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I've been toying with OS X more and more through work, not by choice. As most of you know, I'm not really a fan of Aqua, and I've criticized OS X quite a bit in many, many posts here.
A big part of my disgust with OS X was how it was different. Of course, the more you use it, the better you can get used to it and use it efficiently.
There are definitely some cool parts to it. For one, I've always been a fan of BSD, and I love that Apple chose to go with a BSD kernel (and not Linux...or even worse, their own design).
Apple's business design allows them to do a lot of cool things, cheaper and easier than their competition can. They have wholesale control of their computers: sales, hardware, software and all. They're the first real computer company to look at the personal computer as more than a tool, but as a toy. Maybe toy isn't the best word...consumer device.
They push the envelope with designs that no one else could get away with. They become chic. They can use their position as the only supplier to do things like remove legacy ports first (like serial/parallel), and remove floppy drives.
Steve Jobs is a marketing genius. He's moved from his fantastic claims about the G4 being a supercomputer, to marketing the true appeal of the Mac -- simplicity. Apple does do a lot of things that make me scratch my head and ask, "Why the hell hasn't someone done this before?" One example is Expose. While I do think this is more necessary on OS X than Windows or Linux, due to the lack of a "task bar" with descriptive text, it would be an excellent feature across all of the systems. It's not only elegant and slick, it's useful.
I'm still finding it rather painful to use OS X, personally, but I'm starting to see more and more what people like about it. It's easier to make things "just work" when you have a very limited combination of hardware and software to test. Apple has gotten away with putting a very flashy, usable interface on top of a very fast and advanced kernel, giving them the best of both worlds. "Power users" can make liberal use of the BSD underpinnings, while the "casual users" really love the huge default icons on the Dock and the overall visual impression.
I don't think it's likely, at all, for Apple to ever obtain a majority marketshare. They will always be a niche player. Put simply, their business practices as they are now would be patently illegal if they were a far larger company. But they certainly aren't going anywhere anytime soon. They'll be around for a long, long time.
I appreciate Apple being in the market, if only because I appreciate a fresh look on things. A lot of what they do I'll pray never makes it to the PC (I'm thinking of the single menu bar at the top, and the lack of a taskbar mostly), but it's nice to have the little guy who can move faster and try new things easier.
Apple.
A big part of my disgust with OS X was how it was different. Of course, the more you use it, the better you can get used to it and use it efficiently.
There are definitely some cool parts to it. For one, I've always been a fan of BSD, and I love that Apple chose to go with a BSD kernel (and not Linux...or even worse, their own design).
Apple's business design allows them to do a lot of cool things, cheaper and easier than their competition can. They have wholesale control of their computers: sales, hardware, software and all. They're the first real computer company to look at the personal computer as more than a tool, but as a toy. Maybe toy isn't the best word...consumer device.
They push the envelope with designs that no one else could get away with. They become chic. They can use their position as the only supplier to do things like remove legacy ports first (like serial/parallel), and remove floppy drives.
Steve Jobs is a marketing genius. He's moved from his fantastic claims about the G4 being a supercomputer, to marketing the true appeal of the Mac -- simplicity. Apple does do a lot of things that make me scratch my head and ask, "Why the hell hasn't someone done this before?" One example is Expose. While I do think this is more necessary on OS X than Windows or Linux, due to the lack of a "task bar" with descriptive text, it would be an excellent feature across all of the systems. It's not only elegant and slick, it's useful.
I'm still finding it rather painful to use OS X, personally, but I'm starting to see more and more what people like about it. It's easier to make things "just work" when you have a very limited combination of hardware and software to test. Apple has gotten away with putting a very flashy, usable interface on top of a very fast and advanced kernel, giving them the best of both worlds. "Power users" can make liberal use of the BSD underpinnings, while the "casual users" really love the huge default icons on the Dock and the overall visual impression.
I don't think it's likely, at all, for Apple to ever obtain a majority marketshare. They will always be a niche player. Put simply, their business practices as they are now would be patently illegal if they were a far larger company. But they certainly aren't going anywhere anytime soon. They'll be around for a long, long time.
I appreciate Apple being in the market, if only because I appreciate a fresh look on things. A lot of what they do I'll pray never makes it to the PC (I'm thinking of the single menu bar at the top, and the lack of a taskbar mostly), but it's nice to have the little guy who can move faster and try new things easier.
Apple.
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