microsoft bests apple as most valuable company

[badgolferman]

On Tuesday, Microsoft reported its fifth consecutive quarter of record
revenue, booking $62 billion in sales, and just last week its market
capitalization — the total value of all of its shares put together —
surpassed $3 trillion, making it the most valuable company in the world.

It has even leapfrogged Apple, which has long held onto the crown of
biggest tech giant in the world, churning out sleek iPhones and finding new
ways to charge its customers monthly subscriptions for services.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/microsoft-is-back-how-ai-put-the-five-decade-old-tech-giant-on-top-again/ar-BB1hwBCQ

[Patrick]

On Wed, 31 Jan 2024 12:51:57 -0000 (UTC), badgolferman wrote:
> Microsoft reported its fifth consecutive quarter of record
> revenue

The main reason Windows dominates is it can do anything you need it to do.
It's the same reason that Android dominates over the iPhone world wide too.

The main reason that Apple has only a tiny (but loyal) subset of the world
market is that a platform that only works within itself is too limited for
most people and for most corporations - but it works well for the crazies.

Those crazies are happy to buy everything Apple wants to sell, and since
they're willing to put up with the limitations, that model works for them.

[Chris]

Patrick <pat...@oleary.com> wrote:
> On Wed, 31 Jan 2024 12:51:57 -0000 (UTC), badgolferman wrote:
>> Microsoft reported its fifth consecutive quarter of record
>> revenue
>
> The main reason Windows dominates is it can do anything you need it to do.
> It's the same reason that Android dominates over the iPhone world wide too.

This has got nothing to do with the consumer space. Microsoft are making
huge amounts of money from their cloud and AI products.

[Joerg Lorenz]

On 02.02.24 08:19, Patrick wrote:
> On Wed, 31 Jan 2024 12:51:57 -0000 (UTC), badgolferman wrote:
>> Microsoft reported its fifth consecutive quarter of record
>> revenue
>
> The main reason Windows dominates is it can do anything you need it to do.
> It's the same reason that Android dominates over the iPhone world wide too.

Nonsense. You are a Troll.

--
"Manus manum lavat."

[Rod Speed]

Patrick <pat...@oleary.com> wrote
> badgolferman wrote

>> Microsoft reported its fifth consecutivequarter of record revenue

> The main reason Windows dominates is it can do anything you need it to
> do.

Its far from clear what proportion of the MS revenue comes from
Windows now, particularly given that Win10 and Win11 were free for
most and because MS is so important in the games machine market now.

> It's the same reason that Android dominates over the iPhone world wide
> too.

Nope, the main reason for that is that there is far more
competition in the smartphone market with android and
apple doesnt even bother with the low end smartphone market.

> The main reason that Apple has only a tiny (but loyal) subset

It isnt tiny.

> of the world market is that a platform that only works within itself

That's bullshit with what people do with their phones.

> is too limited for most people and for most corporations

It isnt limited at all.

> - but it works well for the crazies.

Even sillier than you usually manage.

> Those crazies are happy to buy everything Apple wants to sell,

Even sillier than you usually manage.

> and since they're willing to put up with the limitations,

There are in fact very few limitations and you
can't explain which it was actually by far the
highest value tech operaiton for so long.

[Rod Speed]

Chris <ithi...@gmail.com> wrote
> Patrick <pat...@oleary.com> wrote

>> badgolferman wrote

>>> Microsoft reported its fifth consecutive quarter of record
>>> revenue
>>
>> The main reason Windows dominates is it can do anything you need it to
>> do.
>> It's the same reason that Android dominates over the iPhone world wide
>> too.
>
> This has got nothing to do with the consumer space. Microsoft are making
> huge amounts of money from their cloud and AI products.

Do you have a breakdown of their revenue by sector ?

[Blueshirt]

I'd assume that revenue from their X-Box and gaming market are
contributory factors too.

[Your Name]

Patrick <pat...@oleary.com> wrote
> badgolferman wrote

>> Microsoft reported its fifth consecutive quarter of record
>> revenue
>
> The main reason Windows dominates is it can do anything you
> need it to do.

The problem with Windoze is that it can't do ANYTHING. It's a horrible,
useless, slow, messy, knock-off of the MacOS ... always has been,
always will be. Microsoft cannot and have not ever made anything
themselves - they buy out, copy, or steal everything they make, and
then make it much worse.

