How long has this PC revolution been happening?

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I've only had the iMac for about 3 weeks and everyone I talk to about it knows several people who've switched to the Mac fairly recently -- usually OS X 10.3 or greater.

Maybe I need to read the news more often because I was under the impression that Windows was blowing Mac out of the water. Has there been a noticable increase in Mac market share?

NOTE: My manager jokingly said the only reason Windows is still around is because IT guys would be out of a job if they switched to Mac.

EDIT: I found this link.
 
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I switched back recently as well. Funny how that works. I think people are just tired of working on their computer to get it to work. I am in IT, and I made the switch cause I am tired of working on windows products all day and then going home to work on my own computer so much... and I leave it alone most of the time.

Id say in just the past few years has Apple been making big chunk of the home users. Which is a tiny market share.
 
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Switching to the Intel platform has certainly had an impact. People who were "Mac-curious" were now able to buy a Mac knowing that they can run Windows still if it doesn't work out. It also seems that Microsoft's Vista has been a real boon for Apple.
 
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Obviously, on here you will be getting a slightly biased view.

But I have been using macs for years, and after only ever coming across other creative types using macs, I am increasingly seeing all sorts of people buying macs.

Could it be the famous iPod Halo factor? As Kalison says, Apple are making inroads into the home user market. Still most market share PCs will be in corporate offices, and places like India and china.

So while market Share for Apples is increasing slighly, Windows still dominates. But Apple is now making half the profits of Microsoft, with 1/20th of their market share.

Maybe the truth is that Apple is increasing its market in areas where consumers choose to buy their own new computer. And apple is making good margins on this, after all, look at the margins on corporate PCs where someone else tells you what computer to use.

Who is the smartest company, Microsoft - who can make huge profits on over 90% market share, or Apple - who can make half as much money with a fraction of their market.

It seems at last people are giving the mac a try and loving it, it should help the industry as a whole, since MS might wake up to the fact that it should concentrate on its end users. If MS and Apple are competing in a real sense for the consumer market, everybody benefits
 
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i'm in IT and i made the switch a few weeks ago. i manage a considerable infrastructure consisting of 90% Windows servers\clients. i think Vista is serving as the catalyst to people making the switch. everyone, including those in the industry are incredibly disappointed by Vista. for me, the decision to switch came about with the introduction of VMware Fusion. i need windows in some flavor in order to function with respect to my job. the intel chipset was a big factor as well. the 'no virus on a mac' diatribe had nothing to do with my decision because i'm well aware that with the success of OSX, it will become a more viable target for hackers and virus authors.

but the big three for me were:
1. Fusion
2. Intel Chipset
3. Vista
 
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I agree;

Intel made a huge difference for me... because I just never really liked the power pc processors of IBM. I am not saying they are not good, but Intel did such a great job with the centrino technology, that it makes it a no brainer. That, as well as knowing that I can now run Windows for work, and still be able to enjoy OS X.

Vista also threw me down this road as well... I was excited to finally see a new OS from Microsoft (lets face it, us IT guys probably look at the inner workings of Windows more than the average user, it gets tiresome)... but they blew it... Tiger had a lot of features that Vista was touting as "new"
 
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I only got a Mac because they are attractive and I already had an iPod.
 
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drh3010
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Tiger had a lot of features that Vista was touting as "new"

I noticed that. I'm a programmer (Visual C++ MFC) by trade and we have been trying to make our software compatible with Vista for six months. The Vista UI is much different than XP and looks a lot like OS X. I wouldn't have noticed it if I hadn't bought the iMac.
 
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I got my MBP because it looks great. Typing feels great. The touchpad is nice and smooth, without being slippery. Then, all the "stuff" just works in great harmony!
 
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I decided to make the plunge after I saw the aluminum iMacs. I've wanted a clean all-in-one kinda PC for years and I didn't like the look of any of them, including the white iMacs. This new look is much, much more appealing to me and with the adoption of Intel processors, I figured it wouldn't hurt to give it a shot.

Unlike the average person on here it seems, Vista had no effect on me making the switch. I actually like Vista, and don't see the complaints about it right now having any effect on it. I heard all the same things about Windows XP when it first debuted and Windows 2000 was still the most usable, stable Windows out there. I ran Vista from about 2 months after release until I bought the iMac, and now also have it running on the Mac (though I do spend 90% of my time in OS X) and I have yet to have any problems with it other than the occasional old software I have that doesn't work, or my dirt old laser printer that didn't work with it either.
 
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Two of my friends, die-hard WinBox users, ditched their computers and bought iMacs to replace them and neither are designers or artists (although one of them does have make music as a hobby). I am sure the market share is shifting.

drh3010 I found this article just now that is a bit more up-to-date, Mac market share breaks 8% mark in 2007's final days so this proves our hunch.
 
