A Six-Step Plan for Apple 773
An anonymous reader writes "Open letter from Alex Salkever to Jobs. One thing in particular strikes me: 'The latest round of attacks on Microsoft software is terrifying. If using a Mac means servers in Russia are less likely to harvest my passwords and offer my identity to the highest bidder, I think that's an offer I'd like to hear more about.' I think he's got something there."
Yeah right (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Yes, well if everyone started using Macs... (Score:1, Interesting)
IF you just run it off line all the time, no wonder you have no worries. I use one that way too, by the way, for my PC games. (stupid games require Admin login to play them, so I yanked the internet plug on it)
Apple could change the world today (Score:1, Interesting)
This would have an immediate tidal wave effect, probably of near-biblical proportions. Sure it would flush Apple's hardware business in the toilet, who but the trendiest of CEOs and graphic designers would pay 3x the price for fancy form factors? But the number of people clamoring for something other than Windows is pretty large, given the MS-bashing that goes on even in mainstream media. Apple would clean up in software sales--and their license sure has MS beat. I salivate over the idea of a $199 family pack that allows one copy of OS X to be installed on 5 PCs.
Talk about introducing some fresh competition into the OS market! I can't think of a reason other than Steve Jobs' stubbornness that keeps this from happening. I would jump ship in a split second. And it might even prod game developers to get those Mac ports out the door.
Re:I just can't see it.... (Score:5, Interesting)
Is that why about 50% of the laptops at the USENIX Advanced Technical Conference [usenix.org] last week were Macs?
Seems like lots of geeks, at least the ones that go to USENIX (people like, er, Rob Pike, who might know something about innovative software) use Macs.
Re:I just can't see it.... (Score:1, Interesting)
I am a musician and an engineer. I use the tool I find that works the best on the job I am doing. For music, I am sorry, but the PC world is light years behind the mac world. And it's not just in software, it's reliability. I used to use a PC for about ten years on music, then one day, bought an old used mac and found I could do more reliably on my old G3 350Mhz machine than my fairly new 1.2Ghz athlon machine.
Why?
Because, unlike the PC world, I was buying a system from a small set of configurations. This means that the chances of the software running reliably on the hardware I had is greater. Now I didn't have to worry about the fact that on my Athlon MB, the VIA chipset had a problem that caused bottlenecks on the south-bridge and caused me to get pops and cracks, and lockups, in EVERY piece of software I tried to use.
That's the difference. It gets the job done, and does it better. My G5 has never locked up since I purchased it. I cannot say that about any other machine. My experience has been better this way and I am productive. However, it doesn't make me oblivious to the fact that macs have problems too, including hardware and software. The difference to me is that macs are more reliable in my experience.
As an engineer, I use Sun machines and Linux machines. The sun machines are more reliable but the linux machines are faster, so we use both.
As a good friend of mine said, "The best machine is one I don't have to support"
I agree with that
Re:apple? (Score:2, Interesting)
One day, I found about a dozen spyware programs in my system32 and program files folders. I have no idea how they got there... I keep IE's security settings at the highest marks, but still these buggers got through...took hours to get rid of them..even with Spybot s&d.
I've even stopped using IE in favor of Moz on XP, and still got new spyware installed. So there's an exploit in this browser as well. Has to be, as I don't Kazaa, or any shareware utilities
My solution is to keep a physical layer between my main machine (which is where I keep all my personal and business info) and my 'web environment'. So by using Mozilla on second box (where I only keep programming stuff) There's no way (yet) for spyware to install itself and give away any real info about me. Accessing it through Exceed keeps it convenient so in practice it feels like i'm using a local browser.
wbs.
Re:confusing design and technology (Score:5, Interesting)
Her #1 use for the thing was
Apple knows what they're doing. To most people, a computer is a computer--and without their smooth design Apple is just as much a part of that commodity market as anyone else.
Re:Let's not forget... (Score:5, Interesting)
Conveniently, this philosophy has spread into many operating systems, such as all of the BSDs, Solaris, Linux, etc... and given that MacOS is based off of BSD, that means it falls into this category.