The only tech industry conman worse than Bill Gates is Elon Musk.

> It's the same reason that Android dominates over the iPhone world wide too.

Android is barely any better than Windoze.

[Indira]

Your Name wrote:

>> It's the same reason that Android dominates over the iPhone world wide too.
>
> Android is barely any better than Windoze.

Yet there's absolutely nothing the iPhone can do that Android didn't do
years ago, and Android also does hundreds of useful things that iOS can't.

The reason Android dominates over iOS worldwide is the iPhone is nothing
more than a dumb terminal that requires connecting to Apple servers.

Another reason few people are dumb enough to choose the Apple ecosystem is
that the costs are astronomical just to make it work like you want it to.

And the only people who can afford to waste all that money just trying to
get the iPhone to work in the real world are those in industrialized areas.

Like the USA, and maybe Europe (although Apple only garners 7% of its
revenue from Europe according to reports I saw about it earlier today).

The rest of the world can't afford the cost to make an iPhone work because
you have to be on the Internet in order for it to do anything useful and
you have to buy expensive storage because it lacks portable capabilities,
and you have to buy separate chargers and specialized earphones too.

The whole Apple ecosystem is designed for dumb people to waste their money.

While sensible people shun the dumb-terminal design of the Apple ecosystem,
there are enough wealthy idiots in the industrialized world that Apple is
laughing at them all the way to the bank while cashing in on those idiots.

Like you.

[badgolferman]

Your Name wrote:

>The problem with Windoze is that it can't do ANYTHING. It's a
>horrible, useless, slow, messy, knock-off of the MacOS ... always has
>been, always will be. Microsoft cannot and have not ever made
>anything themselves - they buy out, copy, or steal everything they
>make, and then make it much worse.

Your incredible bias against anything Apple is on full display. Don't
you get tired of being wrong so often? Maybe Arlen is right about
you...

[Chris]

Last I looked it's in their financial reports. It's normally broken down by
their business units which then to have to work out what products fit in
the units.

[Alan Browne]

On 2024-02-02 20:13, Blueshirt wrote:

> I'd assume that revenue from their X-Box and gaming market are
> contributory factors too.

Absent Ballmer (10 years), MS can only do better and better.

The Activision acquisition certainly helped.

MS has grown in all segments well, notably services/cloud; AI enthusiasm
is also dialed into the current price as it is being integrated into MS
products (and other company's products).

Converting cash to acquisitions is also bolstering the price.

--
“Markets can remain irrational longer than your can remain solvent.”
- John Maynard Keynes.

[Alan Browne]

On 2024-02-02 22:14, Your Name wrote:

> The problem with Windoze is that it can't do ANYTHING. It's a horrible,
> useless, slow, messy, knock-off of the MacOS ...

You never give up a chance to knock MS and it's indicative of mental
health issues. Do you read what you write: "can't do ANYTHING"? Sheesh
- you need help to at least evict MS from free rent in your head.

Fact is Windows is very successful and reliable - for that matter, the
'guts' of it have 0 content from decades past and it is the platform of
choice for front and back offices worldwide, used in production, and as
the core of Apple's cloud services - which is a major cash contributor
for MS.

(famously: many Apple products are built on lines controlled by ...
Windows machines), indeed at some point MS servers populated Apple owned
server farms - not sure about today's state.

as to "knock-off of the MacOS", well that is a stretch - other than GUI
(where everyone was heading eventually), the OS' are very far apart in
design.

Please: for your own sake, stop with your obsession.

[badgolferman]

Just for the record and to make sure Your Name isn’t confused…

Your incredible bias against anything NON-Apple is on full display.

[badgolferman]

Alan Browne <bitb...@blackhole.com> wrote:
>
>
> (famously: many Apple products are built on lines controlled by ...
> Windows machines), indeed at some point MS servers populated Apple owned
> server farms -

Oh the irony…
Your Name’s head will explode when he sees this.

[Alan]

And why would anyone care?

[Rod Speed]

Its interesting to see what works in the tech market.

[badgolferman]

Purchase MSFT rather than AAPL. Your money will be worth more.

[Your Name]

Most people detest using Windoze, Word, etc. and only do so because
they're forced to by work where the management blindly decided to go
with the cheap Microsloth option, and have been paying the price ever
since.

Most people who change to Apple never go back to Windoze.

[badgolferman]

"Most"...

Care to cite that with statistics other than your own fantasies?

