The Mac is Back
When I first started speaking at the Software Development conference in 1997, I lugged my PowerBook 5300c with me. Typically this was one of maybe two Macs to be found anywhere at the show. After the first year or two, it was usually the only Mac at that or any other show I attended.
When I started talking about XML, my PowerBook was no longer capable of running enough software to support the talk. The Java VM was atrocious and years behind what was available for Windows or Unix. Much XML software didn’t run at all. At first, when I spoke at a show, I made sure a PC was set up for me; and I’d load my presentation onto it from a CD. Then around 2000 I bought a Dell Latitude LS laptop that served me for the next few years. At this point, there were usually no Macs to be seen anywhere at any show. The presenters didn’t use them. The exhibitors didn’t use them. The attendees didn’t use them.
However in early 2003 I got a TiBook running Mac OS X 10.2 (the first marginally usable version of Mac OS X). I started carrying that to shows and I was once again the only Mac at the shows. Since then I’ve noticed a slow but steady increase in the percentage of PowerBooks and other Macs at shows.
This past week at SD Best Practices, the trickle turned into a stream. Apple was likely the best represented brand of computer at the show among speakers, attendees, and exhibitors. While there were still more Windows laptops than PowerBooks (I didn’t notice anyone running Linux) there were as many or more PowerBooks as Dell and IBM laptops, the previous corporate favorites. In addition the Mac Mini is a really convenient form factor for exhibitors who need to ship demo machines back and forth.
I wouldn’t be surprised if by this time next year, SDBP sees more Macs than Windows. I understand this has already happened at many Unix and open source conferences, where the attendees are less tied to Windows in the first place.
With the upcoming releases of Boot Camp, Parallels Workstation, and VMWare for the Mac, I expect the future is going to see the stream of Mac adoptions turn into a flood. Many people who’d like to use a Mac for 90% of their work have been held back by the need to run one or two special purpose Windows applications. Like a lot of Mac geeks, I have a backup PC just for running the occasional Windows or Linux app that hasn’t been ported to the Mac, and I turn it on every couple of months or so. However, not everyone wants or can afford a second system. PC emulators for the Mac have been around at least 15 years or so, but they never worked very well. Now that the chip itself doesn’t need to be emulated, however, a Mac is a real choice for running Windows.
It occurs to me that the title of this piece is a misnomer. “The Mac is back” implies that it used to be here. I don’t think that’s true. Certainly since the first Mac Portable was released in 1989, I’ve never seen as many Macs at non-Mac shows as I do now. Apple’s still well below their historic high of 20% market share; but today is a much larger market. The Mac is stronger than it’s ever been, and it’s well on track to gain even more.
