People are rejecting Windows Vista because it isn't that much better than XP. Mac, on the other hand, continues to put out some decent hardware and an excellent OS. With the popularity of the iPods, and of course the iPhone, Macintosh is ready to take advantage of Microsoft's bad reputation.

Eventually, I think that we will see the tide change in favor of the Macintosh. Or, Microsoft will just simply buy Macintosh, run it into the ground, and our only choice for operating systems will be Linux.

Apple will eventually hold the majority market share over PC due to its much bigger pension for innovation and security. Macs are built on UNIX, an infinitely more stable OS than Windows. Steve Jobs also happens to be a marketing genius, compared to Microsoft who has basically been running on auto-pilot for the past 10 years.

As soon as people learn that PC is ripping them off by creating all these firewalls and stuff for extra money that PC's NEED in order to properly run, whereas Mac's come totally equiped with everything you need and upgrades are FREE and easy to get. It even TELLS you when one is available! And now a lot of games can be played on Mac's too.

mac's will always be better. windows is crap and is never going defeat mac. no future windows operating system will ever be as good as all versions of xp were. apple is going to revolutionize the computer industry

As far as dual booting goes, not really necessary anymore. I run Parallels on my mac so I have can have OSX, Windows & Linux (ubuntu) running simultaneously. You do have to create virtual partitions do to this but there is a mechanism to share files across the partitions (virtual folders).

I usually just run OSX though.

HAHA, that's what I meant by the fork lift. They are used to using fork lifts at work... so they bring them home and think "Well it's nice that I can get around now at home".

OS X is simpler, but at the same time it's more complicated for people who know nix and BSD. There are little things that are completely different that require getting used to, but it's not like learning a new OS will make you forget the other, you know?

I understand your point, and I agree for the most part. Before 2002, I had no idea that Apple even existed. I wasn't a TV person, and I don't know if they even played adverts back then, but I knew nothing about Apple. I was a Windows lover, I really was. Then, one day while walking through a local CompUSA I found a bunch of new Macs in the back... and at first I looked at the hardware specs, and then at the machine that the hardware was wrapped up in and I laughed. The hardware was old in comparison to the PC, and I didn't know wtf OSX was, I thought maybe it was a very clean and flashy version of Linux, which I was familiar with.

Later I looked up the processors that were in the PowerMac G5, and that's what changed my initial view of them. The PPC's were RISC processors, unlike the x86 Intel and AMD CPU's which were CISC, and I then realized it was like an AMD cpu on steroids. More bandwidth with even MORE bandwidth because of the instruction set. That's what set me off to learn more, and I was completely amazed at what kind of engineering was behind the equally impressive cases. I essentially fell in love with the mac, even before I had one. I got one and now I know why people love them... they are excellent machines.

Anyhow, what I'm saying is, I used to be a Windows fanboi, and I used to laugh at Apple, so I know what you mean when you say that you don't know much and that you'd rather stick with a PC. At the time Mac's couldn't run Windows, so I was stuck making a choice between OS X and Windows... and I love fiddling with new OS's so I bought an iBook G4 (because it was damn cheap compared to PC's at the time).

I don't think Apple is ignoring* the gaming industry. I think it's more about the gaming industry ignoring them. What I mean is, the platform hasn't gained that much market share, why would they develop for a platform that no one uses? Also, the market is different. The people using Mac's often don't want to play games anyways... well, this is changing, people are finally crossing over, and Apple's seeing great success... but if you've noticed, Apple is responding to this as well. StarCraft II is due to release for the Mac, and a bunch of other games. StarCraft II is a HUGE title for this platform, and it's only going to help stimulate the market for gaming on a Mac...

I disagree about the "most users won't install another OS"... People that buy macs usually have support by people who love macs. I know my friends mother, and a friends friend use Windows on a mac but don't know how to do it themselves... also, when you buy the machine they'll set it up for you to run WIndows. It's not as complicated as you might think. Mac's ship with bootcamp so everything's already in place and waiting for a new OS. My point is that it's just as easy to install XP or Vista on a Mac than to upgrade from XP to vista... if not easier.

Apple did fine fighting itself in the 80's. IBM wasn't that big of a deal to them at the time... they both did computers, but Apple had the idea that they would bring the computer home. IBM's were primarily business machines (obviously) that people only wanted for word processing and calculating... taking one home wouldn't be as fun as taking a Mac home...

Apple and the Macintosh division fought a lot, and competed with each other... but I don't see a down side. Look at formula 1, 14 thousand changes to a car each season, because of competition... Aircraft engineers are just now starting to use the same material that Formula 1 was using in the late 80's... competition brings progression. I see no downside.

Your bias is showing.

The same can be said about windows. Just because there's a start button doesn't mean someone that is computer illiterate can just start using it right away.

when you install an application from CD, it's just as easy as windows. When from the internet, it's easier. In Windows you get an installation .exe that lands on your desktop. Mac, you get a .dmg, the suffixes to a n00b mean nothing but gibberish, so .exe and .dmg mean nothing. Windows requires you to click the .exe, mac automatically mounts the .dmg, and the application is inside, just like a folder, with readme's and all, then all you do is put the application where you want it, it doesn't automatically install to your program files like in windows.

