Macs better than PCs for Internet marketing? | Internet Marketing on a Mac

Are Macs better than PCs for Internet marketing?

We weigh the evidence, you decide!

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Those of us who have been around Macs for awhile remember when the first glimmerings of change were coming. No, I don't mean the presidential administration. I mean when the news first broke that Apple was going to change the type of processors in all Macintosh computers from PowerPC to Intel.

First, CNET reported that Apple was planning on switching chipmakers, then Reuters picked up on the story. it seemed speculative at first. If this was not true, it meant that these news organizations would wind up with some major egg on their face. If true, it seemed that Mac users would end up with some egg on their face!

For many years, Mac users mocked the "Intel inside" logo as being a "warning label." They cheered the Apple ads showing a snail with an Intel chip stuck to its back. It certainly seemed the irony of ironies that Apple ended up switching to Intel itself. This probably was the biggest change for Apple since it made the switch from OS 9 to OS X. The most significant upshot of this change was that Mac users were now able to run Windows programs on their Macs!

Make no mistake about it; this was a huge gamble for Apple. It could have meant that Apple developers would abandon the platform in droves, since Mac users would be able to run Windows programs on the Mac just as well as they can on a Windows machine. The loss of Mac developers would mean the loss of the platform.

But this didn't happen. Why not? Because Mac users love the Mac experience! True, they can now run Windows software on the Mac, but they lose the whole "fit and finish" of a Macintosh. They lose the ease, the smoothness and the grace of Using the world's best computer platform.

Mac developers are just as productive as ever, and yet now Mac users can run Windows only business applications the formerly required a PC. That doesn't mean that Mac users want to run Windows applications; they would much prefer to run Mac native software and always do so if they have a choice. In fact, outside of business, the most common use of Windows virtualization is to play games!

Here on Internet Mac marketing we know that you, as a Mac user, would prefer to use Mac software whenever possible. That's why we have rounded up reviews of the best Mac software specifically designed for Internet marketing, as well as more general, all-around programs that are also useful for netrepreneurs.

But what's so great about the Mac experience? Let me tell you a little anecdote to illustrate my point.

I recently talked to someone who, about a year ago, asked my advice about buying a computer. Of course, I strongly advised buying a Mac. Well, despite my urgings, she bought a PC instead.

I asked her how things were going with it. It turns out the thing is gathering dust, until she gets a chance to "take some classes" on it. Worse than that, she had severe problems with the hardware. "I bought one of those cheap CD-ROMs," she said, "and it ate up my hard drive."

"Ate up your hard drive?" I asked. (Maybe she meant her CD-ROM drive, I don't know.) "You mean it physically damaged the hard drive?

"That's right," she said.

"Well, you must have had a defective hard drive to begin with," I offered.

"No, no," she insisted. "The repairman said this happens all the time due to those cheap CD-ROMs."

So there you have it. Whether she meant her CD-ROM drive or her hard drive, such a problem is virtually unheard of in the Mac world. Credit it to the meticulous hardware engineering of Apple, but Mac users just don't have this problem.

We Mac users are occasionally frustrated when we can't find the software we want, but at least we aren't frustrated every time we sit down at the computer.

Of course, I had to gloat a little bit. I had to mention that I belong to a Mac user group and I never heard of any of the members having a problem like this! Ain't I a stinker?

I also remember a conversation that took place on the late Don Crabb's radio show one night. A caller to the program, a Macintosh user, announced that he was going to switch to a Windows PC. "Well, you can certainly do that," replied Don, "but why do you want to switch to a PC?" The caller replied that he didn't like the looks of the iMac, and besides, "there isn't enough software for it." "OK, name a software program that you want to run that isn't available on the Mac," Don challenged. The caller admitted that he couldn't offhand.

A bigger problem, the caller said, was that the only new desktop models available from Apple were the iMac and the blue and white G3 tower, which was "too expensive." But, after further probing from Don, it turned out that the caller was willing to drop $3,000 on a PC. For that price, said Don, "you could get a top-of-the-line Mac and a nice printer to boot."

Don assured the caller that after getting used to the Mac's ease-of-use, he would find the switch to Windows a frustrating experience.

But there was another problem, the caller said: he needed to send text files to his colleagues via email and they couldn't open them because he used a Mac. "That has nothing to do with the fact that you use a Mac," Don insisted. "You simply need to use a word-processing program to save these files in a format your Windows-using colleagues can open." "I can do that?" the caller asked, surprised.

Obviously, a lot of the anti-Mac sentiment out there is based on pure ignorance. Armed with the facts, knowledgeable Mac users know better. This isn't to say that there isn't some great software, especially software useful to Web marketers, that is Windows only. But that is the purpose of InternetMacMarketing.com: to find alternatives to these programs that run on the Mac.

		MAC PRO: FOR THOSE WHO DEMAND SERIOUS POWER It's an open-and-shut case: The Mac Pro is as beautiful on the inside as it is on the outside. Read more



		iPHONE: YOUR "MAC" ON THE GO An always-connected "Mac" you carry in your pocket, the iPhone has GPS capabilities, a camera, Internet connectivity, Safari, the world's best mobile web browser and over 100,000 apps for every purpose. Read more

Proving the Mac is the best choice for work, for life, and for online marketing. Find here news, reviews, advice, "how-to," tips, product comparison guides, and more, all geared to Internet marketers.

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