Michael Parker wrote:
hmm..
The games bit is very true. And as a gamer it is of
constant annoyance that only some of the best games
are released on the mac. This is made more annoying
by noticing that the apple stores are carrying more
ipods than software these days. The only reprieve to
this is hearing the windows guys talking about how
they keep having to reboot their machines or the
mysterious slowness that they experience.
You *can* lock down a Windows box (requires the thing to be setup
properly well before conencting an ethernet cable!). It requires the
kind of vigilance that is missing from most of the Mac community when it
comes to Malware, so in some ways in might be a good experience :-)
BTW, last quarter iPods created more revenue for Apple than Macs for the
first time in Apple's history.
If Apple writes the drivers, then maybe this wouldn't
be such an issue. Compared with the current choices,
this is great. Virtual PC is as slow as a two legged
dog on barbituates (and yet, greatly improved from
previous versions) and prone to breaking whenever a
new os comes out.
Another way to sell more macs? Another way to sell
more copies of windows? Another way to get people to
try to switch? In general I think it's good, but I'm
not sure if I want to swear at my Mac when I get a
blue screen.
This issue is running hot on most of the Mac forums. Most people are
for, a few against. In some ways I see it as a short term patch for
non-native software for the Intel macs. Photoshop seems to spring to
mind straight away! And Adobe will bring it to the Mac for CS3. There
are a lot of design shops that won't have converted to Intel Macs by the
time CS3 ships, so they will have to ship a Universal version. I'm sure
at WWDC Apple will be ramming home the point about how much better it is
to develop in Cocoa compared to whatever MS is pushing this month :-)
Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if Apple didn't start evangelising to
software developers again like they did when the Mac first came out
(google Guy Kawasaki).
The real test is games. Will Mac owners just purchase the PC version
and run it in Windows? And let the Mac games industry die a slow
death? I guess the first start is to get some parity in pricing. If
you can buy the Sims on the platinum range for $20 on the PC, why spend
$70 for the Mac version? I guess it will be up to the Mac game
developers to make their versions better! Anyway, you still have to
reboot to play a game. Who can be bothered?
;-)
Very interesting times ahead. Masterstroke from Apple in my book.
Seeya
Rod!