In Windows, you get hoards of folders and files for an application, and if you have no shortcut for it, to clutter your desktop with, you'll have to search for the .exe for the application. In OS X, all of the files that run the app are in the contents of the application package... under the icon of the application... which means, if you're looking for the application, all your looking for is the icon or name... not the folder and then the .exe.

The applications folder rarely has a .bin unless you put it there yourself... in fact, even though I have tons of Unix apps in my applications folder, there is NO .bin

the .bin's and the .dmg's are like the windows equivalent to install.exe's, that people usually have all over the desktop, or just throw away. It's not hard to figure that out.

The Maximize button blows up a window to the size it needs to be to fit on your screen and show the contents of the window... so if there's little info in the window, it will not take up your whole screen displaying it. The Minimize is obvious and the red one is too... but rather than closing an application, it just closes the window (Some applications that you only need to do one thing with when the window is open will close the application when the window closes).

Also, when you're at the desktop, it says "Finder" at the task bar (that is always there no matter what you're doing, in the same spot). If you click that, you can open a new window... you don't have to click the finder icon in the dock.

Uh, the only difference between a Mac and PC is that the Mac runs OS X.

What I mean is, while you say that Mac hardware is limited, it's only limited when using OS X. If you buy an Apple, throw in whatever hardware you want and run Windows or Linux on it, it is still an Apple computer, and it'll run as good as any PC that you'll get. It's all about support and development. Apple purposely chooses to keep things tight so that they don't have issues with the computer and OS X.

Productivity, not in general.

I don't think it will take over the PC market, but it has a very high viability in some situations for computing needs Ex. College students, Music/video production etc. like stated before.

Read more carefully before jumping to conclusions...

You bring up compatibility, but you seem to have mistaken Apple for Microsoft. Microsoft has trouble keeping compatibility between versions of Office, much less with other platforms. There are still a lot of websites to this day that are incompatible with any browser but Internet Explorer for the specific reason that Microsoft eschewed compatibility with the agreed upon standards.

I'm not going to hold the way you are talking against all PC users, but it's hard taking you seriously when you sound like a kid.

PC stands for Personal Computer. MAC stands for Media Access Control which is the name of an address built into your ethernet devices.

Apple computers aren't for gamers, but most Windows machines aren't for gamers either. When you're talking about gaming you're limiting yourself to a very specific crowd and set of system components.

Software for OSX is plentiful. If you're working primarily in media you're going to want to use an Apple computer. For general home or business user there's nothing they need that doesn't come on OSX except maybe Microsoft Access. Minus games, OSX leaves you wanting for nothing.

The really nice thing about OSX software, especially smaller applications, is that the people who write it seem to care a lot more about what they are doing. If you want an application which does a specific something in OSX you're only going to find a couple options, but they're going to be pretty well done. Do the same thing for Windows and you'll encounter a couple good options and then hundreds of poorly written pieces of crap.

Windows does have more experience fending off viral problems, but now you're only talking about new Windows installations. Your spam is being generated by the hundreds of thousands of Windows machines that still have problems and no one interested in fixing them. Meanwhile, most of the marketplace doesn't want to move to Vista where finally Windows users are confronted with a competent security infrastructure.

You assertion that OSX is less secure due to lack of market penetration is just silly. You have no evidence to back up that claim. You are essentially making things up.

And you need to use the spell check next time you try to post.

Macs will not take over. People are getting wise to just how insidious the Apple design mandate is. It keeps people on a treadmill of upgrades, produces lots of non-expandable kit to reduce lifespan, is far from environmentally friendly, has relatively poor QA, is costly, prone to massive design blunders and isn't open source e.g. peer-reviewed. Think different and embrace linux!

Macs will eventually take over the computing market in terms of productivity. Mac book already have invaded the college life's of most students and have therefore shown they are better for such things such as word processing.

But the real question is...how does Linux come into play?

As a I.T. professional who has built her own machines (PC) since age 13, I can say without doubt that Apple's MacIntosh easily and elegantly beats the pants off of anything happening in the PC world.

They get the ribbon for ease of use, for embrace of open source, for unobtrusive updates that do not eat your machine alive, and for thin coding solutions.

I have just switched from PC to MAC after losing yet another PC to Microsoft's Update and I tell you right now... not only will I never go back, I will, can, and am implementing MAC rather than PC in every company I consult.

The days of supporting corporate and market driven "solutions" that are clunky, do not work well together, and require constant supervision to maintain performance, and are priced to bleed you are OVER here.

Yes, MAC IS awesome and if you have not spent more than a month with one, you really have no idea how it can be.... when you reach that moment when you stop and say, "Wow... you know, I haven't had a single problem..." well, let's just say it's a powerful thing.

