It’s all nice and dandy if you are a small player to yell about how the big players are suckers who aren’t worth it.

Until they are required to step up and take their place. Then everybody (and they themselves) realise that they can’t only NOT do better… they suck 10 times harder.

The fact of the matter is that the business of microsoft is 100x more impressive and complicated then Apple’s business of putting out closed proprietary consumer toys.

Apple doesn’t need to care about 400 million third party devices they need to support.
Apple doesn’t need to care about backwards compatability with software written 15 years ago.
Apple doesn’t need to care about millions of hackers and cybercriminals constantly attacking every system they put out.

I’ld like to see them try. That’ld be a fun day…

The fact is that Apple has 0 experience in all these area’s. And don’t be mistaken, if they want to replace microsoft (and they really don’t – because then they’ld loose their niche hype and superiority complex – their 2 main selling points) they WILL be required to care about these things.

No company is going to put all their eggs in one basket… And that is EXACTLY what you would be required to do with the Apple of today. They don’t play nice with non-apple systems in case you haven’t noticed.

The fact is that a company like apple NEEDS a giant like microsoft in order to be successfull at what they do.
Just like right wing nationalists NEED moderate politicians to complain about. They can’t exist without them. They can’t be successfull without them.

Apple’s entire reputation and marketing strategy is dependent on microsoft having +85% of the market.

10.6.8 remains the high-water mark for OS X. Despite some improvements, overall iOS6 was a turd too, and not just because of the mapping fiasco. Users simply are no longer realizing clear benefits from “upgrading”.

Just like Win8, Apple’s social media integration is undesired and its iAds are a step in the wrong direction. If Apple wants to do successful battle against MSFT & Google, it’s going to have to offer a cleaner, more efficient OS and ecosystem without “features” that nobody wants. Something that doesn’t require constant “cloud” tethering to provide value. Something more impressive that an application store with 500,000 “programs” that are nothing more than adware and marketing tools designed to suck data from users under the guise of “gaming” and entertainment.. Offer a platform where value-added applications developers aren’t competing against Adware, and can be paid an honest compensation for offering high-quality software, INCLUDING trial-ware without annoying ads and “social media” intrusion and bloat.

“Does a headline posed with a question make BS more appealing?”

“Wishful thinking!”

“Look: See here, We Use Punctuation in Our Headlines”

“Jakob Nielsen: Why do you think i care?”

“A Hypothetical Fact-Free Prediction of Improbable Economic Collapse of a Profitable Fortune 500 Company”

“RIM Fine, Let’s Attack Microsoft. Google Next.”

or:

“What the F!@#$%^&*()?, an Exposé of Obsessive Omphaloskepsis by Microsoft Haters”

Sometimes I wonder what posters here would rather see: Microsoft provide valuable competition (and standards-based cooperation) for Apple, ensuring increasing support and software for Mac and iOS platforms; or Apple monopoly, with the predictable results that occur to all monopolies that have ever existed.

Personally, I hope the former occurs, that Windows 8 fails like the piece of crap it is, but that Microsoft becomes the next successful IBM back-office software vendor with some really, really good Mac-native software. That would be sweet justice. “Collapse” serves no one.

Eric T. Mole
Ballmer T. Clown

There has to be a connection!?!!

Subsequent versions would go on to increasingly ruin the UI with ridiculous bullshit like Internet Explorer integration(Metro is just an extension of that, actually) and increasingly take users’ control over their own computers away from them.

Lets make no mistake, the blame for this financial disaster lies squarely at the foot of the economists, no matter how loudly they protest their innocence.

However, consider the remark above: “… Catastrophe Theory, a branch of mathematics that describes … ‘phenomena characterized by sudden shifts in behavior arising from small changes in circumstances [that] … may lead to sudden and dramatic changes, for example the unpredictable timing and magnitude of a landslide.’”

For this to happen, some other company (or companies) must include parameters in their sales/profit equation which would lead to explosive growth as Microsoft melts down.  I don’t mean 40% growth in iPad demand, for example, but more like 100% year after year. 

Currently nobody is making such predictions.  So for now Catastrophe Theory is a possibility, not reality.

Somebody recently asked on YouTube: “why do PC guys always seem so angry when talking about Apple or Macs?”

This is why.

Somewhat on the flip-side, some users with not-so-old Macs that do support older versions OS X that need to run those older versions for compatibility with their apps get the shaft. I’m also in that boat when iCloud features became Lion (or later) only – I would have loved to stay on Snow Leopard but I relied on things like Address Book, Calendar, and Notes syncing with my iPhone and Back-to-my-Mac for connecting to my home Mac (and remote access to help my kids when they needed it), which required me to upgrade (which I have just recently done – straight from Snow Leopard to Mountain Lion). Yes, I could use Google or Yahoo to sync those things, but I’ve found them to be finicky at best and totally unusable at worst – ironically they do work better with Mountain Lion (as an aside, I’m kind of sick of the big cat OS names).

