I’m about to defend Microsoft, so please excuse me.
I’m not sure what’s wrong with Microsoft these days. They obviously create some excellent devices, the Zune HD got a lot of buzz, the 360 is the console of choice for many gamers, and Windows 7 has been pretty successful according to the numbers. But, they need to brace themselves for something, and if they do it, then this whole Mac Vs. Microsoft thing can finally be laid to rest.
First, the MAC is a PC. So now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, we can focus on something a little more important here. Why is Microsoft threatened by a hardware company? The Cult of Mac folks posted a picture today from a Microsoft event, where 5 out of 7 of the laptops displayed in the picture were Macs. I’m sure Ballmer had a hard time not blowing a gasket when he saw that, but frankly, he should be seeing those machines as an opportunity to sell some more software. To… PC users.
Apple touted the first intel Macs as a machine that was best of the three worlds, it wasn’t because they had the best operating system (which I’d argue they do), but it was because the machines ran OS X, Linux/Unix, and Windows. All three, on one device. Heck, if you really want to get down to the nuts and bolts of it all, Apple plugged Windows in an attempt to get traditional beige box users to check out Apple’s products. Why couldn’t Microsoft do the same thing? That picture from the Cult of Mac could be the perfect marketing tool for Microsoft. “5 out of 7 Journalists are using a Mac, but how many of them are also running Windows 7 on their Machine?” I’d be willing to bet that a large majority of them have a virtual machine with Windows running on their laptops.
The traditional fight over operating systems is coming to an end. More users are realizing that it’s not about the brand on the OS, but it’s about the tools for the job. My job forces me to occasionally use Windows to check browser compatibility, and I’m alright with that. It time Microsoft starts thinking in these terms, and starts catering to consumers hardware choices, instead of this 1980s ideological divide that simply doesn’t exist anywhere but in the Valley and on the internet.
I’m not advocating that we all run out and switch to Windows, but I am advocating using the right tools for the right job, and Microsoft needs to realize that.
November 20th, 2009 at 6:32 pm
I’ll join those championing MS supporting Apple just as soon as there’s some reciprocity. It absolutely galls me that even though Mac is on Intel hardware these days, I can’t actually run OS X on MY Intel hardware (much as I’ve tried).
Think of the flip side of this article: next time there’s a picture of ten folks sitting around a Starbucks on their Dell laptops, how great would it be for Apple and its supporters to think “I’ll bet half those people are on OS X right now”?
November 20th, 2009 at 6:54 pm
I mostly agree with the sentiment. I just wonder how hard it would be for Apple to do that with multiple vendors, none of which are run by MS, as opposed to the flip side. It’s certainly a competitive advantage for Apple to be able to boast that all three can be run on their machines, and if I was running the ship over at MS I’d be making sure every single Mac user knows they can buy Win 7 and run it on their Mac, just in case OS X wasn’t what they were expecting when they made the switch.
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November 22nd, 2009 at 7:04 pm
I kinda have to disagree with you: people switch to Macs not because they can run three OSes or because of the hardware, they switch mainly because of OS X. The fact that Macs allow them to also run Windows is just a bonus since they might need it for work or for some Windows-only piece of software.
November 22nd, 2009 at 10:01 pm
That’s an excellent point, and I think you’re bang on, but Microsoft is still the major player in business-class computing, and if people know that they can run their Windows only software on their Mac it could increase sales, because people would be buying Mac’s and Window’s software as well. It’s a market that Microsoft should be exploring in my opinion.
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November 20th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
Macgasm.net: I use Windows daily, almost, and I’m a Mac user.: I’m about to defend Microsoft, so please exc… http://bit.ly/6tIUDJ #fb
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November 20th, 2009 at 4:54 pm
Sometimes I use Windows, I know, I shouldn’t admit it, but it’s true. Microsoft needs to harvest users like me. http://su.pr/2nZU2V
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November 20th, 2009 at 5:33 pm
that’s just it tho, since Apple moved from PPC to intel machines, MS automatically supported them. Tho NT is built on the ability to run on different architectures – HAL (or Hardware Abstraction Layer) was designed for this very purpose and is how NT was capable of running on alpha based processors (the RISC CPU from Compaq) and on the Itanium (the totally 64bit chip from intel, which struggled because of it being expensive and not providing the performance unless you specifically build your software for it). MS didn’t need to do anything really… Apple did it for them by switching to off the shelf Intel hardware.
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November 20th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
tho MS market driods have been very poor in pointing any of this out. Sometimes I think I’d make a fortune if I applied to work for the MS marketing team ;)
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November 20th, 2009 at 5:43 pm
alphaxion, maybe we should storm Redmond together. ;)
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