Insightful piece from John Gruber (what else would you expect?), writing at his Daring Fireball blog, Microsoft’s Long, Slow Decline:
Microsoft is no longer ignoring Apple’s market share gains and successful “Get a Mac” ad campaign. But the crux of these ads from Apple is that Macs are better; Microsoft’s response is a message that everyone already knows — that Windows PCs are cheaper.
2 Comments
That really is a great point. I use both Macs and PCs but strongly prefer Macs and end up using PCs only to run certain software and hardware I don't want to replace yet. However, I have to acknowledge that PCs do have another huge advantage besides price: customizability.
Well, yeah, but for me that's an easy trade-off; it's precisely the tight control on hardware that allows for the tighter integration of the software, which leads to the "user experience" we both prefer.
Plus–for me–there is the "paradox of choice" issue. My last PC at home is a game platform for my son (when a game's not available on PS/3, it often is available on PC). It seems like I spend more time upgrading video cards alone (DirectX 8, 9, 10!) for that one PC than I spend maintaining my three Macs! My son, obviously, would disagree, but I'd be much happier having fewer options as far as PC gaming goes! (hehe)