After nearly four decades as an Apple fanatic, OWC Founder and CEO Larry O’Connor has decided to “go PC.” On April 31st, the company will make an extraordinary move when they shut down macsales.com and launch pcsales.com. The new website will be devoted to OWC’s all-new product line, focusing exclusively on enhancing, upgrading, and expanding all things PC.
This, presumedly, is because PCs can still be enhanced, upgraded, and expanded.
“It was a business decision, and I felt it was time for a change,” said Mr. O’Connor. “OWC has been in the Apple DIY space for 32 years, and people have been telling me for years that I need to be a little more PC. I know it comes as a surprise to many, but switching teams well into one’s career isn’t unheard of.”
And that’s true. Remember Justin “I’m a Mac” Long from the iconic Mac vs. PC ads of the early 2000s? He’s flipped and is now a spokesperson for Intel. Or how about Verizon’s “can you hear me now” guy? Sprint. Yep – it happens all the time.
Making the Move
When asked about making a move to PC, Mr. O’Connor said, “It was an easier transition than I imagined since all my Thunderbolt gear, keyboards, and mice plug and play with today’s PCs. And OWC’s SoftRAID for Windows made it easy to connect my Mac-formatted OWC RAID drives seamlessly to the Windows 10 PC for immediate access to my data. I never thought I’d go from playing with Windows to making it my primary.”
Larry started out tinkering at a very early age. Pulling apart computers, upgrading what he could, putting them back together, breaking them down again, tweaking and tuning as his heart desired. And he misses it. A lot.
“Sure, no one supports our Thunderbolt solutions better than Apple & Mac,” says Larry, “but I think making PCs work better is the challenge I need. Macs just don’t have the excitement of having enough things to fix. And while Macs aren’t 100% perfect either, it’s Windows that I know will never leave me time to spare.”
Well said.
“While OWC has long served a substantial PC/Windows and Linux customer base, the tables will be turned, and they will no longer need to go to a site with ‘Mac’ in the name for their technology needs. So now we want to make Mac users go to a site with PC in the name.”
Always the consummate businessman, OWC Larry reminds us that “great upgrades, memory, docks, external storage, SSDs, GPUs, Mac computers—and more—can be found while they last at MacSales.com!”
Read more about this astonishing development at pcsales.com.
Note: In a related story, OWC Larry also bought an Android Phone.
World is going to hell in a hand cart
If you really wanted people to fall for this, you should have camouflaged the post date of “Apr 01, 2021”!
Right, Eddy Arnold. The problem here was definitely that not enough people fell for this.
Great fun! … I had my doubts! Keep it up.
Good April Fool’s joke. When I read the headline, I was shocked. I’ve been buying from MacSales since the late ’80s.
Very funny. I admit it…you got me. The “April 31st” blew right by me…prolly onna counta the shock, and the fact that typo errors are epidemic on the Intertubes. Plus, despite the April 1 date on the article, it didn’t appear in my Inbox until April 3. Perhaps it would have struck me as an April fool’s gag if it had shown up on April 1.
But the thing that made the fooler so effective is the fact that it’s actually sort of plausible. I mean, Apple’s relentless antagonism toward the user-centric hardware flexibility that was once the Mac’s hallmark has effectively bludgeoned those of us who still remember it into doleful resignation to the fact that those days are most likely gone forever.
Couple that with the change-for-change’s-sake extinction of genuinely useful features and functionality in the Mac’s OS and built-in applications, plus aggressive forced obsolescence of applications software via radical changes in OS architecture—driving some developers to throw up their hands and throw in the towel—and those of us who value the higher productivity engendered by a stable work environment simply shake our heads and cope with the instability.
So, while I admit I wouldn’t be fond of OWC abandoning Mac users, I have to admit that it would just be another in the long train of disappointments that seem to be intrinsic to the Mac user experience. Regrettable, but as a Windows user, I have no delusions; the alternative is worse.
Anyhow, after the April foolery became evident, I breathed a sigh of relief. OWC is the Mac user’s best remedy for what would otherwise be the violent whiplash induced by Apple’s commitment (instituted by Steve Jobs) to economist Joseph Schumpeter’s concept of “creative destruction”. As an Apple shareholder, I can’t complain. But I’m glad there’s OWC to ease the pain of being a disgruntled Mac user.
