Re: OS platforms-mac vs.windows

Lady Wistfulee:

As many of the readers of MY posts are well aware, some things
written and posted are often "full of it".

In this case, the article is probably from several years ago when
the percentage of Mac's was far higher than it is now. It may
have been quite valid at one time.

That ratio is constantly changing. Some time ago, I remember a
quick poll on one of these lists and it turned out to be around 1
to 5 in PC's favor. In other words, 20% of the people making web
sites--THAT WERE ALSO PART of THAT List--were using a Mac.

In my local area, I know of no other commercial web builders
using a Mac. But--this does not mean there ARE no Mac's being
used for that purpose in the Redding area. It just means that I
don't know of any.

In the past few years there has been a rather rapid shift away
from the Mac toward the PC. This has nothing to do with value of
the work produced or the ability of one platform over the other.
It is more likely the result of marketing just as 8 track was
displaced by cassettes and Sony's Betamax lost out to VHS. The
Mac may be a great system but some of their marketing strategy
left a lot to be desired -- and for that matter, still does.
Example: The new IMac's are cute as a bug. But--to get any real
work done you have to pay an extra several hundred dollars and
this again makes them far more expensive than the equivalent PC.
And so the shift towards the PC continues ...

Having had some little experience in "publishing" I can relate
that many still feel that Mac is "the" platform in the publishing
world. Yet many high end pre-press houses tell me it is now about
50-50 or even a little in the PC's favor. However--For less than
high end publishing, there is no contest. The 89 dollar Windows
MS Publisher application is used for more publishing work than
every other piece of software combined.

Numbers are often mostly a matter of perspective. The views I
have just expressed may seem silly to others with a different
perspective toward publishing. However, right now, for the Fall
of 1999 I still believe that Mac's only account for about 20% of
the web sites being constructed. A year from now that figure may
be way off--Who knows which way??

And don't forget the Lunix OS people. There are one of two on
this that speak very highly about it. Even though--right now--the
numbers are insignificant, those numbers could change.

The main thing to remember here is that HTML is HTML and it
matters not a whit which operating system created it. The major
difference we run into is the browser itself. Though it may be
unfair, my personal feeling is that when it comes to
browsers--the ones made for Mac's often trail behind the PC
version. Again--it's those marketing numbers.

Again--I mean no offense to those who prefer Mac's. I am just
trying to answer the question with as much practical objectivity
as possible. And as an avid San Francisco 49'ers fan, I can
emphasize with those diminishing numbers.

Best Wishes
Ted Temer
Temercraft Designs Redding, CA
temer(at)c-zone.net
http://www.temercraft.com
http://www.newsredding.com/



>Hello Experienced People,
>I was reading an article (http://www.zeldman.com/tricksf.html)
that stated "...Readers on the PC platform may wonder why all
this matters, but 65% of web sites are designed on a Macintosh,
due to its heritage as a graphic design, advertising and desktop
publishing platform. "   My question is simple: is this true? &
if it is true, why does StatMarket list their OS stats for Macs
at less than 3%? If this is true, it means that 3% of the total
computer-owning world is designing 65% of all the web sites?  If
any of you can explain this phenomena, please help to unconfuse
this (evidently) total newbie who gets completely confused with
the glut of information on a daily basis.  As a side note...could
any of you please give me some tips on how to weed out the poor
advice from the good stuff?  Thanks to this list, I have
corrected a few misconceptions I had due to improper advice.
Also, if I have chosen the wrong list to submit this to, I
apologize, I maybe wrongfully) assumed knowing about OS's is a
"basics" question.
>TIA,
>much alohas from Oahu ...
>Lady Wistfulee
>--"He who wants milk should not
>sit on a stool in the middle of the pasture
>expecting the cow to back up to him."
>
>

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