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Customer satisfying surveys? Are you for real???

Do you understand that, for a customer to rate a product, they first have to use it, and mostly, own it?

So, when it comes to satisfaction surveys, would the survey have asked somebody with a Dell or a HP PC or a Lenovo, how they feel about “their” Mac. Doesn’t make sense does it? So, when it comes to a satisfaction survey, people tend to give their particular preferences a better review, and, when it come to Apple anything, since that’s where the biggest fanboy crowd resides, they’re not about to give their gadgets a poor or even average rating. Apple’s gadgets owners are the most fanatical and delusional on the planet, and, there is nothing that Apple could ever do wrong. It’s like asking a Lexus owner how he feels about his car, which was his preference from the beginning, and was fanatical about it all along, and which he was going to own, no matter what. When it comes to a “regular” car, there are not that many people that are fanatical about any particular brand. When it comes to Apple’s fanatics, they would never give Apple a bad review, even if there are some who will have their problems with Apple’s wares.

Macs might run windows “fine”, but, with some middle-ware to handle the OS and applications. Why jump through hoops when you can run Windows directly and with no extra software needed, and which will run “natively”? Anytime you introduce another piece of software in order to run anything, that’s bound to slow down the whole process.

Macs may have a “large” selection of software, but, PCs have many times that selection, so, why limit yourself? Isn’t one of the big “selling” and “bragging” points with the iPhone and iPads the supposedly huge number of apps for iOS devices? If its a big selling point for iOS devices, why wouldn’t the much bigger selection of Windows applications be a much bigger advantage for Windows devices? It’s like having a car, and being able to drive on every imaginable road and highway on the planet, yet, with Macs, you’re being limited to perhaps a tiny number of roads. And then, you don’t really have control of that vehicle since, Apple remains in control of what you do with the device.

And, hey, don’t knock the word “need”. That is a big driver for how people choose to spend their money. Some people might want certain things, but, the “need” is what makes people spend their money. Wanting and needing are not the same. “Wanting” is more appropriate for spending when people have “extra income” or “disposable” income, and that’s where Apple’s purchases are often made from. People need food and clothing and a place to live, and, they don’t “need” to go to see a movie or to Busch Gardens, so, they’ll need to save in order to get those “wanted” or “desired” things. If people need a computer, and they don’t “need” a high-priced item that gets the job done as well as a lower-priced item, then, it’s foolish for them to spend on the higher-priced item. Most people are practical, and they don’t need to “flash” around their higher priced autos or computers. Practical is smarter when there is no need to spend foolishly. There is absolutely no reason for people to purchase a Mac, since, what PCs can do the same job, and a lot less expensively, and with many times the available applications. Super advantage: PCs!!!!

Macs may be able to run other OSes, but, so can PCs, and in fact, I have Linux on another partition of my PC. But, Macs were forced to come up with middle-ware for the many people who felt the need to run Windows and many of the applications which are not available for Macs. Most people don’t have a need to run a MacOS or a Mac application, since, there is every likelihood that, whatever that application is, is already available to run, natively, under Windows, so, the “need” to run any MacOS under Windows, would be “redundant” or unnecessary. Super-advantage: PCs!!!!

There is no functionality that Macs possess that isn’t available to any PC. Macs do have something that PCs don’t equipped with, but, that’s just the more limited OSX, which, for most practical purposes, is much more limited than Windows 7 and now Windows 8. Why go with a limited experience when you can get the best there is? Extra-super-advantage: PCs!!!!

Engineering and build quality? Sure, the hype has gotten to you, and you’re paying a much higher price for it.

There are many different OEMs and many different models of PCs, and many are high-end devices, while others are meant for the budget-minded. Which Mac is meant for the budget-minded? But, the higher-end PCs are, quality-wise, the equivalent of any Mac, but still, at a lower price. I have on my desk, a PC with six cores, and 16 gigabytes RAM and 2 terabytes storage and a 24 inch screen, with a great graphics card and great sound, with Windows 7 Pro, and now Windows 8. All of that cost me $799 last year. When I priced a comparably equipped Mac, the price came close to $3000. I would’ve felt stupid spending $3000, which is more than 3 times the money I did spend. And, I still ended up with the OS which is compatible with most applications ever written. So, I didn’t want to spend $3000 for a more limited experience. Bragging rights about owning a piece of Apple gear, well, I’m not into that kind of silliness, and, being practical is more of what I’m about.

Apple “PC” sales are, lately, including iPads, which are not really full-featured devices and don’t include a full-featured OS. But, many people doing surveys are counting them as PCs. The Macs have been increasing sales too, but, they’re still counting a market-share of around 5-6%. Go ahead, brag about your 5-6%, if it makes you feel better. Yet, even PC sales have been going up, and last report I saw, had them increasing sales by about 3%. That 3% increase, alone, would be equal to all or more of the Mac sales. After all, 3% of a huge number is, another huge number. And, Windows 7 has sold more than 630 million licenses since it was introduced 3 years ago, and that’s just Windows 7. The total Windows market share is more than 90%, and it’s on approximately 1 1/2 to 2 billion computers around the world. Macs? Well, they’re still at a tiny fraction of that. Super-duper advantage: PCs!!!!!

BTW, which platform has the most developers, by far??? Nope! You’re wrong! I’ll give you another guess...