[Alan Browne]

On 2024-02-03 15:13, Your Name wrote:

> Most people detest using Windoze, Word, etc. and only do so because

Provide proof for this statement.

> they're forced to by work where the management blindly decided to go
> with the cheap Microsloth option, and have been paying the price ever
> since.
>
> Most people who change to Apple never go back to Windoze.

I changed for personal use to Mac OS (OS X) around 2007.

But MS Word, Excel and Powerpoint are mainstays and there is no changing
that for the foreseeable future.

Excel is FAR better than numbers, and FAR easier to use and has useful
functions that Numbers still doesn't have.

Pages is better for laying out graphics, but Word is far better for
large complex (structured) documents.

Powerpoint is far more commonly used - I'll grant that Keynote can be
used to piece together a presentation quite well; but once you have a
lot of Powerpoint "stuff" and experience, it's not really worth the
hassle to use Keynote - esp. if you need to share it with other people.

And of course in all three cases, whoever you're exchanging such
documents with will likely be using the MS product - so nothing is lost
in translation. Try doing a contract negotiation between 3 companies
with each throwing in contract managers, program managers, buyers,
engineers and lawyers ... all happily marking up a document on its way
to completion in Pages. Not going to happen. Period.

I'm happy to not have to use Windows itself much other than a couple
apps under Fusion - but really, there is nothing especially wrong with
Windows. MacOS is "better" - but that's moot when most people are using
Windows, esp. in the commercial world.

In any case, Microsoft is getting free rent in "Your Name"'s head, and
not that it's vert valuable to MS, it is surely a huge loss to Your Name.

Pro tip: Apple hasn't maintained its good relationship with MS for
nothing where MS Office apps are concerned.

[Alan]

I've spent more than 30 years working with, selling, and—for the last 20
plus years—supporting Macs and PCs.

In all the time I've done so, I've run into two (yes: literally two)
people who, having switched from Windows to Mac, wanted to switch back.

In theory, my current gig as technical support for individuals and small
business encompasses by Mac users and Windows users...

...it's just that almost all the support I actually do is for my Windows
using clients.

[Alan]

That might be true... ...at the moment.

But current results are no guarantee of future gains.

And you'd have been saying the same thing 20 years ago...

...and been completely wrong.

:-)

[badgolferman]

Anecdotal evidence is easy to provide, I can do the same and provide lots
of examples from my work to refute what you say.

Your Name said “most” people so that implies he has real evidence of that
claim. Even Arlen wouldn’t say such a thing without providing a cite.
Surely Your Name can do the same.

[Alan]

30 years of widely varying experience is a lot more than simply "anecdotal".

[Jolly Roger]

Go ahead an increase that to 60 years, because my experience is very
similar to yours.

--
E-mail sent to this address may be devoured by my ravenous SPAM filter.
I often ignore posts from Google. Use a real news client instead.

JR

[badgolferman]

I think we’ve been through this before, but I will also give my experience.


Where I work we have Mac, Linux, Windows. We also have Linux and Windows
servers.

Nearly all the management, administrative staff, and some
scientists/researchers use Macs. Nearly all technical engineers use
Windows. Nearly all computer administrators use Linux or Windows.

The people who use Macs write documents, spreadsheets, presentations,
emails, (using Office 365) and use the web. The very few who actually do
technical work use telnet windows to the Linux servers and use scripts to
run batch jobs.

All the engineers who actually have to create things and perform technical
work use Windows. Some of that is because their programs only run under
Windows and most of it is because they much prefer it.

I don’t see many people clamoring to change their OS regardless of which
one they settled on. They very easily could because we have support staff
who manage all systems and it’s easy to switch. Having spoken to our
division support staff, they tell me the vast majority of refreshed systems
are Windows. That means every three years when we are forced to replace our
computers, they are the ones who perform data and profile transfers. I
think they know which OS is the most popular.

[Your Name]

There are studies, surveys, polls, etc. all over the internet ... take
your pick of any of them. Here's just one example of the many:

New Research Finds 71% of Students in Higher Education Today
Use, or Would Prefer to Use, Mac

<https://www.jamf.com/resources/press-releases/new-research-finds-71-of-students-in-higher-education-today-use-or-would-prefer-to-use-mac/>



Even my own observation from decades of computer work and support has
shown it to be true. In fact, as one example, someone I help recently
decided to buy a new laptop to replace their aging iMac, which itself
replaced an old Windoze laptop 15 years ago. They decided (against my
advice) to buy an Lenovo Windoze laptop ... within a week it was dumped
and a MacBook Pro purchased intstead.

