“Apple’s announcements yesterday about OS X 10.7 pricing (cheap), upgrading (easy), iOS 5, and iCloud storage, syncing, and media service can all be viewed as increasing ease of use, but from the perspective of Apple CEO Steve Jobs they perform an even more vital function — killing Microsoft,” Bob Cringley writes for I, Cringley.
“The incumbent platform today is Windows because it is in Windows machines that nearly all of our data and our ability to use that data have been trapped,” Cringley writes. “But the Apple announcement changes all that. Suddenly the competition isn’t about platforms at all, but about data, with that data being crunched on a variety of platforms through the use of cheap downloaded apps.”
Cringley writes, “What this requires from Apple is a bold move that Microsoft would never make: Jobs is going to sacrifice the Macintosh in order to kill Windows. He isn’t beating Windows, he’s making Windows inconsequential.”
MacDailyNews Take: When we were an agrarian nation, all cars were trucks because that’s what you needed on the farms… PCs are going to be like trucks… They are still going to be around…they are going to be one out of x people… This transformation is going to make some people uneasy…because the PC has taken us a long ways. It’s brilliant. We like to talk about the post-PC era, but when it really starts to happen, it’s uncomfortable. – Apple CEO Steve Jobs, June 1, 2010
“This transition will take at most two hardware generations and we’re talking mobile generations, which means three years, total,” Cringley writes. “With no mobile market share to speak of and Windows 8 not due until 2013, Microsoft is likely to be too late to the party…”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Whether Cringley is right or just writing out of his rear-end as usual, Microsoft, and especially Windows, has retarded progress for far, far, far too long! The Dark Ages of Personal Computing, which we successfully avoided all these years (even if the best we had at one time was Mac OS 8 “Tempo” – it was still significantly better to the end user than Windows 95), is finally coming to an end. In the end, one fact will remain: Most of the world chose wrong. What a colossal waste of time, energy, and money that frustrating clusterfsck was! Good riddance to Windoze! Welcome to the Renaissance (where some of us been waiting for the rest of the world starting as far back as January 1984)!
finally, I can look out of my windows
I like that!….I like that a lot!!
Wasn’t Windows “DOSW’ or Dead Operating System Walking, anyways?! ; )
Maybe Apple/Steve Jobs can generously offer assistance near the 11th hour. One of these MS Developer Conferences, Steve Jobs may make a surprise appearance via a prerecorded message on a huge overhead using the iCloud. He would then very graciously offer to donate a few hundred million dollars and a promise to develop for the Windows platform the iTunes cloud and of course, Safari.
Windows will walk a few more miles still.
Can’t wait for the Wired exposé on MS with the Windows logo on the cover followed by a heading: “Pray!”
Here’s Silicon Valley veteran Steve Blank saying that Microsoft will start to fail in six quarters.
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-guru-of-silicon-valley-startups-steve-blank-2011-5?op=1
(I sent this to MDN; it must have gotten lost in the WWDC build-up.)
“Most of the world chose wrong.”
Tuff nut to swallow, happens all the time.
What a tea party thing to say.
Not if you’re Jenna Jameson.
Jenna’s probably seen as many viruses (and trojans) as the average Windows box.
SNL was so funny. Bring it on down to Liquorville!
and whats wrong with that ? Its time to say bye bye to Balmer
NO! Ballmer needs to stay, till the ship sinks. That’s what most good captains do!
He’s anything but a good captain but hopefully they’ll tie him to the mast and let him go down with it anyway.
I agree Joe. It’s time for Ballmer to step down. I want to hear that classic PR comment about spending more time with the family.
Once he’s gone, there will be a number of books written on the subject of his stewardship of the SS Microtanic.
Fsck all this talk about how he has to stay! As if he were still a threat to Apple, or that under his leadership Microsoft falls further and further behind.
I am so damn curious about who will replace Ballmer, and the direction a new CEO would take Microsoft. Will it be dramatically different, or just more of the same? Will these changes reflect a total departure from what was a great source of pride for so many industry pundits?
