Government going Apple? - Security Systems News. I guess I missed this little tidbit from last fall, courtesy of Security Systems News. If true, it sounds like there at least a few Federal IT execs who are beginning to listen to reason, rather than being always feeling like they're on the defensive about Macs.

Smackdown: Windows 7 takes on Apples Snow Leopard. Now, this is more like it! Whereas the earlier ComputerWorld reviewer basically called the OS's an even match (while exposing a lot of his own ignorance about Mac OS X), this fellow understands completely. In his closing remarks, he concludes:

As an IT professional, I support both operating systems at work. But I have Macs at home; after all, who wants to troubleshoot computer problems on their own time? My final verdict in this smackdown? It's not even close: Snow Leopard is the better OS.

I couldn't have put it better myself.

Performance showdown: Windows 7 vs. Snow Leopard | Windows 7 Insider - CNET Reviews. I think Windows 7 is supposed to be faster than Vista, but even so, Snow Leopard is so much faster than any previous Mac OS X system that I suspected it would come out on top in a test with Windows 7. And the test doesn't even measure such mundane tasks as application launch, let alone the time it takes to perform simple tasks like finding a file or application in the morass that is Window's file system and its pathetic Explorer app.

Living on Air: A Windows guru spends two weeks with a Mac. In this case, said Guru had avoided trying out a Mac for 25 years and finally took the plunge, only after being assigned to do so. Lucky him, he got to play with the latest model MacBook Air, but his article spends more time explaining why he now understands the appeal of Mac OS X. Though he does get a number of things wrong (heck, he only spent 2 weeks with the OS, but sadly writes as though he's now an expert on it), I think we can count him in the Switcher camp.

Microsoft's 'Apple tax' claims are 'stupid,' counters analyst. Microsoft is still trying to convince the world that Macs are too expensive and not worth the price. This article makes a good argument why, even when Macs actually are more expensive, they are a significantly better value. Remember, price alone does not determine the value of a product. If it did, we'd all be buying no-name-brand TVs, home entertainment equipment, and other household appliances. There's a huge difference in using Mac OS X versus Windows, and that--along with the entire suite of Apple software that comes with it--is the key differentiator that Microsoft would like you to forget (or remain ignorant about).

AppleInsider | Mac web share hits record 9.9 percent in January

This impressive news is all over the web since it was released yesterday. It's accompanied by the news that Safari's share has been rising more than any other browser in recent months, climbing over 8% in January.

Microsoft bangs 'Apple tax' drum once again

Anyone who thinks there is a "new" Microsoft, one that isn't primarily interested in cornering even more of its monopoly markets, should heed the bullcrap this Microsoft spokesperson dished out the day before MacWorld. A couple of quick points here...

• Microsoft Office is outrageously priced considering the paltry amount Microsoft spends in its production. If it didn't hold a monopoly of the office productivity market, the price would be down near where Apple's iWork suite now is... $49!
• Microsoft charges way more for its operating system than is warranted by costs. Again, it gets away with this because it holds a monopoly on business desktops. For the business edition of Vista, Amazon.com has a discounted price of $250 (regularly $300), whereas Mac OS X Leopard (which isn't crippled like the "home" versions of Vista) runs $110 for a single license or $145 for a 5-pack.
• Microsoft also gets away with charging outrageous amounts for developers to play in their party. To get the bare minimum necessary for developing with Microsoft's tools, you have to shell out $2,500. For Apple? Zero, zilch. And that's for the entire enchilada, including the iPhone dev tools.

Now, who's actually charging a tax here? Seems very obvious to me.

Businesses double down on Apple; 68% say they'll add Macs in '09

Very interesting news! I hope it comes to pass. This is, as I've predicted, the only way businesses would start supporting the Mac: Their employees are starting to demand it.

