82% use Macs...

serpicolugnut

serpicolugnut

OS X Supreme Being
From a new study by IDG released today...

"The Mac is clearly the operating system of choice for design and production firms, with 82% of all respondents naming the Mac as their primary OS. However, adoption of Mac OS X remains slow; only 17% of those polled have upgraded their systems to the new OS. The study shows that:


-- The Mac is not quite as popular among Internet design and
development firms, where only 22% use the Mac OS as their
primary operating system.

-- Windows remains the leading OS within this group, with 92% of
Internet design and development firms relying on it as their
operating system of choice."

So there's good news and bad news for Apple in this...

First, the good news...

82% of a market is a significant number. I'm assuming the definiation of "design and production firms" means DTP creation and prepress. I don't think audio/video/multimedia is included in that figure.

Even though only 17% have upgraded to OS X, this isn't a bad thing for Apple. The reason that only 17% have upgraded was two fold: stagnated pro systems, and a lack of Quark Xpress for OS X. Both these barriers are gone, and OS X adoption should now see significant increases. Apple can look forward to bringing in the remaining 83% and additional Windows users to the OS X fold.

The bad news is that Apple having a 22% share of Internet design and publishing is ridiculous. Apple has a serious advantage in this arena with OS X's superior implementation of core web technologies - Apache, PHP, MySQL, etc. Apple can clearly improve upon this...

Hopefully, this will dispell the "Apple is dying" BS we hear from time to time....
 
This has been true for years, it just tends to get looked over by the PC world. Those numbers sound about right although there are a lot of companies who do both multimedia and print work, I wonder what their Mac use is. Certainly the company I used to work for is mostly multimedia/web based now and most of the guys use macs with 2 on windows and 2 of the new guys using OSX.

I'd also be curious to know what the percentages are like in the recording and video industries.
 
Originally posted by serpicolugnut

-- The Mac is not quite as popular among Internet design and
development firms, where only 22% use the Mac OS as their
primary operating system.

-- Windows remains the leading OS within this group, with 92% of
Internet design and development firms relying on it as their
operating system of choice."
Click to expand...

Huh? So that adds up to 114%? :confused:
 
I can tell you every major recording studio has a mac runing pro tools... 99% apple in that catagory hands down... adoption of OSX is more likely on the order of 1%-10% since upgrading is unlikley due to buget...
Now movie houses probably close to ~ 25% are macs where OSX adoption rate is closer to 80%-90% where buget is HIGH... the other ~50% -65% would be mainly avid, sun systems, and ~15% ~25% or so windows
 
If Macromedia would port HomeSite to the Mac or if someone would come up with a decent knock-off of the functionality of the product, many people would be happy to explore the Mac as a choice.

What makes HomeSite such a phenomenal tool is the way it combines a text editor with helpful features such as being able to highlight a section of code and apply a command such as BOLD to the section. Or the ability to right click on an HTML tag and have every single option for that tag be available. Even this basic functionality which as been part of HomeSite since 1998 is still missing from BBEdit, Dreamweaver, essentially every tool on the Mac.
 
Aren't Apache, PHP, and MySQL available for Windows?
Click to expand...

Yeah, but 1) they aren't standard UNIX versions, but versions specifically compiled for WinNT with their own quirks, and 2) aren't as easy to get up and running...

If Macromedia would port HomeSite to the Mac or if someone would come up with a decent knock-off of the functionality of the product, many people would be happy to explore the Mac as a choice.
Click to expand...

All of my code nazi friends who use both Macs and Windows recognize BBEDit to be the better tool. I haven't used Homesite since it came bundled with DW2, so I can't really comment.

Apple could really increase their numbers in the Internet Design/Developer area by addressing a few major concerns...

1-Make Flash playback performance a priority, and send some engineers to Macromedia to get the Mac to be on par with Windows machines...

2-Develop an iApp that does WYSIWYG web layout for OS X, aimed at the consumer market. Something along the lines of HomePage/PageMill, but with updated functionality. Amazingly enough, there is no afforable WYSIWYG editor available for the Mac under $99. This is a potentially huge market. First Mac developer who addresses this need will clean up.

3-Agressively leverage QuickTime, and buy Real Networks, Apple's main competitor. With Real out of the way, it's Apple v. MS mano y mano.

4-BIG ONE: Buy Macromedia. Macromedia is ripe for a takeover, and if Apple doesn't purchase them, Microsoft will to get it's hands on Flash. If this happens, it's lights out for the Mac in Internet publishing....
 
Originally posted by serpicolugnut
3-Agressively leverage QuickTime, and buy Real Networks, Apple's main competitor. With Real out of the way, it's Apple v. MS mano y mano.

