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Why Microsoft won’t be able to decimate Apple’s iPod with cheap music players

Friday, May 28, 2004 · 9:12 am · 37 Comments

“Microsoft is apparently preparing to battle the iPod. Not satisfied with decimating the Macintosh with undercut pricing (and, admittedly, a more sound distribution model) Microsoft wants the iPod to have a more Apple-like 5 percent market-share,” Hadley Stern writes for MacDevCenter. “But will it work? Yes, and no.”

“Yes, because there is a significant percentage of people out there who simply don’t appreciate the stunning combination of design, technology, and usability that is Apple. These people appreciate a cheap price, languish in the familiarity of all things Microsoft, and don’t appreciate good design,” Stern writes.

“No, because this percentage of people is not 5 percent! The only reason Apple currently has such a low percentage of market share is because of the corporate market. Fueled by cost savings (helped along by Microsoft

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37 Comments

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Sputnik

Friday, May 28, 2004 - 10:30 am · Reply

…”parents demanding more and more that their children have a “real-world” experience with computers in schools”

Of course even parents know that the “real IT world’” uses MS based PC’s. Microsoft is a wonderful tool that is used by the most of the corporate world. Would you want your child only able to double-click on an icon on a Mac? Our children need to know how to run real computers. They need the skills to set-up a windows based system, not just a bunch of mouse clicking computer kids. They need “real world” computer skills.

�
me

Friday, May 28, 2004 - 10:32 am · Reply

wow. I agree.
me

Friday, May 28, 2004 - 10:33 am · Reply

not with sputnik.
Apollo 11

Friday, May 28, 2004 - 10:37 am · Reply

You are right, Sputnik. We don’t need kids to see how things could be or to think from themselves. Best we mold them into brainless little automaton sheep from the get go.
s

Friday, May 28, 2004 - 10:41 am · Reply

School children in 1985 learned how to double-click on Mac, while “real IT world” used DOS. In 1990, Mac based school taught computer using MS Word and MS Excel, while “real IT world” used WordPerfect and Lotus 1-2-3. In 1995, Mac based school taught graphics program using Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop, while “real IT world” used Corel Draw and PaintShop Pro. In 2000, Mac based school taught how to write HTLM with GoLive and DreamWeaver, as “real IT world” used notepad. Today Mac based school is teaching how to prepare Multimedia report using iApps, as “real IT world” provide …

May be parents should realize, children graduating from Mac based schools are more prepared for the “real IT world” than children being taught with today’s “real IT world” technology.
Dave H

Friday, May 28, 2004 - 10:43 am · Reply

I’ve fallen for Sputnik’s post before, but now it’s obvious.
Rick

Friday, May 28, 2004 - 10:46 am · Reply

The purpose of a flock is to get protected. There is a menace: virus, worms and trojan horses attack. But, there is other kind of menace: the level of incompetence, the lack of thechnical skills. Someone, somewhere knows the way of solving an OS problem and, the more they are, the best chance to get an answer. Maybe not the best one, but at least an answer, like infinite number of monkeys typing: one of them will write a “perfect code” or so. Or maybe just simpathy, comprehension. In the herd, they protect each other against those menaces.
Mark Smith

Friday, May 28, 2004 - 10:52 am · Reply

Would you want your child only able to double-click on an icon on a Mac?

Ehh my 3 year old can click on both! an icon is an icon whatever system you use.
Our children need to know how to run real computers

LOL My son will grow up with Linux , OSX and Windows do you think he’ll be disadvantaged Hell no! The more he learns the better about ALL different types of computers.

Microsoft is a wonderful tool that is used by the most of the corporate world

It’s just an OS!

Why would I want my son to work in the corporate world?
Telesales? NAH, I’ll let him pick what “wonderful tools” he wants say Photoshop or Dreamweaver or Final cut or Garageband I think he’ll have more fun than learning XP
Jimbo von Winskinheimer

Friday, May 28, 2004 - 10:53 am · Reply

I agree, Dave H. Sputnik doesn’t believe what he writes. He’s here to incite. Read his post and he is practically laying that ammo down on the table.
BuriedCaesar

Friday, May 28, 2004 - 10:57 am · Reply

Yeah, those are the parents who own a pc at home and use one at work and want their kids to experience the same pain, agony and frustration they have had to endure. How DARE our children actually learn anything beyond that! How DARE our children be able to get to information they need to learn about other things without first having to know how to upgrade the virus defs or apply a critical update! (There are stories out there where teens are upgrading the machines at schools because the adults are too intimidated or, um, uneducated, to do it.) These are not the kinds of “real world” experiences I ever want my son to have to deal with, but I will make sure that he will at least not be afraid of them.
cedreca

Friday, May 28, 2004 - 11:01 am · Reply

By the time a kid in first grade comes out of high school, he/she would have to learn to use multiple versions of Window$ or Mac OS. Basic computer skills probably will remain the same.
Now if by “real-world experience” for our kids, they mean having to use an inferior product, because of the false promise of lower cost, then they are getting what they looking for. I think they are already feeling the experience of having an operating system with so many basic security flaws as Windows. Constant updates and damaging virus attacks, by the time they graduate from high school, they should also receive an IT certification along with their diploma.
When you ask educators of their preferred platform, they all agree it should be a Mac. But since all of those that take decisions only look at what I call the IT propaganda, and parents follow this demanding more and more that their children have a “real-world” experience”, they go with the PC’s. They ignore all the billions of dollars $$$ that are being wasted around the world because they still want to use “real computers”.
As for an iPod killer from Micro$oft, I doubt it could be even close to what the current generation of the iPod is, much less at what’s to come from Apple. An having to keep paying for my music, for all eternity, that’s something I really don’t look forward to!
Aryugaetu

Friday, May 28, 2004 - 11:17 am · Reply

I’ll keep it very short.