We won’t know any of this until Ballmer is gone. Please Ballmer do the right thing and leave before Microsoft is declared unsalvageable.
mehh, it just a dream for mac. an overpriced PC, that can beated by windows easily
Beated and educated…
“… that can beated…” ?
WP7, your name fits you 😉
What part of -1% growth for PC and 28% for Mac makes you think Windoze has even a remote chance of survival? Crap. There I go using facts to argue with a moron who didn’t possess the mental capacity to make a good choice in the first place. Enjoy you BSODs, viruses, malware, and, oh yeah, higher cost of use than a Mac over the lifetime of the system. Moron.
MeMyselfI, keep in mind if Apple had not put those Non Xservers in the billion dollar server farm, that number may have been -5% lower. There may be 50,000 high end PCs in that place. I hope they are all rubbing Apple X Serve software.
Also keep in mind that -1% is being held up higher by the Macs that are beating it. Macs are included in growth for all PCs.
Also keep in mind that servers are not PCs.
Books won’t hurt you.
Beaten by an obsolete, chrome polished turd? Brilliant! You and your fellow WinTards are legends in your own minds!
WP7 must have attended the Palin Elementary School in Alaska.
and that crashing sound you hear is a few more chairs flying out of Ballmer’s office …
Guess a a good skill to have (if you work in Redmond) .. is the ability to duck !
yeah, whatever apple say, Microsoft always winning 😀
I like windows. But sadly it looks like it’s time to move on. I think microsoft is strugling to keep up with apple’s rapid technoevolution. If tney want to keep up they should start pioneering something of there own. Something new, useful and something that apple would never have thought of developing (yet)
The big ass table comes to mind.
Good luck with that one!
I’ve got it! “WinCloud”
Wait a minute…
No, the Mac is not being sacrificed. No amount of smaller portable widgets will equal the gargantuan pleasure of working on my iMac 27″. And Lion looks to expand the productivity and pleasure exponentially. It’s just that the widgets are getting much better very fast. Go Apple! And all Mac users, rejoice to hear the Lion roar!
Yes! Agreed! The Mac is strong and coming with us to be future.
Nope, definitely not. There will be a place for desktop computers for a long long time. No matter how powerful our portables become, desktop machines will be more powerful.
Not everybody will need that, though. But, as Jobs said, there will be a place for trucks. I’m sure Apple will continue to make iMacs and Mac Pros for a long time.
Jobs didn’t say he wanted to “kill the PC (desktop).” He just relegated it to “device” status, instead of “hub” status. The cloud is the hub now instead of the desktop, that’s all.
Yes but maybe that will make less iMacs in future pushing the price up a bit?
The only trucks remaining in the post-PC era will be Macs. All other trucks will be buried in landfills.
It is very clear that iOS and OS X are adopting the best practices of each other and together they move forward in unison until the point when it makes sense to refer to them both as iOS X. Contrast the elegant, consistent and instantly recognisable experience of the Apple mobile and desktop OSes to the utter baffling clutter of Winblowz 8 preview. It looks dated 2 years before it’s released and appears to force a bizarre and crappy mobile interface onto a desktop computer. What are they thinking?
Version 1 of iCloud is certainly interesting but version 2 Apple products take the idea forward by large amounts so one can only imagine where iCloud and iOS/OS X will be when MS excretes WP8.
That’s the difference here… Microsoft cannot let go of Windows. They cannot afford to. They have to keep pushing Windows compatibility, it’s their bread and butter. As soon as they let go of it, they lose their stranglehold of the OS market and open it up to others… This is exactly Intel’s problem as well.
It’s going to take your average consumer a while to figure this out. They are not going to understand what they want this for or why it’s important but, when they do, MS is finished. 2013 is about right for those folks to start understanding.
For those who work from their computers and mobile devices on the road or at say the local Starbucks, the time is now. I watched a story on the evening news last night and they interviewed several people using laptops, iPads, phones, etc. Almost all of them of them were using Mac’s and none of them were working in office environments. They all understood it, they all saw the great power and potential of what is about to come.
