Will the Mac end up becoming un-cool?

Faustus

Faustus

Faustus

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I was in a well known High Street outlet the other day and I couldn't help but overhear a girl talking to her parents. This is roughly how the conversation went. "Oh mum look, a MacBook I want one" mum - "why, what's wrong with the Laptop you've got it's almost new and you said how much you liked the new Windows". Girl - "all my friends have got MacBooks they're just so cool".

I thought to myself that just about sums up for a great many people the Mac v PC argument i.e. peer pressure and perception of coolness. Not is it better or will I get full use out of it or do I even know how to use it. To my mind though what they don't realise is that if all these young people buy them to "look cool" to their friends then the product is in danger of becoming "un-cool" due to the fact that they are seen as ubiquitous.

As I have an iMac as well as a PC the thing that often exercises my mind, leaving aside the hardware and plastic versus aluminium baby house arguments of PC versus Mac is the appearance of OS X. I'm begining to realise that when I say I just can't quite get on with OS X I think one of the reasons for that is the way it looks.

That awful grey everywhere and backgrounds that look like graph paper. Now I know it doesn't detract from how the OS functions but I do think that the Windows environment especially Windows 7 is far more pleasing on the eye.

When I see apps to transform a Windows desktop in order to make it look like a "cool Mac" desktop I always think to myself "why"? Example - Mac dock or W7 Taskbar - for me Taskbar wins it every time
 
mac os just works PC's go wrong all the time...

that is the reason to buy a mac...

If I sell a non techie a PC and it will be dog slow, and covered in virus' in under a year

If I sell a non techie a Mac I will never hear from them again (unless they drop it)

So I'd never sell a mac obviously... bad business....
 
Apple ran their famous big brother advert in 1984. They are quickly becoming the new big brother so I think at some point they will become as cool as IBM.
 
They have always been a 'cool' brand. I can't imagine they will ever become uncool, as if they do, they will lose a massive % of their market. Yes there are power users but the majority of their sales are for cool gadgets (iPhone, iPod etc).

*To add; the only way they will become uncool is if another company makes cooler and more desirable products, or they commit commercial suicide by producing a crappy/dangerous/useless product.
 
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edscdk said:
mac os just works PC's go wrong all the time...

that is the reason to buy a mac...

If I sell a non techie a PC and it will be dog slow, and covered in virus' in under a year

If I sell a non techie a Mac I will never hear from them again (unless they drop it)

So I'd never sell a mac obviously... bad business....
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Well let's look at that for a minute. W7 is a fine OS and so is OS X so I think to say PC's go wrong all the time is a sweeping statement that is just plain wrong. My last PC but one didn't go wrong once in eight years and neither has my present three year old one or my six year old Laptop?

Viruses? I have been using computers since Windows 3.1 and I still haven't had a virus (on my PC that is :eek:)

What about my comments regarding the reason I don't seem able to get on with OS X?
 
a.hay said:
They have always been a 'cool' brand. I can't imagine they will ever become uncool, as if they do, they will lose a massive % of their market. Yes there are power users but the majority of their sales are for cool gadgets (iPhone, iPod etc).

*To add; the only way they will become uncool is if another company makes cooler and more desirable products, or they commit commercial suicide by producing a crappy/dangerous/useless product.
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Yes but with any market and especially the young, once a product becomes ubiquitous then it quickly loses its appeal. I can almost guarantee that if the tables were turned and Apple was the worlds most popular computer that MS would then be seen as "cool".
 
a.hay said:
Faustus, you mean you havn't pressed ctrl+alt+delete in 11 years?
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I mean I have only ever had one BSOD and that was my fault. Yes maybe a prog sometimes hangs but a Mac can crash too you know, look on the Mac forums sometimes and you will see it's not all plain sailing.
 
I think one could argue that they already are somewhat uncool.

I got my first Mac in 2002 just before the iPod explosion happened. I bought it for the range of programmes it had, as I'd been using them at Uni on my degree course and needed one for home. The machines obviously have for over a decade now also been very nice to look at and many of the windows equivalents have obviously somewhat caught up, but I still prefer a Mac.

They have grown so big now thanks to the success of their other products, coupled with the fact that most people after a home computer now will buy a laptop and so they want a nice looking laptop. It almost seems that most people who could afford to buy a Mac laptop will get one, unless they aren't open to change, prefer something better value or just don't like Apple.