Windows, on the other hand, does not. Windows was designed to be idiot-friendly, such that an admin can read a 1-page sheet of instructions to get their server up and running. Features were piled on such that when you download files off of the web, they should be automatically opened... why else would you have downloaded it?! I can keep going on, but there's really no reason to - anyone who claims that Windows is more secure, by default, than MacOS/Linux/etc is on crack.
Try and make a worm that propagates through MacOS X, or Linux, or anything other than Windows and we can talk. Until then, accept what most of the world already has - Windows is not a secure operating system, regardless of how many people are using it.
Re:Apple could change the world today (Score:5, Interesting)
OS X is a very nice OS, and has some very nice software running on it, and it's got a great API and IDE. As a niche player, it's working great.
Now you make it instalable on any old PC. You're a PC developer and you've got the choice of developing for windows on PC or OS X on PC. Are you going to change your development practises to something new and untested, or are you going to go the safe route with the devil you know and keep on developing for windows PC?
Now, just imaging Apple put something like WINE in with OS X on PC, so that you can run your PC apps as is, but under the new GUI. Now there's no incentive to write specifically for OS X on windows, but without the ability to run existing PC apps, there'd be no sales of OS X for PC.
It would be a disaster for Apple and anyone who bought it, and would only strengthen the Microsoft monopoly. Jobs has more sense than that.
BTW, Macs are not 3x the price. Price up a new G5 and a comparable PC from a decent manufacturer and you'll see that the G5 is really a bargain in the computing world.
What Apple really needs is an affordable entry level machine with no monitor, but can be bought bundled with a lovely flat screen. Fill the hard drive with lots of easy to follow video tutorials and apple will cash in big - especially if they do a "test drive an iMac today" type program.
Re:Oh nice! I was getting worried! (Score:2, Interesting)
The author seems fixated on the premise of: market share is king! No surprise there, as its published in Business Week. Chase the almighty dollar! If your stock price & market share aren't constantly growing, how can you be happy?
Maybe, just Maybe, what drives Jobs, et al is not making as much money as possible, but in delivering a great product. Nevermind whether the reader thinks its a great product, if Apple does - and their customers do - then who gives a damn if they're gaining on MS market share or not?
And regarding security, it seems like the marketing department over at Apple may have realized that as soon as they gloat about great security, somebody will come along and embarrass the hell out of them. Instead, they can sit back, let some hack journalist spread the word & enjoy their relative obscurity in the cracker community.
Re:Test Drive a Macintosh (Score:5, Interesting)
I have to disagree here. I don't know any Mac owners, and nobody I know has a friend with a Mac either.
You are correct that Apple does have a "test drive" program though, the shiny Apple Stores in malls around the country. People play around with the display models, and that increases public awareness. Now it's not as good as bringing it home to try out, but it's a start. They just need to get better at convincing Average Joes WHY they should pay a premium for a Mac.
Security... (Score:5, Interesting)
I talked to the marketing head of Apple in Norway about why they did not use the awful track record of Microsoft as an advertisment opportunity. He stated that it is not that easy, and if a similar problem was to surface in MacOS X, they'd lose any credibility they had harvested from the PC community.
Re:Step Seven (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Test Drive a Macintosh (Score:2, Interesting)
Now, they send equipment knowing that once we've done our testing, that we'll put in a nice big order of Xserves or a couple of RAIDs. It certainly is nice to have them around to try and break before they end up in production, though.
Nothing looks as cool as racks of shiny brushed aluminum Xserves. And the RAIDs! Lots of pretty lights. Our Mac racks are always a destination when our Network PM (who really hates us and our Macs) is showing VIPs around the server room. They get a lot of "oohs" and "aahs" that the endless rows of Sun boxes don't. (Plus, it's fun when I get to compare the capabilities of a $4000 Xserve to a $40,000 Sun, and the Xserve comes out on top. Big effing deal it only has one power supply--his main complaint--redundant servers are cost effective at that price point!)
Anyway, if you're a high enough profile client, Apple is very accommodating.
Re:apple? (Score:3, Interesting)
It's not that GNU/linux is hard to install, its that operating systems in general are difficult to install. I bet G/L is *easier* to install than other systems, but I wouldn't know, I've never tried to install XP or OSX.
