By SteveJack
Mac users may have noticed that almost every article regarding Apple’s Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger also covers Microsoft’s Windows Longhorn which isn’t due to be released until “late 2006.” I’ve certainly noticed. That got me to asking my usual question, “Why?” I think it’s pretty clear. Nearly every segment of the PC food chain needs Longhorn to succeed, as Charles Cooper pointed out in a recent article for CNET News.com. Because of the importance of Windows to the economy, Microsoft’s dominance needs to be protected. Box assemblers like Dell, antivirus outfits like Symantec, institutional Microsoft shareholders, you name it — a lot of companies and people need the Wintel hegemony to continue unchallenged.
So, while the tech media feels it has to cover Apple’s Mac OS X Tiger release, many outlets also feel the burning need to inject the promise of Longhorn into these articles. One has to wonder, when Longhorn is finally released, will reviews of Microsoft’s operating system include comparisons and references to what Apple has planned a year-and-a-half out? I highly doubt it. Windows Longhorn will, in some articles, be compared to whatever Apple’s OS is available at the time or, frequently, reviewed all by itself without any mention of Apple’s Mac OS X.
(Off on a tangent I go! I get annoyed by how Mac OS X reviews almost always contain references, criticisms, or praises about how well it works with Windows and/or Windows files. Guess what? I don’t give a sheet how well I work with Windows and I won’t even after I start reading critiques of Windows based upon how it works with Macs. I don’t measure the success of my Mac based on how well it deals with lesser platforms, especially one that works so hard to be a knock off of my own. How much of my computing life do I have to devote to making sure the stuff I do quickly and effortlessly on my Mac can work on computers purchased by people who weren’t smart enough to buy a Mac? Yeah, yeah, I realize Windows is the majority, most of us are stuck having to work with Windows, it’s good for everyone to know that Microsoft Office runs on a Mac and their files will be compatible, blah, blah, blah… stick an extension on it, will ya? Back to the article at hand.)
The reason for Longhorn being injected into Mac OS X Tiger articles is obvious. Right now, Windows users who are reading about Mac OS X Tiger have a very unpleasant feeling. It’s painfully apparent that the personal computers they are using, even with the latest hardware and Windows XP SP2, are far behind Apple’s Mac platform. To protect against people switching en masse from Windows to Macintosh, people need to be told repeatedly of the promise of Longhorn, even if it’s vaporous, continually shedding features, and quite a long way away. “Sit tight, Longhorn’s coming, it’ll be okay,” many of these “Mac OS X Tiger” articles seem to implore. Some articles even speculate on Apple releasing Mac OS X for x86 PC hardware. They do that to keep people from ditching their PCs for Macs, too.
The problem for the Wintel-centric media is that Longhorn is now so stripped down that even diehard Windows fans are calling it “Windows XP SP3,” “a train wreck,” and worse. I really don’t know how this is going to be dealt with by the Wintel protectors. I think that, despite the best efforts of many, Apple stands to gain Mac users and Microsoft will lose Windows users to the Mac OS X platform. Just how many users will shift is the only real question. The gulf, previously seen only by Mac OS X users who’ve used Windows XP, is now just too obvious and wide between the two platforms. Even non-Mac users are now seeing the chasm between Windows XP and Mac OS X Tiger.
So, when you read Mac OS X Tiger reviews and articles and wonder why Microsoft’s non-shipping, year-and-a-half away operating system is constantly being mentioned, just keep in mind that they’re doing so in order to minimize the unpleasantness their Windows-only readers are feeling. I don’t think it’s going to work very well this time. And that’s a very good thing for Apple in the long run; even if Apple themselves continue doing very little to specifically promote Tiger.