For those folks 2011 is the beginning of the end for MS. Sleep well Balmer!
A world without walls ? I prefer my vistas to be free of gates and windows ……..
Finally, we seem to be heading to the end-game.
Jobs is fine sacrificing the Mac because the iPad, not the Mac, is his ultimate vision. It is the culmination of 30+ years of work. iCloud is just the icing on the cake.
Jobs isn’t sacrificing the Mac or Mac OS X.
It’s that both are evolving.
how much is MS going to charge for W8?
just asking…
MDN take 2 reminds me of something about earlier comparisons and, in particular, a letter in a paper :
Super-Mac-Is-Majestic-XP-Is_Atrocious !
I would have been proud to have thought that one up
Is the age of the thin client upon us now?..
Microsoft will loose its throne and kingdom to apple. Time is running out.. So Bill Gates, what are you going to do to stop apple’s army from bombarding your palace? Are you gonna do something or let your military force (windows products) die?
LOL. Jesus another one of these types of ‘analysis’
Lets see where have i heard all of this before?
Oh that is right all the way back into the early 90s.
Netscape and the browser were going to kill windows.
Sun was going to kill windows with thin clients.
Google was going to make Windows a non issue with the web.
Now iCloud….
These predictions have been as thick as apple going out of business over the years!
MS is huge and Windows is massively entrenched.
The biggest threat to MS is MS itself.
When they go down, it will be 100% by their own mismanagement and lack of vision.
“When they go down, it will be 100% by their own mismanagement and lack of vision.”
So…soon? Lets see, just a few more 8 billion dollar bon fires and it should be all wrapped up.
The “i” devices are the gateway drug to full-on Mac devices. Yesterday’s Lion presentation should allay any fears that neurotic people had/have about Apple abandoning the Mac.
I never have had faith in Cringley. Here comes another one of his embarrassing statements:
“Jobs is going to sacrifice the Macintosh in order to kill Windows.”
What is it with TechTard journalism this week?! This Cringley statement verges on INSANITY. I watched the keynote. I read analysis of the keynote. This IDIOTIC assumption that the Mac is being sacrificed for ANYTHING indicates that someone has been chewing on lead paint chips.
Like it or not, here in the real world, THE MAC LIVES ON. So does Windows.
The ONLY change is removing the tethering of iOS devices to both the Mac and the Windows box. ENORMOUS DUH FACTOR HERE.
What is it about that fact that indicates the killing of Mac OR Windows? Please write down your logical progression of thoughts and post them here. I want to read them.
Shameful tech journalism.
Agreed. Why is it necessary to sacrifice one perfectly healthy and vibrant product line in order to promote another. As computers become ever smaller and more capable, a lot of functionality may be moved onto portable devices. iPhones and iPads can do many things that used to require a desktop. However, Cringely should consider the evolution of laptops and desktops – the trend over the years has been to larger displays (bounded by the limitations of portability for laptops). The average laptop today is larger than the typical desktop display from the early 1990s. And many of the desktop displays are larger than the largest televisions in the mid-1980s and in the same general size range as popular sets in the mid-1990s.
Desktops will tend to fade somewhat as mobile devices take over more functions. However, until the user interfaces are fully evolved in terms of input and output (retinal projection? holographic projection? Flexible displays?), the desktop will maintain an important role.
Even the USS Enterprise has a mainframe! And they did not use padds for everything else.
True, he’s utterly stupid. As I wrote above, Jobs didn’t say he was killing the PC (as in Desktop – Mac or Windows), he said he’s changing it from Hub status to Device status. The cloud is the hub now instead of the desktop, that’s all.
The same “experts” were predicting that desktop computers would disappear when laptop computers became more popular. That didn’t happen, because desktops offer features and benefits that are not available on laptops, such as much larger screen, more local storage, and better performance. Laptops are great for many users, but obviously not all.