So, I guess Apple is willing to alienate those who’d rather use an older OS for the sake of (maybe) more hardware sales rather than to continue to support them – and really, it’s not like they don’t have the resources to do so (SOOOO MUCH CASH).

… And Balmer is my favorite.

… “As long as it takes. ”
(Don’t let yer guard down folks)

Ultimately, I’ll be very happy if Apple’s desktop market share rises to around 50% globally, (perhaps more in the U.S.) — and achieves true parity. A balance of computing power would serve the world (and Apple customers) well.

Oh, and government policies predicated upon the twisted theory that everyone has a right to own a house (HUD) – not to be mistaken with housing, for which I believe there is a fundamental human right – forcing banks to make risky loans in order to maintain good policy posture, has greatly contributed to this mess we’re finding ourselves in.

My point: We need to stop blaming everyone else and take shared ownership in the problems we’ve created as a world. Only together can we solve them. Deflecting ownership and accountability only exacerbates the issue and delays positive, lasting resolution.

Peace.

The problem was that MS made Word 6 for Mac look just like it did on Windows – butt ugly and awkward. That didn’t go over well with the Mac crowd.

On the other hand, I’ve long thought that Excel on Windows didn’t look like a Windows app and was somewhat like a Mac app. Which makes sense, since Excel started on the Mac and migrated to Windows. Ditto PowerPoint.

When you are on top, one single misstep puts you on a downhill slide.

MS has been fortifying the walls at the top of the mountain to the point where it is now top heavy and ready to slide…down.

Apple should add support for those new features by providing the necessary updates to previous systems.
Partial support such as the lack of 3D for iOS6 Maps on the iPhone3GS may be reasonable as a gradual approach.

Oddly enough, Windows XP and Vista still receive a lot of support for iCloud etc.

hubris
gloat
bloatware
virusware
crashware
failed OS since XP (2001-10-25) incl. Me/LongHorn/Vista/Win7/Win8
failed mp3 (Zune)
failed web (bing was 3rd attempt & is way below google)
failed hardware (Big AsSurface + Surface tab)
failed Retail Store
failed ads i.e. “I’m a PC” etc
failed business strategies
failed marketing strategies
failed concepts
failed law suits (monopoly+©)
failed everything in last 2 decades
failed innovation
loss: 50%+ fortune, stock miserable $26! (AAPL $574)
ceo pig
etc
etc
etc

in 1990s MSFT’s Billy Gates of Hell hired 100 of the world’s biggest brains, paid each $1M salary + bonus.
in 2 decades they have produced & innovated: nada!
yet at every expo Bill & Ballmer scream benevolence & innovation?!

so how did MSFT get so big if they suck so much?
simple: Billy was top marketer. he licensed Windows to ALL manufacturers, the got corporations stuck with long licensing deals that are expensive to break. IT staff lied to management about alternatives to keep their jobs! it took 30 years for firms & public to realize they’re stuck but in today’s mobile world, which started from scratch, Windows had no advantage anymore and the world is freeing itself from old shackles. MSFT meanwhile, hangs onto the old licensing deals, but soOn, will have no more glue and fail just like IBM’s PC biz. IBM now sells commercial carpets & tiles!! (apart from successful IT consulting biz).

MSFT is the most stubborn, closed-minded, loudmouth, annoying, arrogant, ugly co. in the world, so even if they supplied 1000s of jobs to asia, sorry, but this co. has to go, it’s an embarrassment to human accomplishment – no wonder no ET’s stop by our planet!

MSFT is also the most wasteful co. on earth. Billions that could improve infrastructure or educational systems are wasted in projects that never could fly and that over 2 decades!!

MSFT is a danger to society.
to the economy.
culture.
innovation.
sense & sensibility.
logic.
passion.
vision.
there’s nothing worthy “inside”

Case in point is how Apple approaches tabs within dialog boxes and how Microsoft approaches the same problem. Microsoft adds complexity by making tabs ‘context aware’ in that tabs that are at the back are brought forward when you click on them so there is no positional context in the user’s mind. It makes for a confusing interface as the user is constantly searching for the other tabs whose positions have changed in the meantime.

Another layer of complexity is the Ribbons concept which takes ‘context aware’ tab positioning to absurd levels so that commonly used icons are hidden and then displayed depending on use case. It makes for a confusing mishmash because the user has to constantly look for these icons when all he wants to do is get on with his work.

When I first used an Apple product, the iPhone 4, I found that there was consistency and simplicity in Apple software. I became aware that Apple made a conscious decision to make things easier and better for the consumer and did not add layers upon layers of complexity to sell new software.

I think Microsoft’s preoccupation with unneeded complexity with Windows 8 tiles and throwing away the Start button will be its demise.

I miss Steve. I bet he will be looking down upon the wreckage with a grin, saying “whose running Microsoft? right, the sales guy case closed”.

Go Apple.