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Just keep in mind that early in a product's lifecycle, it is those Power Users that are the cheerleaders for your product (driving adoption), and sophisticated

Just keep in mind that early in a product's lifecycle, it is those Power Users that are the cheerleaders for your product (driving adoption), and sophisticated enough to offer (potentially) valuable feedback. For example: One could argue that Apple was brought back to life by a relatively small group of Power Users with specific requirements for their workloads (Graphic Design, Video Editing, desire for powerful Unix workstations and laptops, etc...) and Apple met those requirements in a way that no one else was able or willing to. Now that Apple's market share has increased - and more importantly, they have started to focus on computing-for-the-masses - you can clearly see why some Power Users are disappointed in this direction, and are feeling left out. Sure, Apple is wildly successful (in a way that they might not be if they spent more resources making that minority of Power Users happier) but it's obvious why those Power Users feel like Apple is leaving them in the dust (and Apple might not exist anymore today, had it not been for those Power Users).

paulryanrogers 6y ago
Very much this. The only reason I use Apple computers today is because I need access to their walled garden of apps (Safari, IOS) and (now slipping) legacy of workhorse hardware. In the past Macs were great for commercial graphics and other niches. Today Xubuntu makes for a better *nix environment (IMO) and Windows has better gaming graphics and backward compatibility. With WSL maturing there's less reason to have a Mac except to compile for the lucrative garden dwellers.
edmundsauto 6y ago
It's not necessarily power users, it's Steve Blank's earlyvangelists. I don't think it's obvious those two overlap 100%. You could also argue that Apple was brought back to life by the iMac, which was decidedly not a power user machine. (Not easily expandible, USB-only, no choice of display, limited model specs, etc.)

paulryanrogers 6y ago

Very much this. The only reason I use Apple computers today is because I need access to their walled garden of apps (Safari, IOS) and (now slipping) legacy of workhorse hardware. In the past Macs were great for commercial graphics and other niches. Today Xubuntu makes for a better *nix environment (IMO) and Windows has better gaming graphics and backward compatibility. With WSL maturing there's less reason to have a Mac except to compile for the lucrative garden dwellers.

edmundsauto 6y ago

It's not necessarily power users, it's Steve Blank's earlyvangelists. I don't think it's obvious those two overlap 100%. You could also argue that Apple was brought back to life by the iMac, which was decidedly not a power user machine. (Not easily expandible, USB-only, no choice of display, limited model specs, etc.)