Friday
Mar272009
Everyone Hates Their Mac / PC
Friday, March 27, 2009 at 12:56PM 
There's been a lot of talk about the new Microsoft ad which challenges a shopper to purchase a notebook for under $1000, obviously attacking Apple in the one area where PC's (may) hold an advantage over Macs.
While this topic continues to be debated, we think the most interesting factoid in this AppleInsider story was the survey suggesting the majority of computer users, both PC and Mac aren't very satisfied with their operating system. Sure OSX user satisfaction far outweighed Windows satisfaction, but at 50 percent, this number seems low to us.
What exactly do users want out of their OS? Is the modern day OS still too complicated for most people?
Very strange.
tagged Microsoft, advertising, price points Permalink
Microsoft, advertising, price points Permalink
Reader Comments (5)
The graph is of those "VERY satisfied"...
I am aware of that, but still find it very odd that only 50% are very satisfied.
Maybe someone with more PC experience could shed light on why Vista Home Premium is "very satisfying" twice as often as Vista Home Basic. Did people buy basic not knowing what they were getting, or Do Premium buyers psychologically justify the higher price?
I will say the numbers are far better for the Mac. They should have asked people without computers how satisfied they are. I'm not turning into a Luddite, but sometimes, you wonder...
Statistics, pah. I bet if you took into account "very satisfied", "satisfied" and "I only care about running applications not the OS" the number would be far higher for all concerned. Also, what was the sample size? 10, 100, 1000, 6 billion? Also it looks like the question was posed to corporates who have different criteria for satisfaction compared to the man in the street (man in the street typically doesn't have to manage thousands of units and associated licensing compliance and change control governance).
Another distortion of this report about "everyone" is that the survey was of CORPORATIONS' satisfaction with the OSes... not individuals', not consumers'. Recognizing who is responding, and enterprises' historical reluctance to include Macs in their computer mix, I am surprised the OS X percentages are as high as they are.
Other studies done surveying individuals, the satisfaction rate has been as high as 91%