Osborning the Mac, or not
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Osborning the Mac, or not
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Re: Osborning the Mac, or not
#2There shouldn't be too much of an Osbourne effect with ARM macs. If anything, the sensible approach is the opposite: get in there quickly and get yourself an x86 mac while you still can.
ARM macs make sense long-term, but the experience is likely to pretty rough at first while software support catches up.
Re: Osborning the Mac, or not
#3There shouldn't be too much of an Osbourne effect with ARM macs. If anything, the sensible approach is the opposite: get in there quickly and get yourself an x86 mac while you still can. ARM macs make sense long-term, but the experience is likely to pretty rough at first while software support catches up.
As a very, very long time Mac user, the transition from 68k to PPC, then Mac OS 9 to OS X, then PPC to x86 was fairly smooth for the most part. Apple's relatively firm iron grip on their ecosystem due to their vertical integration gives them a lot of latitude to make moves like this be minimally disruptive to their user base. Now this is of course often annoying and disruptive to its developer base, and I've been on that side of it too. But, Apple knows how to pull this off about as cleanly as one could expect for such a significant overhaul.
Re: Osborning the Mac, or not
#4I’m just real glad that my personal upgrade cycle is at the point where I won’t be looking for a new computer until at least the second year of ARM Macs, when most show-stopping bugs should be ironed out of the OS and the Adobe tools I spend most of my work time in.
I was an early adopter of PPC and OSX, I’m not gonna sit there trying to get work done via the old-cpu emulation again.
Re: Osborning the Mac, or not
#5There shouldn't be too much of an Osbourne effect with ARM macs. If anything, the sensible approach is the opposite: get in there quickly and get yourself an x86 mac while you still can. ARM macs make sense long-term, but the experience is likely to pretty rough at first while software support catches up.
As a very, very long time Mac user, the transition from 68k to PPC, then Mac OS 9 to OS X, then PPC to x86 was fairly smooth for the most part. Apple's relatively firm iron grip on their ecosystem due to their vertical integration gives them a lot of latitude to make moves like this be minimally disruptive to their user base. Now this is of course often annoying and disruptive to its developer base, and I've been on…
Apple has never pulled off a transition like this before. None of your examples involved going from a popular architecture with broad software support to a less-popular architecture.
Transitioning to x86 brought additional customers who prefer Mac but also need to run Windows or Linux or who do x86 development. Transitioning away from it may lose them.
Re: Osborning the Mac, or not
#6It seems like the de jour solution to the Osborne Effect is to create the consumer expectation of significant price increases. People still buy last gen hardware nowadays well after the new hotness is out, because the new generation often costs 50%-100% more for a year or two.
If Osborne had said "The next versions will be even better, and only cost $5000 more!" people would have kept buying the Osborne 1.
Re: Osborning the Mac, or not
#7I'd worry more about Apple iOSing the Mac.
Re: Osborning the Mac, or not
#8There shouldn't be too much of an Osbourne effect with ARM macs. If anything, the sensible approach is the opposite: get in there quickly and get yourself an x86 mac while you still can. ARM macs make sense long-term, but the experience is likely to pretty rough at first while software support catches up.
We're talking about Apple here, the company that pulled off two seamless architecture transitions for its desktop platform -- something I believe no other desktop vendor even attempted.
ARM Macs will do just fine. Backwards compatibility will be close to 100%. x86-64 apps may run a bit slow, but native software will benefit from running on the most powerful laptop money can buy, period.
Re: Osborning the Mac, or not
#9The author mentions Nokia as an example, I didn't follow the transition closely. Was everyone really waiting for the Windows Nokia phones or did Nokia just lose mindshare (as I remember it)?
Any other good examples for Osborne Effect? Wikipedia does list SEGA's transition from Mega Drive/Genesis to 32X and Saturn and I can see how this confused potential customers but I guess there must be more (better?) examples.
Re: Osborning the Mac, or not
#10I’m just real glad that my personal upgrade cycle is at the point where I won’t be looking for a new computer until at least the second year of ARM Macs, when most show-stopping bugs should be ironed out of the OS and the Adobe tools I spend most of my work time in. I was an early adopter of PPC and OSX, I’m not gonna sit there trying to get work done via the old-cpu emulation again.
Also:
On a desktop machine, there’s no benefit in lower power dissipation and slimmer bodies
If you’re in a hot climate then every little bit helps. Lower your power bill due both to lower consumption on the part of your computer and due to the AC coming on that much less. Run the computers fan less. Maybe even have a Mini that does a surprising amount of what you’d buy a Pro for. Make the iMac that much more of a flat screen.