That's why people like them. Don't have to worry about drivers, installing this, configuring that etc.
That's why iPlods have been a massive success as well. People don't want to get involved in configuring a cd ripper / encoder, and then learning how to drag&drop onto a removeable drive.
Most people will pay that price premium for the convenience and for the lack of knowledge that is required to use it.
What Microsoft and Apple need to realise though is that the principle of an OS is becoming irrelevant IMO.
It's getting to the stage where most of the software that people would want to use, will run on Windows/Linux/OS X
My work Win XP Pro laptop's been running great for the past 3-4 years now (touch wood)... a quick OS re-install every 10-15 months keeps things nice and swift.
But keeping a Windows installation in snappy working order requires people to be a bit smarter with how they work... not having a Start Menu that cascades into about 5 columns of RegCleanerSuperDuperAntiSpywareHonest and hundreds of shortcuts to uninstall programs usually helps.
Most people can't be arsed with such things!
What will my next laptop be?
Well it will probably have Windows Vista, but I'll be looking for a way to switch it to XP.
I hate to see clock cycles wasted on fancy fisher-price colours and bouncy icons.
And it won't be one of these 'netbooks' either, it will all be about the expensive ultra-mobile for me... I've had enough of lugging 2kg of laptop around for the past few years. Me wants one of those 1kg Sony units with the insane battery life!
Register
They just work
That's why people like them. Don't have to worry about drivers, installing this, configuring that etc.
That's why iPlods have been a massive success as well. People don't want to get involved in configuring a cd ripper / encoder, and then learning how to drag&drop onto a removeable drive.
Most people will pay that price premium for the convenience and for the lack of knowledge that is required to use it.
What Microsoft and Apple need to realise though is that the principle of an OS is becoming irrelevant IMO.
It's getting to the stage where most of the software that people would want to use, will run on Windows/Linux/OS X
My work Win XP Pro laptop's been running great for the past 3-4 years now (touch wood)... a quick OS re-install every 10-15 months keeps things nice and swift.
But keeping a Windows installation in snappy working order requires people to be a bit smarter with how they work... not having a Start Menu that cascades into about 5 columns of RegCleanerSuperDuperAntiSpywareHonest and hundreds of shortcuts to uninstall programs usually helps.
Most people can't be arsed with such things!
What will my next laptop be?
Well it will probably have Windows Vista, but I'll be looking for a way to switch it to XP.
I hate to see clock cycles wasted on fancy fisher-price colours and bouncy icons.
And it won't be one of these 'netbooks' either, it will all be about the expensive ultra-mobile for me... I've had enough of lugging 2kg of laptop around for the past few years. Me wants one of those 1kg Sony units with the insane battery life!