But you see, Adorno, for the 5% or so of users for whom Apple stuff is the right choice, it works REALLY well. They love it because it works really well. Seriously -- it's not blind brand loyalty, it's loyalty because the stuff does what they want it to do, without a lot of hassle.
I know, I know, you can't conceive of Apple's brand loyalty being for actual reasons like "it works really well for {me}".
The point is, if Microsoft had ever done the extra work (that Apple, in general, did) to make sure their products were designed that well and worked that well, they too would have that kind of fanatical following, and they'd be a lot more successful that they are already.
Apple's fanatical fan base is a RESULT, not a CAUSE, of how the company does things. And Microsoft's user base opinion of that company is likewise a result, not a cause of how Microsoft does things.
I look forward to the MS fanbase picking up interest now that MS is doing great hardware. It's about time.
You fail to realize, or you fail to mention, that Microsoft was not in the business of doing the hardware side of PCs. Thus, most of the complaints regarding Windows, were the result of the hardware failures and driver failures, which to many users, were manifested through the OS.
Now that Microsoft is involved with the hardware side too, the complaints about their hardware are few and minor. People blamed ALL problems on Windows when the majority of them were hardware-based and driver-based.
Having said that, there is NOTHING that Apple has done with their hardware that wasn’t being done by one or more of the Windows OEMs. While some were poor quality, others were of very high-quality and even superior in quality to the Apple stuff. Fact is that, every PC that I ever owned, didn’t have hardware problems, no matter the brand. The quality of Apple stuff is mostly hype. The fanaticism for Apple stuff is real and not hype. No doubt, now that the Surface devices and the Lumia phones are of the same or better quality as the Apple stuff, the Apple fanatics will still feel loyal to their mother Apple, and continue purchasing the Apple stuff, even if it’s inferior stuff.
Don’t try to win an argument with the anti apple crowd/contrarians, they don’t and won’t listen to anything that doesn’t jive with “you are all stupid, you pay too much for crappy stuff, you are just lemmings”.
I spent the better part of 3 decades bashing Apple, and deservedly so. My debates with Apple users go all the way back to the Apple II days, when I had friends spending thousands of dollars on machines that a $200 Commodore 64 could blow out of the water. There was a time that Apple was offering very little other than brand loyal overpriced stuff.
However, there was even back then, once the Macintosh came into being, a valid argument that Mac’s were simpler to use for the average Joe. And that argument remains valid to this day, even though MS Windows did simplify somewhat it never got to the MAC level.... then at a time when it finally should have been closing that gap.. MS went and unleashed Windows 8 and just re-enforced the reality.
I work on all sorts of systems, Windows, Mac, Unix flavors, I write software for all of them as well as various mobile platforms as well. The reality is simple, and some folks won’t accept it, that apple’s ecosystem is simple to use and highly integrated and works well. Its a fine choice for the typical user. Are there fan boys? Of course, and is everything they do revolutionary no? Does the company try to sell every little tweak as the greatest thing since sliced bread and overhype things? Yep.... but so does every other company out there... Waterproof S5’s anyone? The rabid apple fans deserve to be mocked, the folks who will wait in line for 48 hours to be the first to own X or Y deserve to be mocked for that sort of mania that they seem to have... but Apple has long ago left the realm of marketing products to just them. They have won over a lot of folks for delivering on promises and providing good products.
My personal realization that Apple was not the laughable horrible beast of my youth, was the first time I had to contact support, and for the first time in over a decade I got to talk to someone who spoke English as a first language. Yes the product I purchased that I called for support on was expensive for what it was, I could have bought another brand with similar hardware specs for less, but no way I would have gotten the support I did from them... There was something more to the company than the fanboy idiots.
I use and write software on tons of different hardware and from many different vendors and platforms. Bashers of Apple, generally fall into two camps these days.... Contrarians, who are just going to be against whoever is the dominant player in any market no matter what, and folks who are more against/offended by the apple fandboys than they are against Apple itself.
I agree that Apple will elicit this sort of response from some personality types no matter what... When I have to watch a video of Johnny trying to tell me why this apple thing is the greatest thing since sliced bread, I myself find myself rolling my eyes often... but its marketing, its all smoke and mirrors no matter what company is doing it. I do the same thing when I watch google IO presentations as they try to oversell something they’ve done as well.
MS sadly shot itself in the foot long ago as a tech driver, and I don’t see it regaining that crown again. It isn’t going away, and it may even come up with a cool thing now and again, but a driver of tech, not likely. Ballmer and Gates wrecked that possibilities in the late 90s.. They missed many opportunities to lead because they were worried about protecting their turf, and they paid the price. MS isn’t going anywhere, but its not going to change the landscape.
I’m sure the machine is a fine machine spec wise, but I fully expect a year from now, its sales will be paltry, because there is only so much market for a high end windows PC... that’s just the reality. There is a high end windows PC market today with great spec hardware in it from manufacturers, sticking a windows logo on your own box doesn’t create a new marketplace... the existing marketplace for this is limited, and MS’s machine is just another machine in it.