Version: 2008

Comments on: Leopard will open the Mac OS X floodgates (and embarrass Microsoft)

Microsoft is in trouble. And with the release of Leopard, it looks like it will only get worse for the software giant.

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Vista blows donkey wangs
by The_happy_switcher October 29, 2007 3:30 PM PDT
Windows Vista should be renamed Windows ME 1.1
Reply to this comment
Perhaps Apple Should
by Moosehouse October 29, 2007 7:07 PM PDT
Perhaps Apple should rename their new operating system "Mac Blue".
Apple Mac It just works (sometimes)....
As dumb as Tom Yager at InfoWorld
by tucsongeek October 29, 2007 3:33 PM PDT
Reisinger is another Mac nut waxing orgasmic about all things Apple. Wake up, pull your head out of your rear end, and take a whiff of reality.

Apple's market share is a joke. 8% US but less than 3% in US businesses because it doesn't run most mainstream business apps. 3.2% worldwide. Pathetic.

OS-X pretty and pleasant to use but it has been for a long time and still hasn't made a dent in the market. Functionality counts, not pretty icons and animation. It has to work with what people use and Macs just don't.

The same complaints were raised about XP when it first came out. Slow, buggy, piece of junk. Stick with Win2k. Here we are 7 years later and almost all of us are using XP. Just like we'll be using Vista in a year or two. MS will fix it. They're good at fixing stuff. Just a little slow about it.

I'm tired of hearing this BS about Apple taking over the world. I've been hearing it for a decade from drooling idiots like you and Tom Yager. It hasn't happened nor will it.

If I was betting, I'd put my money on Linux. If Google gets behind it, MS and Apple better watch out.
Reply to this comment
Linux-not ready for prime time
by The_happy_switcher October 29, 2007 3:38 PM PDT
Right, the general public is gonna latch on to the arcane commands of linux and forego the ease of use of OS X instead.
View reply
tucsongeek !
by hugo62hugo October 29, 2007 3:55 PM PDT
Strange argument ! would you buy a brand new car which needed 2 years of
repairs before it worked properly. Eh no i doidnt think so!. So why buy a
software, which needs to years of updates before it works.

' Functionality counts, not pretty icons and animation. It has to work with
what people use and Macs just don't. " such a comment is born out of
ignorance, and put you in no position to be slagging of the author of this
article.
View reply
88 million copies
by hugo62hugo October 29, 2007 3:44 PM PDT
The majority of these copies have been bought as the default OS on a new
purchase, not as a conscious purchase. However, i wouldn;t be boasting
about it.

The only thing that has been achieved is that, 88 million people are living
with a crap product and a hugely negative image of the company that gave
them the crap product.

How can that be good for Microsoft ?. Yes they are a larger company than
Apple, however it is only a matter of time before there is a see change in
relation to how people view Microsoft and their products.

People will only accept second best when there is no viable alternative. Apple
is a now a seriously viable alternative to Microsoft in a number of different
technology markets, and owns the MP3/download space. As such they now
pose a very serious threat to Redmond, and selling 88 million copies of a crap
product, in many ways pushes the customer to seek an alternative
Reply to this comment
88 million copies
by hugo62hugo October 29, 2007 3:44 PM PDT
The majority of these copies have been bought as the default OS on a new
purchase, not as a conscious purchase. However, i wouldn;t be boasting
about it.

The only thing that has been achieved is that, 88 million people are living
with a crap product and a hugely negative image of the company that gave
them the crap product.

How can that be good for Microsoft ?. Yes they are a larger company than
Apple, however it is only a matter of time before there is a see change in
relation to how people view Microsoft and their products.

People will only accept second best when there is no viable alternative. Apple
is a now a seriously viable alternative to Microsoft in a number of different
technology markets, and owns the MP3/download space. As such they now
pose a very serious threat to Redmond, and selling 88 million copies of a crap
product, in many ways pushes the customer to seek an alternative
Reply to this comment
All MS trolls <- right, Apple fanboys -> left
by eldernorm October 29, 2007 3:45 PM PDT
Boy, after reading all the troll messages here, I feel sorry for the author. But when people comment things like:
Makes the most computers (so they must be right)
is bigger (so they must be right)
sells to enterprise (so they must be right)
does games (so they must be right)
does not like MS (so they must be WRONG)
and that is the limit of their comments (many many like this), I have to wonder if what I have heard about Microsoft paying people to cruise the internet posting comments just to try and make "good" noise for microsoft is true. If it is, then MS is in much more trouble than we think.

