Let me start out by saying I think Apple makes some damned fine products. Really rather fantastic, actually. There are, however, some serious problems with Apple products that have always kept me from buying them. It wouldn't be fair though to just write an article complaining about what I don't like about Apple's line. There are actually many things I do like, there just aren't enough to outweigh the things I don't like. This will not be an article about Macs vs. PCs. What this will be is an article about what I like and what I don't like about Apple products, based entirely on my own personal experience. I will try to cover them by sectioning them up into what I think are the Good things, the Bad things and the Ugly things about Apple computers. I'll warn you now that it's a little long, but I'm hoping you'll find it worth the read.
First, the Good
Even the staunchest, geekiest Windows fan has to admit that Apple puts out some really nice, often drool-worthy products.
The Software: OSX is possibly the finest piece of software I've ever seen. Certainly it is the best Operating System on the market. Its simplicity and elegance blows me away every time I use it. Need to uninstall a program? Drag it to the trash. It doesn't get any easier than that. It makes one ask Why doesn't Windows work that way? Because OSX is inherently designed better from the ground up, and always has been. I also love the fact that when you buy a Mac, you won't get 27 pieces of 30-day trial software (bloatware) that you have to spend half a day uninstalling (because you can't just drag them to the trash!).
The Hardware: I think there should be an investigation into Apple's hardware R&D department, because I'm really sure they're stealing stuff from the future. Apple products always look like they were just smuggled off the set of a blockbuster sci-fi flick. They consistently raise the hardware bar to new heights, making the rest of the industry follow. Apple standardized the mouse and USB. Their 24" Monitor defined what an artist's display should be, and every other monitor manufacturer scrambled to catch up. Slot-fed DVD drives, a feature rarely seen in the PC world, have been standard on many models of Mac for many years. Using an Apple product is akin to driving a BMW: You get the heated leather seats, the steering wheel audio and climate controls, the projection headlights. All the bells & whistles.
The iPhone: I was going to mention the iPhone under Software, and then under Hardware, but then I decided it really deserved a mention of its own. The iPhone has, quite simply, changed the face of the mobile phone, mobile computing and even the personal computing industry. Before the iPhone, smartphones were mostly relegated to geeks with their Windows Mobile phones, and the business people with their Blackberries. Then the iPhone came out, and suddenly you weren't hip unless you had some sort of touchscreen phone with an unlimited data plan. For many years, Microsoft tried to get people to carry a pocket computer around with them, and everyone figured it was just a niche that hadn't caught on yet. When the iPhone came out, it was immediately clear how miserably Microsoft had failed. The iPhone did nothing that existing phones didn't already do, but like the American auto industry, Microsoft (and others like Palm) thought they could dictate what the consumer wanted, and they were horribly wrong. Microsoft is still scrambling to catch up (and I have all but given up hope that they can do so). Once the iPhone became a phenomenon, more and more people started buying Macs, having been inspired by the quality of their shiny new iPhone. Apple's current market share is the highest it has been in a very long time, and I believe the iPhone is directly responsible for that. From its lovely user interface, to its sleek, minimalist design, the iPhone completely redefined what mobile computing meant and where it heading in the future.
The Ecosystem: When technology enthusiasts refer to a brand's 'ecosystem', they're referring to how seamlessly various different items by a single manufacturer integrate with each other. For example, Microsoft manufactures the Xbox 360, the Zune, the Windows Phone and Windows desktop operating systems. You would think that all of these items would speak to and interact with each other, since they're all part of the same family, but they don't. However, when you buy an iPhone, it integrates seamlessly with iTunes, and your Mac if you have one. The whole Mac/iPhone/iTunes (and now iPad/iBooks) combination creates one synergic ecosystem. A user of Apple's products can be 100% assured that if they were to buy another Apple product, it would work flawlessly with the items they already own. This is possible because Apple holds very tight control over their ecosystem, disallowing anything they don't approve of. This is their greatest strength, and, as I will explain later, their greatest weakness.
