Green IT Toolkit

Story: Is Apple on the way out?

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Apple = simplicity, elegance and detail. Where the first one may be something that Linux is targetting for the coming years when it comes to User Interface design, the last two are things that a lot of people seem to overlook when it  comes to the finishing of personal computers (and that relates to both the hardware/product design and what's on screen/user interface).

I have a design background, so maybe I'm a bit biased towards looking at product finishing, but one thing Apple has got going for them on the hardware and the software side is an eye for detail and I think more and more people will start to appreciate that (when they buy an iPod). There is a lot of electronic rubbish on the market these days, both hardware and software. I don't want to sound snobbish here, but spending that extra money on an Apple machine gets you that extra level of quality.

Linux is great in a lot of ways, but on the user interface side it's a different story (still trying to get that USB drive mounted without having to resort to the command line).
As long as the majority of Linux developers is playing catch-up with (or targeting as you call it) OsX, instead of targetting a positive user experience, things will remain complicated. Apple's OS has always been designed with the (end-)user in mind at that shows. I use Windows XP (no choice here, my employer does not allow anything else), Linux Fedora Core 2 and Mac OsX Panther on a daily basis and it's not very difficult to tell you what my preferred platform is (starts with an large 'A').

What matters in the end though is what the majority of pc users wants and that, In My Humble Opinion (I don't like acronyms), is simplicity in their computer experience. One of the points you note is the variety that people can choose from when they want to acquire a Personal Computer. Although variety of choice can be a very good thing, it can also make it a very frustrating experience. I bought a new Apple machine earlier this year and with their 'limited' offer of different models, it already took some thinking to decide which one was best for me (hundreds would have required a lifetime of research). What I want to point out here is that with apple, simplicity starts already with the shopping experience.

I don't want to sound like a Mac zealot and I can go on for quite while, but I'm pretty sure that Apple is certainly not on the way out and maybe even more on the way in (although time will have to tell). Apple has a huge installed base in the creative world and this won't change in the years ahead. People want to create, manage and enjoy content and Apple computers appear to be the most compelling solution here.

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