SteveJack is a long-time Macintosh user, web designer, multimedia producer and a regular contributor to the MacDailyNews Opinion section.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Tech pundit Enderle: Apple’s Mac OS X Tiger’s main features ‘borrow heavily from Longhorn’ – May 02, 2005
Microsoft trumpets Longhorn to distract everyone from Apple’s release of OS X 10.4 Tiger – May 02, 2005
Mac fans line up for new operating system as passberby asks ‘what is a tiger?’ – April 29, 2005
Forrester analysts: Apple should advertise Mac OS X Tiger on television and in movie theaters – April 29, 2005
Why doesn’t Apple advertise Mac OS X on TV? – April 12, 2005
PC World review gives Apple’s Mac OS X Tiger 4.5 stars out of 5 – April 30, 2005
Ars Technica: Mac OS X Tiger ‘at least twice as significant as any single past update’ – April 28, 2005
CNET: ‘If you’re tired of Microsoft’s promises, Mac OS X Tiger may be your best incentive to switch’ – April 28, 2005
BusinessWeek: ‘Tiger bolsters Mac OS X’s edge as the best personal-computer operating system around’ – April 28, 2005
Associated Press: Mac OS X Tiger ‘provides another excellent incentive to switch from Windows’ – April 28, 2005
Mossberg: Apple’s Tiger ‘the best, most advanced personal computer operating system on the market’ – April 28, 2005
InformationWeek columnist: Apple’s Mac OS X Tiger ‘a compelling upgrade’ – April 28, 2005
NY Times: Apple’s Mac OS X Tiger is the most secure, stable and satisfying OS on earth – April 28, 2005
Wired News: Apple’s Mac OS X Tiger ‘full of welcome surprises’ – April 27, 2005
Windows is weak, Longhorn will be cosmetic upgrade; Apple can deliver killer blow to Microsoft – April 27, 2005
Thurrott: ‘Longhorn is in complete disarray and in danger of collapsing under its own weight’ – April 27, 2005
Thurrott: Longhorn ‘has the makings of a train wreck’ – April 26, 2005
Thurrott: Longhorn demos ‘unimpressive, fall short of graphical excellence found today in Mac OS X’ – April 26, 2005
Microsoft employees leaving due to (and blogging about) malaise smothering company – April 25, 2005
eWEEK Editor Coursey: Longhorn so far ‘looks shockingly like a Macintosh’ – April 25, 2005
Due in late 2006, many of Windows Longhorn’s features have been in Mac OS X since 2001 – April 25, 2005
Apple’s Tiger debuts Friday while Microsoft’s Longhorn is burdened with one delay after another – April 25, 2005
Nearly every segment of the PC food chain needs Longhorn to succeed – April 22, 2005
Apple CEO Steve Jobs on Microsoft’s Longhorn: ‘They are shamelessly copying us’ – April 21, 2005
Apple shows off Mac OS Tiger in Microsoft’s backyard while Microsoft previews Windows XP ad push – April 19, 2005
Apple’s Mac OS X reality vs. Microsoft’s Longhorn fantasy – April 19, 2005
Microsoft’s Windows Longhorn will bear more than just a passing resemblance to Apple’s Mac OS X – April 15, 2005
Analyst: ‘Microsoft’s Longhorn is going to have hard time upstaging Apple’s Mac OS X Tiger’ – April 13, 2005
Analyst: Apple in ‘position to exploit Microsoft missteps, claim leadership’ with Mac OS X Tiger – April 13, 2005
Apple’s Schiller: Mac OS X Tiger ‘has created even more distance between us and Microsoft’ – April 13, 2005
Will Mac OS X Tiger add fuel to Apple’s recent momentum in the computer business? – April 13, 2005
Analyst: Tiger proves ‘Apple is light years ahead of Microsoft in developing PC operating systems’ – April 12, 2005
Analysts: Apple’s new Tiger operating system could really impact Mac sales – April 12, 2005
Apple’s Mac OS X ‘Tiger’ vs. Microsoft’s Windows ‘Longhorn’ – March 31, 2005
Microsoft’s Longhorn fantasy vs. Apple’s Mac OS X reality – September 14, 2004
Is Microsoft’s stripped-down ‘Longhorn’ worth waiting for? – September 10, 2004
Silicon Valley: Apple CEO Steve Jobs previews ‘Longhorn’ – June 29, 2004
PC Magazine: Microsoft ‘Longhorn’ preview shows ‘an Apple look’ – May 06, 2004
Microsoft concerned that Longhorn’s look and feel will be copied if revealed too soon – August 25, 2003
Windows ‘Longhorn’ to add translucent windows that ripple and shrink by 2005 – May 19, 2003
yeah, true in a way.
but you also have to see that windows controls somewhere around 90% of the market, so when a pc news outlet reviews mac OSX, well, they need something to compare it to, to make sure people understand what osX is. can’t compare it to XP, coz it’s too far behind. longhorn still won’t match it, but it’s getting closer. So if you want your PC audience to understand what Apple has done, you have to compare it with longhorn.
and also, guess what??
FIRST POST
When will we see the Mac/Windows tipping point and how will we know it when it arrives? Will it be driven by disillusionment with Microsoft or the excitement of experiencing OS X? I think it’s happening already and the vested interests are fighting a rearguard action.
No, Longhorn will still be amazing. I’m very much looking forward to it, as well as OS X 10.5, whenever that comes out.
If we assume that the current OS X +0.1 upgrade cycle is 18 month then Mac OS X 10.5 will arrive at the same time as Longwait..
This article is ridiculous.
I haven’t heard a single Windows user (and I know a LOT) talking about Mac os X Tiger simply because Windows users are fine with their system.
*** let me make it clear: Windows users are not affected in any way by the release of OS X Tiger. ***
–> The reason why Longhorn is being delayed and won’t be released until 2006 is because Microsoft perfectly knows its users are not currently in need of a new system and therefore releasing a new OS would just be difficult to sell and create more compability issues. <–
I don’t understand how releasing a new OS could be a positive sign other than in an objective to support more advanced hardware like 64-bit processors. It just means the current OS isn’t good enough yet, which isn’t the case with Windows, as long as you have basic computer knoweldge in order to protect yourself from viruses & spyware.
—–
The reality is that Apple users are happy with their macs and Windows users are happy with their WindowsXP.
Both OS serve different functions:
Macs are best for very-user-friendly, basic home usage, like email, web, pictures, dvds, music.