Mac vs PC - Benchmark and Speed Tests - PC versus Mac - Apple, Windows Reviews - Popular Mechanics This recent article is particularly remarkable for several reasons. First, it was authored by Popular Mechanics, not an outfit I consider a hotbed of Macophiles. Second, its findings gave the win to Macs not on the strength of the Mac OS, but on the strength of Apple's hardware. One thing people forget is that Apple was first and foremost a hardware company, but one that sees the hardware and software as inseparable components. I happen to strongly agree with that approach as providing the best overall user experience, both in usage and in support. Anyway, the truly amazing finding here is that an Apple computer of roughly the same specs in hardware as a PC actually runs Vista in a Boot Camp partition much faster than the PC does! Clearly, Apple knows how to fit the components together in a way that optimizes their separate abilities. Outside of that, Popular Mechanics found that Leopard, the new Mac OS, "trounces" Vista in speed across the board.

Mac vs PC - Benchmark and Speed Tests - PC versus Mac - Apple, Windows Reviews - Popular Mechanics

Although the results show only a slight nod to Mac OS X compared with Vista (which is surprising), the performance results are no less than astonishing. As Popular Mechanics says,

In our speed trials... Leopard OS trounced Vista in all-important tasks such as boot-up, shutdown and program-launch times. We even tested Vista on the Macs using Apple’s platform-switching Boot Camp software—and found that both Apple computers ran Vista faster than our PCs did.

One really interesting fact here is that the test iMac had only 1GB of RAM, whereas the PC had 3GB. The iMac did have a 2.4Ghz processor, compared with 2.0Ghz for the PC, but the difference in performance is still impressive considering the huge difference in RAM. Just proves what a RAM hog Vista is. Yet, Vista still ran faster on the iMac with 1/3 the RAM... like I said, impressive!

Oh, and it's also worth noting that despite very similar specs, the iMac is $300 less than the Gateway.

Why 'no Macs' is no longer a defensible IT strategy | InfoWorld | Analysis | 2008-04-21 | By Galen Gruman This article is a must-read for anyone who cares about the longstanding problem of getting enterprise IT staff to support Macs. If you can get them to read the article, published by a major and highly respected IT trade journal, you may change a few minds. The author runs down all of the issues that kept Macs out of the enterprise in the past, and effectively addresses the concerns, some of which have been outdated since the release of Mac OS X.

My only quibble is the author's assertion that enteprise reliance on Microsoft Office means unequal time for Macs. He points out that OpenOffice is a viable alternative but makes no mention of Apple's own terrific iWork suite, which is quite compatible with the basic aspects of Microsoft Office. Likewise, he fails to acknowledge Apple's effective collaboration suite in the form of iCal, Mail, iChat, and Address Book. Perhaps it's because those aren't cross-platform. However, even if that's the case, since they are able to interoperate with Office, they should be considered by businesses seeking to support their growing numbers of Mac users.

Mac vs. PC cost analysis: How does it all add up? Scot Finnie, Computerworld's online editorial director who last year switched to the Mac after being a long-time Windows expert, has published an excellent analysis of the cost factor in today's Mac-vs-PC market. It's a balanced tale that does more than a fair job of explaining the PC user's perspective on the argument. As Finnie notes, Apple simply doesn't compete in the low end of the market, and I would add that it's because Apple knows the low end doesn't really get users enough to be useful. People who buy $500 laptops quickly find they need to add all sorts of items to it to enable it to run the software they have in mind, or they find they can't run it at all. No matter... Finnie argues very persuasively--and correctly--that Apple is the best value available once you get over $1,000. The only exceptions are those niches in between Apple's sparse model line, where PC makers might have a make that meets your need rather than going another $200 for the next Apple product.

The only flaw with his analysis is that he views computers as being primarily hardware. I have long begged to differ on that point. Computers are mostly software, and it's the software that counts. From that perspective, I think it's still very obvious that Macs get you much more bang for your buck out of the box than PC's do. You may never have to buy another software title again once you break out your Mac. Whereas your PC will have you running to the software store again and again in search for decent software... One of these days, I do intend to update the analysis I published in March 2005 on the same subject. I'm very curious to see what those numbers look like now.