[Alan]

So within one working environment people use the tools they are given
and/or those that their most immediate colleagues use.

That's not the same thing.

[Alan]

[badgolferman]

Notwithstanding the fact that students tend to be given Macs at schools and
are used to them, my opinion is people prefer what they start out with. The
same holds true for mobile devices. It’s the rare individual who adapts to
use multiple devices and recognizes the strengths and weaknesses of
different types of systems.

As I said before, my experience at work has been the technical people
prefer Windows and the administrative people prefer Macs. Even then the Mac
users still use Microsoft products (Office) to perform their work.

[Chris]

Lol. The best example you can find is a niche survey by a company whose
business is dependent on growing Macs into higher education.

> Even my own observation from decades of computer work and support has
> shown it to be true. In fact, as one example, someone I help recently
> decided to buy a new laptop to replace their aging iMac, which itself
> replaced an old Windoze laptop 15 years ago. They decided (against my
> advice) to buy an Lenovo Windoze laptop ... within a week it was dumped
> and a MacBook Pro purchased intstead.

Anecdote. There are plenty of counter anecdotes on the r/mac subreddit.
Many people don't enjoy the transition from Windows.

[Chris]

Only if you think they will continue to grow for the foreseeable future.
Which would be brave off the back of record numbers.

Should have bought them 5 years ago.

[Jolly Roger]

On 2024-02-04, badgolferman <REMOVETHISb...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Alan <nuh...@nope.com> wrote:
>> On 2024-02-03 19:42, badgolferman wrote:
>>> Alan <nuh...@nope.com> wrote:
>>>> On 2024-02-03 12:17, badgolferman wrote:
>>>>> Your Name wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Most people who change to Apple never go back to Windoze.
>>>>>
>>>>> "Most"...
>>>>>
>>>>> Care to cite that with statistics other than your own fantasies?
>>>>
>>>> I've spent more than 30 years working with, selling, and—for the
>>>> last 20 plus years—supporting Macs and PCs.
>>>>
>>>> In all the time I've done so, I've run into two (yes: literally
>>>> two) people who, having switched from Windows to Mac, wanted to
>>>> switch back.
>>>>

>>> Anecdotal evidence is easy to provide, I can do the same and provide
>>> lots of examples from my work to refute what you say.
>>
>> 30 years of widely varying experience is a lot more than simply
>> "anecdotal".
>

> I don’t see many people clamoring to change their OS regardless of
> which one they settled on. They very easily could because we have
> support staff who manage all systems and it’s easy to switch. Having
> spoken to our division support staff, they tell me the vast majority
> of refreshed systems are Windows. That means every three years when we
> are forced to replace our computers, they are the ones who perform
> data and profile transfers. I think they know which OS is the most
> popular.

You're trying to move the goal post to talking about popularity
contests, when the point being made is that of the people that do switch
to Mac from Windows, most generally stay with it rather than switching
back to Windows. Adults can see those are two very different things..

[Alan]

And my experience with many individuals is that people who switch from
Mac to Windows usuall go back to Mac and people who switch from Windows
to Mac usually stick with Mac.

> As I said before, my experience at work has been the technical people
> prefer Windows and the administrative people prefer Macs. Even then the Mac
> users still use Microsoft products (Office) to perform their work.

What nature of "technical people"?

[Blueshirt]

badgolferman wrote:

> Alan wrote:
>
> > On 2024-01-31 04:51, badgolferman wrote:
> > > On Tuesday, Microsoft reported its fifth consecutive quarter of
> > > record revenue, booking $62 billion in sales, and just last week
> > > its market capitalization — the total value of all of its shares
> > > put together — surpassed $3 trillion, making it the most
> > > valuable company in the world.
> > >
> > > It has even leapfrogged Apple, which has long held onto the
> > > crown of biggest tech giant in the world, churning out sleek
> > > iPhones and finding new ways to charge its customers monthly
> > > subscriptions for services.
> >

> > And why would anyone care?
>
> Purchase MSFT rather than AAPL. Your money will be worth more.

Or invest in an ETF that contains both! :-)

[Rod Speed]

Yes, but it is clear that apple has a real problem now that
the iphone and ipad market is very saturated now with
it difficult to find anything new to add to new devices.