CNET, I hope you are paying attention here. Weird, just weird.

en
Reply to this comment
It's not about MS "trolls" being right...
by tucsongeek October 29, 2007 4:00 PM PDT
It's about the author being dead wrong. Facts are facts. You can ignore them if you want to but it doesn't change them. Being the "best" doesn't mean you take over the world. Does VHS versus Betamax ring a bell?
MS Trolls ! i agree
by hugo62hugo October 29, 2007 3:59 PM PDT
tucsongeek !

Strange argument ! would you buy a brand new car which needed 2 years of
repairs before it worked properly. Eh no i doidnt think so!. So why buy a
software, which needs to years of updates before it works.

' Functionality counts, not pretty icons and animation. It has to work with
what people use and Macs just don't. " such a comment is born out of
ignorance, and put you in no position to be slagging of the author of this
article.
Reply to this comment
MS Trolls ! i agree
by hugo62hugo October 29, 2007 3:59 PM PDT
tucsongeek !

Strange argument ! would you buy a brand new car which needed 2 years of
repairs before it worked properly. Eh no i doidnt think so!. So why buy a
software, which needs to years of updates before it works.

' Functionality counts, not pretty icons and animation. It has to work with
what people use and Macs just don't. " such a comment is born out of
ignorance, and put you in no position to be slagging of the author of this
article.
Reply to this comment
Why MS Will Stay for Awhile
by KeeperofStars October 29, 2007 4:28 PM PDT
I love my iMac and my Macbook and support OSX for my work. And as much as I love Apple products because they simply work beautifully, there are far too many Windows computers still out there in businesses for MS to simply fade away any time soon.

There are databases that only work on Windows servers. There are apps created in-house for specialized companies that simply will not do it all over again to go to Macs. The infrastructure of the vast majority of the wired world is Windows based. No one who is thinking properly will ever consider that businesses will simply up and change over to Apple-based home-grown apps because Apple makes superior products.

That is too bad for us because Apple is clearly and obviously a superior company in the way its run and how they create products. They are a true 21st century computer company. MS is a beast that should have died in the 20th century - but didn't. Damn it.
Reply to this comment
This blog is rife with trolls
by papa-raboon October 29, 2007 5:01 PM PDT
What makes me laugh is the people who tout statistics regarding Apple's Market share
compared to Microsoft's as if these statistics actually have relevance. Anybody who
actually knows anything about Apple's business model know that they are in the business
of making computers. That's hardware, not OEM operating systems like Microsoft. So
how can you compare Apple's market share figures to Microsoft.
If you do then you have to deduct that as M$ do not make PC's so their market share of
the PC market is 0% compared to Apple's Also when you compare Apple's market share
with that of their competitors (HP, Dell, Lenovo etc). and factor in Apple's chosen target
market which is mid to high end high quality machines (Apple do not make cheap and
cheerful unprofitable $200 crap) you then see that Apple have a good market share
indeed.

To confirm this you can check who out of the above mentioned PC manufacturers has the
highest market cap and you will see it's Apple by far.

Now another thing that really annoys me is these "Apple fanboy" comments from
Windows users who don't know any better.

What you have to realise is that Windows is prolific to the point that around 85 - 90% of
Mac users have had to deal with it from time to time and that puts Mac users in a unique
position to compare like for like. Many new Mac users are ex-Windows users who
switched to Mac and they did so because of the frustrations of having to nursemaid a
sub-standard OS for long enough to have been driven to the point of frustration. Once
they got over the initial differences based on their computing habits developed over the
years and learned to adapt their skill in the Mac arena they realised how much more
useable Macs are and made a conscious choice.

The average Windows lifer on the other hand sticks with his poison due to his narrow
mind as he refuses to use anything else other than what the head of the IT department
recommended. "They are IT experts so they must be right yeah?" Wrong!!! They
recommend Windows because like the average ordinary Windows user they have a "better
the devil you know" mentality.
Reply to this comment
Fuzzy Math does not disguise it
by digiprod--2008 October 29, 2007 5:51 PM PDT
Fuzzy math can not hide the fact that Mac share is rising fast. You might
want to take a look at the consumer market for computers and learn that
Apple already has about 15% in the US, just ask the Dell dude. The main
difference here is Apple earned these customers, who choose their own
equipment with their own money and do not want or have a complete IT
department just to keep their computer running. Unlike business customers
were IT dictate what they get. Interesting part is how many IT people and
developers run Macs!

