The following is my response to Del Miller's column today.
Apologies to those who get this twice. I forgot that all my
Mac-related rants should go in this mailing list.

The column I'm responding to is

http://www.macopinion.com/columns/engine/03/07/25/index.html

Without further ado, the *first post* of the new ASACMUG
mailing list:

******

Hi Del - glad you're back on the Mac web after a long hiatus.

Your article brings up a lot of points regarding what kinds
of comparisons and choices people make when buying computers.

My point is that the fulfillment of psychological needs and desires
outweigh whether a computer can meet our (practical)
requirements. Computers are more like cars in this sense
than cola and toothpaste.

1) The lemming effect

Most people put a lot of weight on what their inner circle
of relatives and friends say. Advertising and marketing
is nothing compared to word-of-mouth, especially
for a "complex" purchase like computers.

When 90% of the market uses Wintel, that is a huge amount
of inertia to overcome. The number of Mac evangelists
is dwarfed by the number of Wintel power users.

Although influence motivates us to buy,
money is the means to buy. Since a Windows or Office
license costs as much or more than a PC, people
and companies will eventually respond -- the
rise of Linux and Open Source is a prime example.
Unfortunately, as you've said, Apple does not
win on the money issue - at best it is competitive
price-wise to Wintel.

Macs are for the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels -
the ones who don't give a damn about the network effect.

2) Psychological triggers

Basic psychology tells us that most people
will sacrifice the higher-level motives of
fulfillment and satisfaction in favor of the primal
emotions of safety and security.

In this day and age, with the economy, terrorism,
global uncertainty, and a population feeling pressured
by governments and companies, people are not
going to make waves. Wintel = safe. Mac = risky.

3) The corporate market

Most people are not self-employed or independent.
They work for companies and the computer
they use is not up to them. When
expected to take work with them or work
from home, the choice is not to fight corporate
IT but to go along. There is an element of compulsion -
insisting on using a Mac may be a career-limiting move.

Apple has had a hard time maintaining market
share in the graphics and education markets because
these markets are being consolidated and run
like companies - the imperative to standardize,
reduce short-term costs, and centralize decision
making take precedence over ROI, efficiency, and
effectiveness.

4) People are lazy

Comparing a Mac to a PC is too hard - it's not
simply comparing numbers. That's too easy -
Mac advantages are not easily quantified.
Try explaining a G5 vs. a P4, or the "ease of use"
of OSX vs. WinXP . *That* will glaze the buyer's eyes.

In some respects, Apple realized this a long time
ago and the Mac is marketed as a psyche-soothing
purchase, not a computer that can meet
requirements to surf, email, and write letters.

Alex Morando
alex42@...