If all they want to do (or know how to do) is email, IM and download pictures off their cameras, they really don't need the flexibility Linux(or variants) gives them.
If you only need basic functions from G/L then its just as easy as MSW also safer. These days end-users need to be security experts to run MSW safely.
$700 cube (Score:2, Interesting)
More like a two step plan and a setup for attack (Score:2, Interesting)
Cheap Points one and two are redundant. People want cheap and they find it at Target. But Alex overlooks Apple's method of compensating for lower volume sales (than say Dell) - gross margins. Apple's healthy margins are what have helped it accumulate is near $5 billion cash. If you try to play the "cheap" high volume game with Dell, you'll end up like Gateway - bleeding to death.
Point three is synonymous with points one and two. To sell something cheap, its typically no-frills and as basic as possible. Selling a headless iMac just pushes the display revenue into someone else's pocket and kills your consumer-oriented style. But I concede that a product reminiscent of the LC may spread appleseeds into non-BMW families. But all in one is much simpler than headless for newbies - the tradeoff may be worth it, but its hard to say.
Dell's move with the iPod bounty almost screams "product failure". If the DJ isn't selling of its own merits, then why would I want to swap my well-loved iPod for one? Apple's position is more healthy with its desktops than Dell is with its DJ. An interesting competitive upgrade idea but more of a last-ditch effort.
As for try before you buy, what the hell do you think the Apple Retail Stores are for? Salkever must not be hanging around his local Apple store enough. The one here has a steady stream of people just coming in to play with the machines. But the stores don't have to worry about sending out 10+ iBooks everyday to people who may never return them, and if they did return them, they'd certainly have to be in non-mint condition and have to be sold at a discount to someone else. I know I never want to buy a non-mint Apple if I'm paying the Apple-premium, and I don't expect anyone else to.
Businesses aren't going to just disappear with xServes like consumers will, and any unpurchased trial machines being sold at a discount will negatively impact gross margins.
Any prideful statement about a lack of viruses and exploits is nothing more than a HUGE invitation to be attacked and exploited. Security through obscurity is wrong, but so is inviting mayhem if you're not absolutely convinced that you will be able to withstand the attack. As the user-base grows, the level of security confidence should also increase, but don't set yourself up for a potential black-eye.
Re:Let's not forget... (Score:3, Interesting)
If you want more security, you can use a separate partition for
My one-step plan for Apple- N E W T O N (Score:3, Interesting)
While there is also some part sensationalism (Score:3, Interesting)
Of course, you rarely get "well paid" for that sort of thing. IBM used to make PCs like that in the 80s, PCs that could last until today. Every clone maker in the world underbid them. Hell, most other consumer electronics too. My parents' last washing machine died after what, 25-30 years? If you want to bet on their current one lasting that long, you'll get good odds. Say 5-10 maybe.
Anyway, I think the Mac desktop share will remain low. They stand a much better chance in the laptop market, where the mark-up is already high. Desktops are for some reason, even to people that blow off $$$ on all other things, something you're looking at the last 2$ you can save. Don't ask me why.
Kjella
Re:He's just another sheep (Score:5, Interesting)
The target for this machine would be the digital hub that Steve Jobs keeps going on about. It would sit in the living room, play DVDs, play music (either ripped from CD or bought from iTMS), show photo albums on the TV and (perhaps most importantly) be used as a PVR (capturing either an analogue or FireWire input) with the option to burn recorded movies to DVD (using iDVD). It could also be used for email and web browsing, especially when combined with a HDTV.
This machine would not be sold as a computer, it would be sold as an appliance (which also happens to be a computer) much like the iPod.
Re:Let's not forget... (Score:3, Interesting)
Hmm... I was about to talk about ~/Library/Scripts too, but it appears that Applescripts just get opened by other programs, and aren't executable by themselves.
