“As sales of smart devices such as mobile phones, hand-held PCs and MP3 players outstrip PCs, consumers expect their technology to behave more like Apple’s iPod: sexy and simple to use. Not many people say that of Microsoft’s offerings,” Dan Kaufman writes for The Sydney Morning Herald.
“Its Windows XP operating system is widely regarded as being harder to use than Apple Mac OS X. And many of the features expected to be included in XP’s successor, codenamed Longhorn, are already in OS X, such as advanced search features and 3D graphic effects on the desktop,” Kaufman writes.
Kaufman asked Microsoft’s Bill Gates, “Does Microsoft have an image problem? Gates wouldn’t provide a straight response when the Herald posed this question. ‘You’re a Mac user, aren’t you?’ he said, before explaining that Apple accounts for only a small amount of market share, while avoiding the question of whether there is an image problem. Oh, and as the microphone was pulled away before I could say anything else, no, Bill, I’m not a Mac user.”
Full article here.