[Jolly Roger]

On 2024-02-04, Rod Speed <rod.sp...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Sun, 04 Feb 2024 14:08:15 +1100, Alan <nuh...@nope.com> wrote:
>> On 2024-02-03 12:06, badgolferman wrote:
>>> Alan wrote:
>>>> On 2024-01-31 04:51, badgolferman wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> On Tuesday, Microsoft reported its fifth consecutive quarter of
>>>>> record revenue, booking $62 billion in sales, and just last week
>>>>> its market capitalization — the total value of all of its shares
>>>>> put together — surpassed $3 trillion, making it the most valuable
>>>>> company in the world.
>>>>>
>>>>> It has even leapfrogged Apple, which has long held onto the crown
>>>>> of biggest tech giant in the world, churning out sleek iPhones and
>>>>> finding new ways to charge its customers monthly subscriptions for
>>>>> services.
>>>>

>>>> And why would anyone care?
>>>>
>>> Purchase MSFT rather than AAPL. Your money will be worth more.
>>
>> That might be true... ...at the moment.
>>
>> But current results are no guarantee of future gains.
>
> Yes, but it is clear that apple has a real problem now that the iphone
> and ipad market is very saturated now with it difficult to find
> anything new to add to new devices.

Most companies would *kill* to have Apple's "real problems"... 🤣

[Leonard Blaisdell]

On 2024-02-04, badgolferman <REMOVETHISb...@gmail.com> wrote:

> I don’t see many people clamoring to change their OS regardless of which
> one they settled on. They very easily could because we have support staff
> who manage all systems and it’s easy to switch. Having spoken to our
> division support staff, they tell me the vast majority of refreshed systems
> are Windows. That means every three years when we are forced to replace our
> computers, they are the ones who perform data and profile transfers. I
> think they know which OS is the most popular.

The great majority of people do not want to change from the O/S that
they're familiar with. Companies buy Windows machines because that's
what they've always used. IBM got the companies started with Microsoft,
and when the employees bought a computer for themselves, they chose
Microsoft O/S, because that's what they were familiar with.
Independent developers developed their specialty software for the
vast majority of companies that had bought into Microsoft. Computer
companies made cheap hardware to accommodate Microsoft O/S.
My boss bought Apple. I familiarized myself with Linux in the Nineties,
but when OS X came out, why bother with Linux?
iPhones brought Apple to the masses. A percentage of the masses are
seeing the benefits of Apple products. That's good.
I like that Windows is the O/S of most companies and the majority of
ordinary users. Malware keys on them, because that's where the money is.
To each, their own.

[Rod Speed]

On Mon, 05 Feb 2024 09:26:46 +1100, Jolly Roger <jolly...@pobox.com>
wrote:

> On 2024-02-04, Rod Speed <rod.sp...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> On Sun, 04 Feb 2024 14:08:15 +1100, Alan <nuh...@nope.com> wrote:
>>> On 2024-02-03 12:06, badgolferman wrote:
>>>> Alan wrote:
>>>>> On 2024-01-31 04:51, badgolferman wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> On Tuesday, Microsoft reported its fifth consecutive quarter of
>>>>>> record revenue, booking $62 billion in sales, and just last week
>>>>>> its market capitalization — the total value of all of its shares
>>>>>> put together — surpassed $3 trillion, making it the most valuable
>>>>>> company in the world.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> It has even leapfrogged Apple, which has long held onto the crown
>>>>>> of biggest tech giant in the world, churning out sleek iPhones and
>>>>>> finding new ways to charge its customers monthly subscriptions for
>>>>>> services.
>>>>>
>>>>> And why would anyone care?
>>>>>
>>>> Purchase MSFT rather than AAPL. Your money will be worth more.
>>>
>>> That might be true... ...at the moment.
>>>
>>> But current results are no guarantee of future gains.
>>
>> Yes, but it is clear that apple has a real problem now that the iphone
>> and ipad market is very saturated now with it difficult to find
>> anything new to add to new devices.
>
> Most companies would *kill* to have Apple's "real problems"... 🤣

Sure, but that's irrelevant to why MS is currently doing better.