Re:Step Seven (Score:5, Interesting)
I also have yet to find a multi-button trackpad I consider even remotely usable (and, believe me, I looked). The single button trackpad, combined with an OS and apps that only need one button, was one of the features I rather liked about the PowerBook. Maybe a design with a button at the top and one at the bottom would work (index finger for one, thumb for the other), but every PC laptop I've seen puts two buttons at the bottom (or occasionally, in a fit of insanity, at the top), where they are all operated by the thumb, making it far more awkward to press the right button than it is to press the left button and hold down a keyboard modifier (assuming that the other hand is on the keyboard, which it usually is).
Re:Perpetual Marketshare? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Let's not forget... (Score:5, Interesting)
http://daringfireball.net/2004/06/broken_window
Addressing the common line about mac's being more secure only because no one uses them He had the following to say:
"------
The reason this argument is so popular with Windows apologists is that it's a convenient bit of rhetoric. They say it's so, we say it's not. You can't get past this argument, because it can't be disproven without the Mac OS actually attaining a Windows-like market share.
So, let's concede the point, just for the sake of argument: OK, fine, if the Mac had the same market share as Windows, the tables would be turned and there'd be just as many Mac security exploits as there are Windows exploits today.
Now what? Given that the Mac is never going to attain a monopoly share of the operating systems market -- that merely expanding its share to, say, 10 percent would be universally hailed as an almost-too-good-to-be-true success -- isn't it thus only logical to conclude that the Mac is forever "doomed" to be significantly more secure than Windows?
------"
Of course you would be hard pressed to find someone to grant in reality the points he grants for argument's sake, but it is an interesting comment on the argument itself.
Sell Homebrew Kits for $200-300!!! (Score:1, Interesting)
Apple wouldn't be canalizing their market because these people aren't going to shell out $3000 for a new G5, but they may spend $200-$300 to try out another Unix with a polished GUI.
Disagree on Powerbook touch pad (Score:3, Interesting)
But I have to say, that on a laptop, a single button is greatly preferrable to mutliple buttons. I've used a lot of differen PC laptops over the years and right clicking has almost always been a pain, or even worse the buttons were not very distinct and I'd hit the rwong one by accident.
Since your hands are already all over the keyboard on a laptop, I like chording to get a right-click effect a lot more than an awkward button somewhere. It's more convienient to hit and really works a lot better for me. With a Powerbook I don't feel like I need an external mouse, which I could hardly use a PC laptop for any real work without.
Re:Let's not forget... (Score:4, Interesting)
By default, /Applications is only writable by administrators (and root). If you wish for it to ask for password when you drag the files, you could always change the permissions to 755 (this works only on Panther). But the question remains; why do you run as admin? Administrator account is meant for administrative tasks and not for web browsing. You should treat the OS X administrator account as a root account with a extra security check.
Re:I just can't see it.... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Test Drive a Macintosh (Score:3, Interesting)
The consumer version of the test drive program is the K-12 iBook initiative. Plunk one in the hands of the kid and let them take it home for a year for mom and dad to see. The sale is already made by the district so there's no cost to Apple.
From the most infamous recent "Save Apple" article (Score:4, Interesting)
100 ways to save Apple.
Let's go through the top 20, shall we?
1. Admit it. You're out of the hardware game. Okay, this didn't happen.
2. License the Apple name/technology to appliance manufacturers and build GUIs for every possible device. Or build the killer app for listening to music, the iPod.
3. Start pampering independent software vendors. The open-source roots of most of OSX and related items fills this need quite well.
4. Gil Amelio should steal a page from Lee Iacocca's book - work for one year without a salary, just to inspire the troops. Jobs' salary is still only a dollar a year.
5. Straighten out the naming convention. eMac, iMac, iBook, Powerbook, PowerMac. Done.
6. Apologize. You've let down many devoted users and did not deliver on the promise of the Macintosh platform. Hmmmn, hard to call this one.
7. Don't disappear from the retail chains. Two words: Apple Stores.
8. Buy a song. Or build the first sucessful online music store. Whatever.
9. Fire the people who forecast product demand. Still a problem, given the recent iMac troubles.
10. Get a great image campaign. Switch. The colored iPod ads. The spinning iMacs. Done.
11. Instead of trying to protect your multicolored ass all the time, try looking forward. Done.
12. Build a fire under your ad agency. Given the Clios and other awards that recent Apple campaigns have one, I feel safe in calling this one done.
