Nacho-BSD

[Bill Campbell]

On Sat, Jun 24, 2006, Steve Bergman wrote:
>Bill Campbell wrote:
>>I see Macs as the primary desktop system replacing Windows, not Linux,
>>FreeBSD, or others.
>It's hard to see anything replacing Windows on the *home* desktop right 
>now.  I completely agree that OSX is easier and has more appeal to the 
>home user.  But that class of user is cost conscious and Windows boxes 
>are cheaper and have more mind share.  (And besides, the neighbor boy 
>down the street is a computer whiz and he told me Windows was best.)

I have to disagree, particularly on the cost side.  To buy a Windows
machine and all the software comparable to do what one can do with the
iLife series, iPhoto, iTunes, iMove, iDVD, Garageband, et all, is going to
cost a lot more than a comparable iMac (or Mac Mini if one already has the
monitor, keyboard and mouse).  The Macs come with usable productivity
tools, and it's easy to install OpenOffice.org for use under X11.

If one has to have Microsoft Office, it's available for OS X, including
features that aren't in the Windows versions.

Mac users *DON'T NEED* a computer whiz to muck with their system.  The
things they need to do are well within the capabilities of non-techie
folks.  Installing new hardware and software, configuring networks, etc. is
well within the capabilities of the average user.

The demographics of the people in the Seattle Mac users groups are
considerably different than those in other computer user groups I've seen.
They tend to be artists, musicians, writers, photographers, heavy into
desktop publishing, and video production.  Take a look at the SIGs on their
web site, http://www.dbug.org/.

Many (most) of these folks never see a command line.  On the other hand, I
run regular classes/seminars at the dBug resource center to answer the
question ``Why Unix CLI on a Mac?''.  This has been very popular, and I'm
being asked to do more advanced classes for the groups.

I'm totally not into gaming so I can't speak to the quality of games
available for the Macs (the one bridge game was pretty lame -- but then
I've finished as high as 3rd in the Maryland Men's Pairs duplicate
tournament :-).

>On corporate desktops, I can't really see Mac competing.  It's 
>advantages are less significant in that environment.  But its costs are 
>still there.  To me, this is the domain of Linux.

You would be hard pressed to convince my customers of that.  It's far
easier to answer the cost argument in a business environment just in the
anti-virus software you don't need, and the time lost to windows crashes
and general flakiness.

The people in the corporate environment who will fight any change from
Windows are those who's function is to babysit the Windows systems, not the
people who pay the bills and worry about making the business profitable.

Bill
--
INTERNET:   bill at Celestial.COM  Bill Campbell; Celestial Software LLC
URL: http://www.celestial.com/  PO Box 820; 6641 E. Mercer Way
FAX:            (206) 232-9186  Mercer Island, WA 98040-0820; (206) 236-1676

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