Re:macOS 11 Big Sur compatibility on Apple Silicon
by ChuckNorris89 on Monday November 30, 2020 @11:14AM
(#25255286)
>The Alpha Geeks was how Apple probably got more popular that PCs in the first place
At which point in time was that?
From the statistics I could google in a few seconds, for the last 20 years, MacOS was always hovering around 10-15% of the worldwide desktop PC market share with Windows at around 75-85% and linux/BSD the rest of the scraps.
Re:macOS 11 Big Sur compatibility on Apple Silicon
by vmchale on Monday November 30, 2020 @12:05PM
(#25256012)
> There's a lot of Unix-y stuff being used in academy, research, and HPC: plenty of folks there would be just as willing to switch to a PC with Ubuntu/Debian/CentOS (which run the world's HPC clusters) if macOS gets in the way of their workflow if Homebrew or Macports don't work.
Absolutely. I'd say Linux is the default for science and ML!
Re:macOS 11 Big Sur compatibility on Apple Silicon
by fjdjsmsm on Monday November 30, 2020 @11:46AM
(#25255757)
All of the Apple products that have achieved broader success have been derided by ‘Alpha Geeks.’ The original candy coloured iMacs, iPods, iPhones, iPads, were all attacked by geeks.
If Microsoft is less successful in the home market now, it is because Windows is seen by many consumers as too techy, and too difficult.
Re:macOS 11 Big Sur compatibility on Apple Silicon
by arvinsim on Monday November 30, 2020 @09:08PM
(#25261499)
But Apple is very big now. They can now afford to not court the "Alpha Geeks" since they already have captured the mainstream market(at least in the US).
You may say that's not true. But just look at their actions and not their marketing speak.
Besides being used internally as mentioned, making the Alpha Geeks (to use Tim O'Reilly's phrase) happy would be prudent for their continued success. If the Alpha Geeks aren't using your product, they will not recommended it to their friends when asked for computer advise, and it will not be installed in relatives' home where the Alpha Geeks tend to do tech support.
The Alpha Geeks was how Apple probably got more popular that PCs in the first place, and they may now have a lot/enough inertial to keep moving forward, but Microsoft and PCs used to be the 800-pound (400 kg) gorilla, and they're less so now.
There's a lot of Unix-y stuff being used in academy, research, and HPC: plenty of folks there would be just as willing to switch to a PC with Ubuntu/Debian/CentOS (which run the world's HPC clusters) if macOS gets in the way of their workflow if Homebrew or Macports don't work.