Proportions of OS pre-X & OS X users (was: RunRev Pricing)

[Ian Wood]

My experience in the UK is that the print industry is the most 
resistant, mainly because they often have complex workflows and it 
would take time to reproduce those workflows on OS X.  In addition, the 
print industry is so hard-pressed that they often run very old 
equipment, my local (tiny) print shop runs QuarkXPress 3 on a 75MHz 
Performa!  To run OS X they would have to replace everything from 
scratch, including most of their SCSI peripherals.  X is great if you 
have modern equipment, but I wouldn't want to run it on anything less 
than a 350MHz G3 with lots of RAM.

Basically, if you have a complex workflow, you don't want to risk 
getting it messed up.

Another factor is IT training.  Most computer users have simply 
memorised where the bits they need are.  A good example is Control 
Panels.  Once you have shown someone where the System Preferences are, 
they don't need any further help with that bit, because it is so much 
better laid out.  If you are prepared to get in someone who knows their 
way around and give you a guided tour, it is absurdly easy to upgrade.  
I do a lot of this for local artists, and get more phonecalls about 
!X£&?@ epson printer drivers playing up than i do about the rest of OS 
X put together.  In general, if people are finding that their support 
costs are going up sharply they probably haven't done their 
homework/research/training in the first place, and also do silly things 
like installing every upgrade as soon as it comes out and not waiting a 
week or two to hear about bugs.  That said, there have been some 
decidedly 'beta' quality software releases from Apple recently...

Most people who are prepared to spend a couple of days learning where 
things are love X and wouldn't go back to 9 unless you held them up at 
gunpoint, me included...

For reference, my sales are around 10% Win, 20% OS <X and 70% OS X, but 
that is software for panoramic photographers who tend to need 
powerful/new computers anyway, and is worldwide sales rather than just 
Europe.

Ian Wood

P.S.  I second the bit about doubling productivity on X, if just 
because of instant wake from sleep and a laptop that hasn't been 
switched off for a month.

On 25 Feb 2004, at 15:16, Thomas McGrath III wrote:

> Marc,
>
<snip>
> But, I stand by my statement: "OSX has proved to me that my 
> productivity has doubled since I switched and with each new flavor of 
> OSX has only gotten better." I have always been a user that would 
> 'rather use my computer than fix/twiddle with my computer'. and OSX 
> allows for both. I can get more work done now in such a little amount 
> of time that my bosses have started to throw way too much work at me 
> and expecting me to get it done.
>
<snip>
> Tom
>
> On Feb 25, 2004, at 10:01 AM, A.C.T. wrote:
>
>> Hi, Thomas,
>>
>> > I think the word was slow at first but now has picked up speed and 
>> the
>> > switch is happening very fast now.
>>
>> that's why I wrote: It is hard to predict. Maybe it is different on 
>> your side of the Atlantic ;-) The publishers I work with are 
>> generally "old fashioned", some of them love working in Quark 2 ... 
>> well, "some" is not the right work, but at least those exist.
>>
>>> I have met a lot of Windows users that were so intrigued by OSX and 
>>> it's productivity increases that they have started to include Macs 
>>> in with their suite of Windows computer only offices. (and most of 
>>> the old arguments they had are no longer there and they are starting 
>>> to admit that , at least to me)
>>
>> That's fine - and the exact oposite to what I am experiencing. Macs 
>> are more and more "fleeing" the offices where I walk in and out. 
>> Personally I can understand that, but that is a completely different 
>> story.
>>
>> As far as the topic of this thread is concerned: I still think it is 
>> hard to predict what OS on Mac will be dominant for the next 18 
>> months. I tend to say it's "Mac OS <X" (9, 8.5 etc), but it is very 
>> much possible that this only applies to Germany as I do not have to 
>> do with foreign customers that often.
>>
>> Marc Albrecht
>
> Thomas J. McGrath III