When Boot Camp was initially released, one of the most prevalent reactions—aside from the totally flabbergasted “Has anyone checked the weather in H-E-double-hockey-sticks recently?”—was wondering whether this was Apple conceding the platform war. After all, if you could just run Windows on your Mac, wouldn’t companies decide that it wasn’t worth their money and resources to develop for two platforms?
Well, even with Boot Camp, Parallels, and VMWare, it certainly doesn’t seem to have happened yet—the Mac is selling better than ever. Most people buy Macs because they want to use OS X, not Windows, and if a company tells its users “Oh, you can just use the Windows version in Boot Camp,” you can bet that most Mac users will smile politely and go find a different program that does the same thing, or approximates it as closely as possible.
InformationWeek points out that in last week’s 10-K document filed with the SEC, Apple lists the potential for developers to abandon the Mac platform under its potential risk factors. Personally, I don’t think Apple is terribly worried about it; here’s what they say:
Mac OS X Leopard, which became available in October 2007, includes a new feature that enables Intel-based Mac systems to run Windows XP and Windows Vista. This feature may deter developers from creating software applications for Mac OS X if such applications are already available for the Windows platform.Yeah, that’s totally valid, but the purpose of this document is to warn investors and potential investors. Consider that only a few pages up, Apple also suggests that problems could be raised by “Economic conditions, political events, war, terrorism, public health issues, natural disasters and other circumstances could materially adversely affect the Company.”
Which is to say: yes, developers abandoning the platform is a risk, but so is getting up and walking out the door every morning.
I bought a tomtom gps and the cd came with a mac version of the software. Sadly I can't download the latest maps (they require you to use 2.1 which is windows, 1.6 is mac but they claim to be working on making a v2 for mac, which is interesting since windows is already at a point one release).
I had to use windows to obtain the free map update, which sucked. I hate having to have windows just to do some stuff, and you're correct, I find mac versions even if the windows seems to have a few more/better features, because the experience matters so much as well as the integration.
Long time Mac and Win/PC user (1980's). Ended Win reliance with first Bootcamp for the two Win-only programs that I 'had' to use. Now, with Apple's updated software, I no longer need, or want, Windows. Others will likely find the same to be the case.
You nailed it there, Dan, as we're MAC users because we want to use OS X, not because we bought the hardware and decided to run Windows. Personally I hate it when people tell me they don't want to use a Mac because of the lack of software, as often I find that there is a Mac program available that is equal, or often better, than its Windows equivalent.