The author of that article is just not thinking very clearly. He takes the following numbers: 2,146,000 Macs sold. 473,000 Macs sold at retail stores. 50% of customers at retail stores were new to the Mac. And his conclusion is that 200,000 Macs were sold to new customers, the rest to old ones.

What a nonsense! Does he think that 50% of retail store customers were new to the Mac, but of the remaining 1,673,000 Macs not a single one was sold to a new customer?

Here Tom, let me help you with this statement of yours where you say "Maybe Mac shipments are growing because people have had two or three Windows PCs in their lifetime, and are looking for something different."

If you knew what the hell you were talking about, that statement should read, "Maybe Mac shipments are growing because people have had two or three Windows PCs in their lifetime, and are looking for something better."

the comments about "would you buy an hp computer because of your hp printer, or a sony tv because of your playstation" miss the point about any possible halo effect. The ipod shows how seriously nice apple products are... those others don't do quite the same for their own brands.

Apple's simple elegance in their products is one that hardly any one else seems to be able to grasp or deliver. People using any apple products can't help but notice.

Yes, until I read any reviews, I would have assumed that HP computers would have the quality of HP printers. Glad I looked into it first. Same with Sony. The quality associated with the brand gets me to take a look. It doesn't make me buy.

The best driver for me to the Mac has been my experiences with Vista. I have been a Windows user since Windows 3.0 and a part time Linux and Mac user since 2005 (my wife has an iBook with Tiger).
I only had two bad experiences with Windows - Windows ME and Vista (or Windows ME version 2.0 as I like to call it). I am tired of Microsoft putting out crap like this and then treating me like a criminal with their product activation. Change a video card and time to reactivate... having to call them and beg to keep using what I paid for ticks me off to no end.
I will be ordering my own iMac (or Macbook… not sure yet) in December and reformat my Dell to Ubuntu Linux about the same time.
Thank you Microsoft for making me a convert

Quote

hangtown wrote:
The ipod shows how seriously nice apple products are... those others don't do quite the same for their own brands.

Apple's simple elegance in their products is one that hardly any one else seems to be able to grasp or deliver. People using any apple products can't help but notice.