In the long run Mac OS X will be one of the most successful
computer products ever. Why? Because it combines the four holy grails
of computing:
The ease of use of a Mac
The power of Unix
The NeXTstep Development tools
A broad application base
I'm pretty sure this combination is going to be very tempting for
a lot of people. First, there are the old diehard Mac users who have
been waiting for a "modern" OS ever since Apple promised to build one
in the System 7.1 era. They will want to have it no matter what.
Later there will be those diehard Mac users that will be caught by
Apple's marketing efforts as soon as they start (probably somewhere
in the summer) pushing this thing in the media.
But Mac OS X will also tempt a new group of customers: Unix
geeks. These will come in droves, because they will finally be able
to get their hands on an OS that is both Unix and also able to run
stuff like Internet Explorer and MS Word. This is not a very
large group, but I suspect they have some influence in the enterprise
IT world.
There will also be lots of developers porting their stuff to Mac
OS X. According to Apple, 20,000 apps are being built for the
new Mac OS - that is more than are currently available for the old
Mac OS.
Besides current developers of importance (Adobe, Macromedia,
Microsoft, etc.), you'll see lots of other big name software
companies (Oracle, SAP, Computer Associates, etc.) port their stuff
to OS X. They will not only be tempted to do this because of the
fact that OS X is Unix-based or that you can develop using the
new Macified version of the NeXTstep Development Tools, but also
because Apple will be dominating the Unix world. Apple will be the
single biggest supplier of Unix-based computing on this planet.
Because of that latest group of developers, I'm pretty sure
OS X not only will be quite a success in the consumer market,
but more significantly in the server market. As soon as Apple gets
those quad and octo G4s out the door, they will almost instantly grab
a large part of the server business. It will be just too tempting to
get your hands on a Unix server that even an uneducated mortal can
administer.
Yeah, OS X rocks. Mark my words, in the coming year it will
be totally uncool to even point your finger at a Wintel or Linux box.
Of course, we old Mac users, will need to get used to OS X and
probably complain a bit about not being able to put docs all over the
hard disk and about the interface being a bit like system 6 on
steroids, but in the end we will rejoice the simplicity and the
beauty of it all.
And what will Microsoft think of all this? I don't think they are
really worried. They will continue to dominate the application
market. It's Linux users Microsoft is a lot more worried about,
because that is an entity they can't control and can't negotiate
with.
With OS X, it is an entirely different matter. Bill Gates just has
to pick up the phone and call Steve Jobs. "Hey, buddy, what's
cooking?" "Just made myself another billion." "Me, too."
My 4 favorite PowerBooks, 05.28.
The PowerBook 150 has a big screen for a vintage PowerBook, the 165c has color, the 100 is diminutive, and Lombard has USB and a great keyboard.
Wouldn't life be great with an iSlate?, John Hatchett, Recycled Computing, 07.04.
PDAs and smartphones are too small for some tasks, full-fledged Tablet PCs are overkill, and ebook readers are too limited. Apple has the tech to own this niche.
Mac of the Day: Original iMac G3/233, Aug. 98 - The Bondi blue wonder that bounced Apple back to profitability and into the public eye.
List of the Day: Mac Pro List is for those using a Mac Pro.
The Macintosh Portable started a notebook revolution, Carl Nygren, Classic Macs in the Intel Age, 07.03.
Before Apple introduced the Mac Portable, notebook computers were text-based and ran MS-DOS. Ever since, graphical interfaces have been the norm for laptops.
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