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[Sage]

Hey guys,
Love M.J. but was wondering if you have a version for Mac. I'm a big PC user but have a Apple Powerbook 800. Would LOVE a Mac version. I think M.J. is the best player in either PC or Mac format. Please consider my reguest. I know Mac users would love you guys for it! Thanks for a great product, Sage.

[JimH]

We don't have one now and don't have plans to make one, but we'd like to do it in the future.

[KingSparta]

was it not gateley that got mj to work on a mac, by using a windows emulator?

[JimH]

That was Shawn.  He used VirtualPC.  It worked but it was slow.

[KingSparta]

well maybe with a faster mac it might be ok.

[Cotton-Eyed Loo]

Folks,

I believe you are working (planning on working?) on a linux version. Depending on how you make it you may find Mac support trivial. OS X is freebsd with additional software - and there will be tons of OS X users by the end of this year.

This is the first good OS by apple. Apple has always had top tier UIs [microsoft is getting close] but their kernel has been outdated since they launched the first Apple Mac. Right around the same time the first consumer multi-tasking operating system was sold (Amiga OS) which included a very good graphical UI - same caliber as OS X though not as robust.

I have been considering buying an Apple based computer since OS-X came out. I may very well do so in a year or so. I anticipate Apple's penetration of the 'home' market to increase substantially over the next few years.

If you want to be part of the high end consumer space - you will have to support Mac within 2 years or so.

I wonder how long before Apple sells a Media Server in a box for home.

[10sne1]

Well two years have come and gone and no mac support.  Now I care.  I've just ordered my first mac (new mac mini) to give the operating system a try.  Is it time for Media Center to come out with it's apple version yet?? 

[KingSparta]

I've just ordered my first mac

Sorry To Hear That

Grim Macintosh Market Share Forebodes Crisis

The Mac platform is essentially stagnant. That becomes obvious when you look at the declining market share numbers—not from research firms, but from the W3C, which monitors online activity. As of December 2004, the Mac share as measured by online activity is 2.7 percent (Linux is 3.1), with all the rest going to various flavors of Windows. I'm now convinced that this stems mostly from Apple's inability to make the Mac a commodity computer by pricing it to compete with PCs made inexpensively in China and selling with razor-thin margins. Here are the reasons Apple can't sustain its position.

The company figures it has certain market niches locked down. This includes computer users in advertising agencies, news bureaus, and various professional organizations as well as creative artists and writers. I also count an odd, die-hard faction of true believers, but these people are inconsequential except in online forums, where they make a fuss whenever anyone discusses the Mac. They probably hurt the Mac community more than anyone by creating an unfair crackpot image that gets associated with the machine.

CEO Steve Jobs' star persona makes the situation worse. His attention to the Apple flagship has been eroded by the success of Pixar, and more recently, by the iPod and iTunes initiatives. None of these has anything to do with the Macintosh. Keeping it on track is a full-time task—Jobs cannot be in the computer business, the movie business, and the music business and make them all successful. You see the results. Market share for the Mac is crap.

Much of the problem arises from the psychology created by the overpriced iPod. And Mac users who buy the players contribute to the problem by encouraging the company to maintain its high-margin death march.

By John C. Dvorak

John C. Dvorak is a contributing editor of PC Magazine, for which he has been writing two columns, including the popular Inside Track, since 1986. Dvorak has won eight national awards from the Computer Press Association, including Best Columnist and Best Column. Dvorak's work appears in several magazines and newspapers, including Boardwatch, Computer Shopper, and MicroTimes. He is the author of several books on computing including the popular Dvorak's Guide to Telecommunications. His radio show, "Real Computing," can be heard on National Public Radio. He is also the host of TechTV's "Silicon Spin."

For more on John C. Dvorak, go to www.dvorak.org

[John Gateley]

Sorry To Hear That

<snip>

Much of the problem arises from the psychology created by the overpriced iPod. And Mac users who buy the players contribute to the problem by encouraging the company to maintain its high-margin death march.

Sigh, you and Matt. You with "anything different than a PC" and Matt with "anything different than my coding style"...

In my spare time, I do volunteer work monitoring the health of minnesota wetlands. Probably the most important factor to look for is bio-diversity. The more species around, the healthier the wetland. I think (though you and Matt disagree with me) that diversity in PC platforms is a good thing too...

Apple had record profits this quarter from the IPOD I think...

j
(trying to score points against both of y'all )

[JimH]

Diversity is good, but Dvorark is right.  When Mac share gets to 5%, we'll do a port.  Same with Linux.

I've read Dvorak and greatly admired his work since the good old days of Byte Magazine and Infoworld.

[10sne1]

Diversity is good, but Dvorark is right.  When Mac share gets to 5%, we'll do a port.  Same with Linux.

OK Jim.  At least we have a target.  I'm confident that this Mac question won't die here--as I believe it IS becoming more popular.  I told my son tonight that when the apple store is no longer full of customers I will sell my shares--seems its always busy, even when the mall is not.  I think it's a good indication of the growing interest and popularity, whether it be fueled by the ipod or not, this new $500 mac mini will draw those curious PC users into the club.

[10sne1]

from Barron's:  "Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Apple 's fourth-quarter numbers was the jump in Mac sales -- for the first time in years, the company seems to be gaining some market share in personal computers, where its share has shrunk to about 2%. Some analysts have been arguing that a pick up in Mac shares would almost surely follow the strong iPod shares, in what the Street calls the iPod halo effect. But there are other forces at work, as well.

Michael Shulman, director of research at ChangeWave Research, says a survey by his firm found that among those people intending to buy an Apple computer in the next 90 days, the most significant reason cited for choosing a Macintosh is a lack of viruses, spyware and pop-up ads. In a research note, Shulman said that 13% of respondents planning to buy a desktop personal computer in the next 90 days plan to buy a Mac -- more than quadruple the level seen in any previous ChangeWave survey."