
In a recent post on the O'Reilly network,
Matthew Russell bemoaned the lack of a Mac equivalent to the "File, Print FedEx Kinko's" utility, which basically adds a printer driver letting you send any document to a Kinko's shop for printing. Once printed, the doc can be picked up or shipped to you via FedEx. As Matthew points out, if you print a lot of long documents or need them bound, this can be a more efficient way to do it than using your home inkjet. But he laments that there's no Mac version of the utility, saying "I really think Apple and Kinko’s should get on this. It could present a win-win for both of them." However, what Matthew is butting up against here is the challenge of market share. There's a reason a lot of software developers don't put out products for the Mac, and it has nothing to do with a pro-Windows bias. It's all about market share, and when developers — especially those with limited resources — have to make choices about what they're going to do next, they more often than not go after the system that dominates the market (on the flip side, of course, it's also the reason there are so many iPod accessories). So, chances are, if you're a cross-platform computer user, you've come across at least one great app that's Windows-only. For Matthew, it's "File, Print FedEx Kinko's." For me, it's
EverNote. What's yours? (Or have you found a Mac-only program that you wish was available on Windows, like
Ulysses or
DevonThink?)
Tags: mac+windows+market+share, MacWindowsMarketShare
Comments
3
Subscribe to commentsScott ReynenSep 19th 2005 11:46AM
I don't think it has as much to do with market share as market demographics in this case. Common Mac users are creative professionals and students. Both of these groups have access to cheap high-quality printing, so this tool isn't as useful on the Mac side. If developers were following your logic about market share, there would be no Mac applications at all, which obviously isn't the case.
Ryan GSep 19th 2005 11:54PM
On the only-on-the-mac side, I'd love to see a Windows port of NetNewsWire, my all-time favorite RSS reader. Maybe someday someone on Windows will make something that works as well.
hkidSep 19th 2005 1:27PM
Id like to give Adium a shot on Windows.
But meembo is very fun, so I might be calmed for now.