Lets face it.. people who can afford macs can afford max......(snigger) No but seriously, I use and have both, but i dont find pd more difficult than max to follow/use.. In many ways I prefer the simpler nature of patch appearance especially when i am trying to explain a process to someone.. (its harder to hide stuff)
But I can see how some users are alienated by aspects of the software. However I feel this occurs more in the installation/configuration area rather than the GUI. I was thrown slightly by the commandline options in dos when i first started using pd.. And if it wasn't for Adams great OSx packages I would still be struggling with my setuid and -rt stuff. (MacOS/unix is a real brush it under the carpet job).
From my point of view most barriers to PD usage have been admin/install
things like. "We can't support that" and "Users can't be using console commands!" and "Wheres the diskimage" and "Users don't like config scripts" and "why aren't the docs/application visible in the finder" Anyway.. i think i've given my 2 penny.. so I'll shut up now..
Also.. how can you still charge £800 for a DSP training session when the program is free Expensive/stylish apps (and computers) seem to connote higher quality programming/creativity to most punters. (But thats when people try to buy creativity.. not learn it) Hopefully OSx will break that barrier down a bit..
no.. i really will shut up now :)