Low End Mac Reader Specials

TypeStyler For Mac OS X is Now Shipping! Download The Free Fully Functional 60 Day Tryout at www.typestyler.com

OWC: We Make DIY Upgrading Easy! Maximize your Apple MacBook / MacBook Pro. Up to 8.0GB Memory, up to 1.0TB HD & More. Easy Guide + Free, Detailed Installation Videos. Click here

Poker Mac Don't install Parallels to play poker online! Poker Mac will show you how to download and install a native Mac poker application such as Full Tilt Poker Mac.

Laptop Hardware Provided by TechRestore - Overnight Mac & iPod Repairs.

Compare products like desktop computers, apple laptops, apple macs, and LCD Monitors side by side! All the information and reviews to make the best purchasing decision for new mobile phones, sat nav systems, or MP3 players. The Ciao online shopping community makes searching products easy for you.

Mac Scope

Is Apple Looking for a Smack in the Head?

Stephen Van Esch - 2002.08.14

Everyone remembers those old milk churns that were used to transport milk all over the country. Most of these churns have found new life at country fairs and as overpriced flowerpots. If you haven't seen one before, it's essentially a cylinder with a hinged lid on the top.

There is an old Dutch saying that goes something like this:

"If you try to get the last drop of milk from the bottom of the churn, the lid will likely smack you in the head."

In other words, greedy people get what they deserve, a smack in the head.

It looks like Microsoft is about the get a smack in the head. Its subscription scheme was specifically designed to do two things. One is to lock in current users for the long haul. The second is to charge them more for the same product.

This strategy is designed around a single premise: that users are so dedicated to Microsoft and Microsoft products (ostensibly because they are vastly superior to the competition) that Microsoft can do whatever they feel and charge whatever they want.

Unfortunately for Microsoft, this is not the case. Recent studies have shown that many companies are seriously considering opting out of the Microsoft tax. Whole governments (like Norway and Peru) have mandated that, at the very least, Microsoft should compete for contracts.

The lid seems to be coming down.

All of this is good news for Apple, of course. Upgrades are costly and difficult to implement. For many companies, wiping the slate clean now and starting fresh with something other than Microsoft would be just as costly to implement, but it would save them scads of cash because they wouldn't have to sign up for Microsoft's expensive and controlling licensing plans for Office and Windows XP.

Of course, Apple is not immune to greed. The recent decision to charge full price for OS 10.2 upgrades and to charge users for .Mac demonstrates that Apple is no different from any other company. Profits must be made, and investors must be satisfied. It would be easy to sling mud at Microsoft

Apple's monopoly position in the Mac market gives it the same power Microsoft enjoys.
and claim that Apple is a better corporate citizen, but, truth be told, Apple would likely do the same things if their positions were reversed.

Essentially, Apple's monopoly position in the Mac market gives it the same power Microsoft enjoys. Like it or lump it, we're wedded to the machines we use everyday. Apple and Microsoft know this and are willing to exploit it - until the lid smacks them in the head, that is.

Stephen Van Esch is the founder and president of the E-learning Foundry, an online training resource for Mac users. Steve loves the Mac and is doubly bilingual, since he's also fluent in Windows and French.

Recently on Mac Scope

Links for the Day

Recent Content on Low End Mac

Recent Deals

About LEM | Support | Usage | Privacy | Contacts

Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2009 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc., unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Advice presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all. Please report errors to .
  LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.
  Access our RSS news feed at http://lowendmac.com/feed.xml.
  Email may be published at our discretion; email addresses will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. If you prefer your message not be published, mark it "not for publication." Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
  PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it. For more details, see our Terms of Use.
  Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iBook, iMac, eMac, iPod, iPhone, PowerBook, MacBook, MagSafe, Mac Pro, Apple TV, and AirPort are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.

Custom Search

Amazon.com

Navigation

Used Mac Dealers
Apple History
Video Cards
Email Lists

Favorite Sites

MacSurfer
MacMinute
MacInTouch
MyAppleMenu
InfoMac
Macs Only!
The Mac Observer
Accelerate Your Mac
RetroMacCast
PB Central
MacWindows
The Vintage Mac
   Museum
DealMac
DealsOnTheWeb
Mac2Sell
ramseeker
Mac Driver Museum
JAG's House
System 6 Heaven
System 7 Today
the pickle's Low-End
   Mac FAQ
Abandonware
   Petition
Mac vs. PC Info

Affiliates

The Apple Store
Mac Connection
B&H
MacMall
TechRestore
ExperCom
Crucial Memory
batteries.com

Advertise

All of our advertising is handled by BackBeat Media. For price quotes and advertising information, please contact at BackBeat Media (646-546-5194). This number is for advertising only.

Open Link

Problems viewing this page with Internet Explorer 5.5 or 6? It works fine in other browsers, including IE 7. We recommend Firefox for those using Windows, as it is standards based and more secure than IE 6 (and earlier). More LEM visitors use Firefox than any other browser.