Comments on: Microsoft: Mac buyers pay Apple tax

Ahead of what many expect to be the introduction of cheaper Macs, a top Windows exec says Apple users pay hidden costs.

[barclayreynolds]

I will pay for a good OS and that is that! How many times did reboot your PC during your writings today? How many time viruses does your PC have? AdWare, etc. In your beloved PC? None here so as it is said you get what you pay for...

[Synthmeister]

So how about the Microsoft tax? What's the per seat server license compared to Apple? And wasn't "Microsoft tax" the term applied to PC makers who had to buy a Windows license for every computer they sold, whether it had Windows installed or not? Has the cost of Windows or Office come down or gone up in the past 10 years.

MS loves the ecosystem of choice as long as you aren't choosing another OS and they can let the hardware makers beat each other's brains out with razor - thin margins while they face no competition whatsoever.

[gsmiller88]

I didn't pay a dime for the copy of Windows XP running on my Mac..........

;-)

[dinojr]

"The question is, or the argument is, that understanding what the true value is of Windows and the choices that they make every day, really is not about Apple."

So basically his argument is, "Windows is great, you just don't know it yet."

[-hh]

The fallacy of his "Windows is great, you just don't know it yet" claim is that he's running around trying to prevent *existing* customers from jumping off the SS Microsoft.

People simply aren't buying the MS Propoganda anymore...its now the young iPod generation who is rebelling from the 'Status Quo' of their father's Oldsmobile...er, I mean Windows PC.

And despite appearing to be a youngish "30s something", Mr. Brooks is making the same classical error of arrogant denial that old dinosaurs PR hacks have before him have done in many industries. MS has become 'Old School'.

-hh

[tforsythe_dotmac]

Happy to pay it......

[ckurowic]

These comments are classic of a company that is in very serious trouble.

[Norwellian]

Please Microsoft, keep hiring this type of Mindless, Driveling Bill Gates/Steve Ballmer Follower/bootlicker. Mr. Brooks is either too indoctrinated to know the truth, or more likely he knows that honest answers would really paint a bad picture for his cash flow, er employer. the amount of FUD this guy threw out in one article is amazing and tells me that MS IS GETTING REALLY, REALLY NERVOUS.

[paganimage]

What else is a guy who makes his living making bland, bug-ridden crash boxes gonna say? Please Mr. Brooks, get back to me when your long-delayed "working version of the Vista OS finally get out the door. No wonder they keep putting out junk-in-box: they're too busy looking over the should of Apple.

[zato_3]

Ina: How is it that a Microsoft propagandist gets two or three thousand words of anti-Apple black PR in CNet?

[carolax]

Yawn. Another example of how Microsoft doesn't get it. Never did. And telling consumers that they're stupid is a typical Microsoft approach to competition. I go to work every day and work as a multimedia developer using Windows and I go home every night and use a Mac for my personal projects. There is no question which is the more stable OS. Tell me I'm uninformed Brad, but my guess is that I spend more time using both OS's than you do, and OS X is more stable and better executed. Hands down. Just ask the folks to produced the Bill Gates/Jerry Seinfeld Microsoft ad. They used Macs.

[Ian_Joyner]

The closest thing to a tax in this industry is and has been Microsoft licences. You can take most of what this guy says and the opposite is the truth. He is probably furthering his own career in MS by repeating Ballmer's rubbish. Only SB believes his own BS.

[setgo]

LOL! That's crazy about the 60% more likely to get a virus on a Mac stuff. I've been using Macs since 1988 and I have NEVER, EVER had a virus. EVER.... NOT ONE!

[Laserdisc]

This reminds me of a quote Jack Tramiel once stated when asked what was the difference between Commodore and Apple and he said (paraphrasing) "We (Commodore) sell computers to the masses not the classes."

[Globalmo]

Fact: About 50% of my friends and Business Associates complain about their PC's - I can't think of one person that has complained about their Mac. They are just better.

[Understarsidream]

I don't really care that my mac cost a little more. I want a computer that works and that I don't have to fiddle with constantly. I get that with my two macs but not so much with the windows laptop I have to use on occasion.

I'm sorry but my Sony/Microsoft and their idea of support is just sad. Their answer to every single problem with the upgraded support plan was "You should probably do a full restore and reformat the hard drive." If I talked to Microsoft - nothing was EVER their problem. It was a Sony problem so they weren't responsible.

If my choice is to pay a couple hundred dollars more (in most peoples minds) or spend hundred of hours a year dealing with Microsoft bugs, I'll pay the cash. It's cheaper in the long run.

[dylan214u]

I have been running Macs since 1984. I run Macs in Network environment with full access in 4 offices. I HAVE NEVER HAD A VIRUS OF ANY KIND. Mr. Brooks, It is not a fallacy! It's a fact! Apple computers are not affected like it's PC counterparts.

[MaLvaDo39]

Orrrr pay NO supposed tax and avoid Microsoft products.