OMG you almost gave me a heart attack! No kidding! I just was able to go through my email and got upset and disappointed. I had just upgraded my late 2009 iMac with more RAM and started thinking what to do for my next project.
You really got me! Sorry I’m late for the April Fool’s Day party… lol
We will certainly be here long into the future for all your iMac needs!
This sounds like an April Fools joke.
I’m still pissed at Bungie
Marathon was an amazing, time-sucking, delightful journey for us video game-deprived MacHeads. For a brief moment in time, we got to see why so many PCHeads never wanted to leave the platform.
For too many unsuspecting boys, who got all of their hex education on the streets from poorly informed peers and their subsequent pressure, gaming was the gateway drug to PC addiction.
“…gaming was the gateway drug to PC addiction.”
HAR! That quotation now has a place in my “Notable & Quotable” file. Brilliant! (Sorry I can’t provide more complete attribution than “Mick from Rocket Yard”.)
Aw, everybody’s NOT a critic. Thank you, “Vito from Rocket Yard”! I work hard to be clever and my wife assures me, in no uncertain terms, I fail far more than I succeed.
In my defense, she’s German.
Mick G. in SB
Glad I read the comments BEFORE I posted and went off to have a good cry.
As a lifelong animator & musician, I transitioned from traditional animation methods to CGI after operating my tiny indie studio for a decade. I spent the second 2/3 of my career mostly producing animation with “high-end” systems: Quantel Paintbox, Vertigo, Wavefront, etc. Working at Atari Coin-op division in Milpitas, Ca in the mid-90s, I was lucky to be included in a team that worked on a fighting game w detailed 3-D characters, 80,000 polygons. Each animator had a Silicon Graphics Sparc Station, a ten-year-old IBM running several proprietary programs, and a Mac. I’d started learning Mac programs in 1985, ended up teaching Mac Graphics and applications while working in broadcast production.
I used Microsoft ms-dos and Windows along with Macs and Unix systems for 30+ years. But at home my brother and I ALWAYS had Macintosh, even as I used a variety of systems at the various universities, studios and game manufacturers.
But for most of that span, the Mac had the advantages of innovative, clear UIs, and robust design and manufacture. Fewer apps by developers, but they were much better designed for the user’s ease of learning ===> getting up to speed to create revenue without being already computer-savvy. Since the iPhone has become Apple’s primary revenue generator, those no longer seem to be true. Sad.
It’s not clear to me if there will still be support and sales for Mac based products. Please tell me that you are not abandoning the Mac community.
April Fools joke aside, we will never abandon the Mac community! We have Apple juice coursing through our veins and no transfusion will ever rid us of it. :-)
Please, don’t do that again!
I’m getting too old for this sort of shenanigans.
Oh… JEEZ! You had me going!
April Fools indeed!
I think we have 4 groups and types of responses…
Those who got it right away and saw it for the April Fool’s joke that it was
Those that did not get it at first, were taken aback, but eventually came around and are now ok with the joke
Those that did not get it at first, were taken aback, and are upset for being fooled and are not liking the joke
Those that still do not realize it was an April Fool’s joke.
Admittedly, I was in the second camp… convincingly written, especially to those less in tune (for example, I did not catch the April 31 reference). Clearly lots of takes and opinions on whether this was a good one or not.
As always, we love the discourse any post elicits!
Ha! Good one.
However, I still have Macs and Windoze machines. New Macs aren’t perfect but the Win boxes continually remind me how much I dislike Windoze.
I wish people would support Linux so we could have software and usability there. Competition is just what we need now.
This is why I love these Guys and Gals.
As soon as I saw the incorrect date — April 31st — my ‘April Fools sensor’ perked up…I knew immediately, lol.
Although, even in light of this, I happen to share the same sentiment as Calaverasgrande. I am unsure as to whether I will ever purchase a new Mac. I still have my 2011 MBP, which I had upgraded to 16GB RAM and the OWC Drive Rack (thus, 2 1TB SSDs installed), the OS remaining at Sierra 10.12.6.
