Out of the blue, Apple topples Micro$oft in Japan with more market share!

[little]

downix wrote:
By that same logic, people are buying Vista to go on their already existing PC's.  So total gain for Microsoft market share is also 0%

That is not really what is happening. For Vista you really need a new AND expensive PC, a cheap PC from three years ago simply wont do. On top of that as soon as Vista SP1 is released you will need to buy a new video card since cards one year or older are deemed "unowrthy". That is the reason many people are staying with XP (and a few are tempted to try Linux). But if you really need to buy a new PC, might as well be a Mac with XP installed in a partition for games and using Paralles to run applications. Also, Japanese users do like to have the newest gadgets, so they do buy new PCs quite often, so what we see today in Japan might be seen happening in the USA in three years.

[little]

mongo wrote:
$40 worth of ram

You are pulling my leg, rught? You are running Vista with only 512 Mb of RAM? That is the bare minimum for XP. Do you really do anything besides websurfing with that machine?

a $22 case, a $15 power supply

A case already comes with a power supply, another indication that you are yanking at my leg.

a $10 monitor.

Come on, where can you buy a new vga monitor for ten bucks? If this machine was built with used parts then it is not a clear reflection of market prices.

[little]

Viewpoint 1: All OSes have their positives and negatives,

Actually quite misleadung. By the same logic even Hitler made something good in his lifetime and even mother Teresa must have done something wrong. It is not the existence of positives and negatives that matter, it is the net sum of them. Therefore there are hideous OSes (i.e. Windows ME) and funtional OSes.

I use and enjoy many.

Truth is if you use many OSes you enjoy some and endure the others; with time you get comfortable with those you had to endure the same way you would get comfy with your kidnappers, you might even end loving them!!!

IMO, Vista runs reasonably well on cheap hardware.

Again quite misleading, that is a subjective point of view, some people surf the net with their commodore 64 and would say that it "runs reasonably well on cheap hardware" because they have gotten used to it.

[little]

When win95 came out ... See the pattern?

I was there, I remember all of it. New windows releases (BTW, you skipped 3.11 and earlier) had always required improved hardware. But with windows vista you need new hardware, people can fool themselves all they want (I mean, they are doing so in their own free time) but anyone that uses their PC for anything beyond web browsing (i.e. for gaming) will not touch Vista at the present time because it does not run fine, period.

edit:

When Apple farts people sniff and cheer.

It seems you have confused me with an apple lover or the like, I have no ipod, iphone, iwhatever.

[little]

mongo wrote:
Actually, I've recently upgraded to 1 gig, but Vista does run fine with 512 Mb.

It is hilarious to me how people do not realize they are making contradictory statements. If vista was fine with 512 Mb, why upgrade? I mean, the commodore 64 had only 64k and did run fine, you could upgrade but very few people did (even tough to this day it is the best selling computer model of all times) because *drum roll* it was fine as it is.

First of all, not all cases come with power supplies.

All new cases I can buy locally come with power supplies, then I suppose yours was also second hand.

I never said the monitor was new. It is a used HP 20 inch CRT. Works quite nicely.

I have no doubt it works quite nicely, I have buyed second hand hardware for many years and know first hand that you cannot compare the prices of new items with the low prices of used items. Besides, not two second hand items cost the same, it is a matter of luck, the time you expend searching for it and how the degree of computer knowledge you have (some people think they stuff is junk just because they do not know how to use/fix it).

@koaftder

You also seem to think I am a mac fanboy :roll:

As a side note, most people do not realize (the same way a fish does not realize he is surrounded by water) that there is a diference between "my OS is better" and "I am so used to my OS that when I use a better OS I dislike it because I have to relearn everything I already know how to do".  Hence, the people that know quite a bit about windows in and outs are the same people that argue they like it better, but give your parents or children a new pc with linux and they will adapt to it quite easily.

[little]

You don't necessarily need a new machine for Vista. At worst you won't get aero.

IMO, if you are not going to get aero, DX10, etc. it is quite pointless to upgrade to Vista. It is like getting a new car with you old cars engine.

[little]

Where's the contradiction, exactly?

Does our vacuum cleaner works fine? Then it would not make sense if you changed the motor inside it. Does your refrigerator works fine? Then no use changing the motor in it? Does the company web server works fine? Then there it would be a waste of money to buy more memory from it. No, a computer cannot work fine if you need to buy more memory from it, either it is needed or it is a waste of money.

Most high end cases do not come with a power supply.

For me at least a personal computer case is a piece of utilitarian hardware, not a fashion statement nor a mainframa (that requires extra cooling hardware) housing.

[little]

@koaftder

If the moderators dim my comments are unapropiate for this messageboard they may give me warning or outright ban me. Othwerwise I will escersice my right to free speech, whether you think I am being anal or not.