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I was pleasantly surprised that this article was not simply bashing Vista (whether it could do so justifiably or not), but rather focused on the observation tha
by EliAndrewC 17y ago
I was pleasantly surprised that this article was not simply bashing Vista (whether it could do so justifiably or not), but rather focused on the observation that nowadays there's hardly ever a reason for average computer users to upgrade their OS, discounting the one you get when buying a new computer.
However, I'm unsure whether to agree with interpret his assertion, "The upgrade market for average PC owners is dead." This may well be true for PCs, but I've known a lot of Mac users over the years who have shelled out for OS upgrades. Sometimes they've been fairly technical people, sometimes not. I wonder how Apple's numbers would compare to Microsoft's in the home PC market if you adjusted for technical know-how.
- webwright 17y agoI think a lot of Apple upgraders treat it like dues to a club membership. Apple has done an outstanding job of making their customers feel like they belong to an exclusive club (Microsoft obviously has not!). I'm not a huge apple fan (but I use Macs) and haven't felt the SLIGHTEST itch to upgrade to Snow Leopard. There's just no OS pain for me that it solves.
- gaius 17y agoMe neither. There won't be until Mac developers get to grips with GCD. Then there will be some compelling reasons.
- silvestrov 17y ago1. Snow Leopard is faster than the previous OS version. Not something you see in the Microsoft universe. 2. Snow Leopard has added protection against hacks and bugs in e.g. Safari. 3. A lot of small UI nuisances have been fixed. See http://finerthingsinmac.com/ http://finerthingsinmac.com/ It simply feels more polished and well-designed. So Snow Leopard is not a revolution with tons of checkbox features, but more like a tune-up for your car: it can still drive to/from work without, but it feels better when the motor runs smoothly. Could we please stop this Apple users bashing: that Apple users are dimwits that only buys Macs due to the glimmer? It is so 90'ies.
- cpach 17y agoUm, where did webwright bash Apple users?
- zackattack 17y agoWell, webwright implied that many Apple users drink the marketing Kool-Aid. But I don't think that makes them dimwits. Blatantly abusing the apostrophe, on the other hand...
- alex_c 17y ago2. Snow Leopard has added protection against hacks and bugs in e.g. Safari. Didn't Snow Leopard ship with a version of Flash with known vulnerabilities? :p /bash
- ptomato 17y agoSnow Leopard shipped a version of Flash which (may) have been vulnerable and which was the latest version available at the time the Snow Leopard GM was pressed, yes. And then they updated it.
- brk 17y agoApple OS upgrades have also been generally priced much more reasonably than Microsoft's. If Vista had been a $29 upgrade instead of a $299 upgrade, I think it might have had a lot more uptake, and people would be less likely to complain if it were not "perfect". For $29 people don't expect as much as they do for $299+.
- zmimon 17y agoYeah, nobody else has mentioned price. Vista is / was expensive! Like half a new computer expensive. Why would anyone buy it for an old PC at that price? Win 7 is too expensive as well. MS just doesn't seem to care about retail sales at all, let alone upgrade. As far as I can tell they actually price products to kill that market and force everyone into OEM sales (where they have no obligations for support).
- nkohari 17y agoMicrosoft is forced to price Windows higher than OSX, because their product is the actual OS, whereas Apple makes their money on the hardware.
- artsrc 17y agoDoes Microsoft price Windows higher OSX? What is the average OEM price of Windows? What is the premium that Apple targets based on the OS part of their user experience? I think the OEM price of Windows XP on my NetBook was something like $15.
- gamble 17y agoNo, not really. The upgrade price for either OS is about $130 retail. The difference is that MS is talented at producing bad PR by listing the 'full' retail MSRP at some ridiculous price that no one ever actually pays.
- rythie 17y agoIf Microsoft had done 10.6, it would be a service pack and would be free. I'm surprised so many people paid $29 for it. Don't forget 10.6 drops PowerPC support meaning for many users a the price of a 10.6 upgrade is not $29 but $599+ (the price of a mac mini) and Apple were still selling PowerPC macs in 2006.
- mebigfatguy 17y agolinux users tend to upgrade as well.