Why are there so many Mac users?

Rwwear:

As a Windows developer and as a Mac 'enjoyer' I'll attempt to answer your question regarding why so few Mac users.

1. Office is/was (depending on how you view SAS/cloud computings future) a great app and allowed for an dramatic increase in productivity in the corporate office on the standard pc architecture. People used a pc at work, and you know how resistant human beings can be to change.

2. Say what you will about MS but they are/were great marketers totally destroying OS/2 (a far more stable and superior os to Win 3.11/95...etc) in the bid for the desktop.

3. Employment of the marketing strategy that if you want to offer Windows at all as a pc vendor then you must install or at least supply a copy with all machines that exit your facility, i.e. you must buy a license for every box you push out the door. I think this is one of the things that landed them in several anti-trust lawsuits.

4. Apples always carried a cost premium compared to a pc.

Ok, now that we have completely lost the spirit of this thread....I use a Mini cause my mac works 24/7 for the last 2.25 years and has not had any problems and it sounds fantastic as a music server out of the box. I look at the way XP handles multitasking and memory sharing and it is a joke...compared to OSX. My 2GHZ 3GIG Core2DUO MINI running Leopard smokes my workstation (Dell 3.06 GHZ with 3GIG mem Core2DUO (running XP Pro with SP3). Ok, guys I'm moving on to more music related topics.

My 2GHZ 3GIG Core2DUO MINI running Leopard smokes my workstation (Dell 3.06 GHZ with 3GIG mem Core2DUO (running XP Pro with SP3).

I find that surprising, Audiofun. Is your Dell running an as delivered software configuration replete with bloatware, or have you installed/reinstalled the software yourself? How many background processes does Task Manager indicate are running? Are you using a Norton/Symantec security suite or other security software that is commonly reported as leading to instability and/or slow performance? Do you defragment the hard drive periodically?

My XP Home SP3 installations (installed from scratch by me) have only 25 to 30 background processes running, even though I have a LOT of software installed (upwards of 70 programs). These systems all fly.

That includes even a 6 year old Pentium 4/Asus P4C800 system, as well as two systems I've built more recently that are more powerful than your Dell (E8400 and E8500 Core2Duo's overclocked to 3.8GHz on Gigabyte X48 and EX38 motherboards). All three systems have 4gB RAM and Western Digital 10,000 rpm Raptor hard drives as system drives.

Regards,
-- Al

I've never been a Mac fan and I do not care for Apple at all.

Then again, I really do not care much for PCs either, but at least there is a more open market for PC related gear which benefits the end user from a cost of ownership perspective.

I go with PCs because you get more for the $$$.

Macs are probably still easier to deal with for most and look nice but you will pay a premium.

MACs are popular in the graphics arts industry in particular.

If you are looking for a computer to use as a music server, either will suffice just fine for that purpose alone.

My girlfriend's Macbook is just a pain. It's slow and if you download anything or even open a PDF file it's simply a pain in the arse. I hate the way Safari works. Firefox has helped but still doesn't work like it does on my four PCs. The keyboard is slow and leaves letters off if your not careful. When you close a program by clicking the X it's still running. Macs don't have HDMI and you have to buy an adapter to use them with a TV/monitor. The Macbook also doesn't have a digital out like everyone of my PCs even my 9 year old Sony which still works great. And if it locks up on a program, which it does, just try closing it. All of this and they charge much more. I suppose they fit right in with audiophilia.
All joking aside Mac does have some strong points.

Even though I have owned Macs from the beginning, it was Amarra, Weiss, and the use of Firewire that achieved a level of performance that I have not heard in any other digital. I just think it is ridiculous that USB is being used. AES/EBU and S/P Dif sound much better than USB if you are not going to use the best, Firewire. Incidentally, I hate Itunes, but Amarra takes over and you hardly notices its sales pitches.