On 7/14/02 10:48 PM, "Sherman Wilcox" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> All I have is the MacMinute (www.macminute.com) summary: > >> �A Wall Street Journal article (paid subscription required) discusses the >> displeasure that some major developers are voicing over the sales of Mac OS X >> software and Apple's promotion of the operating system. In particular, >> Microsoft blames Apple's marketing for lackluster sales of Office v.X: >> 300,000 >> copies to date, behind the pace of 750,000 it wanted for its first year, come >> November. While Microsoft remains committed to delivering another version of >> Office in 2003, "it's harder to predict [past that]. If things don't >> dramatically turn around, we'll be evaluating this business with Apple," >> Kevin >> Browne, head of Microsoft's Macintosh Business Unit, told the publication. >> Corel has likewise expressed concern: after delivering seven Mac OS X titles, >> the company has found that most of its users continue to work with Mac OS 9. >> Apple's Phil Schiller, senior vice president of world-wide product marketing, >> calls such claims "very misplaced," saying that 2.5 million users are using >> Mac OS X and that the company expects 5 million users by the end of year, "on >> top of our targets." Not all developers share this sentiment, however; Adobe >> saw Mac sales rise from 27 percent of its business to 31 percent last >> quarter, >> a move that it attributes largely to the release of Mac OS X titles. > > Yes, I can see that he is probably "alerting" Apple Corporation about > something: OS X sales, I guess. But I'm not Apple. I don't market OS X. I'm > a user: I buy Office. And when I read a statement like that, I instinctively > feel threatened. And my reaction is to think to myself, "Well, evaluating > goes two ways, Kevin." Upgrades. He wants upgrades. The MBU piled resources into getting out Office X only one year after Office 2001, on the premise that that would help Apple "sell" OS X. Which it did. So now he wants big results, fast. Maybe too fast. People who just upgraded from Office 98 to 2001 12-18 months ago may not feel they've had full value yet. And lots of Mac users were waiting for all their regular apps to catch up to OS X before switching - not just Office. If Schiller is telling the truth about 2.5 million users of OS X, then the MBU should have 500,000 rather than 250,000 users by the end of the year. To switch to OS X, many users have to buy a new computer. An Office Mac upgrade is also quite a significant investment. But they'll get there. None of these OS X users, if they have Office 98 or 2001, are going to be happy with using them in Classic for too long, nor will they switch to AppleWorks. They'll get Office v. X. Kevin is probably getting a little panicky if they made an unrealistic guess about the pace of upgrades - he's the one who has to justify resources out of big Daddy Microsoft. Not much was added to Word, nor all that much to Excel, in the quick 1-year Office X upgrade, aside from the OS X look and feel - all the new icons. . so many people may be resisting for reasons that have nothing to do with OS X, but rather with the lack of new features. As much as I'm involved with Entourage, and as much as Entourage was supposed to be the 'draw' for Office 2001 upgrade over 98, I think most people still get Office for Word and Excel, not for Entourage. If the MBU brings Word Mac up to the level of Word 2002 (XP) Windows, they'll get their upgrades. > > Don't get me wrong: I love Entourage. I evangelize it to all my friends and > colleagues who still use other email clients. But it gives me a queezy > feeling to read something like that. Puts me into "time to go looking to > protect my interests" mode. Just real-world business talk. They need to make their hundreds of millions to justify their Mac business, especially as 'monopoly' lawsuits are being settled. I wouldn't feel too threatened if I were you, though. -- Paul Berkowitz -- To unsubscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> archives: <http://www.mail-archive.com/entourage-talk%40lists.letterrip.com/> old-archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/entourage-talk%40lists.boingo.com/>