So it used to be that when you went into a coffee shop and saw somebody on a Mac laptop, it was quite rare. I can also see why back then, some Mac users would have been quite friendly with each other... like "Oh hey, you use a Mac too! What's that, the Powerbook huh?"

Now though, when you go into the same coffee shop, nearly everybody will be on a Mac, many just trying to pose.

I think it's in that sense that it's lost it's cool, as people seem to think that having one makes you an instantly cool person, but it doesn't.

The other thing I don't like about what Apple has become is the whole people who pray at the church of Jobs thing. For example, I used to work with a guy, in his mid thirties, who funnily enough fitted the stereotype perfectly with the black rimmed glasses and polo neck jumpers! He buys everything new that Apple releases instantly, he also harps on about wanting to be at Macworld and Developers Conferences and such.

Being a PC Geek is seriously uncool.
As Apple has or had quite a cool image, I think many people thought they could basically be a geek, but be quite cool. However, that's gone now and you've just got the same computer geeks thinking they are cool with one up on any other person who uses PCs.

Yes I use Macs myself, I prefer them, but I don't like the way some people act about them.
 
Why would MS ever be cool? They supply an operating system, not a physical product (with exception of the Xbox). Apple have reigns over hardware, have a fantastic OS and really good looking hardware. Their business models are totally different and can't really be compared in the way you are looking at it.

The iPhone is probably the most popular phone on the planet and it is still cool, so the ubiquitous argument doesn't really wash.
 
Not the mac specifically but apple products are starting to go 'uncool', lots of people like to snipe at the iphone and ipad and exaggerate their weaknesses in the same way people snipe at new versions of windows or the goverment! The mac doesn't really get that flak at the moment though. They are probably getting more flak than MS at the moment actually, windows 7 is really good, the xbox is a success, people are looking forward to windows mobile 7 and everyone pretty much ignores the zune so it doesn't get positive or negative attention. I'm neither an MS fanboy or Apple, I use both daily. If mac pcs and laptops become more popular than their windows counterparts or comparative, they will certainly lose a bit of their cool.
 
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a.hay said:
The iPhone is probably the most popular phone on the planet and it is still cool, so the ubiquitous argument doesn't really wash.
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I think this discussion is more about Mac though and the actual computer systems. As the iPhone is a different device, but that and the iPod is what is making people in their droves switch to a Mac over a PC.
 
Macs have a fantastic OS
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So tell me why? I have the iMac and yet I let the wife use it as I prefer W7. I think the UI is much nicer, translucent windows, new well thought out Taskbar etc. Compare that to the Mac Toys R Us UI with the horrible grey every where with backgrounds like graph paper etc. Yes the Mac hardware is very nice indeed but I just don't get the whole OS X thing. To my mind MS has woken up and caught up with W7 and is the nicer of the two systems to use.
 
Faustus said:
Compare that to the Mac Toys R Us UI with the horrible grey every where with backgrounds like graph paper etc.
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Seriously? That's just more than stupid.

fan_boy.jpg


While I agree that W7 is a massive improvement, compared to OSX, it's a pile of crap :)
 
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The dock in osx is pretty useless, but isn't much different to windows tasbar.

I think having to open finder in a new window really annoys me the most. Why can't they have a popup box like linux and windows?
 
Thing is, as their price is somewhat higher than the pc equvilant, it will always be cool as the price itself will limit it's amount sold.

Less = cool.
 
Faustus said:
Well let's look at that for a minute. W7 is a fine OS and so is OS X so I think to say PC's go wrong all the time is a sweeping statement that is just plain wrong. My last PC but one didn't go wrong once in eight years and neither has my present three year old one or my six year old Laptop?

Viruses? I have been using computers since Windows 3.1 and I still haven't had a virus (on my PC that is :eek:)

What about my comments regarding the reason I don't seem able to get on with OS X?
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a sample of 1 machine is not very scientific,

how do you know you dont have a virus? once a root kit is in you will never know its there...

I have visited 100's of home users over the past 2 years, the only mac calls I ever get are because

1) they dropped it
2) someone else dropped it
3) its new and they are scred to take it out the box
4) they stole it and dont know the login password (only once for that)

several 'retarded' users have upgraded to mac's the only time the needed help was to open the box and set up their email...

Don't get me wrong I hate mac's.... I dont want stuff jsut working...
 
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