As a long time apple user, I find the last statement hilarious. For about 30 years, you could never find the pc software in apple form. The tide has turned!!
I'm a Mac fan. I don't mind paying the markup. Not because they're cool but because osx works for me. But they don't give any margin to retailers. This has been the case since before they got super successful.
Agreed. I have been using Mac's since Apple released the Macintosh back in 1984 and I have absolutely no problem paying the premium prices. First off, you don't have to worry about viruses at all, tho that could change in the future now that Apple has become so big. In almost 30 years of computing, I have yet to have a single virus and I have never run virus software. On top of that, their hardware is built like a brick sh*t house. The only repair I have ever had to make, with all of the Apple computers I have ever owned, was replacing the battery in my Mac Book Pro due to it expanding in size and rendering the trackpad useless. Not sure that even qualifies as a repair considering the battery was 5 years old and had untold number of hours put on it. I actually still have most of my Apple's sitting in my basement (Blue and White G3, Powermac 8500, Powermac 9500, Mirrored 1 GHZ G4 etc..) and they are all still 100% functional. I cant even tell you how many times I have seen friends and families PC's go down for one reason or another. Then you have their customer service, which is the best CS I have ever seen, period. Amazon.com is the only company currently out there that I would rate at Apple's level in regards to customer service. Lastly, I have always VASTLY preferred Apple's operating systems, which is really the main reason why I stuck with Apple all of these years, especially once they upgraded to OS X. There isn't as big of a difference between the two today but back in the day, Whoa!! I had to use PC's back in college and I just dreaded getting on those machines.
Yes, Apple users did suffer in regards to software and games but things have really come full circle in this regard. PC's are still superior in regards to gaming but Apple users now have a LOT of options in regards to games. Not only are a large percentage of games being made with Mac versions today, Mac users also have apps like Wine Skin and all of the emulation programs like VMware Fusion, Parallels, Crossover, Boot Camp etc. For the first time Mac's are legitimate gaming machines. As for App's, there are so many being developed its hard to keep track of them all. I actually consider Mac's to be superior now in regards to normal applications.
Ironically, I just finished building my very first gaming PC, lol. 29 years and Apple finally achieves a quality status in regards to software and games and what do I do? I go and build a PC, lol. I am still 100% content with my Mac's, I just felt it was time to have a gaming PC and have access to 100% of the PC games out there without having to worry about Wineskin or VMWare etc. As happy as I have been with my Mac's, there has always been a part of me that was jealous in regards to the gaming side. How could Mac users not be jealous? All we had was Bungie and Spiderweb Software, lol. Oh, and the few misc ports that Macsoft felt like doing. Mac's were pathetic for gaming. Anyways, I am still a Mac user all the way. In fact, I am buying a new Mac Book Pro this coming spring. Instead of being a 100% Mac user, I am now a Mac user with a gaming PC. The best of both worlds!!
Long live Apple!