One more one more thing… Apple’s website has always been very well organized. Try typing the URL http://www.apple.com/business in your browser and see what you get.

Given that, PC’s win.

Why would you even want to drive a Porsche?

“Trust me, a lot of Mac software is at best a ripoff of and at worst pretty crippled compared to what you can get for free in Linux.”

Yeah, like Pixel. Adobe soooo ripped that off.

My hammer is better than your hammer.

Just buy some (much cheaper) PCs, load them with your favorite flavor of Linux (I recommend Ubuntu), get the Windows refund if you want for even more saved money, and you are good to go.

I have more than a few friends that have Macs. Trust me, a lot of Mac software is at best a ripoff of and at worst pretty crippled compared to what you can get for free in Linux. If you miss Macs that much, go ahead and theme the Linux installs to look like Tiger or Leopard too.

It used to be that Macs had the lead in design, especially publishing, but these days they have pretty much abandoned that market segment. It’s either over-specced Mac Pros or non-upgradable iMacs. No dice. Now, if they gave us a mid-tower for the price of an iMac…

Plus, to run a business entirely on Macs would make the start up costs excruciatingly high. For some functions — like admin and sales — a Mac is unnecessary; you’re in an office to do work, not get distracted by pretty eye-candy and 100 useless widgets. So my admin staff gets a Linux box and the sales manager gets a Windows XP box to run Excel and Powerpoint; I got both machines (complete with monitor, keyboard and mouse) for the price of a Mac Mini without any doodads.

Personally, I have 3 Mac, which I use for work. I have 2 PCs as well, but I design and publish, and, having started out quite some time ago on a PC, most of the industry uses Macs. It’s not a proprietary thing, either – they work better. Call a professional printer and ask if they’d rather have files from a PC or a Mac – even if the software is the same on both.

However, I’m also looking at buying another PC… I want Flight Simulator to run better, and they don’t make it for Mac. I can get a system that will run it pretty well for about $500, and I already have a monitor, keyboard, etc.

A Mac will run it, but only after a pretty steep purchase price plus some Windows software.

No, Macs are not meant for businesses that don’t deal in creative work. If you’re doing 3D stuff you’re in good shape on a PC, but for pretty much everything else, Macs are standard.

If you look at the number of creative firms against non-creative (let’s just call them boring..) businesses – like, oh, accounting – I bet you’ll find that there’s just about 7% of them… like Apple’s market saturation.

I’ll use the tools I need. Call Macs toys all you like – then, walk into a bookstore, and know that 95% of what you’re looking at was designed and produced on one.

The problem that faces Apple because of this is that if they ever DO decide to get into the business sector, it will be an extremely slow move no matter how hard they push it. They’ve solidified their image with the Mac vs PC commercials and the general attitudes of the Mac fanbase so much already, that to reverse it would be – well – inefficient at best.

The other thought is relating to what John said. The business end doesn’t want to pay a premium. I differ from his opinion here, though. Known fact: PCs can be configured to a much higher spec than a Mac for a much lower price. Repairs are also significantly cheaper, because proprietary components are not generally a huge problem in the open PC parts market. This has to be one of the most inescapable reasons why PCs will stay where they are so far as business is concerned.

Sorry Mac. You’ve got your toys, they’ve got their spreadsheets.

It won’t chase them away, but it won’t cater directly or advertise to them.

Business customers don’t like to pay Apple’s prices. Most of the time they want cheap PCs that are configured as cheaply as possible; with the bare minimum in order to run their in-house customized applications and MS Office with Exchange. They don’t want iLife, they don’t want any iThing. And they expect a price decrease for everything they remove from the default configuration.

Apple doesn’t do that.

If business wants to buy Apple’s product the way they are, then Apple will sell to them. If Apple puts business on its front page, then business will expect the same customization service it can get from the likes of DELL and HP.

As Steve Jobs used to say, “One more thing…”

A few years ago, I was helping a friend build a website using Microsoft’s SQLServer and .ASP – two products I was completely unfamiliar with. My friend had a MSDN subscription complete with a knowledge base on DVD. I found that I couldn’t find anything on the DVD, and concluded it was because I didn’t think like a MicroSoftie.

After a while, I gave up on MSDN and just searched for answers on the web. I found it interesting that the best answers were not on Microsoft related websites. My friend swears by MSDN, so we held a race. He would search for help on MSDN while I used Google. I won 10 out of 10.

I believe Google has made site maps style homepages obsolete. I find things quicker using search on websites like Apple, Oracle, Amazon, eBay, Sears, etc. than by navigating through a tree of links.

Contrast this with a website like Dell, which attempts to qualify customers right away. Try and find an advertised consumer special after telling the site you are a small business.

Go to http://www.apple.com There is a search box in the upper right hand corner. Type business or small business in the box.

I tried it and only got as far as busi (typing pretty fast) before answera popped up.