Apples vs. Oranges: Today's lead story from David Pogue's "Circuits Column" over at The New York Times posts some good reasons for not arguing the about whether Apple or Windows is the better OS, but he forgets the chief one: Windows has over 90 percent of the market share and Apple has been stuck at just 3 percent for years.
Macs remain too darn expensive for most people or businesses to buy, especially when a Windows maching costs about half as much. It's true that when Apple finally saw the light and gave up on trying to make an operating system, switching to BSD, a Unix varient, that its OS became much sturdier, faster and safer than anything it had created before, but that fact has made hardly a stir in the market place. Windows 2000 and XP, despite their security problems and the bloat associated with any Windows OS, are quite sturdy and capable.
It will, nevertheless, be interesting to see down the road in a few years when Bill Gates decides he wants to spend all of his time trying to figure out the best way to give his money away. Once his leadership is significantly detached from Microsoft, Apple might be able to make a move into the larger market place, if they don't lose it to Linux, which looks better and better all of the time.
Most of the current analysis on the OS situation has been on which one is used in the workplace. People like to come home and use the same OS and all of the same applications as they use at the office. However, I'll go out on the limb and state that once Linux becomes an OS on which installing software becomes as easy and mindless as it is in Windows and the Mac, and once enough game manufacturers create games that will install and run easily on a Linux, the little OS that would really will.
In his column, Pogue warns school officials that they should not try to guess what OS students will be using in ten to fifteen years and thus purchase equipment based on such a forecast. It's good advise, but I'll stay out on my limb and state that school officials should do more to cover their bases. Microsoft has a soft underbelly, and the people at Apple are still in love with their elitism. If Linux can succeed at shedding its geekiness, it could become the next ubiquitous OS. It might even be running your cell phone right now.
Macs remain too darn expensive for most people or businesses to buy, especially when a Windows maching costs about half as much. It's true that when Apple finally saw the light and gave up on trying to make an operating system, switching to BSD, a Unix varient, that its OS became much sturdier, faster and safer than anything it had created before, but that fact has made hardly a stir in the market place. Windows 2000 and XP, despite their security problems and the bloat associated with any Windows OS, are quite sturdy and capable.
It will, nevertheless, be interesting to see down the road in a few years when Bill Gates decides he wants to spend all of his time trying to figure out the best way to give his money away. Once his leadership is significantly detached from Microsoft, Apple might be able to make a move into the larger market place, if they don't lose it to Linux, which looks better and better all of the time.
Most of the current analysis on the OS situation has been on which one is used in the workplace. People like to come home and use the same OS and all of the same applications as they use at the office. However, I'll go out on the limb and state that once Linux becomes an OS on which installing software becomes as easy and mindless as it is in Windows and the Mac, and once enough game manufacturers create games that will install and run easily on a Linux, the little OS that would really will.
In his column, Pogue warns school officials that they should not try to guess what OS students will be using in ten to fifteen years and thus purchase equipment based on such a forecast. It's good advise, but I'll stay out on my limb and state that school officials should do more to cover their bases. Microsoft has a soft underbelly, and the people at Apple are still in love with their elitism. If Linux can succeed at shedding its geekiness, it could become the next ubiquitous OS. It might even be running your cell phone right now.
posted by Jim | 11:06 PM
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