Is this an April Fools Day joke on April 3rd? I certainly hope so. Not very funny though.
Nope, it was an April Fools joke on April 1st!
The really scary thing is that Apple is committed to producing hardware that can not be reconfigured or expanded. Search through all the corporate ethics information on Apple’s web site and you will find very little information about Apple’s commitments to its customers. Google’s policy is still ‘Don’t be Evil’, but Apple seems content to dump large consumer electronic devices into the environment – devices that it will shortly render obsolescent and that will require “recycling”. Irresponsible behavior if you ask me, and not justified by the argument that everybody else is doing it.
I hope this doesn’t mean that you’re abandoning the Mac platform altogether, which seems to be implied by some parts of this article. This “business” move has been tried before only to fail. You may gain some customers but lose many more if you do not support the base that has kept you going all these years. That includes me and many more like me.
If this is, as commented by others, an April Fools joke, it’s not funny.
As stated several times in the comments and on pcsales.com, we will never abandon Apple. It is too much in our hearts and souls!
A shame Apple doesn’t seem to feel that way. Any chance for OWC to make a hostile takeover bid? ;^}
April Fool’s!
I mean, with newer Macs not allowing you to upgrade memory, storage or CPU, this wouldn’t actually surprise me.
This is a great disappointment. As a non-tech sort I feel safer buying stuff from Macsales than elsewhere. With all the changes going with plugins and cables on it’s hard to know what the heck I need for my older Macs. I am so sad that you can’t do both.
Oh good grief! April Fool’s! There is not now, nor will there ever be, a 31st of April.
So your leaving, all your loyal Mac users, High and Dry.
Thanks for the loyalty.
THERE IS NO THIRTY-FIRST OF APRIL! Can you say “Gotcha!” We knew you could. It’s an April Fool joke, and you’ve been fooled.
April Fools…
New Apple products are not upgradeable as memory, SSDs, and processors are soldered down. The older, expandable Apple products will run out of OS support in few years. This could be more than a joke.
Even though it is clearly an April Fool’s day joke, I hope OWC continues to expand their PC support (already substantial). I use mostly Mac but also build PC’s as a hobby, and for my church tech related duties. It’s nice to have modern devices which seamlessly handle both platforms.
Thanks Dan, we are continually expanding our line of PC-compatible products. In fact, much of our gear is cross-platform. Mac, PC, Linux, we do love it all!
I agree. I have more than a few older Mac based products and refuse to let them become doorstops due to new O/S upgrades that render them obsolete or worse; unusable. I always wait a year or more after a new O/S till the bugs shake out. Big Sur continues to further merge Macs to iPhones and iPads. Not sure if it would be suitable for my 2012 ish Macs anyway. High Sierra works for me. I use Android so don’t care and don’t use my iPad much. I will use my Macs until they stop working, much to Tim’s chagrin.
You got me. Heart attack cancelled.
You bastards! Very funny.
Argh!!! Ive been a customer since 1997 when i bought my first power pc 7100. Sorry to see you go as you have always been my go to shop!
But understandable
Joe
alright, you got me……in defense though….came into my inbox on 4/3, so….
Haha – you are excused! Glad you enjoyed the humor!
Haha – you are excused! Glad you enjoyed the humor! :-)
Anyone out there know who will fill this abandoned niche ?
Amazon, of course … 8^P
April 31st. Indeed. April Fools x
Of course this is April Fools humor,
Read the announcement closely. April doesn’t have 31 days!!!
Not bad. Maybe this explains why our local orchard has decided to become and “Official Apple Store” and sell iPads, iPhones and MacBook Pros as well as Northern Spy, Cortland, Gala, and other legacy fruit. Providing cider along with a full service department for your devices will just enhance their appeal and convenience to customers.
April Fools. No 31st in April.
;)
31st of April 2021
It looks that a joke, April 31st doesn’t exist!!!!
Is this a major “April Fools” joke?
April Fools?l
April fool!
This is sad, because at our company we ONLY purchase Mac Pros, that can still be enhanced, upgraded, and expanded. We purchase all of our 4K Blu-ray burners from OWC. You CAN’T ban a Blu-ray or DVD that YOU OWN.
