Posted on 04/12/2008 2:04:10 AM PDT by Swordmaker
A recent upgrade to the Mac operating system moves Apple closer to challenging Microsoft for overall computing dominance, even in the corporate market
The 20-year death grip that Microsoft has held on the core of computing is finally weakening—pried loose with just two fingers. With one finger you press "Control" and with the other you press "right arrow." Instantly you switch from a Macintosh operating system (OS) to a Microsoft Windows OS. Then, with another two-finger press, you switch back again. So as you edit family pictures, you might use Mac's iPhoto. And when you want to access your corporate e-mail, you can switch back instantly to Microsoft Exchange.
This easy toggling on an Apple computer, enabled by a feature called Spaces, was but an interesting side note to last fall's upgrade of the Mac OS. But coupled with other recent developments, the stars are aligning in a very intriguing pattern. Apple's (AAPL) recent release of a tool kit for programmers to write applications for the iPhone will be followed by the June launch of iPhone 2.0, a software upgrade geared toward business users.
Taken together, these seemingly unrelated moves are taking the outline of a full-fledged strategy. Windows users, in the very near future, will be free to switch to Apple computers and mobile devices, drawn by a widening array of Mac software, without suffering the pain of giving up critical Windows-based applications right away. The easy virtualization of two radically different operating systems on a single desktop paves a classic migration path. Business users will be tempted. Apple is positioning itself to challenge Microsoft for overall computing dominance—even in the corporate realm.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessweek.com ...
Been hearing that for over a decade, and yet the SS MS keeps on trucking.
I’ve seen Exchange work well in and organization, and I’ve seen it be an absolute mess. It’s perfectly capable software in the right hands, and a disaster looking for someone to happen to in the wrong hands. IMPNSHO.
90-94? Apple being touted *by the press* as a Windows killer? No.
By 90, Apple had been pigeonholed as a high-end niche maker and relegated to the same section of coverage as NeXT.
NeXT actually got better press. Take a look at BYTE from that era. The library should have copies.
Yes, but I hope you take my point that it can often look like and be a huge financial drain to support that most small to medium business won’t want to do.
A crippled edition was released to third parties, and only those who would only make Apple clones - bad bios chips, bad copies of the OS, it was a disaster by Apple's own choice, and people continue to buy the koolaid that only Apple can make an Apple.
I believe that. But at some point the network becomes unmanageable without it, and they probably hit the "break-even" point well before that.
Please provide proof of these “bad bios” chips and “bad copies of the OS.”
Considering that I spoke with the then-head of PowerComputing repeatedly at the time, I find this hard to believe.
Nobody trades preferred stock for money after winning a suit, you just take the money. And there was no rumor spending after the fact it was KNOWN at the time that Apple was losing money hand over fist, their stock was in the toilet, their market share was down, and then in came MS with an infusion of cash but most importantly an agreement to keep making product for Mac. The face saving here is from you saying this was the result of a suit. Why would MS need to save face, as you point out they sold the stock at substantial profit, they rode in for the rescue and made a boat load of money on the deal, nothing there that requires face saving.
Apple was in trouble during those years, they probably didn’t really need the cash that bad, while they were losing money they’d developed a serious war chest, but MS was threatening to pull out of making a version of Office for the Mac, there wasn’t very much productivity software for Macs at the time and if MS had pulled out there would have basically been none. That could have killed them, it’s hard to sell computers with no productivity software available. Thanks to the preferred stock MS kept making Office for Mac, and kept it a viable platform for doing stuff other than special effects.
Well, in my field experience, it *usually* starts going weird around 75 units or so, and anything over 100 units is for all intents and purposes practically unworkable.
But it IS possible to have a fully functioning 100-unit Windows network without domain controllers and such and have no issues or problems.
Nobody really won the suit, it was part of the terms of settlement.
It does happen in other industries, you know.
See the threads comparing a Dell workstation to an Apple Mac Pro. The Dell costs hundreds more and offers less.
Here is the latest Dell PC v. Apple Mac cost comparison I did yesterday. The lesser equipped Dell Dimension Workstation (A purchaser could not build the Dell to match the off-the-shelf, default Mac Pro... the Dell build used a 1333MHz FSB compared to the Mac's 1600MHz FSB) was $997 MORE EXPENSIVE than the Apple Mac Pro.
Also, here is a slight "error" correction comment to do a comparison with like processors and FSBs, upgradeding both the Mac and the Dell to a matching processor and FSB, which showed the disparity even more. The Dell was $1,699 MORE EXPENSIVE than the equivalent Mac Pro.
Here is a comparison of equivalent notebook prices. Amazingly, the pricing of both a MacBook and and Dell Inspiron are pretty much competitive.
Also, for those who claim they can buy the parts and build a better system than a Mac, here is the rebuttal to that canard. Just the parts COST $ 450 MORE than the standard off-the-shelf Mac Pro.
Can you buy cheap, bargain basement PCs for a lot less than the lowest priced Mac... Of course. But you get what you pay for and in the areas where Apple chooses to compete, it either has the best for the best price, or it is very competitive with equivalent PCs.
Sorry bub, I lived it, I know the truth. And the truth is barely a month went by during those years when some magazine didn’t tout Apple as the Windows killer. Pretend the golden era didn’t exist if it helps your need to feel like Apple is put upon but the truth is the truth and the truth is in the early 90s Apple was cast as the Windows killer. Look it up in your own library.
Of course NeXT got better press, NeXt was an amazing system, also amazingly over priced, but fricking amazing.
And yet they all seem to know how to run Windows in VM on their Macs.
No it doesn’t. Nobody gives up preferred stock for money during the course of a suit. That’s stupid. If you have to give up money because of a suit the other side isn’t going to give you stock for it, and if you have to give up stock in a suit the other side isn’t going to pay for it.
I've been involved in several acquisitions where we've taken over places that outsourced their email. It's not a bad arrangement for a small shop, and works if you can live with being dependent on someone else for that. At some point it's going to start costing more than bringing it in house.
Think again.
http://www.allbusiness.com/banking-finance/banking-lending-credit-services-letters/6915992-1.html
Gradco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq:GRCO) Thursday announced that the settlement of the litigation between itself and John C. Hamma and Tenex Corp. has been completed.
Pursuant to the agreement executed Thursday Gradco agreed to pay $5 million. Three million dollars was paid with the execution of the agreement and $1 million is to be paid in each of the next two years without interest, secured by a letter of credit. In addition, the plaintiffs received five-year warrants to purchase 250,000 shares of Gradco stock at $4 per share.
Agreed. *That* break point, in my experience, shows up at around 150 users, depending, of course, on volume, usage patterns, etc., etc.
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