John C. Dvorak, curmudgeon extraordinaire, has written a (fairly) sane and (mostly) cogent look at some of the differences between the Mac, Windows, and Linux platforms. Mr. Dvorak looks at such issues as total cost of ownership, viruses and security, applications, ease of use, compatibility, and stability, and says that none of those issues seem to matter. Mr. Dvorak’s conclusion is that the main thing keeping many people on the Windows side of things is simply that there are more games for Windows than any other platform. That sets the tone of his piece, titled "It’s the games, stupid!" From Mr. Dvorak’s column:
People talk about changing platforms. They promote Mac and Linux as vaguely better than Windows because these operating systems crash less, because they’re cheaper, or because Microsoft isn’t involved. Meanwhile, Windows users complain bitterly about everything. But few actually switch. Why is this? Let’s look at the reasons to switch and try to determine exactly why Windows has such a viselike grip on its user base. If I am correct in my assessment, then everyone has been barking up the wrong tree for decades.
[…]
Gaming. I pulled this out of the general-applications category because this is the only category where Windows rocks. In fact, when I analyze the list carefully, only games stand above the rest— giving Windows a genuine edge.
[…]
All the wheel spinning about the superiority of this platform or that platform just boils down to the fun side of computing: games. No other single factor is so skewed. Everything else is a wash.
There’s more in the full column, which we recommend as an interesting read.
The Mac Observer Spin:
Funny enough, when TMO was still called Webintosh, this editor penned a piece called "It’s the games, stupid!" That was seven years ago. The themes explored were similar, if removed by seven years of change, but it is still our opinion that Apple would benefit greatly from putting more resources behind game development. From courting game developers, to putting in as many game-specific technologies as developers might need, to investing in its own in-house Mac game division, having the best games on the Mac platform would sell more Macs.
Indeed, Apple should buy the best game development company on the planet, and bring it in-house. Say, Bungie Software…Oh wait, Microsoft already did that in order to prop up the Xbox, a strategy that worked brilliantly as Halo is the only reason many people bought an Xbox.
In any event, though we disagree with his assessment of the value of such things as the importance of viruses, we agree with Mr. Dvorak on his conclusions.