The Mind Share: 'Mind share' is a marketing term that refers to the development of consumer awareness and popularity. You can release a product into the market and, even if your product is more expensive or has less features, it will successfully dominate if you have enough mind share. For example, if I were to tell you to choose a digital media player to buy within the next 10 seconds, which one would you choose? How many brands did you even think of? You might have thought the names Creative, Archos, or Zune, but you undoubtedly thought of the name iPod. Even if you're like me and would never actually buy one, you still thought of iPod in your top 3. Apple's mind share is through the roof, and it's the one thing that other competing companies don't seem to understand (I'm looking at you, Microsoft). Apple's mind share is in fact so high that if you did buy a Zune, you're just as likely to get "What's a Zune?" as you are "Why didn't you get an iPod?"
The Revolution: I won't dwell too long on this, and I've already mentioned it, but I feel like I should emphasize the fact that for the last 25 years (and longer), Apple really has lead a computing revolution. Their TV commercial in 1984 with the woman throwing the hammer into the giant screen has become almost cliché, but I have to say, they've really delivered on their promise. Without their constant innovation, the computer industry would resemble the Telecom or Power industry, with only one real provider (Intel/Microsoft), moving at a snail's pace and charging us whatever they felt like.
Then, the Bad
Even the most die-hard Apple fanatic would agree Apple does have some serious flaws, many of which have held it back from gaining dominance in the market.
The Software: As lovely an experience as it is, OSX does have its significant drawbacks. As a Windows user, I am used to being able to tweak even the smallest system setting, to make my hard-bought machinery work the way I want it to. Apple makes this much more difficult in OSX, and it's on purpose. Apple knows its customers aren't likely to care about changing that stuff, so they bury it deep in the system, if they make it available at all. You might think it's a good thing, but I don't care for it. In addition, waiting for software to be released for OSX is an exercise in patience, and if it isn't made by Apple, Adobe, Microsoft or a handful of others, it probably wasn't written for the Mac, but ported code from the Windows version, and it probably will do unexpected things from time to time. If you're looking for the greatest flexibility and selection in your software, or you like playing video games, OSX is probably not your best choice.
The Hardware: I have already stated I think OSX is the best Operating System on the market, and I stand by that. It's sleek, elegant, stable and just plain well-engineered. I've said to my friends many times that if Apple would just release OSX as a stand-alone OS that I could install on any machine, I would probably switch in a heartbeat (aside from certain program compatibility issues). I have built my own PCs for almost 20 years now. By doing so, I save money and am able to built a machine to exactly suit my needs. Apple will not allow me to install their OS onto a machine I build. Now, they have a very good reason for doing this; by maintaining strict control over what hardware runs their OS, they can assure themselves (and you) that their customers are receiving the best results possible. It's a problem for me because Apple just doesn't offer the hardware combination I like, and they don't allow anyone else to build Mac systems. I applaud them for sticking to their principles, but their principles are what's really keeping me from using their products.
The iPhone: Again, I think the iPhone deserves its own honorable mention. By redefining what the smartphone meant, they basically made it impossible for any other smartphone to be taken seriously (the Blackberry being a notable exception to that rule). My Windows Phone is actually considerably more capable than the iPhone. There were already thousands of free Windows Mobile apps out there when Apple opened their App Store. Now when I whip out my smartphone in a meeting I get looks of pity, because people think the iPhone is where it's at, never mind the fact that my Windows Mobile devices were playing MP3s before the iPod even existed. This is, of course, a direct result of the mind share I spoke of earlier. Is it really Apple's fault that the iPhone eclipsed every other phone on the market? No, that was the fault of the manufacturers of those other products. I do, however, blame Apple for making people think my smartphone couldn't possibly be as powerful as their iPhone.