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I started with Macs with the original LC, 8 MB RAM and 160MB HDD and with an RGB colour monitor, it was the bees knees. This was back i think in 1990.

Why a Mac? An IT friend told me it was more 'idiot proof'. Guess he was right!
 

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since MS might wake up to the fact that it should concentrate on its end users.

Who are there end users? there bulk of there users are in business.. do they really care about the home owners who make up at most 20% of there end users. doubt it. and thats is where apple are taking advantage.
 
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Who are there end users? there bulk of there users are in business.. do they really care about the home owners who make up at most 20% of there end users. doubt it. and thats is where apple are taking advantage.

Part of the reason that Windows became so popular for home use back in the 90s is that people tend to stick with what they know. If that box running Win 3.1 or Win 95 is good enough for work than it should be plenty good for home. In the last 10 to 15 years the home market has shifted and people do different things at home than they do at work (well, some of them do).

The reverse of this could start to creep into the corporate mindset as IT folks and "Suits" start to see more of OSX and it's capabilities. Then again, when you can buy an iMac for $1800 or a Dell for $600 the "suits" will always choose the Dell simply on cost alone.
 
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drh3010
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drh3010 I found this article just now that is a bit more up-to-date, Mac market share breaks 8% mark in 2007's final days so this proves our hunch.

Thanks for that link. I guess I was a part of that. Two things happened:

1. iWork Numbers. Finally, a spreadsheet that does what I've wanted since Lotus 1-2-3. I will discuss this amazing application at a later time if I decide to.

2. "There are unused icons on your desktop"

This stupid cartoon bubble seems to think that:
A) I give a
B) You already know that but you can't disable me

My XP box is still unplugged but I will need to get files from it eventually.
 
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I bought a Mini just for the novelty of having a Mac and not wanting to dump a lot of money into it. My experiment was a huge success, now I've got a MBP, and my wife is getting a MacBook as soon as tax time is here.

I'm also a former "geek" - used to be all about the fastest machine, big games, etc... but my interests have changed. I do a lot of photography, some music, and I dabble in Photoshop, so the Mac just seems to make more sense. :)
 
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I always used to think as a kid and still think a lot of people do that PCs are for work and number crunching/programming and Macs are for the fun and artsy stuff. But with iwork and all the pro apps APple have out now I think many people are realising I can have one machine in which I can do everything on.

Sure it costs more but it's worth it in the end.

Ok, ok, well I see it this way. A work station of PCs in an office would need a lot more work to keep the network going than an Mac based one. So the Mac network wouldn't need as many it support staff to maintain the computer network. So all those saved wages go into the cost of the Macs. And when the PC network will need replacing/repairs, the Mac one will still have a few good years left in it. So in the long term there are savings. Plus also less maintenance means more productivity. So also more savings there.

So in my books Dells being cheaper then Macs initally (and going the dell route) might actually mean a lot of extra cost down the road to keep them running.
 
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that PCs are for work and number crunching/programming

Thats one preconception I've never understood, given the large amount of high end entertainment hardware available for standard PCs. High end video cards, processors, physics engines, TV tuners, etc are hardly office equipment, and while it makes up a rather slim part of the PC market, they are almost exclusively for "standard" ATX PCs. The HD 2600 Pro in my new iMac is certainly not a power house by any means, and may even be a slight performance cut to the nVidia 7800 GS I had in my PC in terms of rendering power.
 
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I think it also has to do with Apple waking up and stop being such a smug company. Apple makes products for everyone and for most people, they can do everything they want and used to do on the PC, on their new Mac.

I switched because I didn't want to deal with the hassle that comes with a PC. Windows requires 5 steps, OSX requires 3 steps. I am going to pick up a MBP and bootcamp it so I can play games and run Windows Live Messenger.
 
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Ok, ok, well I see it this way. A work station of PCs in an office would need a lot more work to keep the network going than an Mac based one. So the Mac network wouldn't need as many it support staff to maintain the computer network. So all those saved wages go into the cost of the Macs. And when the PC network will need replacing/repairs, the Mac one will still have a few good years left in it. So in the long term there are savings. Plus also less maintenance means more productivity. So also more savings there.

I did a cost analysis of this sort once upon a time, back when I worked for the local phone company supporting 300 PowerMacs (the original 7100s). I was also assisting my three co-workers with their collection of 100 PCs (IBM PS/2s). When I added up the cost of the 400 computers, our four salaries over three years and then calculated the replacement cost of those 100 PCs (knowing they would need to be dumped in two years, while the Macs would still be useful), it turned out that each of the Macs cost less than half as much as each of the PCs when all of this was factored in.

Unfortunately, those bean counters make decisions based on the current year's budget. They don't often look forward past the following year. Have to keep the shareholders happy with their short-term gains...
 

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