Dell responds to customer feedback by bringing back Windows XP I love that "Microsoft is shrugging off Dell's decision to expand its Windows XP options"... Sure it is! What else can it do? It already has said it won't allow XP to be installed on new PCs starting 7 1/2 months from now. What's a few months? Eventually they gotta get Vista whether they want it or not. But outside of Microsoft's spin control, you know this can't be good news for Windows boosters.

Slashdot | Microsoft Sued Over Vista Marketing

I wondered if someone would get angry at Microsoft over this. I’m still waiting for the FTC to sock it to Dell some time over the same sort of issue. These guys are absolute crooks, swindling home and business buyers alike with their fraudulent sales tactics. Don’t we have laws against selling snake oil and claiming it’s medicine, or love potion? To those of us watching from Mars, it’s amazing that they get away with so much. With Windows Vista, Microsoft divided the one product line into four “editions”, not counting the “Enterprise” edition and a special “Starter” edition for third world countries. (WTF?) Each comes in a different color box (Woah!) and are named “Home Basic,” “Home Premium,” “Business,” and “Ultimate.” No word on whether “Ultimate” is for Home or Business use, and the matrix doesn’t include the Enterprise edition, so I wonder if it’s the same as “Ultimate”? Who knows? Who cares?

Well, actually, a lot of consumers care once they realize they forgot to read the Vista footnotes on that new computer they just bought. The computer says it’s “Vista Ready,” but that’s only if you think an operating system that looks and talks like Windows XP but has a Vista label is really Windows Vista. The low end of the OEM market—all those cheap computers that some tech writers claim are evidence that Windows PCs are cheaper than Macs—is dominated by machines that only run “Home Basic,” which, as the footnotes so clearly state, does not support Windows Aero and Windows Flip 3D navigation, the Mac OS X copycat eye-candy that’s one of the main distinguishing features of the product. Oh, you also don’t get the new Windows DVD Maker, HD support for Windows Movie Maker, or the cool new Windows games (Chess Titans and Mahjong Titans). But that’s not all! You also don’t get Windows Media Center software, backup and restore tools, fax and scan tools, scheduled backup, and so on.

Did I mention that all of these features are standard parts of Mac OS X in the one non-server edition of that product? And that Mac users can run Mac OS X 10.4 on the same hardware they’ve been using for years? The only thing you might absolutely have to upgrade is your video card and RAM. It’s ridiculous that Microsoft is trying to establish a new class system based on which version of Windows you can afford. Geez. When will they learn?

What is it Puck says to Oberon at the end of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream?

Lord, what fools these mortals be!

Why Microsoft Should Fear Apple This was an excellent story from the last week, which I can't let go by without adding to the news library here on Mars. Unlike most writeups by former Windows techies who now "get" the Mac, Scot Finnie is actually quite perceptive about what's going on in the market today. He also is in a good place to observe some important trends in the industry... among the most important is one that finds a groundswell of interest in and adoption of the Mac by IT folks in position of influence. He confirms my own anecdotal experience, which is led by my wife's company, Avaya. There, she's reported in recent months that they have a new CTO who is an Apple user himself and has been talking it up on conference calls. Avaya has another top executive from Sun Microsystems who's a big Apple/Google fan and who calls Steve Jobs his "idol." You know this has got to be affecting mindshare down the ranks. Eventually, the dolts who insist on clinging to old views and prejudices about the Mac and who see Microsoft and its product line through rose-colored--often stockholder-bought--glasses, will begin to have second thoughts about their convictions. What's happening today as well is that more and more Mac users are "coming out of the closet," so to speak. As a longtime Mac user, I can attest to the blatant prejudice and scorn heaped on anyone who makes positive remarks about the Mac in meetings or other gatherings of old-line IT staff who either lived through or led the Macintosh "cleansings" of the late 1990's. It's a relief to think that may finally be going away.

