Nickname: PracticalApp

Review: There is a lot in this story and in the responses about how great Apple is. What no one seems to admit--the white elephant in the room--is that PCs are better than Apple for two reasons: price and open architecture. Apples are grossly overpriced, way behind in speed, and hard to upgrade. They have one advantage over PCs, and that is the operating system. Windows is crap compared to Apple's OS, but that has nothing to do with hardware. Now that Intel's involved, Apple will be forced into 2006 but they will never step foot into those "PC-filled cubicles" or my home office until they price their hardware competitively. Where you all seem to see a great, visionary company, I see a greedy company that is riding soley on marketing image, which you all seem to have no problem buying into.

Date reviewed: Apr 6, 2006 8:33 PM

Nickname: Runner2

Review: The article about media coverage itself is interesting, no doubt. What this writer and many others at CNN fail to realize is that the 5% market share only reports sales figures for a period, whether quarterly or annually. The acutal market share of Macs in use, is much closer to 18-20% due to the much lower turnover rate and less "rebuild" time. The stability of the Mac OS is unmatched, thus productivity much higher. Why does the enamored media and Windows-using community continually miss this point? Shouldn't the discussion address performance (TCO) rather than sales figures?

Date reviewed: Jan 22, 2006 7:47 PM

Nickname: Mikeal

Review: "It's amazing that IBM gave a third of their market value to Intel and a third of their market value to Microsoft by accident."---Larry Ellison(Oracle) Apple wishes to limit the amount of market share they are giving to Intel by keeping the integrity of the Apple brand identity separate from Intel. It's an incredibly smart move. Even more valuble than their products and their CEO's flared up personality is their brand identity.

Date reviewed: Jan 15, 2006 9:11 PM

Nickname: macpaul

Review: Wolf says "...But I don't see all that many people holding off on buying an iMac because of Intel. How many people in the iMac cutomer base really know or care about that?" I've been a Mac user since 1985. I don't know of a single other Mac user (regardless of current hardware) who doesn't know or care about the switch to Intel chips. What's more, most have been putting off not just hardware purchases, but software purchases, too, waiting for the switch to occur. We're doing so because we don't want to buy soon-to-be-outdated products. Wolf doesn't know what he's talking about. Now that the new Macs are shipping, pent-up demand is going to be released--passionately released.

Date reviewed: Jan 15, 2006 8:20 PM

Nickname: dbcoyle

Review: "When I see Macs in the corporate environment it's a rarity--except maybe in art departments--despite the fact that a Windows PC can't do much more than a Mac can. " In fact, that statement is the other way around. As a 15-year Windows user, I and my work "crew" switched over three years ago and never looked back. It is indeed true that Macs can do more than PCs do.

Date reviewed: Jan 14, 2006 2:33 AM

Nickname: Doubter

Review: The author is correct in poking holes in the Apple bubble. Apple is now a media company selling MP3 players and facilitating the download of music. Their market share has not budged in years. The people who form the cult of Macintosh continually say that the end is near for the Microsoft. The idea that there will be this wave of children who grew up in Mac powered schools and that the will drive businesses from Windows is absurd. Mac had the majority of school business for 15 years now and nothing has changed, except that more and more schools are leaving Mac for the PC world. Why? Because networked Macs are inferior to PCs. People lets see the forest for the trees. Apple switched to UNIX based OS and people did not switch in record numbers. It is not going to happen, and no amount of your yelling about virus and spy ware and the superior GUI can make it happen. Apple is heading for a fall.

Date reviewed: Jan 13, 2006 7:50 PM

Nickname: Arik Hesseldahl

Review: Response To paganimage: Intel may have discontinued the "Intel Inside" advertising campaign, but its marketing subsidy effort, which is also known by the name "Intel Inside" will continue unabated. Apple has stated for the record it is not participating in the program and its advertising efforts are not being subsidized by Intel in any way. I raise the question simply as the sort of pointed question that Apple shareholders and journalists should raise with the company.

Date reviewed: Jan 13, 2006 5:57 PM

Nickname: Steve

Review: Why no "intel inside" badges on the products? Um.... well, how about because they would detract from the stark beauty and simple lines that make up Apple's legendary design? Also: to other users in this feedback who point out that the draught of OS X viruses is due to Apple's poor sales: whatever. The Mac's not leaving any time soon, and regardless of the marketshare of my computer I'd rather run it without anti-virus software, as I do my Macs. In fact of all the factors I base my computer buying on, market share is not one of them, provided my computer does all the things I want it do do, and does them well. I sit back and chuckle when my co-workers talk about the virus and spyware problems they're having, while I go home and surf freely. Isn't that what it's really about?

Date reviewed: Jan 13, 2006 5:10 PM

Nickname: Chris

Review: Regarding Microsoft Office--it does run on the Mac. So that is not a reason people stick with Windows. Regarding viruses. If Mac has 5% market share, and there are 80,000 Windows viruses, don't you think Mac would suffer from 5% of those--or 4,000? The Mac's freedom from viruses and spyware has nothing to do with market share, and everything to do with the platform itself. It is built secure from the ground up. No matter how big Mac market share gets, we will not suffer from viruses and spyware like Windows does.

Date reviewed: Jan 13, 2006 4:44 PM

Nickname: paganimage

Review: Arik Hesseldahl's misses the point on many levels. First, Intel discontinued its Intel Inside campaign and related graphic moniker with an entirely new look and maxim: "Leap Ahead." Second, the Mac is about style -- the difference between calligraphy and scribble. Microsoft's engineers have acknowledged that the Apple's OS is so mature, it's allowed them to create an Office Suite for Mac superior to the Windows version! Mr. Hesseldahl speaks about media's shallow reporting on Apple, but I would say that his piece falls far short.

Date reviewed: Jan 13, 2006 7:41 AM