Must be a scary thought to a Windows zealot to have choice! Apple Macs are
the best thing that ever happened to Windows users as it has forced M$ to try
and keep up without looking even more dated than they are. Windows and
Disco should go together. Unfortunately, for Windows users many are still
forced to run XP that is six years old as Vista STILL can not run many of their
apps or play nice with their other devices, even after a year! This is poor and
shatty workmanship by M$, no matter how you slice it.

MS better worry that more business' bean counters do not start noticing the
COST of OWNERSHIP of Windows and start slowly moving to OS X for a less
costly solution due to support. If Apple decides to sell OS X in a box for
hardware other than just their own, M$ is dead. Think of a Dell selling OS X.
Think it can not happen, it could if Apple decides it does not need to have
the exclusive right to sell Macs, like if they are selling iPhones at 10 million a
year or more.

With VMware and Parrellels on an Intel Mac there is NO reason at all for
anyone advanced or moderate user to buy JUST a Windows PC as the Mac
runs both perfectly. I run Windows XP, Vista, and Linux all on a MacBook Pro
at FULL speed. This is really scary to Dell, HP, etc. As vendor support erodes,
as you can see it has at Acer and Dell, M$ loses it power to push them
around. Michael Dell has said several times he would love to sell OS X
computers and is even selling Linux now! New times for M$, get used to it!
Reply to this comment
Your So Full Of It
by Moosehouse October 29, 2007 7:05 PM PDT
You mean Apple has increased it's market share from 2.1 to 2.2%. Big deal. The mac is just a trendy plastic toy. It's a dumbed down pc. Hell if Steve took a dumb, painted it white and stuck an apple logo on it you'd buy it.
Reply to this comment
I agree moosehouse
by agentcarrion October 30, 2007 6:00 AM PDT
I totally agree moosehouse, apple can sell anything with an apple logo on it, cause people are attracted to little gizmo, and gadgets. look at the ipod, there was portable mp3 cd players for how long before it was released.
View all 2 replies
market share
by scottfromcolorado October 30, 2007 1:18 PM PDT
Apple is the #3-selling PC in the US, after HP and Dell. They shipped 2.1
million machines in the previous quarter, up 34% since the same quarter last
year. They currently acount for over 8% (not 2.2%) of US PC sales, beating
hundreds of tin vendors like Acer, e-Machines, or (cough) Alienware that sell
far far fewer machines than Apple.

It's no conicidence that Apple also OWNS the music player market, and
dictates terms to the major labels, or that the iPhone is the top-selling device
sold by AT&T wireless, with 13.3% of sales.

Apple Inc. is a business titan, a consumer darling, and an investors' dream
(up 120% since January, and almost 600% in the last three years, compared to
15% this year for MSFT, and 20% over the last three years!).

Nevertheless, as a half-hearted Mac owner, I think Apple's days are
numbered. As an investor, I wouldn't buy their stock. Ten of millions have
found that absolutely FREE OS and application software is an excellent
substitute for MS and Macware.

I run a big network of Linux servers and desktops, and many of our users run
Mac. I like the mac, but find the free OS and software to be almost 100%
compatible, very easy to use and administer, and find it hard to believe that
even Apple can continue to charge big bucks for something that's easily
available for free.

I recently installed Ubuntu linux on a PC for my 72-yr-old Mom. She loves it!
It's much easier to use for her than her bogged-down old OS, and she never
did quite figure out the difference between virus protection and spyware
avoidance software, or why she had to pay for either one.

Wake up! It's the 21st Century! Windows was dead 10 years ago, and Mac is 5
years too late to really take its place.

Free software is 200% free: like free speech. And like free beer. Stop
complaining and drink up!
View reply
Dumbed Down PC?
by ngpinger October 29, 2007 7:50 PM PDT
Really moosehouse? Take a look at PC World's notable laptops of 2007. The fastest laptop for running Windows Vista: MacBook Pro.

That aside, you're missing a key distinction in this article. Don is comparing operating systems . . . software, Microsoft's bread and butter. When Apple can beat Microsoft at that game (and they are in the OS arena, if we compare Leopard to Vista), Microsoft is in big trouble. Add Google's domination of web apps, LAMP domination of servers, and Microsoft is left with Office as its saving grace. That's not a good place for them to be.

