[X4U] Mac Equivalents of Windows apps (was Re: Apple's move to Intel chips)

[Randy B.Singer]

( . Y . ) said:

>>15000 programs on the Mac and not enough.  One can't please them all.
>
>What people miss though with that way of thinking is of all of the 
>vertically written applications that will forever be PC. How many gas 
>stations are in the U.S.? Every single one of them is running a PC 
>program that is not store bought but rather developed by the big oil 
>company and handed to each gas station owner and told to use it. They 
>must buy a PC. Same thing with every Subway, McDonalds etc. Same with 
>every State Farm, Allstate, etc.


This all dates back to about a dozen years ago when Apple was in real 
trouble in the marketplace.  (A year or two prior to the introduction of 
the iMac.)  To get out of that trouble they made the decision to drop all 
support for vertical (i.e. specialized business) markets, and concentrate 
on their core business of creative markets (graphics, etc.).

Practically overnight users and developers in vertical markets like 
medical, real estate, architecture, etc. couldn't get rid of their Macs 
fast enough.  I did my best to pull the developers and users in legal 
together to try and keep that market from disappearing.  Developers saw 
no future in being in a market where there were severly limited potential 
numbers of sales, and even Apple wasn't going to support their efforts.

Here we are over a decade later, and it was only this past year that 
Apple decided that it was time to get back into vertical markets in a 
very small way.
http://www.apple.com/business/
Apple only has *two* people handling vertical markets right now.  But it 
is a start.

A few years ago I wrote a proposal for Apple suggesting that they get 
back into vertical markets in a big way.  I suggested that bundled 
software and turn-key systems would do well.  My thinking was that 1) 
Apple's market share wasn't going to be going anywhere if they continued 
to only sell the Mac as a general-purpose computer and that 2) Apple was 
well situated to be able to *own* a number of vertical markets where the 
third party software available for the PC wasn't particularly impressive. 
 As an example, if Apple offered a turn-key system for auto garages based 
on FileMaker Pro, I don't suspect that many garages in the country would 
feel that they could do without such as system and remain competitive.  
Apple would soon own that market.  There are practically a countless 
number of vertical markets like this that Apple could own.

Needless to say, Apple didn't go this route.  (And Apple's market share 
has continued to erode, even though sales are up.)  Part of the problem 
is that historically Apple has poured a ton of money into vertical 
markets, and their return on it was terrible.  Apple doesn't want to 
commit money anymore without some really good chance of success.  Also, 
Steve Jobs has a great, but limited, vision of the Mac's future.  He sees 
the Mac as being a "digital hub" for several limited uses.  If you 
present him with a use for the Mac that is outside of that vision, he 
isn't interested.



Randy B. Singer
Co-Author of: The Macintosh Bible (4th, 5th and 6th editions)

Routine OS X Maintenance and Generic Troubleshooting
http://www.macattorney.com/ts.html