The same thing will happen with tablet computers. Macs (and PCs) will not disappear, because they have features and benefits not available on iPads, such as (same as above) much larger screen, more local storage, and better performance. Add to that list, keyboard, mouse (or equivalent), and precise cursor control. A touch-based interface will work fine for many tasks that are performed a few times a day; some tasks are naturally suited for touch. And iOS devices are ideal for tasks where mobility is a major factor. But there are MANY tasks, particularly complex and/or repetitive tasks performed as part of a “pro” -fession, that benefit from a “regular” computer. When “time is money,” people are not going to be squinting at small screens and waving their arms around all day, while waiting for their computers to “catch up”; they are going to be using computers with a sufficiently large display, an interface that requires minimal movement (efficient human energy usage), and highest affordable performance.
Apple will intentionally design future Macs and iPads to be complementary, not adversarial. While Microsoft makes “Windows 8” into a bloated and bogged-down attempt at an everything-for-everyone OS, Apple will push out handheld touch-based computers and “traditional” personal computers, each with software optimized for their respective functions. And BOTH branches of Apple’s computer “tree” will thrive.
The Mac will be merged with the iPad family. The materials will be lighter. You will be able to have your 27″ iPad, in a dock, on a taple or stand or in your lap etc. The current form of Mac and OSX software will be merged with iOS and the tablet form. Separate optional keyboards and input devices will be available for those that need them. For most users the tablet will be able to be used for graphics, writing and everything people use an iMac for today.
This change is in the horizon. The stand alone desktop and laptops will all be morphed into tablets.
A “27-inch iPad” will NEVER work. I hope you were just kidding. Once you get beyond about 12 inches in diagonal screen size, a touch-based interface becomes inefficient and ineffective.
First, as screen size increases, the user is expending more and more energy to move their fingers, hands, and arms over larger and larger distances to cover the screen. There may even be a need to move the entire BODY to lean forward. There is energy expended just to hold fingers, hands, and entire arms in awkward positions, whether the screen is flat or upright. As long as the device is small and hand-held, the the device moves to accommodate the user; the user’s body does not need to move to accommodate the device
Second, the user is blocking line of sight from their eyes to the screen with their fingers, hands, and arms. So for every action, it is “move fingers, hands, and arms to touch screen,” followed by “move fingers, hands, and arms away from screen.” On iPhone, the movement is mere inches. On iPad, it’s a few more inches, but still acceptable. On an iPad with a 27-inch screen, the distance is measured in feet. Ridiculous to even imagine.
Third, there is no persistent point of focus on the screen. So even if there is an “optional” keyboard and mouse/trackpad peripheral input device, the interface does not have a cursor to manipulate (except in a text field). The cursor is your finger touching the screen. Apple designed the interface that way intentionally, because when the screen is small, the user can easily touch any part of the screen easily with minimal effort. However, even with a small screen, it is difficult to be precise with a “cursor” the size of a fingertip (instead of a single pixel)
However, I do agree that “iOS” will eventually become the OS for Macs, maybe in the major release after Lion. But iOS is already NOT just for touch-based computers; Apple TV uses iOS too. And that’s an interface optimized for use with a tiny remote control. So in the future, iOS will mature into the “base OS” for all of Apple’s computers, but each family of computer will use an interface that is best suited for its function.
Until someone comes up with something better, Macs (especially those with 27-inch displays) will use an interface optimized for keyboard and mouse/trackpad. The user’s body stays mostly motionless with minimal movement needed to control everything. There is no blocking of view to screen with body parts. There is a persistent point of focus on the screen. That “something better” needs to surpass keyboard and mouse/trackpad in efficiency.
Yeah, because a 27″ iPad is going to be awesome!
I mean, look at it! http://youtu.be/ct1_r_61sk8
Hey Applesmack, when you remove the “27”” from your comment, it makes perfect sense.
Ken1w could have said as much, if he weren’t trying to make it all about him.
Anyone notice ZuneTang has been conspicuously absent? Can’t say I blame the poor bugger! Gotta be humiliating to see the end of his horse-drawn way of life.
