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ingus, on 25 January 2013 - 05:48 PM, said:
stimarco, on 24 January 2013 - 04:02 AM, said:
I'm curious as to why people think iOS and OS X aren't the same OS. A GUI is NOT an "operating system" and that's the only real difference between the two platforms. Under the hood, both are basically the same, with only relatively minor tweaks for the hardware profiles they're aimed at.
And it would probably make more sense for Apple to just buy AMD than to do any of the things the slaves to the rumour mill have been suggesting in recent months. Apple already have an ARM license, but AMD would get them an x86-compatible CPU _and_ a strong GPU company who already have experience in combining the two.
As others have pointed out, 90% of users are not "power" users. You don't need four or eight x86 cores plus a high-end graphics card to do basic word processing, browse the internet (unless you're using Flash), and play the occasional game.
And Apple have never, ever, been all that bothered by the outlying 10% of enthusiasts and power users. They're not Apple's target market, so they don't get to vote.
And it would probably make more sense for Apple to just buy AMD than to do any of the things the slaves to the rumour mill have been suggesting in recent months. Apple already have an ARM license, but AMD would get them an x86-compatible CPU _and_ a strong GPU company who already have experience in combining the two.
As others have pointed out, 90% of users are not "power" users. You don't need four or eight x86 cores plus a high-end graphics card to do basic word processing, browse the internet (unless you're using Flash), and play the occasional game.
And Apple have never, ever, been all that bothered by the outlying 10% of enthusiasts and power users. They're not Apple's target market, so they don't get to vote.
So you only get to vote if you're in the majority? Wow! Just... wow!
So we Mac user's on the desktop constitute about 10-15%, I guess we don't get to vote. Way to go Rush.
More egregious than ingus's dismissal of power users and enthusiasts, which is bad enough, is his ignorance about OS X and iOS. The iOS was built on an OS X core, but that doesn't mean it's the same OS, by any stretch. The differences go far beyond the user interface. For one thing, iOS was stripped down to run on an ARM processor; it would need to be substantially rewritten for x86. Likewise, OSX simply could not run on ARM without being significantly crippled from what it is now. Look at what Microsoft had to do to Windows to get it to run on ARM. Among other things, it requires all new software, a not insignificant expense. And the software you do get is not really comparable to real Windows software.
As for power users, ingus is clueless. Apple has been catering to power users for decades. Which is why it had an initial lead among desktop publishing and graphic design professionals. The only power users Apple largely ignored were gamers. It's been a while since the Mac Pro has been refreshed, but that is due in part to its long life cycle compared to other Mac models.
There are niche markets Apple has ignored in the past, including the build-your-own crowd, but given how Mac sales have flattened out in recent quarters, Apple's desktop strategy could use a reset of its own. I won't presume what, if anything, Apple will come up with to address their flagging sales, but I don't think I'm going far out on a limb to suggest they need to come up with something. I suspect many Mac Pro owners, for example, are holding off buying new hardware until they see what Apple does with the Mac Pro refresh we've been told is coming this year. That's one of the advantages of the Mac Pro: You can nurse more useful years out of it than with most other computers.
In the end, it's not an either/or proposition: general use vs. power use. Apple can, as it has always done, support both.
