“People sometimes stare when Microsoft Corp. executive Tim McDonough opens his laptop in meetings. But that’s probably to be expected when someone uses a Mac PowerBook in the center of the Windows world. ‘I can get challenged to see my employee badge,’ he says,” Todd Bishop reports for The Seattle Post-Intelligencer. “McDonough works in Microsoft’s Macintosh Business Unit, one of the closest things to neutral ground in a computer world divided into technological factions. The Mac BU, as it’s known, makes Microsoft software for Apple computers, bridging the gulf between the companies’ operating systems and linking their respective followers in the process.”
“It may be the only place at Microsoft where someone can be spotted wearing an ‘I Don’t Do Windows’ shirt. And nowhere else would a Microsoft employee, recounting a speech where he captivated a crowd, liken himself to Apple’s Steve Jobs, rather than to Microsoft’s Bill Gates,” Bishop reports.
“…the Mac Business Unit’s position at a major convergence of the technology universe gives its employees a unique perspective on the Mac and Windows worlds. When McDonough visits Apple, for example, many of the initial questions about a product are about the user experience — how it looks and feels, why a certain color was chosen, or how a given button works. At Microsoft, conversations tend to start with the underlying technology, or what kinds of protocols were used,” Bishop reports.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple teaches computers about people. Microsoft teaches people about computers. Apple’s way is better for people.
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Mac users should not buy Microsoft software – May 16, 2003