Leopard is landing this week- Microsoft should be shaking

Notebook_and_screenBy now everyone who cares knows that Leopard, Apple’s next big version of Mac OS X, is landing this week.  Those who have preordered Leopard like Kevin and I were informed that it would be delivered on Oct. 26th.  Kevin and I had a good long chat this morning, the first since my return from my trip, and the subject of Leopard came up.  It was during that chat that I realized something that has me thinking that Microsoft should be shaking in their boots over the release of Leopard this week.  Vista has been an embarrassment to the folks in Redmond and a solid release of Leopard will not look good for them that’s for sure.

What surprised me about Mac OS X that I realized while chatting with Kevin today was something that hit me full in the face when it occurred to me.  One of the major reasons I used to justify the purchase of a MacBook Pro early this year was how easily I could run Windows programs on the Mac using Parallels Desktop.  One of the first programs I installed on the Mac was Parallels followed by installing Vista Ultimate in a virtual machine.  This would make sure I could run my Windows apps, the ones that I had judged essential and that the ability to run under Parallels helped me justify the purchase of the MBP.  It runs flawlessly and I was impressed with how well Windows ran on my Mac from day one.

Chatting about this to Kevin today made me realize that I haven’t runVista on the Mac in well over a month!  This really surprised me as Ihad judged that to be an important reason for purchasing the Mac in thefirst place.  The realization that I have been happily using the MBP asa desktop replacement without even cranking Vista up made it crystalclear to me why Apple’s market share is rising on the OS X front.  Ohsure it’s still a fraction of the Windows market but it’s rising eventhough MS released a major update to the Windows platform this year.  The problems that Vista has exhibited have made the rise of Apple’s market share even larger I’m sure.  After all, Mac’s just work, right? 

I wouldn’t have agreed with that 100% before today but the fact that I have been using the MacBook Pro without even running Vista makes me think that’s true.  I don’t need to run Vista because I have been able to do everything I do in my home office natively under OS X.  That coupled with the fact that the Mac is lightning fast and runs so solidly make it a good choice for me, and no doubt for many others.  Chris Pirillo has stated recently that recommending anything but a Mac to friends or family members is a big mistake*.  Macs work well, are very stable in daily usage and rarely have OS problems.  It makes them easier to support as Chris points out and that means they offer better usage experiences for users.  That’s the same thing I find and I believe that the release of Leopard will make that even more apparent.  Updates to the Mac OS X generally always run faster and more stable than the previous versions, and the current version is already fast and rock solid.  This portends great things for Leopard and if so, this will be the absolute opposite upgrade experience that many who run Vista today experienced.  This should have those in Redmond waiting nervously for the shipments of Leopard to begin.  I can’t say I blame them either.

*If you’re not recommending a Mac (with Leopard) to a friend or familymember, you’re doing them an extreme disservice. Consumers need tounderstand that yesterday’s arguments don’t apply.

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