It’s been over a year since this commercial about Windows running on a Mac was all over televisions, but I’ve yet to walk into an Apple store and see a Mac running Windows Vista or Windows XP. I still don’t think it’s common knowledge that people can simply install XP or Vista on their Mac’s or that they can buy one from MacMall.com or other retailers with a Windows OS pre-installed. OSX is great, but there’s some instances when you might want/need a Windows machine. Why shouldn’t it be the same one? The latest Macs are great for Windows-based gaming too. I agree that getting people into OSX is a good idea, but some people might be more willing to make the switch first if they’re made aware that it’s easy to dual boot or just run Windows (when you need it) through Parallels.
I was in an Apple Store today (which was still crowded with people despite the economy) and there was someone who walked in and almost immediately started talking to a sales rep. It became clear to me that this was going to be their first Apple Computer and they were concerned about the switch from “PC” to Mac, but the sales rep started by touting all the great features of OSX. I never even heard a whisper about Boot Camp. This is a feature that’s somewhat buried on the Mac website, but surely it’d be a good selling point to mention if a customer is obviously concerned about losing Microsoft Windows.
It’s pretty clear to me that the entire lineup of Macbooks, Macbook Pros, and Mac Pros are substantially more stylish and have fairly good specs. There will continue to be people making the switch or considering higher end “PC’s” with more features. There’s always the question of just how much extra you’re paying for this and the ability to run the Mac OS without violating the EULA, but there’s plenty of people happy to pay a couple hundred extra to get that shiny Mac. There’s people still buying the high priced Sony laptops for similar reasons. Why not continue to emphasize just how great the Mac is as a Windows PC?