14 DAY TRIAL // A long time ago, computer magazines covered Apple's products. Then they stopped, and Macs became second-class citizens in the computer world, being forced to retreat to their own specialized, dedicated magazines. Today, Macs are once again being covered by computer magazines everywhere, despite still being looked at as a distant cousin.
What is really interesting to note though, is the coverage received by the recently released Leopard Mac operating system. All them are glowing? in fact, it is damn hard to find a single one that actually has bad things to say about it, apart from the recent changes to the dock which are being received with mixed feeling by everyone. Usually, only the Mac faithful knew that there was an operating system choice to be made, now everybody has gotten wind of this twenty-year-old news. Mac users naturally compare OS X to Windows, but now Windows users are doing the same thing, and their conclusions would have been considered fanciful just five years ago.
PC Magazine calls Leopard "by far the best operating system ever written for the vast majority of consumers," and their conclusion is being echoed by many others. If there was dissatisfaction with Vista before, now insult has been added to injury, and reviewers keep coming up short for reasons not to use a Mac. The terms 'critical mass' and 'tipping point' have been used over the past couple of years to describe Apple's position in the computer market. Consumers are becoming aware that they have a choice, and they are starting to lean towards Apple. So far, Mac adoption, despite being formidable, has remained rather meek in terms of the entire market, but the steady rate of growth is showing no signs of stopping, quite the contrary.
Steve Jobs once talked about the 'computer dark ages,' and it will be interesting to see if that is how recent history will be remembered further down the line. One thing is clear though: people are finally starting to see the light.