4-BIG ONE: Buy Macromedia. Macromedia is ripe for a takeover, and if Apple doesn't purchase them, Microsoft will to get it's hands on Flash. If this happens, it's lights out for the Mac in Internet publishing....
Click to expand...
Why do you think it's a big Microsoft vs Apple war? Just because you (and I) love apple and hate microsoft doesn't mean they're enemies. If microsoft bought Macromedia, that would in NO WAY damage Apple. Microsoft needs apple to live, otherwise they'd have even more so of a monopoly (2% using Linux as a desktop was the last numbers I've heard).

In essence, if we really wanted to kill Microsoft, there's one way to do it. Jump ship and stop using Apple. If everyone did that, MS would have a total monopoly beyond it's control, and it would get broken up.
 
Why do you think it's a big Microsoft vs Apple war? Just because you (and I) love apple and hate microsoft doesn't mean they're enemies. If microsoft bought Macromedia, that would in NO WAY damage Apple. Microsoft needs apple to live, otherwise they'd have even more so of a monopoly (2% using Linux as a desktop was the last numbers I've heard).
Click to expand...

Never said it was a war. But Microsoft is Apple's biggest competitor, on many fronts. If you really think Microsoft needs Apple to live anymore, I've got a bridge I'd like to sell you. MS has come out of the Antitrust trial smelling like a rose. Besides, with Linux increasing in share, Microsoft could argue that Linux is it's biggest competition, not Apple...

In essence, if we really wanted to kill Microsoft, there's one way to do it. Jump ship and stop using Apple. If everyone did that, MS would have a total monopoly beyond it's control, and it would get broken up.
Click to expand...

Would it really matter much if MS got broken? Then you'd have two companies with monopolies on different market segments - Operating Systems and Office Suites.

Back to the statement... Microsoft might not kill off any of the Macromedia products if they bought the company, but you can sure as hell bet that they would let them languish to the point that no Mac user would want them in the first place.

Look no further than the Windows Media Player and IE. Both absolutely suck on the Mac. At least WMP is rumored to be upgraded soon. IE is dead, and that was a market that IE owned all to itself.
 
Originally posted by serpicolugnut
Even though only 17% have upgraded to OS X, this isn't a bad thing for Apple. The reason that only 17% have upgraded was two fold: stagnated pro systems, and a lack of Quark Xpress for OS X. Both these barriers are gone, and OS X adoption should now see significant increases. Apple can look forward to bringing in the remaining 83% and additional Windows users to the OS X fold.
Click to expand...
I don't think this will prove quite the surge that you seem to expect. I read somewhere that when it comes to upgrading their software print/graphic design houses generally lag about eighteen to twenty-four months behind the release of a piece of software to actually upgrading to it. So you could look to see most places upgrading to XPress 6 in about two years. I hope this doesn't prove to be true, but since that has been the pattern of the past I suspect we will see it repeated.
 
Originally posted by gwynarion
I don't think this will prove quite the surge that you seem to expect. I read somewhere that when it comes to upgrading their software print/graphic design houses generally lag about eighteen to twenty-four months behind the release of a piece of software to actually upgrading to it. So you could look to see most places upgrading to XPress 6 in about two years. I hope this doesn't prove to be true, but since that has been the pattern of the past I suspect we will see it repeated.
Click to expand...

But then again they waited anyways for so many years for Quark and more powerful Macs ;)
 
The print industry is always suffering from a chicken/egg scenario when it comes to software. Or more specific, a designer/service bureau scenario...

The designer holds off on upgrading to the new version of Quark because he's concerned the Service Bureau who outputs his film or his plates won't have the application, forcing him to save down to a Quark 5 file, which could pose problems.

The Service Bureau holds off on the purchase of Quark Xpress 6 until it's had sufficient time to test it with their printers, imagesetters, and other prepress equipment. They need to make money with it, and they need to know how well it works/doesn't work with existing output devices.

The Service Bureau then waits until a sufficient number of customers have requested output from Xpress 6 before it takes the plunge.

Of course, not all Service Bureaus wait around. Many of the larger ones are proactive and will have already tested Xpress 6 and have copies on hand to output designers jobs as soon as they come in.

In terms of hardware sales for Apple and OS X upgrades, I think it will start to bear serious fruit shortly after Panther ships. The prepress industry is slow to upgrade, but when they are presented with a superior workflow solution that doesn't require making concessions (like running Xpress in Classic mode), they usually do, even if they do slowly over the course of a year to 18 months.

The combo of the OS X, the G5, and Xpress 6 will be a enticing mix for many design firms who have skipped several hardware upgrades, and are still using OS 9.
 
Funny thing, my band went into a relatively nice (read: expensive) recording studio a short while ago and they recorded us with, of all things, BeOS. Mastering was done on Windows.

Of course, our CD sounds like total crap, but I have a feeling that might be our fault. :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top