"What drives me crazy about Macs is having only one mouse button."

Thats a personal opinion, and as replied below, this is not the case, and has not been the case since August 2005.

Macs don't have viruses, bugs, are unified and intuitive unlike PCs

It depends on what Microsoft does with it's next release. Windows right now is bloated, trying to support decades old technology and design patterns. The reason OS X still exists and is on the rise is because Apple basically started fresh with OS X (ok to be truthful all OS X is neXt, but fresh when compared to Old World macs), and in doing so allowed it to shed off all those old ideas and stop having to support bad design principles. Granted part of the reason they were able to do this and Microsoft wasn't was because they didn't have the enterprise install bass that Microsoft does, but that doesn't change the fact that it puts Apple in a better position now. So unless Microsoft has plans to radically change what they are doing now in comparison to Windows 7, they are going to be stuck in the same boat as they are now with Vista (Released late, bloated and full of inconsistencies). This doesn't even take into account the fact that Microsoft is rumored to make 7 modeler, which could serious hurt them where they are strongest, businesses. At this moment the brighter future looks for Apple, and I don't see that changing.

Apple is the face of computing innovation. While Microsoft and PC hardware manufacturing companies are stuck in the past, Apple is forging ahead, first with the revolutionary iPhone, and with Mac OS X Leopard 10.5, which received critical acclaim far and beyond what Vista achieved. Vista was a step backwards-in security, in functionality, in user interface. Leopard was a step into the future. Don't forget-Apple first implemented mice user interface devices, graphical user interfaces, and computer drawing software. Microsoft , while leading in market share currently, is slowly falling behind the R&D;powerhouse of Apple. There are still those who argue that PCs have more software availability than Macs. To those making that argument, welcome to the 21st century. Macs run just about every consumer application in existence, can run most games, and if you need more, just run Windows on a Mac (Boot Camp, VMWare, Parallels)! Mac bundled software (ahem...iLife) kicks bundled Windows software's ass and will continue to do so. Surely, Apple will overtake Microsoft's market share in personal computing, if not because of their innovation and technology, then because of their user-friendly interface, little to no learning curve, and simply functional software.

Formula 1... Think about it.

The pinnacle of racing and automobile technology (if you don't believe me, do your homework). They start a season with the best of the best, yet for some reason, they, on average, change the car over 14,000 times before the end of the season, when they can just scrap the car and make one that is a refined version of their last end product...

The best cars in the world are changed fourteen thousand times in one season... Now, explain to us, how you think that the best doesn't have to change.

Mac is great at marketing, there's no doubt about it... but so is Dell. I have a mac that was old in 2005, when I bought in new from apple's online store... In hardware, it was fucking old, but I wanted a mac and anything would do... Since then, my girlfriend has bought a Dell Insipiron, which we see more ads for than for my iBook G4, and what do you know... it's a POS.

See the difference? I am still happy with my iBook, which was old hat in 2005... it's 2008 now, and she bought her Dell in late '06... Intel Duo and everything... It's falling apart all over the place...

If you still don't get it, Dell, though they market well, still makes shit for products. Apple is also good at marketing, but their products hold up a hell of a lot better than it's competitors.

Also, Apple's customer service whoops all of the computer industries "Standards". Nothing can compare to Apple's customer service.

Also, Mac /is/ compatible with other OS's. Mac+*nix=bliss, Mac+Windows=only mac can find windows... rarely vise versa.

:^( in most cases )

It would be like hopping into your toyota corolla, and having controls like anakin's pod racer, all jutting out everywhere. You'd have to tug on levers all over the place and jiggle cables to revert power from one engine to the other, and then beat on the dash until you boost and shit... then you're thinking "I just wanted to go to the store, what the fuck is all of this!?"

That's a PC.

LOL please!!! LOL LOL ummm key word Market... well first u have to have something to market :) You guys have admited that they dont make alot of things for MACs games, software etc wonder why....

Let me guess you all think a MAC is more secure than a PC too??? please someone say something yeah like what viruses are for macs or soemthing like that...LOL there is a reason MAC's dont get viruses its cause there not used like PC's are.... Give me a MAC and a PC beside each other with all ther dandy security tools you can possibly run.... PC will win it has the most experience in that field... MAC is not more secure it is less secure for the fact its never had the market for hackers to attack the OS massively. It has a ton of exploits...there jsut now starting to hit... www.securityfocus.com is a great place to hang out.

NEXT!

Mac already beat PC, but it'll never win in market share.

It's like comparing a BMW or Mercedes to a Ford or Toyota.

If Mac is so high and mighty, why would you want to even consider running Windows on a Mac? Just because it can? Windows is not Open Source, it is Windows that allows it's product to have the ability to run on another platform. If OSX is so great, why not let it run on a PC? Answer: Marketing for their branded hardware.

Just like the windows formatted iPod having the compatibility for use of both the PC and Mac, where as a Apple formatted iPod only works on a Mac. Apple is the one that should produce compatibilty for their products.