Heh, I could go on all day back and forth with this stuff...
They didn't mention anything about 3D in their press release for the Mac Pro, and their own web page says nothing about it either. On the page about GPUs, they say only this "With all that power, you'll be able to do things like seamlessly edit full-resolution 4K video while simultaneously rendering effects in the background — and still have enough power to connect up to three high-resolution 4K displays.". "Animation" could just as easily mean working in After Effects or something else, e.g. video work. Anyway, changing the hardware is a step toward solving the 3D deficit on Macs, but it's just one part of the puzzle; Apple can come up with all the hardware they want, but without better drivers and support from the software publishers, it's still going to be limited compared to Windows (and even Linux to some degree these days).
And anyway, why do you feel like Apple would want to court that market so much? It's high dollar, high margin, granted, but also very small, and they don't have anything appropriate for the real high system purchase role in big VFX: render farms. They'll get a few 10s of 1000s of workstation purchases I guess, but that just can never compare to the billions in revenue they already make from their consumer products, and frankly I think they *ought* to be concerned about spreading themselves thin. I just don't think it's appealing enough of a market for them given the rest of their product line, especially given where they're going with their other products *and* their OS (e.g. incorporating more iOS-like stuff, consumerization, consumption-oriented devices rather than creation-oriented, the cutting down of features of Final Cut, etc.). I get your thinking is, well, aspirational, but I don't think it's very realistic. ;-)
I actually hate OS X, it doesn't work like I think it should or expect it to. I won't say Windows is a perfect dream, but I do like it, it makes sense to me (not talking about Windows 8 here, hehe), and I know how to work it. But I think it's fine if some people find OS X to be great, I will say there are definitely some parts of it I like and wish Windows had (better search for example, and now tagging in Mavericks).
Frankly I think the ease of use is about the same, but the *level of satisfaction* of Mac users tends to be higher, for whatever reason. That is true pretty much across the board with Apple products (although less so these days, I hear more people complaining about their stuff). In general, especially historically, Windows people are pretty much fine with their platform, in fact they usually don't care, sometimes frustrated, sometimes happy, but usually just "meh". Same with the *average* Android user (although there are many fanboys there too). This just contrasts starkly with many - if not most - Apple users who are often very passionate advocates, or at the least "in love with Apple products". I've seen many an Apple lover run into the same kinds of problems Windows users run into, they just see and react to it differently. So I think it is at least in part about attitude and not so much objective superiority or capability.
- Oshyan