Nice article Don.
Reply to this comment
Apple Fanboy Season?
by c3r3alkill3r October 29, 2007 9:22 PM PDT
Seriously what were you smoking when you wrote this article?
Reply to this comment
Oh daaaaaaaaaamn!
by jimothyGator October 30, 2007 9:45 AM PDT
You told him! No WAY he can counter that attack.
Dumbedown PC?
by macfoo October 29, 2007 9:47 PM PDT
I can't laugh hard enough. Not only have I been a Mac user for 7+ years, I am also a Unix systems administrator who spends a good portion of the scripting in one of the various languages that are part of *nix.

Guess what folks - they are part of Mac OS X ... right there, under the hood of the pretty desktop.

With Windows, its some type of voodoo dance to pull off the same compatibility that I get out of my good ole' Macbook Pro.

I'll never look back. Even if Vista is Microsoft's poor excuse for an operating system, why would you want to buy a PC that can only run Windows when the Mac truly is the best of both worlds...

take your dumbed down PCs... I'm sticking with my mac.
Reply to this comment
Set us free to switch!
by EarthMatters October 30, 2007 2:42 PM PDT
I'd switch to Leopard in a heartbeat if I could run it on the new PC I bought a couple of months ago. Hey Apple! I want to switch from Vista to OS X! I really do! Open Leopard up, let me decide where to run it, don't expect me to buy a computer I don't need just so I can switch away from Vista, cuz that I won't do. I'll spend $129 to switch, but not $1499 and up.
4 edges and 4 corners
by unroar October 30, 2007 4:33 AM PDT
When I can resize a window using all four edges and all four corners I'll consider OSX. Until then I'm sticking with XP.
Reply to this comment
Oh but you can ..
by mindpower October 30, 2007 7:14 AM PDT
There have been add-on programs for OS X that allow resizing windows from multiple corners for many years now. (eg. WindowDragon)
Re: 4 edges and 4 corners
by zunipus October 30, 2007 8:41 AM PDT
OK, so you went to
http://www.apple.com/macosx/
and you looked over the 300 new features
and you were so upset about only being able to resize windows from the
bottom right-hand corner that you decided to stick with Windows XP.

Read what you wrote again.
Are you sane?

I don't think this guy is gonna get a clue.
But for everyone else, here is where you can read about and download the
FREEWARE program WindowDragon:

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/25134
OR
http://windowdragon.sourceforge.net/

Users give it a 5 out of 5 star rating. It's Open Source. Microsoft is trying to
kill Open Source. :-P******

Here's a non-Open Source alternative for $20: Zooom
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/31084
OR
http://coderage-software.com/zooom/index.html

Have fun.
View reply
First weekend Leopard sales close to Windows Vista
by bruyerefrere October 30, 2007 9:15 AM PDT
"Leopard vs. Vista Sales: Carl Howe
First weekend Leopard sales close to Windows Vista sales

Apple today announced that it sold two million copies or about a million a
day of Mac OS X Leopard in the first weekend. I tried to find similar statistics
for the Microsoft Vista launch, but the best I could come up with was that
Vista sold 20 million copies in the first month (February), resulting in an
average sales rate of 714,000 a day. Both numbers reflect pre-orders and
machine installs, not just upgrades. So at least for now, Leopard is running
neck and neck with the Windows Vista install rate.

All that said, the Leopard numbers will surely fall behind in the next month.
Why? Because Apple estimates the total number of machines capable of
running Leopard to be only 21 million. I don't think we're going to see 95%
market penetration on Leopard in the first month, so enjoy the moment while
you can. "
Reply to this comment
Unfair comparison
by jimothyGator October 30, 2007 9:43 AM PDT
Yeah, but imagine if they had released Vista in January or March instead. With
those three extra days, they're sales would have been staggering! :)
Agree on the take...but not conclusion
by grtgrfx October 30, 2007 9:33 AM PDT
This article had nothing to do with (presumably) Apple's retail changes vis-a-vis
the iPhone. At least I think that's what this poster was referring to, since you
can't buy iPhones using cash anymore. Obviously, if you want to plunk down
$1,500 in bills on an iMac, an Apple store will take your money with gratitude.

