Mac OS X Usage Disappointing

[Zombie9920]

It's hard to pin down the number of people that use alternative operating systems such as the Mac OS or Linux, but this week Apple CEO Steve Jobs admitted that the number of users upgrading to Mac OS X, his company's UNIX-based modern OS offering, is pretty disappointing. In an interview with C|NET, Jobs said that only 1 to 2 million people were actively using Mac OS X, though the company hoped to see 5 million active OS X users by the end of the year. Particularly damaging is news that at least half of the users that received new Mac systems so far this year--on which OS X was preinstalled as the default OS--switched back to the old OS 9 system upon getting their systems. But the biggest problem, of course, is that OS X will do nothing to raise Apple's market share, an increasingly frightening situation for a company grappling with.

From http://www.wininformant.com/Articles/Index.cfm?ArticleID=25242

[hoojchoons]

Yes, it is really disappointing but the same goes for Windoze XP. The sales or upgrades of the new M$ parody of operating system are really low as well. As for Mac OSX, I have a major complaint concerning the support for less common used languages, like Greek for example. The Greek version of Mac OSX still isn't ready, so for the Greek Mac users that's really a dissapointment. Aside the internationalisation problems, there are also problems for most Mac users with some applications they used to run on previous Mac OS versions, which are not ready yet for the new platform. Let's face it. Apple did make a big step forward by deciding to adopt and build its new operating system on a new FreeBSD-based kernel.

[psyjax]

I don't find this too alarming. OS X and OS 9 are available on all new Mac's. So in essance all new Mac users do have OS X, even if they don't use it as their main OS. I booted in to OS 9 yesterday because I just hooked up an old printer of mine and OS X had trouble with it (I later fixed this problem), it's handy to keep around because some old Apps don't run well on OS X. Kind of like Windows and DOS, there are alot of DOS apps worth keeping around.

None the less, all of OS X's hickups are gonna be fixed in Jaguare and with that I expect to see more of a migration to the platform. As more stuff comes out for OS X, the more OS 9 will get left behind. Period. It's just a matter of time.

EDIT: after clicking your link, I noticed this article is a bit biased. As hoojoochums <sp> just mentioned, XP isn't that big of a success story eather, probably less so than OS X.

[ May 19, 2002: Message edited by: psyjax ]

[Zombie9920]

quote:Originally posted by psyjax:
I don't find this too alarming. OS X and OS 9 are available on all new Mac's. So in essance all new Mac users do have OS X, even if they don't use it as their main OS. I booted in to OS 9 yesterday because I just hooked up an old printer of mine and OS X had trouble with it (I later fixed this problem), it's handy to keep around because some old Apps don't run well on OS X. Kind of like Windows and DOS, there are alot of DOS apps worth keeping around.

None the less, all of OS X's hickups are gonna be fixed in Jaguare and with that I expect to see more of a migration to the platform. As more stuff comes out for OS X, the more OS 9 will get left behind. Period. It's just a matter of time.

EDIT: after clicking your link, I noticed this article is a bit biased. As hoojoochums <sp> just mentioned, XP isn't that big of a success story eather, probably less so than OS X.

[ May 19, 2002: Message edited by: psyjax ]

From what I understand Jaguar is going to require a high end G4 system to run acceptably(I may be wrong though). That is going to leave alot of Mac users out in the dugout because there are alot of Mac owners who only have a G3.

(EDIT)I'm sure there is alot more than a measly 2 Million people using XP as we speak, so I don't know how you could call it a bigger failure than OSX. ;P(EDIT)

[ May 19, 2002: Message edited by: Zombie9920 ]

[psyjax]

Comparative failiur when you look at the amount of people using other windows variants.

As i understand it, the main requirement is a better video card, in which case upgrading your card to an NVidia or high end ATI will do just fine.

[Vincent]

I honestly dont' see what is so shocking about the numbers, both XP and OS X take a lot more power to run effectively than their predacessors and it's not as if the avarage consumer is very excited at the prospect of an upgade. When it comes to OS upgrading, most people apply the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" philosophy. I think it will take a few years before both OSes get some serious usage, mainly do to the fact that by then, consumers will be forced to upgrade if they want their system to be capable of running any newer software.

[Heru]

From what I've eard Jaguar will run on any mac that the other versions of OS X run on.

Personally I've never used OS X but i've heard many good things about it and am seriously considering buying a Titianium PowerBook.  And being based on Free-BSD it is much more stable.

And isn't it possible to boot OS 9 in a window on OS X?

[ May 20, 2002: Message edited by: Heru ]

[psyjax]

Yes it is. OS 9 runs seemlesly with OS X in an emulated layer.

It's awsome!