I think it was always more in that they are control freaks. The one advantage that Apple has always had was that they control both the hard and software. So errors/bugs/incompatibilities were not nearly as common. Couple that with a low market share hold and you have a stable and mostly virus free machine. During the 90s they decided to license the hardware, seemed like a good plan to them, of course that lasted all of a year as other companies turned out a machine = or better in quality (aesthetics aside) and Apple started to lose hardware revenue. The licenses were then pulled. All control shifted back to Apple. This is the kind of thing that drove some people, such as myself, away from Apple, though I would not say towards Microsoft. I do use Windows XP, but that is only b/c based on my uses I have only two choices Mac or Windows, since I left Mac, there was one house to go to.
Apple has made many good choices, but many poor ones as well. Overall I think they are a fair company, they treat their customers fairly ok. One thing I did like about them is they never shifted their customer support overseas, so it was nice to call them and have a good conversation and get to a solution fast.
|