[Sten deJoode]

On 5 Feb 2024 01:15:12 GMT, Leonard Blaisdell wrote:

> The great majority of people do not want to change from the O/S that
> they're familiar with. Companies buy Windows machines because that's
> what they've always used. IBM got the companies started with Microsoft,
> and when the employees bought a computer for themselves, they chose
> Microsoft O/S, because that's what they were familiar with.
> Independent developers developed their specialty software for the
> vast majority of companies that had bought into Microsoft. Computer
> companies made cheap hardware to accommodate Microsoft O/S.
> My boss bought Apple. I familiarized myself with Linux in the Nineties,
> but when OS X came out, why bother with Linux?
> iPhones brought Apple to the masses. A percentage of the masses are
> seeing the benefits of Apple products. That's good.
> I like that Windows is the O/S of most companies and the majority of
> ordinary users. Malware keys on them, because that's where the money is.
> To each, their own.

> Malware keys on them

All you Apple nutjobs are living in the past from very long ago.

It used to be iOS had fewer zero-day holes than Android, and even fewer
exploits in the wild (which Apple never admits but the government publishes
them so you have to be living more than five years in the past to NOT know
that iOS always has twice the number of zero-days as Android, and lately
iOS has had three times the number of zero-days as Android).

*But what's worse are the exploits.*
*Oh... those Apple exploits!*

iOS has had _ten times_ more exploits in the wild for four years running!
<https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog>

None of you Apple nutjobs know the figures from today because you're all
living in the past - but worse - you don't even know _why_ this happened.

None of you Apple nutjobs understands what's _different_ about iOS that
it's not only filled with holes like Swiss Cheese (mostly webkit & the
kernel to give you an idea of where the problems are) but also none of you
nutjobs understand why iOS is exploited over ten times more than Android.

Think before you respond - and don't respond without looking it up first.

[badgolferman]

Let me guess… Apple doesn’t test their stuff.

That’s what Arlen has been saying forever.

[Alan]

Weird, huh?

🤪

[Alan Browne]

I gave Linux a serious try as a home computer back in the early 2000's.
It was adventuresome as installing some apps was easy as pie and some
was fraught with misadventure. Configuring hardware could be a bear in
some cases.

Of course the apps I needed to integrate well with the rest of the
world, and photography, did not exist at all.
So abandoned Linux at that time.

MS came out with Vista just when I was looking to replace my old
computer (or its motherboard). It was on its 3rd motherboard at the time.

Vista was a wreck out of the gate and I would be in a hardware
compatibility hole for quite a while as things caught up...

Looked up the specs on iMac and bought the top end (of the day) Core Duo
machine. Sold it for near $1000 5 years later and bought an i7
(quad-core-hyper threading) in 2013 (2012 model, refurbished by Apple).
It is still working here now as a side computer 11 years later. Aside
from graphics performance (to today's expectations), it is still a
beast. (It also hosts WinXP, Windows 10 and Linux under Fusion if I
need them).

New iMac M3 is very, very good. Just wish the spec had allowed more
memory and a "pro" (more cores) processor. The display is exceptional.

At my company, we're baseline Apple, but Windows is used in a couple
narrow cases - though 2024 has us transition the accounting out of
Windows and onto a web-based platform. (I don't like this move, but
it's the best overall).

[Alan]

When my aging aunt decided it was time to join the world of digital
communication (because her daughter used email to keep family up-to-date
on the goings-on of her three grandsons), she turned to me for advice on
what she should get.

Naturally, I suggested she get a Mac; one of the flat-panel iMacs.

But she was a child of the '30s and WWII and she just couldn't bring
herself to spend that much money (somewhere around $2,500, IIRC), and
instead bought a used Windows PC, monitor, printer...

...the whole shebang...

...from some friends. I think it cost her about $300-$400, but when I
asked them what they were buying to replace it and they said: "a Mac",
my aunt's face got thoughtful for a moment.

It was running Windows XP and with my help she was able to use it for
her fairly limited purposes of reading & sending email and some
occasional web browsing.

But of course, like all things, it eventually needed to be replaced, and
now confident in her understanding of the computing world, she took
herself to BestBuy (or Staples) to buy herself a new computer...

...only this was shortly after Windows 8 came out; not even the improved
Windows 8.1, but the original, horrid mess that was 8.

And after taking one brief glimpse at how much it was going to change
what she needed to understand, she accepted my original advice to get
herself an iMac; a used one—she still hadn't lost her frugal streak.

And after the initial period of learning to use the new interface, she
never looked back.

;-)