But it was an intelligent tech article on MS Vista problems compared to Leopard.
Reply to this comment
Mac Sales good for Microsoft
by rapier1 October 30, 2007 1:52 PM PDT
Lets not forget one thing - Microsoft doesn't *care* what sort of hardware
you run Vista or XP or any of their other products on. They only care that you
run them. Since many people seem to be advocating that Mac users need only
use Boot Camp (which is really a half assed way of doing things. Virtualization
is much more functional even if it does impose a performance hit) to get the
best of both worlds that means more sales for Microsoft. In fact Boot Camp
basically means that Microsoft now has a potential to get into nealry 100% of
the laptops and desktops out there. This *really* highlights the difference
between the two companies - Apple is a hardware company that sells
software in order to boost its hardware sales. Microsoft is a software
compnay thats deeply agnostic about hardware issues.
Reply to this comment
...and Long Term? MSFT loses.
by Penguinisto October 31, 2007 6:59 AM PDT
In your rush to point out that yes, Mac converts will ease their transition with
Parallels or BootCamp, you forgot two things:

1) that Windows install is likely going to come from a disk/license-key they
already have, or one they get from a 'friend-of-a-friend', as most Windows
in-home installs are acquired... this means that for the majority of cases,
MSFT gets no new sale at all when someone buys a Mac.

2) Short-term, the 'doze partition is there to run apps that a user has and
needs right now. Long-term, those apps will get replaced with ones that run
natively in OSX. How do I know? I did this myself a long time ago with
VirtualPC on a Mac... and one-by-one, my Win32 apps got replaced with
OSX-based apps. More often than not, this switch happened when a new
version came along of a given app - I merely upgraded to the Mac version
instead of the Windows one.

Together this spells disaster for MSFT. Right now, their only real saving
graces are Office and Exchange. NeoOffice on the Mac replaces MS Office for
the home user entirely, and it's free. Even OSX' built-in Text Editor saves files
off in .doc format (and pretty much always has), so for the home user, MS
Office is unnecessary.

The tide is changing, and unless MSFT does something highly drastic and
consumer-friendly, they're as screwed as Tyrannosaurus Rex was after a
certain comet slapped the Earth 65 million years ago.

/P
View reply
Vista doesn't need to be as good as Leopard
by trentreviso October 30, 2007 5:33 PM PDT
The reason Vista is so terrible is that quality is irrelevant when you enjoy a monopoly. Microsoft has no incentive to make Vista valuable or useful. Any money spent on the quality of the product is money wasted. People will buy it in the same quantities and will pay ever more exorbitant prices for it because they believe they must. Microsoft is assured of the sale of Vista even to everyone who despises it. That is the Microsoft "tax".

Microsoft has therefore not designed Vista to be easy to use, ergonomic, fast, functional, or secure. They have designed it as a DRM platform. They have designed it for their real customer, the entertainment industry.

Vista gets more bad press than good, suffers from remarkably bad hardware support, is slow, requires remarkably powerful hardware on which to run, and is very, very expensive. Such characteristics would be instant death to any potential competitor product, but they are irrelevant to Microsoft. M$ has sold 88 million copies of Vista in just nine months, and the most profitable company in world history has just turned in its most profitable quarter ever!

Comparisons between Leopard and Vista are foolish. Of course Leopard is better. Of course Vista sucks. Quality is not the point.
Reply to this comment
Apples business philosophy= monopoly
by ZachThurston-21728418704322188 October 31, 2007 5:52 PM PDT
Just in case you didn't hear, Apple has_ABSOLUTE_control over the software_AND_the hardware that goes into their computers. But you know, MS is the monopoly because their OS is just so much better.
Windows has always sucked!
by JRFeeney October 31, 2007 12:46 AM PDT
Windows has always sucked and they always will. Doesn't anyone remember Windoze 98? How could we forget Windoze Millenium? I manage a Corporate network and I resist Microsoft efforts to get me to upgrade. We finally have a reliable Windows network and it is Win 2k with some Linux thrown in whenever we can. Unfortunately our accounting software only runs on Windows or we would be a Linux shop.

I really wish Microsoft would go away and let the computing community get some real work done. Has anyone seen how cool the Linux desktop is? It kicks butt over Windoze and it is free. Linux runs all my old hardware so I am not forced to upgrade anything. If Microsoft would just stop making our hardware obsolete in six months, I might be able to stomach Windoze a little longer.

I found that Linux on my laptop with a virtual machine to run Windoze is a good defense against Microsoft and the endless upgrade engine.
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