Re: The demise of Mac (long)

[MaryAnn Rizzo <rizzoma@PRIMENET.COM>]

Hi LM Netters:
  As our discussion about Mac and PC platforms was going on, this came to
me from another group I belong to. I thought it might give some insight
into some of the Mac vs. PC on the shelf argument.
  Of course, reading this you can't tell where I stand ;-) and I will admit
a certain prejudice.
  Let me just say two things first: (1) I have a seven year old Mac at home
that can run Encarta 97 and the only thing I had to add to it to get it to
do this was a CD-ROM drive NO PC user can say the same about his/her seven
year old PC; and (2) two weeks ago I received a Mac in the LMC and I had it
out of the box, networked to the LMC network and up and running with the
separate ethernet connections to the Internet in 45 minutes (while I was
answering questions from students in the LMC about Internet stuff) I have
yet to see the PC people in the HS get their new machines operating in less
than a day.
 JMHO: When the PCs get to the point that I don't have to juggle ten things
to get them to work, then I'll consider them equal to Macs, until then...

>I haven't seen this on the list yet. So, here it is!

>>Confessions of a Wintel Retailer

>>(This guest columnist is employed by a pro-Wintel software/hardware
>>retailer who has recently dropped all plans to continue selling Mac
>>software, hence the need for anonymity)

>>It's a good thing Apple has such a low market share in the computer
>>industry; otherwise none of us would be making any money.

>>Think about it: When was the last time you were in a software store that
>>gave its Macintosh section equal square footage? It's never been done.
>>Certainly, there are more than a few obscure game manufacturers that only
>>write games for the Wintel platform, but there are more than enough
>>Mac-only graphics applications, more than enough high-end Mac sound and
>>music applications, more than enough Mac-based web applications (After
>>all, there are more Mac-based web servers than any other OS except UNIX)
>>to give the Macintosh equal floor space in the average retail store.
>>There are now more than enough Mac clones that deserve to be placed
>>alongside the Compaqs, the Sonys, the Packard Bells, the Gateways. So why
>>aren't they?

>>In our society, we observe a Golden Rule: He who has the Gold makes the
>>Rules. In this case, the retail computer trade has the gold, and makes
>>the rules. And Retailers, Manufacturers, Programmers, they ALL stand to
>>make much, much more money from Wintel users than Mac users.

>>Let's look at a hypothetical scenario.

>>A Computer Store has two computers: We'll call them Computer A and
>>Computer B. Computer A is a Power Macintosh 4400/200. Computer B is an
>>Intel-based 200Mhz clone. Both have equal hard drives, both have equal
>>amounts of base memory, both have 12x CD-ROM drives. The Mac sells for
>>about $1700. The PC sells for about $2000. Already the end user is
>>spending more money on the Wintel machine than on the Mac. But that's
>>only the beginning:

>>Let's talk peripherals. The PC user has to buy a better sound card than
>>came with his machine, if it even had one in the first place. The store
>>stands to make $100 or so for every AWE64 card it sells. The company who
>>makes the sound card makes money. The programmers who wrote the software
>>bundled with the sound card make money. And that's just one sound card.
>>Think of how many hundreds of thousands of PC users bought SoundBlaster
>>AWE32 cards when they came out. And now Creative just released the AWE64.
>>Poor, deluded end users who don't realize that it's still only a 16-bit,
>>44Khz sample rate (CD-quality can't get any better than that) are
>>suckered into believing that they absolutely HAVE to buy the latest sound
>>card. And a few months later, a whole lot of people will make a whole lot
>>more money when the AWE128 comes out.

>>Video cards, same thing. The Mac comes built in with top-quality sound
>>and video cards, even RCA/S-video in/out on some models; generally the
>>only people who would need to upgrade these are professional audio/visual
>>studios and graphic designers.

>>The store stands to make another hundred bucks or so for every network
>>adapter it sells. Power Macs have built-in Ethernet capability. Entire
>>companies who want to network their machines must shell out thousands
>>upon thousands of dollars for all of this extra hardware, and it all goes
>>to the all-too-wise moguls of the computer industry who set it up that
>>way. Nobody makes any money if someone wants to network their Mac,
>>because the hardware is all built in already. Nobody except Apple, that
>>is, but then if you believe the press, they're not making any money
>>either.

>>SCSI cards, now those are expensive. Too bad every PC user needs to buy
>>one in order to use a high-end flatbed scanner, or a Jaz drive, or a CDR
>>burner. Macs have had built-in SCSI since the beginning.

>>For the most part, nearly all of the garbage that end users have to buy
>>to get their computer to do what they want it to, is already built in on
>>a Mac. Which means that the majority of the computer industry is making a
>>whole lot more money for every Wintel PC they sell than they do for every
>>Mac.

>>And then there's software:

>>Want to run the latest version of Windows 95? And you'd better upgrade if
>>you haven't already, because today's new, powerful software won't run on
>>anything less than a 32-bit operating system. The Mac user can get free
>>maintenance upgrades, free system software components, everything free
>>except a full, major version upgrade, which Apple wisely charges money
>>for, although it's still only about half of what the latest version of
>>Win95 sells for. And need I mention that the buzzword of the OS industry,
>>"32-bit" means nothing to Mac users, since the Mac has been fully 32 bit
>>for years.

>>When I look at the average software retail store, I see that 80 percent
>>of the inventory contained therein is related to debugging,
>>troubleshooting, or expanding the functionality of a Windows PC. There
>>are anti-virus programs to combat the 600+ viruses that attack Wintel
>>machines (as compared to around 50 Mac viruses), there are uninstall
>>programs to get rid of the hundreds of tiny files that every program adds
>>when it installs, there are books on how to use everything (when was the
>>last time you needed a book to tell you how to drag and drop).

>>In short, much of the products that people make their money by selling,
>>are simply not needed when using a Mac. Can you imagine a world where
>>Macintosh was king and those retail stores had to survive on that twenty
>>percent?

>>You know who else is making money? The support industry. Why do you think
>>there are so many people charging $50/hour to troubleshoot PC's?

>>Do you think that any Mac-only tech support people are making any money?
>>It's like that old ad about the Maytag repairman, who was always so
>>lonely all the time, because all of his machines stayed in working order
>>most of the time. Not so with Wintel PC's. Those guys are raking in the
>>dough.

>>So go ahead and keep buying your Windows upgrades, go ahead and keep
>>putting money into that short-lived CPU that will be obsolete in a few
>>years (one of my computers is a ten-year-old Mac LC that is still
>>functional today - all I've added is more Ram and a CD-ROM drive). Go
>>ahead and tell me why your higher market share makes your Wintel machine
>>that much better. I and all of my co-workers are laughing all the way to
>>the bank.

>I pledge allegiance to the Mac of Apple Computer Incorporated, and to the
>developers for which it stands. One platform, under Guy, with multimedia
>and stability for all.


MaryAnn "the librarian" Rizzo
District Library Media Specialist
Bisbee Unified School District Re-2
Bisbee, AZ 85603
rizzoma@primenet.com

"We need to educate our children for their future and not for our past" A.
C. Clarke

"Keep smiling -- it keeps everyone wondering about you."  M. Rizzo