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Comment by dirtbox | Hacker News Reader

I started designing on a Mac II in the late 80s during the emergence of desktop publishing and over the years it became the defacto designer's tool. I have no idea what happened, but apple forgot where they came from and have completely lost touch with their creative roots. That MS have swooped in and delivered what has to be the most exciting design tool I've seen in over a decade only punctuates how bad things have become at Apple.

I can see them hemorrhaging all but their most hardcore customers in the next year.

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>> Apple forgot where they came from and have completely lost touch with their creative roots.

I get what you're saying, but Apple has evolved. Back then, Apple was a niche company. Now they are a mainstream company, enjoying the profits of their success.

I know it's not pleasant to hear, but they don't need the creatives any more. Or developers. And that's fine. You can always speak out with your wallet. I didn't like the direction they went in and changed to Windows, but I wasn't reliant on any one thing in the Mac ecosystem. I still have no problem recommending Macs to certain types of users though.

Apple was never niche within the industry, they were the forefront of mainstream. Now they've alienated absolutely everyone and their only direction seems to be toward proprietary nickel and diming.

>> Apple was never niche within the industry, they were the forefront of mainstream.

My Apple days go back to the first era of Steve Jobs. I remember when Macs served mainly DTP (desktop publishing) and Education markets and not much else. Back when people literally said "Macs are toys". I used to get weird "Why?" looks when I told people I used a Mac. I don't think any Mac user from that era would say Apple was "at the forefront of mainstream".

Hence "within the industry". They were ubiquitous across every single studio. I think the only other computer I saw was a Sun Microsystems server in a repro house that ran the film output.

Ok I had some confusion with your wording.

When you say "the industry" - I inferred computer manufacturing industry. As in IBM, HP, Dell, Apple, etc. whereas you appear to be talking about the creative industry.

I don't understand how you can recommend a Mac to anyone anymore.

As you point out, Apple changed, and users who were the mainstay of the company were abandoned. That's Apple's right. But what makes you think the users you are recommending the Mac to won't be the next class of users Apple will abandon? And especially with Apple's increasing focus on iOS, the entire Mac line is probably at risk.

If this were a Dell you were recommending, and Dell decided to quit the computer market, the person you recommended to would switch to an HP and largely have a similar experience. Not so much with Macs, where switching means leaving the ecosystem altogether.

At this point the only people I can recommend Macs to are those who are completely invested in OSX. If you're new to the Mac I will actively dissuade you, because you're putting a lot of money to enter an ecosystem whose future has not looked more uncertain in over a decade.

Yes, but I also know a lot of people who don't use function keys or need the extra ports. Apple still has good build quality, and the out of the box experience is still first class.

Most non-technical people I know might use Windows at work, but most of them can do everything they need to with Safari, iLife and iWork. I may be a Windows user now, but I still don't think anything can compete with Apple for the "normal" user. I haven't seen any free software bundles that even come close to iLife and iWork in terms of power or usability.

A well equipped Mac today should be powerful enough for a "normal" user for at least 5 years. Who knows what tomorrow brings? I am pretty sure a Mac can address a "normal" person's current needs for that time frame very well though.

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