Mac Market Share Rising at Cornell University (and everywhere!)

On Oct 11, 2007, at 2:14 PM, David Weintraub wrote:

> I know that the PATH
> tollgates and the New York subway tollgates all have cheap PCs inside
> of them. I also know most of the ATM machines also contain PCs, and
> I've even seen a Windows error dialog box complaining about a missing
> DLL on one of the signs in Penn Station that tells you when your
> train is leaving. It wouldn't surprise me if 1/2 of the PCs sold now-
> a-days are these "invisible" PCs hidden away from our sight.

The self-service ticket kiosk machines for Washington State Ferries
have Windows inside (and indeed one sees crashed ones). When they're
working, they work well.

   --John

David Weintraub wrote:
> Although it is obvious that the Mac market share is growing, I doubt
> it will ever get higher than about 20%. I know that the PATH
> tollgates and the New York subway tollgates all have cheap PCs inside
> of them. I also know most of the ATM machines also contain PCs, and
> I've even seen a Windows error dialog box complaining about a missing
> DLL on one of the signs in Penn Station that tells you when your
> train is leaving. It wouldn't surprise me if 1/2 of the PCs sold now-
> a-days are these "invisible" PCs hidden away from our sight.
>

But all those DVRs that are distributed by cable TV carriers are Linux.
Many security-camera setups are Linux.

I don't know that Macs are suited to serve as appliances anyhow. Using a
Mac at a subway turnstile would be like using a Lexus to haul firewood.

kazar

Datatude wrote:
> David Weintraub wrote:
>> Although it is obvious that the Mac market share is growing, I doubt
>> it will ever get higher than about 20%. I know that the PATH
>> tollgates and the New York subway tollgates all have cheap PCs inside
>> of them. I also know most of the ATM machines also contain PCs, and
>> I've even seen a Windows error dialog box complaining about a missing
>> DLL on one of the signs in Penn Station that tells you when your
>> train is leaving. It wouldn't surprise me if 1/2 of the PCs sold now-
>> a-days are these "invisible" PCs hidden away from our sight.
>>
>
> But all those DVRs that are distributed by cable TV carriers are Linux.
> Many security-camera setups are Linux.
>
Cable companies are very price (well cost) sensitive. EVERY customer gets a box. (Well most every.) So while an airline or bank might use WinCE for point-of-presence devices and pay the license, a cable company would be looking at a huge hit to do so.

David

David Weintraub wrote:
> Although it is obvious that the Mac market share is growing, I doubt
> it will ever get higher than about 20%. I know that the PATH
> tollgates and the New York subway tollgates all have cheap PCs inside
> of them. I also know most of the ATM machines also contain PCs, and
> I've even seen a Windows error dialog box complaining about a missing
> DLL on one of the signs in Penn Station that tells you when your
> train is leaving. It wouldn't surprise me if 1/2 of the PCs sold now-
> a-days are these "invisible" PCs hidden away from our sight.

While I'd not yet bet (even with long odds) that Apple will replace MS anytime soon on the desktop, those old farts amongst us remember this was what the 80s looked like. PCs will NEVER replace corporate mainframes and 327x terminals. There's way too much installed base.

:)

You'd be surprised at how many Macs are showing up in large corporations. Especially now with Boot Camp (as the official way) and Parallels and Fusion being used when needed. In many situations mid level purchasing denies the request then the upper management waivers it in. When the software developers are large Windows shops are carrying around MBPros, well as the saying goes, may you live in interesting times.

David

There are perhaps reasons why the perception of Macs as not being
appropriate for the enterprise could pan out as an advantage.... I'm
thinking this after scanning through a report prepared by the European
Commissioner for Competition that proposes a mandate that all PCs be
sold with no installed operating system.

I found myself wondering how such a law would affect Apple in Europe, so
I downloaded and read the report, entitled "Unbundling Microsoft
Windows." Re the Mac, it says:

> To be clear, this paper deliberately concerns
> itself with the commodity computer market,
> where products are aimed at the mass market.
> We consider the Mac to be a premium, niche
> product, like a Bang and Olufsen television,
> which is difficult to justify in the business world
> outside of the publishing sector. We therefore
> do not think that the Mac, despite claims of its
> superiority, provides a meaningful competitive
> threat to Microsoft.

If anyone's interested in reading the full report (that paragraph is the
only mention of the Mac), it's available in pdf format at
<http://www.globalisation.eu/publications/unbundlingmicrosoftwindows.pdf>
or you can read it in html at <http://tinyurl.com/34fuch>

kazar