The Price: Everyone knows Apple products are inherently more expensive than comparable products by a different manufacturer. Macbooks cost more than Windows-based laptops with the same capabilities. iPhones cost more than most smartphones. The iPod costs more than any other media player on the market (again, with similar capabilities). Now, I'm well aware that saying Apple products are too expensive is like saying BMWs are too expensive - you're arguably getting what you pay for. The problem with that argument is that it goes both ways. I'm not buying an Apple product for the same reason I'm not buying a BMW: It costs too much. I can get an Infiniti for cheaper.
The Aesthetic: Just a quick blurb here to mention how much I dislike glossy white. Seriously, the only things in my life that are that glossy white are Imperial Stormtroopers and a few porcelaneous bathroom fixtures. Neither of these are things I would want my gadgets to remind someone of. I know what they're doing: They're trying to make your Mac look like a household appliance, but I still prefer to have a black rim around my monitors, and a chassis that fits in better with my home theater equipment. This is, of course, another personal preference, and I know not everyone feels that way, but by not offering any other options, Apple is once again alienating a good portion of us geeks.
The Control: I've already mentioned it, but it definitely bears repeating. Apple's way of maintaining quality control is by ruling their brand with an iron fist. It gives them great strength because they do in fact offer a quality product, but it also assures that they retain a very small percentage of the personal computer market in the U.S., and barely a blip world-wide. If Apple were to just let their little eaglet leave the nest, I think they would see it develop into the majestic eagle it could be. Just imagine for a second if Apple allowed Dell or HP to start making Macs. Their market share would start growing exponentially. More importantly, if they allowed me to install OSX on the machine I'm writing this on, I probably wouldn't be writing this at all.
And Now, the Ugly
Even if none of the Bad things mentioned above were true, there are still a few reasons why I don't buy Apple products, and they mostly involve the attitude of Apple consumers.
The RDF: No discussion of the ugliness of Apple can be had without discussing the Reality Distortion Field. The RDF is a theoretical bubble that surround Steve Jobs - and by extension Apple itself - that distorts reality just enough that anyone will believe anything he (and it) says. When he says something will revolutionize an industry, he's usually correct, even if what he's introducing isn't actually revolutionary. The classic example is the iPod. MP3 players existed long before the iPod, and when the iPod was released, suddenly people knew what an MP3 was. The iPod held less, had more restrictions and cost more than most other players on the market. At the time, there were many better brands to choose from. But, when Steve said "you need this", people believed him without question. I knew people who didn't own computers and didn't know what an MP3 really was that were convinced they needed an iPod. That's the RDF in full effect. I believe the RDF is a substantial contributor to Apple's current mind share in the U.S., and is directly responsible for just about every other ugly thing about Apple products.
The Attitude: I won't go so far as to say Apple users are arrogant, but I will say they sure seem to be a prideful sort. Gods forbid you mention anything to them about how their Mac or iPhone isn't all it's hyped up to be. They don't want to hear that as far as pure processing power goes, my hand-built PC (that was much cheaper) beats the highest-end Mac hands-down. They don't want to hear that my Windows Phone does all the nifty things their iPhone does and more. When confronted with these ideas, most Apple users will present you with a look and attitude that implies they know better but will humor you because ye know not what ye say. Did I mention I've been a graphic artist for 20 years? You have no idea how many times I've heard that real artists use Macs, as if they give you some feature or advantage over drawing things in Windows. Well, I gotta say it's just not true and that attitude drives me crazy. Saying that for true artists, a Mac is better than a PC is like saying that for true drivers, the Honda Accord is better than the Toyota Camry. It's just absurd, and I believe it's another example of the RDF at work.
