I wonder just how they managed to get that data...

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I wonder just how they managed to get that data...

Microsoft stoops to new lows and asks people at the death beds to fill out surveys on their website!

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Guest wrote:
I wonder just how they managed to get that data...

I followed the link to the full article and at the bottom is a comment form. I asked how they came up with that data. Comments are subject approval so I don't know if it will get posted or not.

As for me I am 56 years old. I occasionally visit MicroSoft's website, but I frequently visit Apple's.

At 58, I am a proud member of the "old farts" visiting the Apple website.
And, this one also.

I am not sure that "older is not good".
While it is true that I can't my 85-year old father to switch to Mac OS, I have had success (in the last 6 months) with:
* my 45-year old neighbor (MacBook Pro + 23-inch ACD)
* a 50-year old friend (MacBook)

My potential switchers this year include:
* 60-year old professional photographer (MacBook)
* 47-year old couple (Mac Mini or iMac)
* 67-year old friend (iMac)

,dave

I would think that just the opposite would be true judging from what I see at our MUG meetings. We joke that is a "dying" club because everyone is so old. But there does seem to be a much younger crowd at the Apple Store in T.O.

I resent that remark! I am neither young and hip nor a geek. I am technologically savvy, but you'd never find me applying to work at the genius bar. I like Apple and the Mac because they are better, they help me to do my work my own intuitive way rather than being forced to learn someone else's ass-backwards methods, and that hasn't changed in my 12 years of Mac-hood; in fact, the experience improves upon itself year after year. I've always thought of the Windows loving IT or internet crowd as being the geeks. I'm no zealot either, just a loyal customer. Apple just gets things right.

Being 53, just about to turn 54, I may file with the younger crowd then?
Anyway, I also think of a typical Windows-user as more of a geek than the average Mac-user. Why, they have to be to get it to work!

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davebarnes wrote:
At 58, I am a proud member of the "old farts" visiting the Apple website.
And, this one also.

Maybe we should get some tattoos and body piercings so that can fit in better with this younger and funkier Apple crowd.

Well, I guess statistics say I should be in the other camp, but as a 58 year old female, I am a Mac user who does NOT do Windows.

Pushing 60, I feel a great relief to be called a young geek. I was getting worried.

I teach some people in their 70s and 80s too.

And btw, what is this Windoze thing, that causes spyware and viruses that I've heard about? I thought that went away when I switch in 1985.

Now I wont work with customers who still use it. It says something really bad about their management and IT departments.

David

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Guest wrote:
I resent that remark! I am neither young and hip nor a geek. I am technologically savvy, but you'd never find me applying to work at the genius bar. I like Apple and the Mac because they are better, they help me to do my work my own intuitive way rather than being forced to learn someone else's ass-backwards methods, and that hasn't changed in my 12 years of Mac-hood; in fact, the experience improves upon itself year after year. I've always thought of the Windows loving IT or internet crowd as being the geeks. I'm no zealot either, just a loyal customer. Apple just gets things right.

I guess this is someone who doesn't understand the concepts of "averages," "distributions" and "statistics."

Curious use of adjectives.

Across the pond, "geezers" has a very different meaning to merely implying a seniority of years. To some, it's complimentary, to others not.

Geeks or Geezers.
Who's targeting the "average" people then?

I'm with you delmonte! I'm only 31, but if someone wants to think I'm in the upper echelons of young hipness, I'm not going to stand in their way!

I am 51, and I know I am hip! Just ask, I'll tell you. I used Windows until OS X came out and I was smitten. I have to use Windows at work, but I always use my Mac for presentations, I know it will see the projector and all will be well. Macs rule, as do old guys!!

I got my dad started in computers on an Apple II when he was 80 and upgraded him to a PPC when he was 84!! I taught my father-in-law, a retired Professor of Music, how to use a computer on the old iMacs when he was "only" 78.

And I've been using Apple and Macs since day one: an Apple II in 1979,
an Apple /// in 1983 and so on.

Who gives a damn about physical age. I'm 57 and made the switch to Mac last year. Bought my Mom an iMac for Xmas, she's 77. She loves it. We are both creative people and think young. When you no longer try something new you are brain-dead.
Hmmmm.... sounds like Micro$oft?

