D
Das Fragmeister
Guest
Yah,
Well, first...you seem to be a little off the crux of what I am saying. What I'm saying is that the community is there, i.e., Mac-lovers that want to be serious gamers w/o buying 2 computers, if the software and hardware developers would court them. It IS and WOULD BE amazingly profitable. Lead and people would follow. The Mac system and O/S are amazing in many ways (Try a G4 500 and Photoshop, Bryce, or another graphics program sometime). Of course Mac games have been selling poorly: 1) Have you looked at the selection? 2) I think it makes a HUGE difference when "ports" come to the Mac 6 months later than the PC version. The excitement is gone. The hype has been beaten down. Of course they're not going to sell as well. Christ, if at all. I love my Mac, I love gaming, I'd never buy AOE or Descent 3 months after the better sequel has come out for the PC. I'd just as soon save my $55.00 and wait or try it on a friend's PC until the honeymoon is over. Or just download the Mac demo and toy with it until the honeymoon is over and wait for "The Next Amazing Game" that's in all of the magazines.
As for PCs...if you've found something stable, great. As for getting to know the machine...I work as a photographer/editor that does tons of filing of digital images from location. We have always used Dell laptops, and Gateway, Dell, and Compaq desktops, in addition to the Mac. If I had a frag for every time I got a WAOL system error or crashed otherwise, and spent 4 hours on the line (stressed out on deadline) with Compaq/Dell/Gateway tech support trying to correct the problem, my name would be at the top of the stats page right now. Mac problems have gone away much more quickly...I've never had a problem with a Mac that took more than an half-hour to solve, and I've rarely had a PC problem that took less. And that's the tech support people working on it. Sorry to over-generalize, but of course it's not much use to go into arguing sepcific situations. That's just my impression using both platforms 10 hours a day every day for years. I'm no tech, but I think that speaks to something as joe-user. If Windows 2000 is doing great and is more stable (I haven't gotten it yet); WORD, man, that'll make my life 10x easier. Like it or not, I need to use a PC daily.
I won't address the recycling bin comment; I was trying to illustrate that Macs are both powerful machines (save 3D cards) and have many design elements which have been co-opted. Seeing as though design is important from a consumer angle (i.e., ease of use, ability to understand the machine). As for PCs, just because they're complicated to use (or at least troubleshoot) doesn't make them more sophisticated machines. Mac users, I think, one and all, would argue just the opposite. Apple's problem is that they have to get software developers and third-party hardware sources more enthusiastic about the viability of their platform as an accepted standard (which the iMac is helping to do). I have very little beef against PCs...there are good PCs out there; my biggest complaint is that there's a hungry gaming community among Mac users (which you play against online daily, I'm sure) that is receiving little attention or support. More games + strong basic platform + more third-party support = more macs sold = more games sold and produced = everybody happy.
Well, first...you seem to be a little off the crux of what I am saying. What I'm saying is that the community is there, i.e., Mac-lovers that want to be serious gamers w/o buying 2 computers, if the software and hardware developers would court them. It IS and WOULD BE amazingly profitable. Lead and people would follow. The Mac system and O/S are amazing in many ways (Try a G4 500 and Photoshop, Bryce, or another graphics program sometime). Of course Mac games have been selling poorly: 1) Have you looked at the selection? 2) I think it makes a HUGE difference when "ports" come to the Mac 6 months later than the PC version. The excitement is gone. The hype has been beaten down. Of course they're not going to sell as well. Christ, if at all. I love my Mac, I love gaming, I'd never buy AOE or Descent 3 months after the better sequel has come out for the PC. I'd just as soon save my $55.00 and wait or try it on a friend's PC until the honeymoon is over. Or just download the Mac demo and toy with it until the honeymoon is over and wait for "The Next Amazing Game" that's in all of the magazines.
As for PCs...if you've found something stable, great. As for getting to know the machine...I work as a photographer/editor that does tons of filing of digital images from location. We have always used Dell laptops, and Gateway, Dell, and Compaq desktops, in addition to the Mac. If I had a frag for every time I got a WAOL system error or crashed otherwise, and spent 4 hours on the line (stressed out on deadline) with Compaq/Dell/Gateway tech support trying to correct the problem, my name would be at the top of the stats page right now. Mac problems have gone away much more quickly...I've never had a problem with a Mac that took more than an half-hour to solve, and I've rarely had a PC problem that took less. And that's the tech support people working on it. Sorry to over-generalize, but of course it's not much use to go into arguing sepcific situations. That's just my impression using both platforms 10 hours a day every day for years. I'm no tech, but I think that speaks to something as joe-user. If Windows 2000 is doing great and is more stable (I haven't gotten it yet); WORD, man, that'll make my life 10x easier. Like it or not, I need to use a PC daily.
I won't address the recycling bin comment; I was trying to illustrate that Macs are both powerful machines (save 3D cards) and have many design elements which have been co-opted. Seeing as though design is important from a consumer angle (i.e., ease of use, ability to understand the machine). As for PCs, just because they're complicated to use (or at least troubleshoot) doesn't make them more sophisticated machines. Mac users, I think, one and all, would argue just the opposite. Apple's problem is that they have to get software developers and third-party hardware sources more enthusiastic about the viability of their platform as an accepted standard (which the iMac is helping to do). I have very little beef against PCs...there are good PCs out there; my biggest complaint is that there's a hungry gaming community among Mac users (which you play against online daily, I'm sure) that is receiving little attention or support. More games + strong basic platform + more third-party support = more macs sold = more games sold and produced = everybody happy.