The Culture: When I talk about the Apple culture, I'm not talking about the VW-driving, Birkenstock-wearing, Segue-riding, Apple-logo-displaying people. No, I'm talking about the new "There's an App for That" culture. There's this idea iPhone users get that their iPhone is the most important thing in their life. Have a conversation with an iPhone owner, and you'll be sharing it with all their Facebook and Twitter friends too, barely making eye contact with them the entire time. Ever drive in traffic with an iPhone owner? Let's just say they're not really driving at all. iPhone owners find their phone so essential that it's more or less fully integrated with their life. I have a friend who got a star gazing App, and suddenly she was into looking at the stars. When I mentioned I had a similar program on my phone that could also do this other cool thing, she replied "Well, mine can't do that, but you know, I have this other App..." She wasn't interested because her iPhone didn't do that. I made a joke that there will eventually come a time when, if there isn't an App for that, it just won't be worth doing. I think that time came the next day. There are more and more of these type of people every day, and Apple (and the RDF) really had a large part in encouraging this type of behavior, though it is certainly no longer exclusive to iPhone users. The Apple culture has led our American society down an ugly, self-centered path, and I will have no part of it.
As I stated at the beginning of this way-too-long piece, I do like Apple computers and Apple products. It's just there are too many things I don't like. Some of them I dislike intensely. I think my issues with the way Apple does business are legitimate concerns, and I believe if Apple would just lighten up about a couple things, many of my complaints would go away.
Oh yeah, and I'd love it if they would stop telling everyone they're better than everyone else. They're just not.
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#2's Pencil: This is an opinion piece based on my own personal experiences. It is not meant to reflect on any specific person I know. I know many of you use Apple products, and I acknowledge the risk of alienating many of the friends I have made here, but please try to remember that I don't actually know any of you, and therefore the opinions I state here do not (and cannot) refer to you. I also acknowledge that a similar piece could have been written about [Windows] PCs. Please keep this in mind before coming after me with your iRocks and iTorches.
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Comments
My thing back then was that there was absolutely no reason why using a computer had to be painful. I used a Radio Shack TRS-80 (Trash 80) in my office at the professional association at which I worked and I spent untold hours beating that beast into submission. I finally got it to do what it was supposed to do, but it took a lot of blood, sweat and tears. I had a boss who wanted to use IBMs because the word "business" was in the name. When I left that office, it was entirely Mac.
Macs back then were lovely machines, easy to learn and use. Now PCs have become more Mac-like, and the differences between the two are fewer, but I hold my Mac up as superior on avoiding viruses.
I am Mac-loyal not because I have an attitude; it's that Macs have served me well over the past 25 years. My relationship with Apple products has always been stable and easy, with each product seamlessly synching with the others and working under the same operating philosophy. If only all marriages were so!
I am a writer, and when I post a piece on OS, no one knows whether it was written on a Mac or a PC. But for me, it's kind of like wearing really, really great underwear -- I know, and that's all that matters.
Maria: a Few things... 1) That TRS-80 did more to ruin the reputation of PCs than anyone (until Packard-Bell). 2) Your Mac is only 'superior' on avoiding viruses because so few people use them, and therefore virus writers don't target them. I'm sure we'd see just as many vulnerabilities in OSX if there were anywhere near as many viruses that went after it. 3) My underwear is also really, really great.
I bought Apple because the person closest to me who knows computers likes Macs (and I can call on him to do *whatever* with the damned thing when necessary).
Ipods are beyond my ken (I don't go anywhere, so I don't need to take music with me), and cell phones don't work where I live (and, like, I don't go anywhere). I have a basic years-old cell phone that does nothing but phone functions that I keep in the car for emergencies, that's it.
I guess this means you're not getting an ipad?
I was also victimized by some of Steve Job's really bad bloopers, like the LISA, oh what a mistake that was. I remember being all hot and bothered to get my hands on one, so I ran down to the one store in Cambridge, MA that had them, only to run screaming from the building when I discovered what an absolute dog it was.
Apple once gave me 40 Macs for one of my non-profit organization activities. They were a nightmare from day one as I tried to network them to create a computer classroom, finally forcing me to buy PC s out of pocket to finish the product. Later, I got a huge grant from IBM to build an interactive classroom that worked perfectly right out of the box.
I am both a graphic artist and a writer, and I have never felt the slightest deprivation working on PCs in either capacity. However, I will admit that I am terrified of getting involved with anything after XP, so I am still using a four year notebook because I don't want to go through the learning curve aches, hardware compatibility pains, and software compatibility suffering that an upgrade will inevitably cause. I hear tell that Apples don't suffer these ills so maybe I should.....na, not a chance.