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Guest wrote:
Being 53, just about to turn 54, I may file with the younger crowd then?
Anyway, I also think of a typical Windows-user as more of a geek than the average Mac-user. Why, they have to be to get it to work!

My experience has been the opposite. Just about every Windows-using person I know is an ignoramus when it comes to knowing their computer. They are lost and ignorant of how their computer works, and frequently frustrated and confused when something goes wrong--with the typical solution being a wipe and reinstall of everything, backing up only the most essential files to CDs or floppies (yes, floppies--still!). It's painful to watch. On the other hand, most Mac-using friends I have are very savvy both on how their Macs work, but also are able to help our Windows-using friends solve problems! Go figure!

-Jon

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Guest wrote:
Being 53, just about to turn 54, I may file with the younger crowd then?
Anyway, I also think of a typical Windows-user as more of a geek than the average Mac-user. Why, they have to be to get it to work!

My experience has been the opposite. Just about every Windows-using person I know is an ignoramus when it comes to knowing their computer. They are lost and ignorant of how their computer works, and frequently frustrated and confused when something goes wrong--with the typical solution being a wipe and reinstall of everything, backing up only the most essential files to CDs or floppies (yes, floppies--still!). It's painful to watch. On the other hand, most Mac-using friends I have are very savvy both on how their Macs work, but also are able to help our Windows-using friends solve problems! Go figure!

-Jon

53 and counting...

I don't consider myself either of these. I do consider myself a loyal Apple user and promoter having owned each generation from Apple ][+ up. I worked for an aerospace firm where the chief engineer decreed that the PC was where it was at. Then the IT folks would get their Dells and take the tops off and put all kinds of O'scops on them. I ask one of them what was going on? The answer was that we are checking them out so that we can use them. My response was a daily ribbing - If you had a Macintosh you can use them straight out of the box! The same was true at a well known university. The IT folks had their token Mac and kept it in the back room until they had checked it out. I was always telling them that they were ready to go straight out of the box! I am now 71 and use the Mac religously even though I taught Micro Applications on the other platform.

. . . affects how old you are now but of course not how "old" you consider yourself to be. We used a Lisa (at work) before Macs and have always had a Mac, or Macs (currently 2 since kid went away to college with hers) at home. We also have PCs for work but you Just Know where our hearts are. Plus, Apple's website is interesting, Microsoft's is a chore.

To paraphrase Guest, I resemble that remark! I'll be 64 in May, and I still maintain my cooler-than-thou attitude.

Been a Mac owner since '84 (still have it), and never looked back. Age IS 80% attitude, and FWIW, my general impression has been that PeeCee evangelists are generally of the reactionary persuasion, or simply stuck with what's been shoved under their noses. Mac owners tend to be more adventurous, wanting the Future, now.

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Analyst LeeAnn Prescott surmised, "Accordingly, the spokesman on the Windows Vista promotional site is Tom Skerrit, a 73 year-old actor. Even Apple's advertising team picked up on this difference, casting an older geek as a PC and a young hip guy as a Mac in its television commercials."

There's only a 7 year difference in their ages.
John Hodgeman : Born June 1971 (35)
Justin Long: Born June 1978 (28)

I guess technically John Hodgeman is "older", but still only half the age of the 73 year old Tom Skerrit.

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JonGl wrote:


My experience has been the opposite. Just about every Windows-using person I know is an ignoramus when it comes to knowing their computer. They are lost and ignorant of how their computer works, and frequently frustrated and confused when something goes wrong--with the typical solution being a wipe and reinstall of everything, backing up only the most essential files to CDs or floppies (yes, floppies--still!). It's painful to watch. On the other hand, most Mac-using friends I have are very savvy both on how their Macs work, but also are able to help our Windows-using friends solve problems! Go figure!

-Jon

Honestly, though I prefer OS X, the only reason you see more brain-dead windows users is there are more of them. Those people would be non-technical and confused on any platform. The average computer user is on windows. And I know quite a few mac users who are totally non-technical and couldn't help themselves, let alone a windows user.

Such non-scientific "personal experience" stories are great, but they are just that.