Get a Mac already

[craigar]

The "Apple Tax" doesn't exist. Do the math. You don't simply price a car by its bottom line, you must figure its features and "RESALE VALUE"! This is where a Mac will totally rake the coals of any PC. I've been upgrading my Macs now for over 10 years. Every 8 months, I sell my then 3rd generation Mac and buy a 2nd generation mac. I try to do it just before a new model comes out. This week would have been the time if I had a notebook. My cost $ 18.75 a month. This is the historical average price I've paid over the course of 10 years and I always have a 2nd generation machine (2nd gen, but still new in the box). I challenge anyone to present to me how they can get and keep a virtually new PC computer every 8 months for 10 years running at a cost of only $18.75 a month. That's only a $185.00 difference between the computer I sell and the one I buy. That's impossible with a PC. NO APPLE tax whatsoever.
Here's my secret. Sell on craigslist (no fees) and buy out of state, no sales tax (Amazon is good, sometimes PC Connection).

[Alex Alexzander]

I've owned Macs since day 1. I have owned many Commodore 64s and PCs before the Mac. Furthermore, still in a closet around here some place, I have a small collection of retired Macs. About 6 in total. An Apple //e, and NeXT Turbo Slab. About 3.5 years ago I sold my $4,000 Dual G5 Mac Tower and bought a $599 Toshiba laptop, which served as my primary business computer for 2 years. I had some editing to do, and was considering writing a book on DVD authoring for the PC so I built a dual Xeon based Avid Media Composer. And because it was so cheap, I built a Core2Duo with a Blu-ray drive from Pioneer when they first made available, also two years ago. I'm ready to buy my 2nd Blu-ray drive now that the price for said drive has dropped from $1,000 to $369 and I get dual layer support and SATA. My first Blu-ray drive was 25GB single-layer and ATA.

Apple has not even offered a Blu-ray configuration. Apple has not yet upgraded DVD Studio Pro to Blu-ray yet. I've been using it since the beginning with Sonic DVDit Pro, and now with Encore DVD 3. Two years ago I could give dailies of edits shot in p2 HD and burned on Blu-ray HD for anyone to watch on an HD LCD or Plasma.

I had my BlackBerry connected to Exchange / BlackBerry Enterprise Services and enjoyed PUSH email years ago.

My Mac friends pretty much convinced me to give the Mac another shot about 6 months ago. I did. My Blackberry didn't sync at all with Mail.app nor with Entourage. I had to buy, "The Missing Sync", which by the way, barely works, and should have never been released at all in that state I bought it in. Entourage doesn't connect to Exchange at all the way the normal Outlook client does. It uses the less web protocol to simulate an exchange type connection using the WOA. It's pretty poor in my opinion.

I now use SalesForce a lot, and I especially love the Mail Merge functions that I can tie into my Microsoft docs. It truly helps and makes me get the form letters not only out, but logged so I can see what I have done months ago and pick up where I left off. I bought an iPhone to try and get that BlackBerry like functionality back.

Problem with the Mac is, Entourage and Office in general really are 2nd class in comparison to the PC version. iPhone lacks many features. I now use a Windows Mobile Moto Q which has a file system. And on the train I get an email from my fax service. I can download and store the fax PDF on my file system on the phone. I create a new email and attach it. I had renamed the fax PDF from its cryptic name to something a human would understand. None of this can be done on an iPhone without the aid of Mac or a PC which can't even sync the files via USB. You have to use that web based network system to move the files back and forth. In email you can just save the attached file, rename it, and then create an entirely new email with the attachment. You have to simply forward it, which in many cases I cannot due because I don't want the new recipient to see the source. I just want them to have the file.

With Windows Mobile, I have Mobile Word and Excel, and DataViz Docs2Go. On iPhone, neither.

So on the PC side I have much cheaper prices, and far more choices. I can buy a laptop as cheap as $399. I have an HP2133 I use for travel. It's a 2.6 pound, 8.9" screen that features 1280x768 res and a 92% full size keyboard. It was $699. And it has more storage, more ports, and even an Express Card slot for my Verizon EV-DO broadband card. Apple doesn't have anything that is even remotely close to this size or price.

My Windows Mobile has SalesForce mobile, which the iPhone has, but the iPhone version is read only. You can't edit a thing with it. I can on Windows Mobile. And I even have a briefcase-based mobile version of Salesforce for my netbook. Not an option on the Mac.

Everything from my hardware choices to my software choices is better on the PC. Better, cheaper, much faster to market. And yet you Mac Fanbois still think the Mac is so great. You're buying the same intel reference board design every PC maker use. The MacBook uses the same intel graphics that the super low priced PC users pay half the price for but get better expansion with. You get 2nd rate software. Limited choices, if Jobs doesn't like it, you don't get it all. My Mac friend is going crazy waiting for a tablet mac. He can take his pick in the PC side. We have dozens to choose from. Half the price of a hacked MacBook tablet.

If you ask me, and you didn't, you Mac guys are a rare bird. You get ripped off and ask for more. Jobs is laughing all the way to the bank with your money.

I totally agree with this Microsoft guy. There is indeed a tax on the Mac. I could always build a better PC for less money. With slots for expansion. and if I want a pre-built, they make em all kinds of different ways. I like HP myself.

Alex Alexzander

[setgo]

You can't build a PC with the specs of a Mac and not have viruses. I have never had one, how about you?

[David Turner]

Alex,

You go into great detail how the MS eco-system works for you and that you like it.
I have used many of the products you mentioned and I didn't find them as useful or as easy to use as I would have liked in particular Win Mob.
I found the Mac-eco system worked for me and my business and was easy to use but then thats just me.

Just because you like one particular eco-system does not automatically make all other systems bad or a rip off to other users

[Thomas, David]

Same old line. Prior to new Apple announcements, have some "stand-up" employee at Microsoft sing a song.