The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
The big news in the computing world this week is actually last week's big news Ð the release of Boot Camp by Apple. If you're a regular reader, you already know that I like a lot of Apple's products. I actually like them so much that I now don't have a Windows machine in my house as I just bought a new 20 inch iMac. One thing I knew this would mean for me, and which was confirmed on a recent trip to Saskatoon in a day of cruising through the computer stores, is that Apple machines have far fewer games published for them then Windows machines. I hadn't really worried about this before as I haven't been playing many games for the last year or so, and I thought I'd still be able to find a few. But even I was surprised; there just aren't many out there. But with the release of Boot Camp, it's not a concern. If you haven't heard, Boot Camp is a piece of software, a free download at Apple's website, that will allow you to run Windows XP natively on your computer. Apple machines have always been able to run Windows, but needed a slow, clunky $300 emulator to do it. Boot Camp lets you boot your machine right into XP. Now you can run any program that is written only for Windows, as if you were working on a Dell. The press went ballistic. Some people were in a huge panic, asking why Mac was moving this way and whether this the first death knoll for Apple's OS X operating system. Others were ecstatic, looking forward to finally being able to play the games they wanted to but have not been able to. Even Walter Mossberg, the personal technology columnist for the Wall Street Journal, wrote about it, saying that this was the most powerful move on the computer market ever made by a technology company. Mossberg stated that this move changed everything. Apple machines were no longer "different," they were "special." Now any machine can run Windows, but only five per cent or so can run Apple's operating system. Apple has made a bold move and are banking a good portion of their reputation on this. A few months ago, Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, said they would never support Windows. So why the move? In the quarter running up to Christmas of 2006, Apple sold fourteen million iPods. Their best projection was half that amount. For most people, an iPod will be the first Mac product they own. Most people love them and are deeply attached to their machines. Mac is banking on people being so impressed with the design and ease of use of these little MP3 players that they would be willing to take a chance on buying another Apple product. This is the reason behind the existence of the small Mac Mini computers. For under $1,000 you can buy a starter machine (which can now run Windows). People looking to buy a Mac for the first time will still be able to use their old software and make a smooth switch from one operating system to another. Over time, of course, they are also banking on the fact that people will leave Windows behind because they will be so impressed with their new, smooth machine. This is a bold move and the very next day after Boot Camp was introduced, Apple shares increased in price over 10 per cent, and have been climbing steadily since. Some analysts are predicting that Apple's market share will double from five per cent to over 10 per cent in the next few years. As Linux and now Ubuntu continue to eat away into the Windows world, people are wondering where the company is going. But don't weep for Bill Gates just yet. The world's richest man, who still controls over 90 per cent of the world's operating system market, has a ways to go before he is beat. I can almost guarantee he has something up his sleeve. ([email protected])