Mac Market Share Over 6 Percent in February, Says New Data Here's a brief Ars Technica article pointing to data from Market Share/Net Applications, which measures OS market share based on a wide swath of web usage reports. The data show the Mac market continuing a steep rise that begun several years ago, and in particular it highlights a huge jump of over 2.0 percent in market share since last August alone. Obviously, the data aren't an exact measure of the size of the Mac market, but they're important because of the trend they're revealing. It'll be fascinating to see what happens during 2007!

AppleInsider | Vista dawns, world yawns Here's a good summary of the typical reactions I've read about to Microsoft's much-ballyhooed launch of its equally over-ballyhooed Vista operating system. On a related note, Apple has a link on their news page to a delightful article in Monday's Pioneer Press (TwinCities.com) summarizing Vista, which does an excellent job explaining how Vista's best features are simply ripoffs of Mac OS X. The only thing that St. Paul newspaper writer gets wrong is the impression that you can't effectively use a Mac as a DVR "media center" like Vista can. I'm here to tell you this is plain ignorance. Of course you can... you just can't get a built-in TV tuner. (But who wants that anyway... seriously?)

$60 to keep crapware off of a Windows PC? I just happened to notice this ArsTechnica report on the troubles of Windows users who have to put up with all sorts of attention-grabbing "crapware" that gets installed on their machines by the vendors who put them together. Gee, there's one more reason I'm glad I don't bother with Windows. Imagine if my Mac came with all sorts of not only bad software, but software that popped up periodically to ask me to buy something, or software that insisted that it be the prime image-viewing application, or whatever. Good grief... the only thing we get on Macs is high-quality software and higher-quality software.

Review: Mac OS X Shines In Comparison With Windows Vista - News by InformationWeek It's very gratifying to see a review like this in the "mainstream" IT press. Not that it will make any difference to the idiots who continue to keep their heads in the Windows sand. Some people simply have too much invested, both personally and professionally, to acknowledge that computing life beyond Windows is actually an improvement. Maybe someday... and at least, I think the rebellion is making some progress against the Empire these days. Articles like this are evidence that more tech writers are willing to speak their minds without fear that advertising dollars will dry up.

Strange new worlds, and programming languages...: Good bye Microsoft; Pete has now left the building! I somehow missed this blog post a few months back, but it's worth bookmarking it now. Be sure to also check out the comments. Notice all the weird anti-Apple comments from guys who have no idea what they're talking about. Oh, and the guy who wants to give Microsoft the credit for putting PCs on everyone's desks. That's a good one indeed. Everybody has to have heros, of course, but how do you convince a hero worshipper like that that their Emperor has no clothes?

Hands On: A Hard Look at Windows Vista A "Hard Look"? My *ss! Admittedly, I haven't read the whole thing yet, but the first half is decidedly spin, spin, spin. Giving Microsoft credit for adding things like live thumbnail icons, transparency, window layering, 3D interface features, systemwide search, navigation controls in Explorer, and much more, these writers never once mention the fact that all of these have been part of Mac OS X for the last 5 years! Now, don't you think Computerworld's readers deserve to be told the truth here? This kind of glossing over Microsoft's user-interface ineptitude and tendency to take credit for the ideas of other companies is worse than dishonest. Have you ever heard of the Sin of Omission, Scot Finnie and Preston Gralla?

A Windows expert opts for a Mac life, Part 2 It seems like I'm hearing more and more from friends and acquaintences who know someone who's switched to a Mac lately. I haven't heard anybody say they regret the decision... quite the opposite, in fact. My wife said the CTO of her company (a Fortune 500 technology company) switched and was on a conference call spreading the word inside the company. Perhaps people are finally waking up from the long bad Microsoft Windows nightmare. I'll keep hoping...

Windows development chief: 'I would buy a Mac if I didn't work for Microsoft' OK, this says it all, doesn't it? Allchin backpeddled today when his 2004 email came to light, but what do you expect? He does still work at Microsoft.

