to exploit. Education is a must, and thankfully most people have been exposed to the dangers and trained already by what's out there for windows.

 

[Caustic]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life...-treat-gadgets-like-god-study/article2028023/

The holy Apple? Fanboys treat gadgets like God: study

Things don't really ever change:

Each of these cults correspond to one of the two antagonists in the age
of Reformation. In the realm of the Apple Macintosh, as in catholic
Europe, worshipers peer devoutly into screens filled with "icons." All
is sound and imagery and Appledom. Even words look like decorative
filigree in exotic typeface. The greatest icon of all, the inviolable
Apple itself, stands in the dominate position at the upper-left corner
of the screen. A central corporate headquarters decrees the form of all
rites and practices. Infallible doctrine issues from one executive
officer whose selection occurs in a sealed board room. Should anyone in
his curia question his powers, the offender is excommunicated into outer
darkness. The expelled heretic founds a new company, mutters obscurely
of the coming age and the next computer, then disappears into silence,
taking his stockholders with him. The mother company forbids financial
competition as sternly as it stifles ideological competition; if you
want to use computer programs that conform to Apple's orthodoxy, you
must buy a computer made and sold by Apple itself.
-- Edward Mendelson, "The New Republic", February 22, 1988