Sage: You know, I used to hate Macs too, but when OSX was released, Apple computers became something to contend with. And you really should try Windows 7. There will be a slight learning curve, but I think it's really worth it. It might even run on your aging laptop without any hardware compatibility issues.
You talk about tweakability - the ability to tweak Windows is an arcane art known only to those who've delved into the archives and tomes of system configuration manuals. Or a warez site. I've been in IT for almost a decade, supporting both platforms, and I barely know my way through the menus of the new Gateway netbook I just bought.
Conversely, if you know Linux, the Mac OS is infinitely tweakable. More to the point, there's not a small amount of uber-geeks who do know it and have designed graphical interfaces for tweaking just about every setting and configuration on a Mac. I've got apps on my Mac that do ssl rlogin to my (hacked) XBox (the original one) with a button click. I've got ones that do remote directory cloning (the linux command escapes me at the moment) for backup. I've got the ones that run all the maintenance commands, turn on and off the Dock, show/hide hidden files - even change the images on the login window, all with a few toggle switches.
and you can, with some work, install OS X on a non-Apple box - there's an entire "Hackintosh" community dedicated to, among other things, installing it on netbooks. (I should note, that in a lot of cases, there are performance issues. It's a netbook, it's running OS X, but it's not doing it as fast as you'd like it to. Still, the idea of getting it running on a $200 mini-laptop, like mine, is intriguing. I opted for running Jolicloud on mine.)
My wife has an iPod Touch (iPhone w/o the phone). The interface is amazing. Yes. Want.
I wanted an iPhone, but I loathe AT&T. I went with T-Mobile (yes, I know) and the Google G1. I like that I can stream music from the internet, while getting turn-by-turn navigation, while checking the weather, while twittering about it to Facebook.
The phenomenon you describe - people endlessly twittering about their bowel movements to a world they envision is fascinated to read about it - exists, and would exist, without an Apple product. I see more, if not just as many "updated with Facebook for Blackberry" as "Facebook for iPhone." I think I'm the only "Facebook for Android" among my friends.
Apple may have made it popular, because Apple made it easy. I had a tech friend (we both had the same job, tweaking systems and putting them on desktops) who didn't like most mp3 players, iPods included. He had a portable CD player (when was the last time you saw one of those?) that read data CD's. He's burn a thousand or so songs onto a disk, and felt himself superior. Never mind that you needed a manual to figure out the controls (no one else in the office could use it). To continue the car analogy, how many of us would be driving if we had to build our own cars, or at least service them ourselves?
Most people do opt for pure power and speed, even at the expense of ease of use. That's why we mostly use cars now, not horses. Most horses are capable of driving themselves.
As an Apple user, I'll tell you the reason I usually grab my sling. I had a friend who works in education offer to give me a machine his school was getting rid of. That's a computer that reached end-of-usefulness for the company that donated it to the school, and now the school was done with it, as well. He said, "I thought you might want a real computer." (That same guy, that same week, asked me for help cleaning the spyware out of his system.) I may catch hell for this analogy, but for years, using a Mac was like being of African descent in the 50's in America. Back of the bus for you. Being derided, mocked, chastised by everyone who used "real" computers gets to you after a while.
Do you know how many times I've called technical support to hear, "the problem is with the Mac?" I've had heated debates with the developers of Lotus Notes about the way they handle Daylight Savings Time. (Don't get me started on font point sizes.) Notes, at the time of the release of R5, wrote to the OS a new time zone. The OS would attempt to correct the time. On and on, and after a couple restarts, your clock was hours off. All the other apps I have work fine, adjusting for DST - reading it from the OS - but because yours writes changes to the system, it's obviously "a problem with the Mac."
Sorry for venting.
