04-06-2006, 08:43 PM
It seems to me that any company that dumps mac development does so at its peril, and if they decide to go that route, other companies are standing by to fill the gap.
Sure, the market share for OS X is paltry, always has been, and Windows has always been an option (of sorts) for people who prefer Mac. But there are still millions of OS X users with dollars clenched in their fists willing to go against the crowd to use their beloved OS (we're already going against the crowd, right?). If Adobe decides to go Windows only, someone else will be more than happy to step in and take those dollars, because we're still talking about millions of users and millions of dollars. InDesign vs. Quark is instructive, as is Word vs. WordPerfect, Excel vs. Lotus, et al. If a software vendor is positioned where people want to be, they stand a much better chance of succeeding regardless of the strength and entrenchment of the competitor.
I think it's going to be more like OS9/OS X. When X first came out, it was all about Classic, or even dual boot if you could manage it. But the more we were exposed to X, the better we liked it, and now I find I haven't used Classic for ages, and I haven't booted my machine in OS9 for years. I suspect that those Windows users who now feel safe to buy that Mac they've always been curious about will see the same thing happen to them; and Mac users will have a nice convenience feature, but not one that will lure us away from OS X--unless Vista is something really spectacular, assuming it ever comes out. Yeah, right. Do you really think that will happen?
I think this is an unqualified Good Thing.
Sure, the market share for OS X is paltry, always has been, and Windows has always been an option (of sorts) for people who prefer Mac. But there are still millions of OS X users with dollars clenched in their fists willing to go against the crowd to use their beloved OS (we're already going against the crowd, right?). If Adobe decides to go Windows only, someone else will be more than happy to step in and take those dollars, because we're still talking about millions of users and millions of dollars. InDesign vs. Quark is instructive, as is Word vs. WordPerfect, Excel vs. Lotus, et al. If a software vendor is positioned where people want to be, they stand a much better chance of succeeding regardless of the strength and entrenchment of the competitor.
I think it's going to be more like OS9/OS X. When X first came out, it was all about Classic, or even dual boot if you could manage it. But the more we were exposed to X, the better we liked it, and now I find I haven't used Classic for ages, and I haven't booted my machine in OS9 for years. I suspect that those Windows users who now feel safe to buy that Mac they've always been curious about will see the same thing happen to them; and Mac users will have a nice convenience feature, but not one that will lure us away from OS X--unless Vista is something really spectacular, assuming it ever comes out. Yeah, right. Do you really think that will happen?
I think this is an unqualified Good Thing.