And, Yet Again, Someone Almost Gets It But Misses Completely

[Dips]

I'm very disappointed that you don't carry a Mac version of your [free downloadable product]. You're giving up a large and growing share of the market. We will go elsewhere if we can't get what we want from you.

[Cookie]

HA! As a Mac and Linux user, I can say this guy is an idiot. Not everything is available for Mac and Linux. If he wants his free software for his platform, he needs to frikking bulid it.

[terakhan]

Sorry? Growing share of the market? Maybe I've been under a rock a few years, but the last time I went to a software store, MAYBE 1 aisle, if that, was Mac software, and I saw no Linux stuff labeled as such anywhere.

Then again, both Mac and Linux, as I recall, have developers who worked out emulators to run Windows software on their platforms, so there is not really that much of a need for platform-specific development for them.

[Taboo]

Then again, both Mac and Linux, as I recall, have developers who worked out emulators to run Windows software on their platforms, so there is not really that much of a need for platform-specific development for them.

Emulators on Mac can't handle a lot of Windows programs well, so honestly, they're not useful for anything too processor-intensive.

But it's FREE. Macs are a big enough market share that I'd guess there's something else out there that does the same thing and it's just paid rather than free, and they don't want to buy it.

[Sapphire Silk]

Sorry? Growing share of the market? Maybe I've been under a rock a few years, but the last time I went to a software store, MAYBE 1 aisle, if that, was Mac software, and I saw no Linux stuff labeled as such anywhere.

Then again, both Mac and Linux, as I recall, have developers who worked out emulators to run Windows software on their platforms, so there is not really that much of a need for platform-specific development for them.

If you're a Mac user and want Mac software you really need to either go to the Apple Store, the Apple Store website, or the websites of the third party producers, OR to the software websites that have shareware and freeware available. There's usually a very good selection for Macs, actually. Everything I need for the Mac is available, including Office, Photoshop, and so on.

Ditto for Linux, through companies like Red Hat. You have to know where to look but there is LOADS of stuff out there.

Windows emulators like Virtual PC suck on the Power PC chipsets. I never could get it to work well without crashing. Parallels seems to work OK on my Intel based Mac, but still is slow compared to a native Windows machine (and that's saying something). I've heard similar reports about VMFusion. Unless the software is PC native, I don't bother with emulation.

And Macs HAVE grown in market share after the Vista debacle. A lot of people want an OS and a computer that works, and weren't getting it with Vista. My college campus still runs XP because Vista was so bad (though I expect they will upgrade to Windows 7 when the state gives us the money).

[Geek King]

For some perspective, according to some data I found from an article in The Register (whose accuracy I don't know, but they came up early in my search, and I am feeling lazy) as of November 2010, Mac has a 11.5% market share in the U.S., and a 5% market share worldwide.

[Dips]

But it's FREE. Macs are a big enough market share that I'd guess there's something else out there that does the same thing and it's just paid rather than free, and they don't want to buy it.

You win the cookie, taboo. Even if we had 100% of the market for a FREE product, we're not going to make a dime back on the investment.

Now, once we've got a PAID Mac product ready to ship, that will change things. Trust me, we're working on it.

[Rapscallion]

Nothing quite so demanding as people who are getting stuff for free.

Rapscallion

[EvilEmpryss]

I can't say that I have EVER been so bored, affronted, or disappointed in the lack of a free product for my platform that I felt the need to kvetch at the company for not providing it.

[Andara Bledin]

Maybe I've been under a rock a few years, but the last time I went to a software store, MAYBE 1 aisle, if that, was Mac software, and I saw no Linux stuff labeled as such anywhere.

What the stores carry is actually a really poor indication of what's what in computers these days. More and more is moving to digital purchases, which are really moving for everybody.

Completely irrelevant, however, as this was for a free program. It doesn't matter how much the sector grows, because that product isn't making money for anyone, except perhaps the hosts.

^-.-^