Detroit Free Press Thinks That OS X 10.3 Could Increase Market Share

by , 5:15 PM EST, October 28th, 2003

When Apple held a special event for the release of version 10.3 of its OS X operating system, people came out in droves all across the country. Were all of those people Mac devotees? According to an article at the Detroit Free Press, more and more people pulled in by the hype are curious Windows users. A combination of new features added to OS X and an increase in awareness of the major flaws in Microsoft's Windows operating system could cause more computer users to look to Apple for their next computer purchase, according to the article. From the Detroit Free Press:

A year after its highly praised OS X operating system, called Jaguar, started turning heads, the Cupertino, Calif., company is out with a major upgrade named after yet another cat.

But Panther is no pussycat of an upgrade. More than 150 improvements in virtually every one of its tightly integrated features make it a must-have for the Macintosh crowd.

[...]

I think Panther is going to bring about a major increase in the number of people switching to Macs from Windows. Let's face it, Windows is a security nightmare. Seemingly every week there's a new patch, a new worm or virus to worry about. People are fed up with Windows, and Macs have been getting a great buzz of publicity lately.

True, Macs only represent about 3 percent of the computer base, which makes them less attractive to hackers. Yet it's also true that Macs are, for all practical purposes, immune from all the viruses and worms we've been seeing.

Could hackers write viruses for a Mac? Sure. But because Panther is based on the much harder to hack, industrial strength UNIX foundation, they're not likely to have nearly the success they do with Windows worms.

You can read the full article at the Detroit Free Press' Web site.

The Mac Observer Spin:

If the situation could be represented by a tachometer, confidence in Microsoft would be falling down into near-stall territory. On the other hand, interest in what Apple has to offer is slowly creeping into the red zone. These two factors are not disassociated. When people are turned off by Microsoft's failings, where do they turn? More and more people are turning to Apple, and that's a Good Thing™.

Detroit Free Press