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Time:
00:57 EST/05:57 GMT | News Source:
Ars Technica |
Posted By: Kenneth van Surksum |
Over the course of the last two weeks, Microsoft has been waging in a public dispute with the European Commission (EC). The EC has raised questions about whether or not Windows Vista complies with the group's antitrust regulations. In response, Microsoft has said that, if the EC doesn't clarify what it wants from the company, it may be forced to delay a ready-to-ship Windows Vista operating system beyond January—emphasis on ready-to-ship. After watching this mess unfold, the Gartner team decided to release a report (PDF) on what it believes is going to happen, and as expected, it's ridden with sensationalism.
The report not only claims that Microsoft will delay Vista's European launch, but that the company will delay Vista's North American launch as well. The estimated delay would push Vista's worldwide debut back to, at the very least, May. Don't think that the EC's nitpicking is the only reason that Vista would be postponed, either
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#2 By
8556 (12.217.111.92)
at
9/21/2006 9:51:31 AM
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With RC1 surprising almost everyone with its level of polish, it is highly unlikly that OEM Vista releases will be postponed any further, at least in North America, home of commercial freedom. Europe needs to decide if it will mainly be a market driven organization of states, or socialist where open source is the goal.
Improved security, which is what computer users want and need, is holding up the EU release due to crybaby competition, and lack of EU clarity on the issue, that want MS to open up Vista source code to them which will likely lead to weaker security.
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#3 By
20505 (216.102.144.11)
at
9/21/2006 2:51:51 PM
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So what's inherently wrong with Windows XP SP2 + IE 7 shipped to all EU countries while the anti-trust issues are sorted out regarding Vista.
It would be interesting to see how long it would take for boot leg systems to end up in Europe.
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#4 By
3653 (68.52.143.149)
at
9/22/2006 5:41:34 PM
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Caliminius, you might try emailing the guys that do the measurements for a living. I just posted a link... its not my job. If you want to debate the data... I'm sure you can find a "contact us" link on the site somewhere.
as for your equally as unscientific "number of macs shipped" theory. Think about this. If mac market share is 1/20th of Windows (and that is a stretch, mind you), then they have to grow 20x faster than windows shipment growth rate... just to keep pace.
Understand now?
As for using macs. I did... for seven years. I praised them and I was the biggest mac zealot you've ever seen. Then I woke up to the fact that I was being price-raped on a consistent basis, and had a computer that couldnt run 90% of the things I WANTED IT TO RUN. So, don't suggest that I criticize without tasting the apple sauce. And I continue to taste it at the apple store, etc. I'm not impressed. They suffer the EXACT same two critical flaws that I just noted.
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#5 By
32132 (142.32.208.238)
at
9/22/2006 8:01:00 PM
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"I'm sure if you looked at data showing the number of Macs shipped over the same time as the marketshare data you linked to, I highly anticipate it would show an increase in usage of OS X and other non-MS operating systems whereas Windows would probably be on the decline."
You are wrong.
"Apple shipped 1,327,000 Macintosh® computers " in their Q3. (Apr-Jun)
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2006/jul/19results.html
In the same period: "Total PC shipments for the second quarter came in just above 52 million units on a worldwide "
http://www.tgdaily.com/2006/09/14/pc_sales_q2_2006/
Apple is 2.55% of current PC sales.
This post was edited by NotParker on Friday, September 22, 2006 at 20:03.
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#6 By
7754 (65.27.90.2)
at
9/22/2006 11:37:01 PM
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Caliminius, if you feel a Mac is the right choice for you, definitely purchase one. But please, just don't become another obnoxious, ill-informed Mac user! OS X is not the "world's most advanced OS." It may not matter at this point in time to most users that it has the poor BSD-on-Mach threading model, the current lack of useful 64-bit support (until Leopard, at least), that ACLs were only recently added to the OS (but still only accessible via the command line on the client), the lack of application support (good luck getting your app vendor to support a Windows app on CrossOver; if you want to dual-boot or run Windows in a VM, you might as well just run Windows), that Apple has copied from Microsoft just as Microsoft has copied from Apple (it's just that Apple is the one obsessed with it), etc. etc.
There are a lot of areas where Windows is technologically superior, but if a Mac works best for you, then the answer is simple: buy a Mac (although, at this point, give Vista a whirl as well when it comes out). OS X is a fine OS, and Apple's hardware is generally top-notch. It's just not as great as Apple--and the majority of tech hournalists (which sit in Apple's back pocket)--would have you believe.
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#7 By
7754 (216.160.8.41)
at
9/25/2006 11:17:41 AM
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The "world's most advanced OS" is Apple's claim; I didn't mean to imply those were your words.
As for the numbers, I think that question was already answered: Apple's sales for the 2nd quarter of 2006 represented 2.55% of total PC sales worldwide. I'm not sure if you're looking for numbers of first-time computer owners picking a Mac vs. a Windows PC, people switching from Windows to OS X, or some other metric, but those are the new sales figures for the second quarter.
I agree--we all should be thankful for alternatives. Personally, I would use an alternative if it was truly superior. Some people prefer Macs and can do everything they need to do on them, which is great. The software and hardware is fine... it's the users that often drive me crazy. I haven't met a lot of Windows "zealots" (though obviously there are some here...), but irrational zeal seems to be almost a requirement of being a Mac user. I saw it where I used to work (a half-Mac, half-PC shop), where the Mac users would rail against any problem that happened on a Windows machine (whether it was truly a Windows OS issue or not), and then give a total pass to any problem they experienced on their Mac. If you buy a Mac, please, just don't put on the obnoxious attitude that so often accompanies it.
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#8 By
23275 (68.17.42.38)
at
9/26/2006 4:12:39 AM
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#9, Very true and real observations - anyone who has been in the same type of environment will be able to share the same observations - I know I sure can.
I really think that Apple has a future, but one that will include Vista, or finally, a fully released OS X for distribution on non-Apple hardware. I suspect that the Boot Camp test is just that, a marketing test. I also suspect that the only really viable home for OS X on any hardware, will be found on an integrated platform from AMD/ATI - a very low cost, appliance like environment and user experience that does not attempt to work in a truly and entirely virtualized namespace - e.g., not try to compete with Windows Vista, because it cannot. In other words, as the iPod of PC's and laptops. At first blush, I'd be flamed, grilled, fried, and baked for saying this - right up until one realizes just how enormous a market for exactly that kind of machine is. Grant it, a lot of work has to be done, but have no doubt AMD/ATI will do that - they have to just to stay alive and I assess, after Vista, Apple will have no choice, either.
I mean, there is enough eye-candy in Vista to put a man into diabetic shock - so much in my opinion, that it masks, not enhances, all the great bits under the hood.
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