Leopard's Probably Better than Vista, But Who Cares?

And so, we at RCPU give the usual response: Yeah, so? The Mac OS has long been superior to Windows, and although we haven't seen Leopard yet, we're sure that, security hassles aside (as if those don't exist in Vista), the new Mac OS probably blows Microsoft's latest effort out of the desktop water. It's important to note here that we actually like Apple stuff at RCPU. We're far from being Microsoft zealots -- remember, we don't work for Redmond.

Your editor owned an iMac for years before leaving it behind in Europe and would definitely consider buying another one at some point. And, of course, we've been on board with the iPod for years, like the rest of the world (except for one of the producers of this newsletter, who confessed to us earlier this year that he has a Zune -- he will, of course, remain anonymous).

But every time Apple trots out a new version of the Mac OS, we hear the same old lines about how much better it is than whatever Microsoft is offering (fair enough, but that's like saying that Seattle is rainy) and how this is going to be the release that finally provides a market-share breakthrough for Apple. Whatever. Yes, the Mac OS is gaining in market share -- as we noted earlier this week, it's encroaching on double digits -- and there's well-documented discontent with Vista both among consumers and in the enterprise.

And still, Windows dominates, and it will continue to dominate. Apple gave up on the enterprise a long time ago, so there's obviously no threat to Microsoft there. But even on the consumer side, people just seem to stick with Microsoft. There are probably a lot of reasons why -- familiarity, previous investment in software, price -- but that's the way it is. (Hey, it's not as if Apple's hurting, anyway. That whole iPod thing made some money after all. Steve Jobs won't need another bailout from Redmond any time soon.)

So, we add to the list we started after Microsoft's most recent (and staggeringly successful, even by Redmond's standards) earnings report. Maybe you remember (and here, we quote ourselves):

"Vista stinks? Microsoft makes more money. Google's on the rise? Microsoft makes more money. SaaS is gaining a foothold? Microsoft makes more money. Linux is getting established in the enterprise? Microsoft makes more money. The EU wants to appropriate the campus in Redmond and turn it into some sort of hippie compound for rogue socialist economists? Microsoft...you get the idea."

So, this week: Apple comes out with another vastly superior operating system? Yep, you guessed it -- Microsoft makes more money.

Have you used Leopard? What do you think of it? Tell me at [email protected].

Posted by Lee Pender on November 01, 2007