Apple vs. Dell price war | Ed Burnette’s Dev Connection | ZDNet.com Here's another recent article confirming what I had reported a year and a half ago: Apple computers are no more expensive---and often less expensive---than comparable Dell computers. That comparison is even easier now that Apple is shipping its computers with the same kind of processor as Dell. All in all, Macs are simply better values all around, plus you get to use the best consumer operating system on the planet.

Macworld: News: Apple's Mac market share tops 5% with over 30% growth Pretty impressive numbers... Apple was the fastest growing PC maker in the last 12 months. Starting from such a small base, Apple has huge amounts of room for growth---and for rewarding shareholders---in the years ahead. I keep saying it's the best time ever to be a Mac user... and I'm glad to see others finally joining the party.

Steve Fox, InfoWorld: Apple avoids the "e" word I have to say this editorial surprised me... Fox's use of the phrase "smug superiority" to describe Apple users is one of the things that presses my buttons about Windows guys. But then he goes on to back up Tom Yager's recent article in MacWorld and InfoWorld addressing the top 10 concerns of enterprises about Apple. Of course, there's a negative "twist" to this, which is probably true---Apple doesn't appear to really want the Enterprise market, at least, not now. In what is undoubtedly a smarter strategy, Apple is trying to get a foothold in small-to-medium-sized businesses now. If that works, I'm pretty certain their ambitions will change. If it doesn't, they haven't risked nearly as much or lost as much face.

Safe storage, Mac style So much skepticism from Windows users that Macs could be better than Windows at anything important... yet here's a new article in Computerworld that points out more uncomfortable facts for Microsoft fans: Mac OS X's built-in File Vault, together with encrypted trash and virtual memory, simply tops Windows out of the box. This is not an opinion.

AnandTech: Apple's Mac Pro - A True PowerMac Successor Looking for all the details on the Mac Pro, as filtered through the eyes of some smart geeks? In words and pictures, you'll definitely get your fill here! (The only thing I can't understand about AnandTech is, with all the great platforms available nowadays for building websites, why would you choose IIS and ASP? I'm afraid that diminishes the weight of their opinion in my book, FWIW.)

Mac vs. PC System Shootouts - $3,200 Workstations 08/09/06 SystemShootouts.org specializes in detailed comparisons between systems, and here they take on the latest great matchup: Mac Pro versus Dell Precision 690. The price difference was so great, they could afford to throw in an Apple Display with the Mac Pro and still come out ahead. MacSlash started a thread about it, too.

Macworld: Feature: Comparing prices: Mac Pro versus PCs Macworld has published an excellent, detailed article comparing prices on the new Mac Pro line with those on Dell's Precision Xeon-based line. The article is accompanied by a very thorough table showing all the specs for each machine, and the end result is unmistakable--and should be un-debatable, too: The Mac Pro dual-2.66GHz Zeon (dual core) is more than $1,000 less expensive than the Dell Precision 690 with nearly identical hardware specs. The Mac Pro comes in at $3,048, while the Dell will cost you $4,395! They can't be identical, of course, so here's what I can see of the differences in a quick scan:

1. Apple (+): 16GB RAM, Dell (-): 8GB
2. Dell (+): Faster Superdrive
3. Dell (+): Nvidia Quadro FX 3450 is faster than Apple's, both have 256MB VRAM, both 1 dual-link, 1 single
4. Apple (+): Four configurable PCI Express slots to Dells three non-configurable slots.
5. Apple (+): Four Firewire inputs, 2 800MB, 2 400MB to Dell's 2 400MB inputs.
6. Dell (+): Eight USB ports to Apple's 6.
7. Apple (+): Optical Toslink Audio In and Audio Out, Dell has no optical ports.
8. Dell (+): Various ports for legacy PC hardware (PS/2, Parallel, Serial)
9. Dell (+): Dell 19" Ultrasharp 1970FP display (a $250 value bundled for free); Apple has no "free" display
10. Apple (+): Software!! The usual great Mac bundle, versus nothing on the Dell.
Great job, Macworld! Thanks for documenting this so carefully.