Oh Larry how could you? And on April Fools…my heart will break, as soon as I stop laughing
Hahahahaha! Something to do with becoming besties w/John Hodgman no doubt! All of those frosty winter nights, warming their hands over Intel chips was bound to be bonding. Giving each other carefully wrapped bottles of Windex and beige state-of-the-art squeegees, laughing as they opened the boxes. Great minds.
Excited about the I’m an OWPC T-shirts coming in Large, XL, and Overstuffed.
Hmm… Are we not supposed to use HTML tags for bold or italics? Or is this an April Fools gag? I’ve used ’em before, but won’t in the future if someone needs to delete them. [you missed one above]. I’ll also punctuate differently if ya don’t like ’em.
Looks like you had an errant “<” :-)
OH! My bad! Let’s build it in so my senior eyes don’t have to track the tags? I usually get the closing tag wrong and there is endless italicization, so I’ve discovered a new way to mess things up.
And you were going to email me?
I do it all the time!
I will email both of you once I receive confirmation from smayer. I don’t want to share personal info without permission.
I think he gave it in the thread before me, no?
Strangely enough, I really thought it was either you or the other OWC writer I was chatting with about how to make this even more of a destination.
I did send confirmation. But just in case, I confirm again. Please send… privately.
My bad, I missed that. Connecting the two of you now.
Fake news should NOT be posted on technology sites like this one. Even on April’s 1 Fools day. Never.
This is, of course, April 1st.
If you believed this one, try these from “Weekly World News.”
MICROSOFT NOW OWNS A CONTROLLING SHARE OF APPLE STOCK!
TIM COOK ACTUALLY A BILL GATES CLONE!
Actually, almost at the level of a really “bad” (i.e., good) pun.
And a giant raspberry (pi) in the face to you, too!
OMFG, that is hilarious! April 31, indeed.
The end of an era, I suppose. Money drives these decisions. OWC is thinking that the extra PCfans will compensate the Macfans that will look for products elsewhere, and that the vast majority of OWC current clients do not care. I am in that group. There are certain things that I do in PC (running statistical packages) and others in MAC (everything else). So, take notice, I will NOT buy PC products from OWC, and as soon as the Mac OS and statistical packages companies made a better transition to Mac OS (SPSS guys your OS version sucks) I will try to cut my relationship from PC (I utterly dislike everything Microsoft, which I am forced to used). By-the-by our governments have been captured by the idea that all computer transactions should be in Microsoft systems. I think this is a monopoly. I wonder how much we have to wait for a FTC to get involved. Somebody needs to publish how much money Microsoft gets from the tax payers, every time a local agency used Windows as their operating system.
Do you realize how many people suffered an heart attack?
Um, April Fools? There is no April 31st.
So far, you were the first to recognize that! You win the joy of being appreciated! :-)
Didn’t even get that far. Opening title was enough. But really surprised at those who really believed. And the VAIO was too much. バイオ株式会社
Hi Larry:
I really love your choice of PC! The Sony Vaio, IMO, was quite probably the only laptop to compete with Mac’s style (how many years have passed?), anyway, keep up the great products and support, and stay green… nothing better than a green apple!
Some Asus and Samsung were quick to copy design as well, but it was still PC on the inside.
Nothing to be proud of.
Took me two seconds to recognize this announcement for what it is! Good one!
I certainly understand and respect your decision to go “PC”. But as an Apple fan”boy” (at age 74) since my first Apple II in 1977, I’m sorry to see this eventuality. As Apple has grown less repairable and less upgradeable you have been given the hardware equivalent of “Sherlocked”. I often wondered how long you could stay relevant to the “industry” with Apple’s direction over the past ten years. I sincerely wish you luck in continuing to provide excellent products, support, and service to the consumer electronics industry. I admire your business practices and wish you the best in your necessary change to your business model.
So much truth to what you say, Terry! But if you follow the link to pcsales.com, you’ll see this is an April Fools joke. :-)
You didn’t fool me, Larry!
Well, then I’m out. Buh-bye.
And on April 2, Larry will decide that he really will be switching to Linux and linux sales.com is really where you can buy all things Linux. And then…
hahahahahahaha…
April Fools!
;-)
what a ‘woke’ joke!