I do understand your arguments and the bigger company view behind them. I even understand Apples decision - that doesn't mean I have to like it though.
Exactly, I don't always like where Apple is going either but I do understand why they are doing it. Those things are quite different.
But still there is something I noticed in the last years when working for bigger companies. Since the never ending financial crisis that started 2008 even big companies have to watch their spendings more and more. That "oh that 300,- part of that machine broke, let's just replace the whole 3000,- machine then we have warranty again" attitude you described is found less and less. Sometimes there are discussions about 50,- more during a 100.000,- project.
I'm noticing the same thing but it highly depends on the company. Some are not doing well and have to cut costs everywhere, others are back on track. Where I work now I can even see those differences between groups. Really weird.
Second, it's not like building a Windows machine doesn't require any research. If I didn't do any research before ordering the parts maybe I'd end up frying the whole thing because I order a power supply that's too weak.
You're right but I wasn't talking about custom made machines (they always require lots of research) but just the run of the mill ones from Dell, HP, Lenovo. Those are easier to upgrade with less research than the Mac Pro is. Or put differently: the success rate when upgrading without doing any research is much higher.
Third, the new Mac Pro is certainly more "for the filthy rich only" than the old one was. The base model is 500,- more, external thunderbolt storage is expensive, what if you don't even need dual gpus but rather have a strong single one, etc.
Price of the base Mac Pro is indeed higher, haven't done the math on the other models and variations. Sometimes manufacturers are aiming certain models, those are the sweetspot (the others are too expensive). Thunderbolt storage is debatable. Large companies usually have things like SAN, NAS but smaller ones don't. The latter might run into the "we need to spend more" problem.
Anyway, complaining won't help, for me the nmp is way too expensive for what it is. Guess in the future it's either back to buying new Apple laptops every 2 years or further down that rabbit hole and build a hackintosh.
Exactly: complaining here doesn't help. Not buying it and complaining to Apple about it might help. The main problem still won't go away: manufacturers have a certain target audience in mind. You might be part of that audience...or not. Lots of people here are exaggerating the problem. Just because you don't like it doesn't mean there is a design flaw.
Did you have a hard time upgrading your Mac Pro?
I'm a sysadmin, things like upgrading these machines is my job. Even getting old crap to work on the latest hardware (and by old crap I mean stuff from the Windows NT4 era). I know some users will do it themselves because they have knowledge and skill but most of the users do not. We don't mind that because that's how we make money. Try doing some sysadmin work for a few months and you'll understand
No you have less GPU options to choose from, but that is good and bad. OSX supports less GPU options but when they work they work well. The same cannot be said for a comparable windows machine. Apple makes sure what is supported has no problems and is fully supported.
Apple only supports the videocards they put in the machines and sell via their own store. Any other videocard works because of the broader driver support. Aka it works because we got lucky, not because Apple is actively supporting them. If you know how a videocard driver from Nvidia and AMD looks like you'll understand why.
Windows is supported by nearly all hardware manufacturers and in some cases Windows is still the only OS where it works. Very annoying because it makes getting it to work in say Linux a bit more of a challenge. Again, we sysadmins don't mind because that's how we make money. We don't like standard, we like custom made (more fun to do and more money to be made).
Windows users do not have that luxury. This is what sets Apple apart. It just works. You seem not able to grasp that fact. Or do and just are ignoring it.
Apple isn't the only one any longer. There have been others doing this as well and with Windows 8 it has gotten easier. Apple does still have an advantage here though. When it comes to hardware support Windows still has the advantage.
You say it's better to just buy a new machine.
No, I'm not, it's the companies that do. They are just doing some math: the entire costs of upgrading the machine vs buying a new one. It is not uncommon that I have to tell them to do that calculation when they want to buy a new machine.
Most people who have workstations know their way around a computer or have someone that does.
Mostly the latter than the former. Again, try doing some sysadminning for a month.
What windows machine from 2009 or 2010 can you still upgrade to a 12 core machine with just plug and play? No wires etc.
Similar products from Oracle, Lenovo, HP, Dell and a few others. You can upgrade those without even using any tools. They use the same platform as the Mac Pro does but they don't have an EFI that limits functionality (why do you think you have to upgrade the EFI of the MP 2009 to that of the 2010/2012 model?). Plus they have an OS that is supported by nearly all of the manufacturers out there unlike non-Windows systems such as Linux and OS X.
I fail to see your point here. The old Mac Pro is very upgradeable. No problems, just plug and play in my opinion.
You really need to start reading some topics here in that case...