Phil Schiller at WWDC: "We're going to beat out and bust" that myth about Macs being more expensive! I'm just getting around to watching Monday's Keynote presentation at the Apple WorldWide Developer Conference (WWDC). This is a remarkable excerpt that goes to the heart of the argument I started making last year: Macs are not more expensive than PC's. In fact, they can be quite a bit less expensive depending on the model you're looking at. If I have time, I'd love to go back and update the study I did in April 2005 with the Apple and Dell models that were being sold then. It's great to hear Phil Schiller saying basically the same thing... which until now hasn't really been Apple's official "position" on the question. (I did note that Apple was linking a page on their site to my April 2005 article, though.) In this clip, he points out that a comparable Dell is about $1,000 more expensive than the new Mac Pro, and he urges those who understand this point to "bust that myth together... Let every one know: It's not true!" Powerful stuff indeed:

Alpha--The CNET Blog: Macs are cheaper than PCs? Yes OK, folks, this isn't me saying this... it's CNET. Take a look at the data for yourself. It's black and white. The new Mac Pro is much cheaper than comparable high-end PC's.

Cider: Mac portability engine gets Apple users to the core of gaming Wow! If the Mac becomes a good gaming machine, that's just one more nail in the lid of Windows' coffin. This is definitely worth keeping an eye on.

PC Advisor: Apple MacBook hardware review

And one reason the Mac market share continues upward is that Apple keeps coming out with stand-out products like the new MacBook. Folks from the PC world just can’t seem to believe it’s as good as it is for as little money as Apple wants for it. And they love the fact that you can run Boot Camp on it. Actually, reviewers from the Mac world are quite pleased with the MacBooks, too.

Business Week: Microsoft, Design Guru Now, this is clearly a sign of desperation. LOL!

RoughlyDrafted: Market Share Myth: Nailed! This is part 2 of Daniel Eran's analysis of the origins, causes, and erroneous assumptions behind the myth of the incredibly low Apple Mac market share. Eran also looks at how market share numbers are fooled with in talking about the iPod and its market share.

RoughlyDrafted Takes On The Apple Market Share Myth I'm delighted to see Daniel Eran of RoughlyDrafted take on this myth, which is so insidious. Like many statistics, market share numbers can be conjured in many different ways to try to make your point. Unscrupulous Apple FUDders invariably pick the lowest possible variant of market share to make their point that Apple is worthless and Mac users insignificant. But it just ain't so...

iTWire - Vista not for home users: security expert This is interesting, especially since improved security is one of Vista's supposed best features. The article explains and follows up on Sophos' recent recommendation that Windows users who are concerned about security should switch to the Mac. Pretty damn straightforward.

Bloomberg.com: Dell Will Cut Promotions, Adopt More Uniform Pricing Dell's customers finally wizing up to the fact that the company is playing games with its prices. I pointed this out in an article over a year ago, reporting that it was obvious to me they were engaged in a bait-and-switch game. Here, Dell reports customers' reaction is more about the here-today-gone-tomorrow nature of Dell's "specials." I'm sure there will be some relief among those shopping for a Dell. But I tell you, the experience will still be nowhere near as relaxing and enjoyable as shopping for a Mac!

From Macworld: Analysts Say Windows on Macs will not open corporate doors I certainly agree that Boot Camp won't cause corporate IT departments to suddenly start buying Macs. Did anyone ever suggest such a thing? In fact, as the Macworld article notes, Apple has been promoting Parallels as the "run Windows on your Mac" choice rather than Boot Camp. No, I think other things will eventually sway IT... for example, if home users start to buy Macs, they'll start to put pressure on their companies to let them use their Mac notebooks. Once that starts to happen, IT will be forced to deal with the issue.