% fortune -ae paul murphy

Why Wintel support people dislike Apple

!984 - MacXL offers networking, Postscript printing, a full GUI, and a suite of core graphic applications for writing and drawing - for $5 at list less than a 128K PC/AT with BASIC and PC-DOS. It takes Microsoft another five years to get Windows 3.0 out - and then it lacks both networking and Postscript driver support.

In 1984 there is no Mac support industry - but hundreds of thousands of people are finding new careers programming DOS and helping MS-DOS users get their machines to do something.

1994 -The PPC powered MacAV adds multi-tasking and audio-video support - for $240 less than an HP PC with Windows 3.11, BASIC, and a network card. It takes Microsoft another nine years to get Windows/XP out - and then it routinely crashes when users try to edit and view video at the same time.

In 1994 there is no Mac support industry - but more than a million Americans are finding exciting new careers programming DOS and helping Windows 3.X users get their machines to do something.

2001 - Apple switches the Mac to BSD Unix: putting big system capabilities and access to most open source applications into a personal computer line. Microsoft promptly announces Longhorn, a modern day PICK remake, but six years later coughs out little more than yet another NT point release in its place.

In 2001 there is no Mac support industry - but millions of Americans are working hard every day to sell and support Wintel.

2007 - Apple "drops the other shoe" on its Intel switch by starting to phase out the traditional personal computer in favor of the iPhone and a line of handheld network clients. Microsoft contemplates withdrawing Zune and promises that the next generation of Windows 4.0 derivatives really will provide genuinely functional handheld support.

In 2007 there is no Mac support industry - but millions of Americans are still working hard every day to sell and support Wintel.

You know, I think there's a trend here - and that trend raises a simple bottom line question for people like frequent contributor TonyMCS: Tony, when you write stuff like this:

Number one TV/Film fantasy

Everyone uses Apples. Of course in real life this is less than 5% - keep that funding running Apple.

is there any chance that fear for your job might have something to do with the attitude?


Paul Murphy wrote and published The Unix Guide to Defenestration. Murphy is a 25-year veteran of the I.T. consulting industry, specializing in Unix and Unix-related management issues.