13. Exploit every Wintel user's secret fear that some day they're going to be thrown into a black screen with a blinking C-prompt. Advertise the fact that Mac users never have to rewrite autoexec.bat or sys.ini files. See: Switch campaign.
14. Do something creative with the design of the box and separate yourselves from the pack. Done. Oh boy, is this one done.
15. Dump (or outsource) the Newton, eMate, digital cameras, and scanners. Done.
16. Take better care of your customers. You need every one. Make customer service a point of pride. Many Mac users feel alienated and have jumped ship. Done.
17. Build some decent applications that the business community will care about. Maybe not business-related, but the iLife series trumps anything out there in the Wintel world.
8. Stop being buttoned-down corporate and appeal to the fanatic feeling that still exists for the Mac. Power Computing's "I'll give up my Mac when they pry it from my stiff, dying fingers" campaign hits the right note. In the tech world, it's still a crusade. Support the Mac community, and the Mac community will support you. Done.
19. Get rid of the cables. Go wireless. Done. 802.11, Bluetooth, you name it.
20. Tap the move toward push media by creating a network computer with state of-the-art technologies, e.g., videogame support for Nintendo 64, top notch graphics such as QuickDraw 3D, and the best possible bandwidth. Okay, is anybody supporting push media now? Let's just cross this one off the list, k?
So, all in all, they've done 17 of the first 20, with 2 maybes and a no. Not bad.
Re:Keep this man away from my AAPL (Score:3, Interesting)
I had about 10 people buy that issue of Wired for me as a gift because of the fucking phenomenal [akamai.net] cover.
A lot of the ideas were tongue-in-cheek, not stupid, and others (like Rhapsody on Intel) were just short-sighted. Apple took notes on ways 7, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 23, 25, 29, 37, 38, 43, 44, 46, 50, 52, 53, 54, 56, 62, 63, 70, 72 (with USB), 74, 75, 83, 84, 85, 91, 94, 95, 98, 100 (with Xserve).
People feel very passionate about Apple, one way or another, and that's always a good thing when people care about your product.
Re:He's got it wrong. (Score:3, Interesting)
Quick! Someone tell the OS/2 guys that getting another OS makers applications to run on your OS will sell it!
Re:Let's not forget... (Score:3, Interesting)
That's not exactly right. The Windows single-user environment encouraged application developers to write whereever the hell they wanted, and thus the potentially excellent multi-user design of the NT kernel was nerfed in favor of backwards compatibility.
Re:Let's not forget... (Score:3, Interesting)
I've talked about this before in another post, but a large portion of the blame lies on application developers that demand Administrator privileges for no good reason. Winamp, for example, requires that an INI be placed in the Windows directory. Other programs require write access to Program Files to run. And still others require write access to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE. None of these should happen, at all .
Please, developers, have your applications store settings in HKEY_CURRENT_USER or C:\Documents and Settings\Username\Application Data. It pisses the hell out of me when they need access to other areas for no good reason.
As for solutions, you can actually modify registry permissions for individual keys to allow write access to normal users. You can also do the same with files, but it'd probably be a PITA trying to track down all the necessary registry keys and files.
Last time I also mentioned copy protection as being another reason for Administrator privileges, and cited Microsoft's own Age of Empires as an example (although Microsoft is generally good about not requiring Administrator privileges; you can even code and debug with Visual Studio.NET without them). The annoying part is that while copy protection attempts to add a form of security, it also removes security by forcing users to run as Administrators, so please, unless you're an obscure shareware developer in which case copy protection would probably be helpful, don't copy-protect your apps if the mechanism requires Admin privileges. It'll just annoy everyone.
Apple's Duck Quack Synthesizer loses 95% mkt share (Score:2, Interesting)
When Black Friday came about (okay, I forget just which day of the week it was) we were humbled by something Mike Markkula said -- "They (IBM) make more off the interest in their petty cash accounts than we turn over in a year, and you're making a Duck Quack Synthesizer?". After we moved to Australia, we bought a new LC II and discovered "Quack" was one of the options for the system bell. Laughed so hard i hurt myself.