According to Macworld online (7/7/06), computer industry analysts predict that the ability of Macs to run Windows well (either via Parallels or Boot Camp) isn't going to do much to increase the market share of Macs in the business world.
No surprise here.
I will say it again: While there may be a reason for Macs to want to run Windows, there's virtually no reason for somebody with a Windows machine to want to run the Mac OS as well, at least no commercial reason. Businesses are about productivity, not about vaguely "better" user interfaces for operating systems. What business software does the Mac have that isn't available for Windows? Even in the category of personal "lifestyle" software, what does the Mac have that can't be matched pretty well on the PC?
The fact that so much of Apple's marketing now is focused on the ability of Macs to run Windows, does not seem to me in any way a sign of the strength of the Mac OS. There is a distinct strain of snobbery in Apple's ads - one is almost tempted to call it OS-ism. Mac users are like the old aristocrats, still convinced that not needing to work is proof of their own superiority, and oblivious to the fact that nobody actually gives a damn any more. "Well, yes, Charles, I suppose you could run Windows XP on it, too, if you had the stomach for it." Sheesh.
(Originally published on Typepad 7/13/2006)
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Comments about matters trivial - and quadrivial - by William Porter
