D&D Game Table not Mac-Compatible at launch

[AdmundfortGeographer]

We have three Macs at home and no PCs. I use a PC at work but I'm not allowed to load any software on it, or indeed, visit very many websites.

There's the thing. When excluding the locked-down, restricted corporate PC the mac's percentage of the market increase remarkably. Macs have a much greater percentage of the home market than the oft-cited <5% because those cites include corporate purchases. It's still not larger than 10% (yet), though the percentage of individual laptop sales macs are again topping even that.

And it is the laptop that WotC seems to keep talking about bringing to the gaming table. I'm pretty sure that the sales numbers of non-corporate laptops macbooks are a significant percentage.

 

[Alan Shutko]

Windows 90.15%
Macintosh 9.12%
Linux 0.61%
(not set) 0.12%

Interesting. One site I found for OS statistics had

2007 WinXP W2000 Win98 Vista W2003 Linux Mac
July 74.6% 6.0% 0.9% 3.6% 2.0% 3.4% 4.0%

so your values for Windows seem to line up, with Mac having a heavy edge in your audience. http://news.com.com/8301-10784_3-9749892-7.html seems to give similar numbers for Windows, but with Mac somewhere between your numbers and w3schools.com. I guess I was wrong.

 

[Horacio]

That's no excuse. I'm a lone developer with NO development budget, and I've managed to create a cross-platform virtual tabletop program. I see no reason why WotC, with their huge resources, can't do the same.

I fully agree, creating cross-platform applications is NOT more expensive than creating Windows only application. The only extra effort is deciding it from the beginning.

I find really sad that WotC has taken the MS-only route

 

[Mistwell]

Maybe I am incorrect in this (I do not own a Mac), but is it not the case that most new Macs are intel-based, and can be booted in windows as well as the Max OS?

If that is the case, then doesn't it make sense that WOTC makes the platform windows, given it covers not just PC users but a lot of Mac users as well, and eventually all Mac users if Macs continue to be sold (as a trend) with the ability to boot both systems (as people replace their systems with age)?

 

[Horacio]

I guess I'm one of the 0.61% of Linux users...

 

[TwinBahamut]

Ugh. I don't like this news at all...

I am probably one of the most optimistic people about this whole new digital gaming tabletop things. It really seems good, and since it was announced I have been planning to get it so I can possibly use it to play an online game.

However... I am a Mac user.

I can't stand Windows Pcs... at all. After years of being stuck on a PC, I bought a great new MacBook less than a year ago. I will not want to get a new computer for a few years if possible, and I certainly can't afford to buy a goood Windows PC anytime soon. I know that, since I am running an intel-based Mac, I have options, but still... Ugh.

I am not happy about this at all.

 

[TwinBahamut]

Maybe I am incorrect in this (I do not own a Mac), but is it not the case that most new Macs are intel-based, and can be booted in windows as well as the Max OS?

If that is the case, then doesn't it make sense that WOTC makes the platform windows, given it covers not just PC users but a lot of Max users as well, and eventually all Mac users if Macs continue to be sold (as a trend) with the ability to boot both systems?

Trust me... For mac users, using additional software to boot in Windows, rather than the great MasOS, is a very undesireable last resort. We don't want companies playing to that idea.

I don;t want Windows on my compter at all if I can help it. I had too many problems with that OS... Far too many.

 

[Nifft]

I am probably one of the most optimistic people about this whole new digital gaming tabletop things. It really seems good, and since it was announced I have been planning to get it so I can possibly use it to play an online game.

However... I am a Mac user.

I think there's a correlation between early adopters ("techno-optimists") and Mac users (and also Linux users).

Oh well. 4e 2.0 may be cross-platform.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Mistwell]

Trust me... For mac users, using additional software to boot in Windows, rather than the great MasOS, is a very undesireable last resort. We don't want companies playing to that idea.

I don;t want Windows on my compter at all if I can help it. I had too many problems with that OS... Far too many.

So you are saying that most Mac users can boot to windows, and use the new digital initiative stuff, they just don't want to?

 

[Nifft]

So you are saying that most Mac users can boot to windows, and use the new digital initiative stuff, they just don't want to?

Some Mac users can dual-boot, but that requires a separate partition, and buying Windows at full retail price ($300 or so).

And while so booted, you can't use any of your regular Mac programs.

Not terribly convenient. :\

Cheers, -- N