I've had to do tech support for friends and family. One relative had difficulty finding the "@" button on the keyboard and had trouble remembering what comprised her e-mail address. Yet in almost every time I've suggested these people buy a Mac, for its ease of use, there was always, "well, my neighbor's son works in computers, and he says HP is the best/Mac's are stupid/Windows is more powerful and easier." I stopped suggesting them. I work primarily in publishing, on Macintosh, and I still get, "you work in computers, which is the best, Gateway or Dell? Can you configure my router? Hook up my printer?" It was ironic that three of my close relatives now have recently bought Macs, and I just purchased my first system with Windows installed.
Oh, but there are things I hate about Apple. At least severely dislike. Their ad campaigns, for one. The "1984" and "Hal 2001" Super Bowl ads not withstanding. The old ones never pushed the virtues of using the Mac OS. The new ones just mock Windows (deservedly).
I also don't like the iPad. There. I said it. If Apple should have learned anything from the Newton and their first dockable, slim laptop Macs in the early 90's, is you don't do anything half way. It's an iPhone with a bigger screen. The iPhone is already an e-book reader. So is my ancient Sony Clie (Palm OS). It's not going to "revolutionize" anything because it doesn't bring anything (much) new to the table (or hand).
Publishers are already falling all over themselves to get their magazines and content on iPhones - and not on other portable platforms (like Android, damn them), Kindles not withstanding. This is just an e-reader with a color screen. Yay for magazines and comic books.
Sucks for me - a decade of experience with ink on paper and now I need a new skill set.
Damn you, Apple.
i'd tuned and tweaked my own PCs until XP, when it was beyond me. and i kept all seven of our PCs (in my hub's office and ours here at home) running even when they crashed and froze far more often and it was becoming a gigantic hassle and costing a bunch of $$ to fix hardware and upgrade s/w and talk the secretaries through fixes on the phone and then give up and drive 30 miles to the office and ...
so i bought an iMac. and i'm sold. yes, several of the programs i run are window-lite versions for Apple and are worthless, so i run the windows versions in a virtual window using Parallels s/w. works great -- well, except the Windows OS part, which has all the same problems when you run it on a mac as when you run it on a pc. everything else? a dream. really.
but the most amazing thing? my husband -- who, no exaggeration, cannot manage light bulbs and has railed like a Luddite against computers for years -- needed only a couple hours of show-and-tell to make the transition to Mac last year and now happily pads along opening programs and sending mail and NOT cursing and calling me to come "fix this goddamn thing" at least once a week. i put off switching him from a pc because of my near-certainty that it would be a defcon-4 scenario. i'm speechless, a rarity.
a lot of what you say is true, and i don't own an iPhone (have a blackberry and use 3rd party s/w to sync it to iMac) and may never, don't get the iPad. but i don't gripe about the money 'cuz i haven't spent a penny on my iMac until i bought the Snow Leopard version of the OS which i probably didn't need to get since Tiger is working just fine. and if i add up all the aggravation and multiply it by what my sanity (not to mention my time) is worth, i'm way ahead.
i know you said this wasn't a pc vs. mac discussion, but you can't really talk about the good/bad of apple products without comparing them to microsoft. so i apologize for veering off but couldn't see a way not to.
good post, No. 2. just my two cents. ;
I've owned and used laptops running Windows 98SE, Windows XP, Mac System 7 and OS X.
Until recently, I thought Windows XP was a perfectly OK gui. Then the XP partition on my MacBook Pro, which I created for a family membr's use, became infected. Ultimately, I had to dump the partition, create a new one and reinstall Windows XP and then reinstall innumerable updates. It only took three hours.
For that reason alone, I strongly disrecommend Windows. The Mac is more secure not just because it's a minority taste, but because the Unix foundation of its OS is more secure and also because the Mac OS is harder to program for. The reasons really don't matter. The result, greater security, and conservation of time, are all that matter to me.
Sure, Apple is a hardware vendor, except they're really not. Dell and HP are hardware vendors - that's pretty much all they do. They don't try to make operating systems, they just sell hardware. Apple decided to get into the OS business, and I think they should step fully into that role.
