Straits Times: Looking In On Those Who Think Outside The Box

H ereis the situation: You are cornered by a rambunctious group of PC users who are bent on trying to goad you into a juvenile argument over which is better: Macs or PCs.

After several minutes of, "Mac donit got no softwares," and, "Only the artsy-fartsy types use them Macs," one of the PC People asks in a rather serious tone, "If Macs are so great how come they only gots 3% of the desktop market?"

You smile because this is a question that has been asked many times. What is likely to be the most common answer pops into mind, and you state, "BMW makes great cars, and yet they only command about 3% of the auto market."

You are in good company. The iBMW Argumenti has been used by many a Mac user. Even Steve Jobs compared Appleis market share to that of BMW during his keynote in at the Apple Expo last year in Paris.

On this, the 20 year anniversary of the Mac, the BMW argument seems all the more poignant as more articles appear that examine the history of the Mac. One such article from Asian news site The Straits Times celebrates the inventiveness of Apple and the innovations it has brought to the computer industry. Hereis an excerpt from the article titled, 20 years of thinking out of the box :

In 1984, Apple began writing the book on the evolution of the personal computer with the Macintosh, the first of its kind which did not require folks to be engineers to use.

Along the way, it popularised the graphical user interface that introduced the term ipoint-and-clicki into mainstream lexicon, and pioneered, among other things, desktop publishing, wireless connectivity and personal digital assistants.

In 1998, Apple changed the look of not only computers, but also consumer appliances, after it launched its colourful iMacs.

On Saturday, Apple will celebrate the 20th birthday of the little beige box that changed forever the way computers are designed and used.

Ironically, while beating the PC world to every punch in terms of IT innovation and industrial design, Apple has been the punching bag when it comes to market share.

The article is a good read, and lists highlights of the Macis history. Stop by The Straits Times Web site for the full article.