So, when it comes to a satisfaction survey, people tend to give their particular preferences a better review, and, when it come to Apple anything, since that’s where the biggest fanboy crowd resides, they’re not about to give their gadgets a poor or even average rating

One, it's a survey of tens of thousands of people, the vast majority of whom can't be classified as Apple "fanatics." Many are on their first Apple product (including iPod). My neighbor barely knows what a computer is, and has barely heard of Apple except as some big computer company. He bought a Mac to replace his old PC, and he loves it. So you probably have some circular logic, if you like your Mac because it's such a good product, your opinion means nothing because you're a "fanatic" now since you like your Mac. No, you don't get to frame the debate that way.

Two, the die-hard "fanatics" are the most critical of Apple products. No PC fan base would be raising a huge stink about small, barely visible seam lines in the case of a PC. They wouldn't even care. But the Mac fans did, big time, over the Cube.

Macs might run windows “fine”, but, with some middle-ware to handle the OS and applications.

Macs have been able to boot directly into Windows for years. And now that Windows has finally come out of the 80s and supported EFI it's even easier.

It’s like having a car, and being able to drive on every imaginable road and highway on the planet, yet, with Macs, you’re being limited to perhaps a tiny number of roads.

In both cases, the number of roads are far more than you'll ever need. And in the case of Windows, a huge number of those roads are dirt backroads (the infamous crapware). However, you could come across a specific piece of software you need for a specific circumstance that is only available on one of the platforms. In addition, any standards-compliant UNIX software can be made to run on a Mac too, opening that huge market.

But, the higher-end PCs are, quality-wise, the equivalent of any Mac

My friend recently spent more on a Mac because he felt all the PCs he looked at were low quality. Yes, you said quality, so that's what I'm talking about. Something about the solid construction, metal, bright glass screen, vs. cheap plastic just felt more quality to him. Oh, were you talking raw specs of a few components, not quality?

BTW, which platform has the most developers, by far??? Nope! You’re wrong! I’ll give you another guess.

Windows Mobile! Oh, wait, almost nobody's programming for that anymore. Microsoft didn't have a monopoly in mobile OS that could stave off competition despite their product being inferior.

Adorno, you need NO MIDDLE WARE to handle Windows on a Mac... you can install it natively if you wish. Your ignorance is showing. Boot Camp is merely a utility to facilitate boot switching between booting into Windows or OSX... if you boot into Windows (any flavor) your Mac IS a Windows machine... no difference than any other. In fact, several Windows PC magazines have reported that the finest Windows PC they have EVER tested has been a Mac! Middleware is only needed if you want to run Windows in a sandbox within OSX... perfectly possible... along with quite a few OTHER OSes—simultaneously if you want—including multiple instances if Windows. I've done that myself when I was running support sessions for my various clients running Windows and Linux.

The fact is, adorno, the other PC owners were polled... and they rated their boxes and the makers, on their satisfaction with the computers and the service and they were no where near Apple... the best were nine points lower. And some well known Windows PC makers, for service were down in the 20s!!!! Further, Adorno, since there are now 65 million Apple users, most of whom were PREVIOUS Windows PC users, they are not mind-numbed "fanboys" worshipping their computers who know nothing of other computers... they've been the abused users of those other computer makes and know far better than apparently YOU what a good experience is! You've yet to experience it!

Macs may have a “large” selection of software, but, PCs have many times that selection, so, why limit yourself?

No, again you have it wrong, Mac users have the Mac OSX software selections PLUS all of the Windows selections in all flavors from 3.1 through Windows 8, Linux, and UNIX™, and MS-DOS, if a Mac users wants to use it. Most Mac users find it is totally unnecessary to delve into that morass of software; the best in class is usually available for the Mac. Your road analogy is right... but for the Mac, not for the Windows PC... the Mac is the one that can drive on every road, not the Windows PC. It is the limited one. We Mac users know this, you don't. We do it every day, routinely. You are telling us we can't do something we ARE do... easily.

You make assumptions on what you have heard... we are telling you what we have experienced. That trumps your hearsay.

I have on my desk, a PC with six cores, and 16 gigabytes RAM and 2 terabytes storage and a 24 inch screen, with a great graphics card and great sound, with Windows 7 Pro, and now Windows 8. All of that cost me $799 last year. When I priced a comparably equipped Mac, the price came close to $3000. I would’ve felt stupid spending $3000, which is more than 3 times the money I did spend.

You compared an average desktop computer with a WORKSTATION class computer. They are NOT COMPARABLE. Does you computer have XEON processors? No. Does it come with ECC memory? No. Is it designed to drive EIGHT 30 inch monitors? I doubt it. The Apple is designed for a totally different target audience. Obviously, not you. You claim the "experience" would have been more limited, without even trying it. You really have no clue what the experience is. You think "specs" are all there is. I will tell you, you are wrong.

Apple does not play in the budget market. Apple is not about to do that. Those who do, go broke.

Yet, even PC sales have been going up, and last report I saw, had them increasing sales by about 3%. That 3% increase, alone, would be equal to all or more of the Mac sales. After all, 3% of a huge number is, another huge number. And, Windows 7 has sold more than 630 million licenses since it was introduced 3 years ago, and that’s just Windows 7. The total Windows market share is more than 90%, and it’s on approximately 1 1/2 to 2 billion computers around the world. Macs? Well, they’re still at a tiny fraction of that. Super-duper advantage: PCs!!!!! Uh, no.

Tablets are biting into PCs shipments, and shipments of Windows PCs dropped to a new low of 73 percent of all devices accounted for in the survey, Canalys said.
PC shipments were disappointing, and a new category of thin-and-light laptops or ultrabooks have not helped boost the shipments. Ultrabooks have not hit low price points and have yet to excite large numbers of buyers, Canalys said in a statement.—Canalys quoted in PC World, August 1, 2012