He’s probably locked in the bunker with Ballmer. Hey! That could b a great name for a new sitcom! “In The Bunker With Ballmer.” I like it.
Zune Tang is Goebbels to Ballmer’s Hitler in the Fuhrerbunker. The Russians are advancing on Berlin – they’re less than 12km away and have penetrated into the perimeter of Berlin stripping away the last of the defences.
Meanwhile Hitler is moving around ghost divisions on a map while Goebbels encourages his delusions. Is the end nigh? The folks in Redmond are certainly hunkered down.
Great analogy!
ZuneTang had many people duped… and often managed some very clever satire, but he was fiction, folks. Some of us got the joke.
“Jobs is going to sacrifice the Macintosh in order to kill Windows.”
Typical Cringley hyperbole. It’s not accurate, however, Jobs IS willing to put the Mac at risk in order to put Windows even more at risk.
One of the things that will hurt Microsoft is yet another Mac OS X major release priced at $29.99 (and including server functionality with no licensing fees!).
Many Mac users upgrade their OS regularly every 18 months to two years with dot releases in between. A substantial number of PC users upgrade only when they purchase a new machine. But Microsoft wants to keep that OS money flowing and they don’t want to reduce the price.
Add in a range of Mac apps at bargain prices, some of which may eventually eat into the MS Office market, and then the iOS juggernaut, and Microsoft should be very afraid.
Cringely fails to understand that Apple concentrates on their customers, not their competition. Would they like to kill windows? Sure, but the more important thing is delivering products that the customers want to use.
-jcr
Jobs is going to sacrifice the Macintosh in order to kill Windows. Robert X. Cringely – Tuesday, June 7th, 2011 at 7:37 am
•
John C. Randolph
Tuesday, June 7, 2011 – 4:25 pm · Reply
Cringely fails to understand that Apple concentrates on their customers, not their competition. Would they like to kill windows? Sure, but the more important thing is delivering products that the customers want to use.
-jcr
Thank you, John. You make an excellent point.
Apple’s has never been about Embrace, Extend, Extinguish, which is an art form and takes a lifetime to master.
Instead, Steve Jobs conceded the desktop war to Microsoft and chose a new paradigm on which Apple would focus their energy and resources, and there’s no question he succeeded. While Microsoft and the rest of the the industry were regaling the world with bigger is better, Apple was moving in the opposite direction; small is delightful.
The iPod, like Newton’s apple, proved to be a catalyst for change and every iDevice since has changed the world by an order of magnitude. Now, by promoting iCloud as the hub for these myriad handheld satellites, my desktop has been relegated to the status of Secondary tool.
Like Apple, I’m no longer bitter about Microsoft, and have long since moved on. OS X gave my life new direction, a chance to exercise my creative freedom in ways never before imagined and for that I am eternally grateful to Steve Jobs and a cast of thousands.
I believe history will recognize the colossal waste of time Microsoft has been for man and machine. It could be argued Microsoft set men’s minds free and enslaved machines to do its bidding however, it’s a pity it gave rise to a war of man against machine.
This is where Microsoft failed mankind; they enabled man to turn plowshares into swords. Cyber attacks will escalate and the butcher’s bill will continue to cast a pall over the land in a fit of rolling disclosure. That’s what the future holds for those who continue to use Microsoft products.
Microsoft has made great strides in securing the platform by providing more powerful tools to fight the war against chaos, but those tools are a double-edged sword, and will ultimately be used to breech the walls of Windows’ security.
Apple and its consumers meanwhile are living in another dimension, above the chaos of the Desktop Wars.
Cringly IS writing out of his rear end, as usual. Jobs doesn’t care about “killing Windows.” he cares about ensuring Apple leads the future. if that happens to leave Windows behind, it’s ok but no big deal because MS double crossed him way back 20 years ago and is now being thoroughly humilated by Apple anyway in sales/market cap. if he has any particular competitive emotional push, it’s definitely focused on Google instead. both because Google’s hardware agnostic cloud vision will marginalize Apple if it becomes dominant, and because Google double crossed him just 3 years ago.