I hate to say it, but tweaking Windows is not an arcane art. It's an old one, for sure, but it's still alive and kicking.
The number of people who know how to tweak OSX using Linux is about equal to the number of people who speak Esperanto. And why do I need to know Linux anyway? Sure I used to be able to tweak windows from within DOS, but MS thankfully did away with that need...
I know you can build a hacked Mac. I could do it with this PC right now. It's just not legal and just circumvents the very thing I have issues with - it's no solution at all.
OK, so I know the Culture I describe would still exist without Apple, but I contend there would be far fewer people doing so, unless you're contending that all the people currently using iPhones would just be using Blackberries. I don't think that's true. I think Apple made it so easy for everyone to do, everyone is naturally doing it. If we were still stuck with WM and BB, this would not me a phenomena large enough for me to complain about.
I do have to admit that I was once one of those "I prefer real computers" types. But that was before OSX.
I HATE the new Apple ads mocking Windows. Not that Windows doesn't deserve mocking, but surely you have something good to say about your own product? Or will your entire ad campaign be about bullying?
I haven't had to wipe and reinstall my machine since XP. Which, by the way is a nine year old operating system. Are you still using the Mac OS from nine years ago? If you are, get with the 21st century already. If you aren't, why are you still using XP?
I will not accept any argument that OSX is better than Windows if your latest experience with Windows is XP.
(my geek name is Loquacious of Borg)
for the record, I've programmed on punch cards. we stored the programs for my first home computer on a cassette recorder.
from its inception, in a garage, with the two Steves, Apple was intent on selling computers. The idea was to create an OS so simple, everyone would want to use it - and therefore buy their boxes. The iPod is the realization of that ideal. Remember when the newest cars had integrated CD players? Now they have audio input jacks, if they don't just have iPod controls.
Apple didn't invent the Motion Picture Experts Group (MPEG) audio layer 3 (mp3), nor devices to play them. Just as the Bavarian Motor Works or Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino (FIAT) didn't invent the internal combustion engine. What they did do was facilitate getting non-gear-heads on the road.
(a favorite geek joke: PCMCIA (that slot on older laptops for expansion cards) - People Can't Memorize Computer Industry Acronyms)
Jobs never considered Gates a threat because he believed the better box would sell itself.
I don't like the substance (or lack) of ads that merely say, "Windows is full of problems/Microsoft is a bad company." But I do think there's something you can say when your product doesn't create the kinds of frustrations the other product does.
I'm thinking of one of the earliest Mac ads (or was it merely an early Apple?) where they showed both computers. Then they said, "and here's the manuals you need to read to learn to operate it (the Intel box)" and dropped a stack of books and binders as tall as the unit. Then they said, "and here's what you need to read to learn how to use a Mac," and thin, almost brochure-like manual floated down like a feather. Not to rehash the history of computers, but the IBM=serious business computer argument was already lost.
In the corporate world, we always had to consider the "total cost of ownership." Not just the price of the new boxes, but how much it would cost to maintain them. Virtually everyone in every IT staff I've ever worked with hated Macs - most with a passion. Mostly because implementing them would cost a lot of them their jobs. I saw the trouble tickets. I installed the system updates.
I'll say this about XP - it still works. (though I'm using it in its 2000 incarnation) That was always my argument about the Mac OS - 5 and 6 years later and you could still use the box as you bought it. That wasn't typically the case with Windows, where if you wanted to keep up you were upgrading every 3 years. I'm now in the position of being odd-man out, with my 10.4 OS and non-Intel processor, I'm finding there's less and less software for me to use. Picasa? Intel only. Evernote? 10.5 and up.
But then I'm still using my Clie, with Palm OS 5. And I'm reading e-books on it.
What's "better?" A Hyundai Sonnata, or a Ford F150? Or a Toyota Rav-4? Depends on what you want it for. And if you can't crank that wheel around in that monster SUV you can barely climb into, to the point that you're almost at a full stop to make a right-hand turn, then you bought the wrong car, plain and simple.