It is ALL right here… http://www.apple.com/education/k12/
Click on “New IDC Report”. It will download IDC_White_Paper.pdf.
Viridian

Friday, May 28, 2004 - 11:24 am · Reply

“They need “real world” computer skills.”

Like dealing with viruses, Trojans, worms, assorted security holes, upgrades, patches, fixes, patches for the upgrades, fixes for the patches, and upgrades for the fixes, after the entire Rube Goldberg contraption collapses under its own planet-like weight. And the added bonus of paying Microsoft for the pleasure. Thank you sir, may I please have another!

“Of course even parents know that the “real IT world’” uses MS based PC’s.”

Parents as clueless as you maybe. Sputnik, not only do you not have a clue, you’re not even in the clue continuum. IT suffers from Windows not because sysadmins don’t know better; it’s the first poor sod in the corporation who falls for the snake oil sold by the Microsoft carnival barkers and seals their fate by thinking “Gee! We’ve got all these Windows desktops! We can save a lot of money if we use Windows in our data centers too!” It’s like crack, not good for you, but you can’t give it up after the first taste. Corporations who fall for this are locked in but good, and the bean counters realize that with their colossal investment in Micrsoft products, it’s more cost-effective to bear the pain than to get relief. This is the main reason that Gates recognized Linux as a critical threat years ago; the server room, not the desktop, is where the big money is spent in corporate IT. How do you think IBM, HP, and Sun prospered in the first place?

Never ceases to amaze me that these Windows apologists continue to lurk on Mac sites. Clearly you’re a candidate for stem cell research trials, but even if they manage to grow you a new brain or three, you’ll still be deficient. Moron.

I can’t believe I rose to this troll’s bait.
Aryugaetu

Friday, May 28, 2004 - 11:25 am · Reply

We must step back and see the whole picture. Microsoft relentlessly makes promises after promises, and then actually produces 50% of it about two years after their projected date. Apple just delivers, usually far beyond everyone’s imagination and expectations.

We would be best to ignore Microsoft’s boasting. At most, our reply should be “Ya, Bill, whatever!”
Less is More

Friday, May 28, 2004 - 11:36 am · Reply

If M$ obviously underprices its player, subsidizing it from its monopoly funds rather than by tying it to a subscription service, then perhaps it’ll be time to take the kid’s gloves off. Hit ‘em where it’ll hurt. Release the secret weaon: a powerful office suite.

More than ever I think that Apple should now make an effort in the enterprise market.
Melanie

Friday, May 28, 2004 - 11:36 am · Reply

Sputnik’s not trolling. His arguments are obviously tongue-in-cheek. His post here isn’t even true troll-bait.

He’s a hard-core Mac user who just wants to get a rise out of everyone. It’s probably a lot of fun!
Viridian

Friday, May 28, 2004 - 11:48 am · Reply

Melanie,

If that’s the case, then I apologize to Sputnik, but he should also know better than to use such subtle humour around this place. We’re not used to it.
artiom

Friday, May 28, 2004 - 11:52 am · Reply

one thing its worrying when the actual pc magazine admits that mac is the best operating system and that windows is far behind it.
so sputnik get your facts right and shut the fuck up about microsoft being the best.
Heimlick

Friday, May 28, 2004 - 12:05 pm · Reply

The Apple 5% market share that Microsoft is hoping for is ludicrous. Desktop PCs and music players are apples and oranges. Totally different devices used for totally different reasons, catering to totally different markets. People are also, oddly, a lot more particular about their music players than their desktop PCs. While many consider the PC to be just a tool for work, emailing, and surfing the net, and are ignorant that a well-designed OS can improve that experience, people are buying the iPod in droves because they want a product that sounds nice, is sturdy, designed well and user-friendly. Microsoft is at a serious disadvantage here.
Joe McConnel

Friday, May 28, 2004 - 12:21 pm · Reply

Macs are 5% (or 3%, or 15%) of the market because they dont advertise and their models are not competitive. Wintel box makers undercut each other, not Apple. Apple does not matter a whit to msft except for innovations that can be adapted to wintel.

The mp3 player war, which I do not understand nor need to, might be a different kettle of fish, but I think the underlying wish for apple’s competitors will be to sell a lot of units, regardless of how many ipods go out the door.

Decimate means to kill one in every ten, btw. This fellow isn’t much of a writer, but he did get excited.