Maybe Apple should help people understand they can EASILY have BOTH on one machine– it finesses the “one key Windows app from work” problem.

@Harry: “Maybe Apple should do more to explain why a PC household should welcome a Mac or two; maybe Microsoft should stop snarking at Mac owners, since most of them are also PC owners. If they did, they’d be addressing millions of sensible consumers who find value in both companies’ wares…”

IOW: Apple should take advantage of these stats to increase their market share, while Microsoft should STFU. ;)

On the flip side, you have absolute dumb asses who talk about Apple systems as “Fisher Price toys for idiots who are teh suck at computorz”. Which is interesting, because I can’t remember the last time I had a full fledged bash shell on Windows or had the same debugging and development depth on Windows that I have on Unix, Linux or OSX (granted, things may have come a long way from the black box and memdump of the old Windows days). And of course, the majority of software developers that I know – including those who are pretty heavy movers and shakers in the industry – pack Apple laptops and not merely a few Apple desktops. hardly turtle-neck-wearing morons who “can’t figure out two button mice”.

Personally, I’m a Unix and Linux guy, but I do most of my non compiling and debugging work on OSX. Why? Well, I’m tired of all the glitches and problems with Windows over the last couple decades. And the experience of the interface has always sort of worn on me. Linux? Well, I’m a big fan and occasional contributor, but on the desktop . . . I’m not interested in spending countless hours or days or weeks of my *free time* diagnosing why my audio randomly stopped working or why valid ModeLines are being ignored in my config. When I was 20 and had all the time and patience in the world, that sort of challenge was actually enjoyable. But now, I could be doing other things with that time like spending it on work projects.

OSX gives me much of the *nix power I need with a robust hardware configuration and pleasant interface while having the ability to, as needed, live in the shell.

On to the discussion at hand, however. Citing use by Apple users is hardly validation of any type. Long lines aren’t awesome because every person has to wait in them at the DMV. They’re an unwanted necessity. Do you think people who use Apple or Linux or Unix also use Windows because they derive so much pleasure from it? Of course not. They do it because they like games and that’s the platform with games. Or because certain applications from their employer or school require it. They are necessary obligations that they’d rather avoid, if they could.

That isn’t to say anything negative about people who prefer Windows. It’s just obvious that you can’t say that forced necessity is the same as preference or desired adoption.

When Apple started the I’m a Mac ads, they were very clearly an underdog who had to steal some mindshare back from the colossus that was Microsoft. Underdogs jab at the market leaders all the time; it can be an effective advertising tool, when properly executed. Since people are more or less reluctant to try new things, convincing them to do so often requires arguments both *against* the status quo and *for* the alternative. Whether that sort of advertising is still appropriate or necessary, given Apple’s vastly improved position, is debatable, but sometimes “if it ain’t broke” works, and Apple’s marketing department is paid to sell computers, not be nice guys.

I agree. Microsoft have been making great Mac software for decades, I remember years ago it was common knowledge that much of Microsoft’s published reports were produced on Macs. IE5 was at the time, the only web decent browser for Mac (before Mozilla came along, and was renamed / trimmed to Firefox). Outlook Express was a great Mail Client for OS9, and Microsoft Office 2001 blew the socks off of AppleWorks, it even had an animated paperclip.
Apple went nasty, which is a shame, as they clearly have good products and can could sell them on the benefits.