[svart]

No. Dell or HP are premium brands only among generic Windows boxes; they are not viewed as premium brands in the general marketplace. They sell generic boxes and compete almost entirely on price, based on high-volume manufacturing efficiencies. That is not what a premium brand does.

My point that you completely missed is that premium is relative to the context of the arguement. Apple is premium in their own minds and the minds of folks that like them. Now that they are Intel based they are no more than a PC with a different OS and "approved" driver sets. Dell and HP are premium brands, not generic boxes, same as Mac. I don't care for any of them but I can get a true generic PC box from any corner computer store for MUCH less thus making those brands premium.

No, I never said that. Stop being a baby and taking this personally. This is not about you.

What I said was a characterization of the overall market of Windows DAW users. It does not apply to every individual user — of course not. It's a generalization, and that means it's imperfect and limited. But companies choosing whether to develop for a certain market have to consider the reality of the whole market, not the deservingness of a handful of potential customers like you.

Actually you did:

I've said it a million times ... Windows users in general are not people who are in the habit of paying a premium for (what they perceive to be) a superior product.

Just because you didn't use the word "cheap" doesn't mean you didn't imply it. You also implied that they are also inferior by using the word 'superior' which supports this argument and solidifies the position of which you view windows users. So I have to ask, just because a person uses Apple, that means that they WANT to pay 'premium' prices for their equipment? I know that they don't have a choice, but does that mean they really wanted to or does the extra price somehow stroke the ego because you are now 'superior' just like the product you purchased?

Right. That's what a premium brand does. I never said everyone should like it.

Right, being 'premium' and being elitist are two different things.

You sure have a lot of opinions about companies' marketing plans. What exactly is your marketing background? Have you ever run a company or developed or marketed a new product?

Yes and yes. Nondisclosure agreements don't allow me to discuss what I've done lately. Currently I design electronics..

Frankly, it seems like your decisions have been driven by image/branding issues and not by substantive, practical considerations.

I don't see how you inferred that from what I said. I build my own computers because I can put in whatever I designate as necessity, therefor every part is installed based on "substantive, practical considerations" as well as thorough research and performance evaluations. I don't blindly purchase a computer from anyone, Dell, HP, Apple, or anyone else regardless of their claims.

Heh — that's funny. Apple is a premium brand, but more accurately, it's a premium consumer brand, and while Apogee primarily makes professional products, the Duet pretty clearly is a consumer product (albeit with pretty professional quality). It clearly is designed for and marketed to consumer applications — hence the affinity with Apple, a premium consumer brand. The brands you name here are obviously some of the top brands in the industry — they're professional products. Whole different category. There are of course many professional products that do support Windows, but a high-end consumer audio product is not a good fit for the Windows customer base — just like you don't see a lot of Zune accessories advertised.

Professional, commercial, consumer, premium, generic, does anyone really care about the labels that you apply as long as it gets the job done? You're right, I don't see a lot of Zune anything. I'll the first to agree that it was late to the party and a dollar short. You'll have to agree that an Ipod isn't a good fit in a studio. I have to ask though, WTF does Zune or Ipod have to do with what we are discussing? Nothing. You tried to make a point by using a product that had nothing to do with what we are talking about. Fail. I just don't see how you infer that there isn't a market for professional windows users. Almost every other product made has at least minimal driver support for windows.

Well, that's easier for you to say — i.e., pull out of your ass — than for someone else to do, devoting their own time and money resources towards it. Most ASIO drivers are more or less a disaster, so I assume that it isn't all that easy to do. And again, it's a question of whether the potential profit — net of all the development and support costs — really justifies diverting the resources away from something else.

Seeing that I not only directed an electronics department for 3 years, I work with firmware/driver engineers daily at my current job so it's quite easy for me to say what I did simply because I see it daily. Assuming that since you are vehemently against windows I can only assume that are a Mac user, likely only have experience with Macs and therefor any ASIO drivers you have experienced are on Macs. We all know that marketing strategy.. Make it really hard for anything non-mac to actually work, driving the PC/mac resentment further. I've not had any issues with ASIO drivers on any program with a PC.