In defense of Dan: Why Lyons has a strong point about the Mac

Why would this even be a conversation? Why would Apple ever stop making the Mac. Apple is Mac. Waste of oxygen. The govt should penalize you for wasting air.

bullshit about bullshit. Come on. The Mac isn't going anywhere, and it's stronger than ever. now, stop the fud.

Somebody said it..

How can "Mac" be dying when you need a "Mac" to program for these iOS devices?

Surely they are NEVER gonna allow that to be done on a Windows machine (though I wish they would)...

Take off the tin foil hats please..

I agree with Lyons on many of these points, seems pretty legit.
http://www.electroniccigarettesinc.com

Steve is where he wanted to be for his whole life. At the top. He is now positioning the brand in the skies. When they have pushed the apple image to its godlike extreme for a gadget addicted society, they will try to sweep the rest of the computer market where the mac has always had a minority existence.

Something like "We brought you the iThis and the iThat and it changed the world. Now we will change the rest too". So then they will take the PC market as well.

Not that I wouldn't like that ... :-)

bla bla vla . . . show me the money. soon? sure....

Well, the Mac mightn't be going anywhere but you can certainly say the Mac Pro is . . . into the distance *zing*.

You need a Mac to create high end graphics and video and desktop publishing? Are you reading the blurb from a 1995 catalog?

I love my Macbook Pro, but unfortunately, as far as I can see, the Mac isn't the be all and end all of "high end" anymore, and hasn't been for a long time, especially for pro-apps, which have dwindled on the vine (or died and fallen off).

Apple has gone for Joe Public and should be applauded for that. They are obviously not focusing on high-end and won't be anytime soon. There's no margin in it and people who actually do work don't particularly give a crap about how their machines look and whether they sync with their phones.

An interesting point that rang true a while ago was the notion that Apple did a very good job of training people away from the traditional sense of a computer with the iPhone. I think the fact that we're even discussing whether the desktop platform is doomed is a good indication of just how successful they've been.

What's happened now however, is that we're outweighing the performance gains of desktop computing with interface and micro-functionality. Why is a desktop less attractive? It's cumbersome and dated, and doesn't fit our lifestyle for casual computing anymore, but jump back into the professional field and I can tell you that if the iPhone were as powerful as a multi-core machine with upward of 4Gb and wirelessly drove a couple of large monitors I'd probably suggest that the Mac going by the wayside is a good idea.

But it's not a good idea. What happens is that I sit down in front of the computer and it barely feels right anymore to be working this way. It's only a matter of time until an intuitive platform emerges from the current dinosaur that is the Desktop metaphor, and I think Apple's exploring what that's going to look like.

A huge shift in mid-pro level computing is around the corner and I only hope when it does come, that my expectations are in line. We're not even touching the experience that can be derived by pumping the vast amounts of meta data we're generating daily into some well-utilized graphics processors and interacting with it.

When it does come, I think the core OS will be poised to drive a startling leap in computing. Hopefully technology like Siri will be part of that.

I don't think the macs are going away anytime soon but the situation of the mbp is questionable. the ipad could eventually kill the mbp. if you think about it, notebooks in general are not very practical. they are very heavy to carry around and their screens are rather small. if they could have one of those things, they could be worth it but they don't. and they are not as reliable as the desktops. I think eventually, the mbp's are going to be winded down. I think Apple started doing that by not upgrading the mbp 13 not as strongly as the 15 and 17 inches. despite their mombo jombo about the mainboard, etc, the first on the chopping line are the 13 inch ones.

I think the way to go is a desktop like a mac mini or an imac (depending on your needs) and an ipad. the mbp will probably live on but I think it will shrink in market size.

Excellent article, I can relate to many of your points.

I'm a Windows user that owns an iPhone (soon an iPhone 4), and eventually, an iPad. I've felt "left out" because I had this idea in my mind that people would frown down on me for not owning a Mac but considering myself a fan and supporter of Apple's products. When you mentioned that Apple isn't centering their future around the Mac anymore, it struck me. It's the perfect explanation of where the company is heading and it makes so much sense to me.