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AUGUST 21, 2002 BYTE OF THE APPLE By Charles Haddad What Mac Fans Want from Microsoft Apple users share their thoughts on Redmond's inflated prices, buggy software, and the odd symbiosis that keeps Macs viable
Much of the feedback was thoughtful, some of it even more provocative than my columns. And that's saying a lot, since I tried hard to stir things up. My aim was to irk people into thinking about what they take for granted, argue about it, and then think some more. Judging from reader reactions, I've been wildly successful in the past couple of weeks. Indeed, my mail has been just too good to keep to myself. So this week I'm going to share some of it with you. I've sifted it carefully and found several clear themes among the many varying assessments of Microsoft. CAPTIVE MARKET. First, Gates & Co. has only itself to blame for the disappointing sales of Office X, in the opinion of many. Reader after reader said it was just too darn expensive at $400-plus. "That's half the price of an eMac!!!" wrote Richard Lenoce. "That's a lot of money for a glorified typewriter/calculator/picture-maker." Lots of readers see Office's steep price as an attempt to gouge a captive market. So maybe they shouldn't be surprised when Mac-heads balk at the hefty expenditure. Andy McCann, who works at Morgan Stanley, suggests that Microsoft combine Word with personal-information manager Entourage and sell the bundle for $150. "Then they'd probably sell a huge number of copies," he writes. Office seems especially pricey, given that many readers see it as a marred beauty. They love its rich feature set but are put off by the program's bugs and cumbersome design. Liz Segre at Access Media Group sums it up: "I wish Microsoft would do a better job of designing and debugging its software before release, work with software companies more effectively [and fairly], and offer its products at lower prices." COMPATIBILITY IS KEY. Despite this bellyaching, most readers feel they're stuck with Microsoft. And that's not all bad. A lot of them believe Microsoft plays an invaluable role in keeping the Mac OS from being an isolated platform. They love the fact that a Word or Excel document created on a Mac now works without a hitch on PCs. "I would rather put up with Microsoft's domination than with a chaos of programs and operating systems that can't talk to each other," writes Segre. That compatibility, in fact, has become indispensable. Except for Adobe, no other major software company's products are so easily readable on both PCs and Macs. "In the U.K., we just couldn't continue using Macs if Word and Excel were not completely compatible on both platforms," says Walter G.M. Wilcox of Amos Enterprises in Surrey. "It's vital for collaborative work." Yet many readers resent this dependence on Microsoft. They find it tempting to contemplate a Mac community untethered from the software giant. But in the end, most conclude that such thinking is wistful, if not downright delusional. "Dream on," says KM Butti. "This isn't the 1980s," when Microsoft and Apple were vying head-to-head for who would become the standard bearer of personal computing. OTHERWISE DEATH? That battle is long since over, with Microsoft the clear winner. Now, many users don't want to be bothered to learn how to use alternatives to Word and Excel, such as Nisus Writer or Mariner Calc. With a deep sigh of resignation, most readers concede that the Mac market would shrivel up without the compatibility Microsoft provides. "There are too many professionals -- whether writers, designers, or professors -- who would be forced to abandon the Mac without Office," says Jerry Thompkins. "The Mac will die if Office skips." That doesn't mean readers are letting Microsoft off the hook. With control comes responsibility. They want the software giant to do a better job of debugging, to ensure that its products work with other programs, and to push harder to make Office easy to use. Microsoft, are you listening?  Haddad, Atlanta-based correspondent for BusinessWeek, is a long-time Apple Computer buff. Follow his weekly Byte of the Apple column, only on BusinessWeek Online Edited by B. Kite Get BusinessWeek directly on your desktop with our RSS feeds.  Add BusinessWeek news to your Web site with our headline feed. Click to buy an e-print or reprint of a BusinessWeek or BusinessWeek Online story or video. To subscribe online to BusinessWeek magazine, please click here. Learn more, go to the BusinessWeekOnline home page  | | AUGUST |
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