A n interesting article has been published corporate research firm Hooveris Online. The article takes a look at Mac OS X, and says that Appleis new OS has been a hit with the geeks, while Appleis core demographic has so far eschewed the OS. For instance, the article cites the Slashdot crowd, long a group not known for its pro-Apple stance:
Bringing more elite computer users into the Mac fold generates more sales -- not only to them, but others because of their influence, said Roger Kay, an analyst with research firm IDC. "These are important users to court," because they help set trends, he argued.
Count Rob Malda, founder of tech-enthusiast Web site Slashdot, a gathering point for many computer users who presumably once scoffed at Macs, among new Apple buyers. He purchased a PowerBook, Appleis high-end laptop, for his own use last fall -- something he wouldnit have considered before Mac OS X.
Mr. Malda believes his technically adept colleagues are buying, too. At an open-source software convention Mr. Malda attended last year -- a convergence of the sort of hard-core programmers who never used to give Macs a second glance -- Apple laptops abounded. "It was pretty impressive. There were PowerMacs and iBooks everywhere," he said. This, he believes, reflects the new-found admiration Apple has because of Mac OS X.
Whatis the appeal among the Slashdot and open source crowd? Apple has "given Unix users a better Unix," said Mr. Malda, referring to Mac OS X. The favourable mention of "Unix" and "Apple" in the same breath is itself a departure -- Unix, the venerable operating system that has long run some of the most powerful computer servers, and Apple, the longtime champion of making computers elegantly simple to use, seems a clash of ideals.
At the same time, the article quotes IDC analyst Roger Kay, who says things such as: "[Apple] should resign themselves to being a boutique." There is more in the full article at Hooveris Online.