Paul Weaver wrote:
Reg asked why its difficult for most people to buy a Mac?
Well Reg, I feel sure you know what I meant.
Electrical stores in Perth are full of PCs to suit every budget and all the
gizmos which go with them. It's been like this for a long time. You simply
walk into a store, pay your money and walk out with the machine of your
choice.
Can we make that '*limited* choice'
You cannot go into Macdonald's and ask for a nice curry either, so do
you accept the cheeseburger at a 'great' price or do you keep shopping?
A rhetorical question of course ;-)
Software for PCs abounds too. For example the latest Officeworks
catalogue has a page of security and business software, none for Macs. Plus
a lot of this stuff has cashback deals or other enticements. The big
electrical retailers are uninterested in Macs. If anything suitable turns
up on their shelves then its accidental.
Could this have something to do with profit margins for the reseller?
I think Apple cares more about us, its end users, than even its own
licensed retailers let alone Officeworks.
It seems like hardly a day passes here without some glossy brochure arriving
with the latest PC offerings. Already they have Vista installed. As for
reliability, one of my sons has used a Windoze machine for five years and
never had any trouble. He recently bought a PC laptop because his GPS
software won't run on Macs. There is plenty of people who can fix them too.
It doesn't sadden me that most of the times I sort a customer out with a
Mac that they never call back to do more business. Aside from the odd
gem where they want another one or they send a friend my way.
There is rarely any; 'can you come over and run through that again' or
'I cant find my thing'.
Friends and customers who refuse to take my advice and adhere to windows
still call me regularly to have me organise clean and disinfect, despite
the income it offers I am now avoiding this as it feels like I'm in a
time warp going round and round! It's like they just don't get it and I
am talking about the same kind of five year period Paul has mentioned.
Like Paul's son, I too can and have kept an XP box going, that doesn't
make it a good system though.
I think you can even do a repair course at TAFE.
The shame is your TAFE will not offer anything meaningful in Mac courses
anyway.
The networking course I did was a shocker!
Two years of MS curriculum *straight* from MS text books. The grammar
alone was infuriating!!
One particular teacher (who was unaware of my preferred system) would
stand out the front and regularly volunteer much anti-mac sentiment.
It was like he saw himself as a crusader.
Fair enough if he was countering someone who was spouting Mac this and
Mac that but no one ever even mentioned Macs, they all 'hated' them
already anyway!
Once a fellow student secretly confided in me the reason he 'hated' them
was that they were the computers he had to use while at school.
So he had a negative association with Macs as they were 'for school
kids'. So upon leaving school all he wanted to use was an 'adults computer'.
He also admitted Macs 'were probably' good computers, secretly mind you,
he didn't want to rock the boat.
*I* know why he never saw PC/Windows computers at school.
Now can you tell me why children? ;-) (Sorry, I get very cheeky sometimes)
Don't get me wrong, I like my Macs, but there are many aspects about the PC
world I as a consumer envy.
I wonder if that is like how it is much easier to buy Christmas presents
these days.
There are millions more 'things' marketed and sold as Christmas
presents, albeit crappily designed and produced, not to mention the harm
felt by bona fide local manufacturers and the short life span of those
products. Not, IMHO, an improvement. Quite the opposite.
Will the Mac desktop computer eventually go the same way as the Microbee?
The easiest way to buy a Mac seems to be online from Apple. This is not
easy for people buying their first computer.
As I've never bought a new Mac I'd like to know why going into your
nearest licensed store makes it difficult to buy one.
For such an important and large purchase I'd hate to think convenience
is a major deciding factor.
It seems to me similar to the purchase of a new prestige car, excuse my
lack of experience here too, but that never seems too convenient either.
Perhaps until the dust of the initial stampede settles that is ;-)
Also, I think the educational pricing discount is a very unfair
discriminatory sales tactic, even though I am entitled by their rules to use
it.
Cheers, Paul.
I do hear what you are saying Paul, that the grass seems greener and I
agree that there are a few tasty patches, but I am a healthier herding
animal, both physically and mentally for sticking mainly to this side of
the fence.
I can use both platforms, if I had to choose between them... well you
know what I would choose :-)
Cheers
Paul