Windows is more oriented towards the gaming public, as much more games are released for it of course, but more specifically, your computer is designed so you can easily change & upgrade its parts. You can easilly change your video card, processor, ram, etc on a windows simply because it does not come in a “standard” hardware package.
Today’s Mac & Windows users have different needs. That is why Mac users will not switch to Windows and Windows users feel no intent to switch to Macs. If you’re thinking about Windows security problems, let me tell you: Windows always had security problems. They’re not increasing, they have always been very high, but we’re used to it and we deal with it!
-peace
G-sonic
PS: I will read your answers. Feel free to post them.
I was thinking along similar lines..I don’t nead a new OS, Win2K is stable and all my programs run on it, what more do I need?
as long as you have basic computer knoweldge in order to protect yourself from viruses & spyware
That’s basic computer knowledge, so basic that maybe 15% of Windows users have it? You really want to protect yourself 100% without the need for this so-called “basic computer knowledge”? Get a Mac! Stupid Windows apologists make me ill, their “arguments” are so retarded to anyone with an IQ above room temperature.
MS is giving reviewers a peak at longhorn build 5048 this week. I think the longhorn spin is less the reviewers and more microsoft.
By the way — I’ve updated my video card, processor, and ram on my macs. You have less options than you do with a PC, but they are not soldered in place.
Win2K is stable and all my programs run on it, what more do I need?
A clue? You’d have to be a real moron to buy programs that didn’t run on your OS. Don’t know about stable, but the whole Windows approach is so idiotic that W2K cost me a well paying job.
Gsonic ..As with most Windows users who comment on the Mac, you obviously have never used one.
For a truly humorous article on Longwait, check this out here
Of course, I can’t like everything can I? Well, no, Longhorn does have it’s short comings, however Longhorn does have the advantage that, it truly shouldn’t be judged in a pre-beta stage. The text in some the icons is a bit jagged, and unfortunately DCE, the Desktop Composition Engine, couldn’t be started on my hardware, so I couldn’t experience all the visual effects expected in Longhorn final.
Also, there are very small things which could tend to annoy you. Occasionally an icon looks like it’s been stretched too big just minor glitches which are normal in a pre-beta enviornment. However, having used Longhorn for a few days now, I have to admit that Apple needs to be worried. Longhorn doesn’t even have a name yet, but it’s by far the most promising thing to come out of Redmond in quite a while. With the release of build 5048 the bar has been raised, and so have my expectations of Beta 1 and beyond of this remarkable Operating System
You can’t make up stuff like this. If this is representative of their supporters in the paid press, Microsoft is in deep trouble. But we already knew that…
Gsonic has got to be a Mac user amusing himself by putting a deliberately stupid post for his pals to tear apart.
I was under the impression that I could do almost all the things he claims to be able to do on my 1.8 DP G5. I haven’t looked at the processor cos I don’t think I need to change it and, as usual, the new OS seems to have made things snappier again.
I have just started as a substitute teacher in Glasgow and have had to work on PCs for the first time in five years. I have never seen a platform so mutually loathed by its users, but then they aren’t asked for their opinions when the hardware and software is bought.
And why do Wintel fanboys continually obsess about games when I would assume buying a dedicated games box is smarter? I might as well complain that a Ferrari isn’t very good because it can’t pull a plough very well.
I know more about longhorn then I ever wanted to know just trying to find out about tiger.
Great article. Very insightful.
Gsonic is one of the main reasons that Windows is where it is today (in market share). It’s “good enough”. And since the vast majority of Windows users don’t know what they don’t know (i.e., Tiger), then how can they lust for a Mac? Steve could go a long way in fixing this if he would just do a little advertising on my TV.
Gsonic: Longhorn is NOT being delayed because MS thinks it’s too early for an update. Their 1st targeted release date was 2004, remember? And your comment that “Windows users are not affected in any way by the release of OS X Tiger” is not true either. My daughter’s friends who come over and see her G5 iMac running Panther ARE affected by it. Seriously, they sit in awe at her screen and what she can do with it. Likewise with a friend who is a VP at a local pager company here…he brought in a 20″ iMac to work and set it on his desk, in an all Windows shop. (Talk about a chic-magnet.) The ONLY person who hasn’t lusted over his screen is the IT guy. No wonder at that.
Gsonic, you wrote that PC users were happy with their environment because it was well suited to play games but in actuality most of the people who use windows don’t care wether or not it can play games. The only reason I think there is so much emphasis on gaming in these discussions is that the people arguing are often geeks and this can lead to an over emphasis on very geeky issues. most of the computer market does not care wether you can play Fable or if the processor is user serviceable.
A new OS is a positive sign because it means that the company creating it is innovating not stagnating.
The whole “basic computer knowledge” to protect yourself from viruses, spyware, and malware is a basic knowledge that for some reason about 10% of us has. My cousins have a Dell PC and their ISP has a really bad firewall and my aunt stays up all night trying to fix it sometimes.
Not only that, but antivirus protection isn’t free. People are paying $20 a year just to keep their computers protected.
Not to mention how much RAM and CPU usage these programs use because of how they have to check everything you download and everything you do and make sure it’s not harmful.
And to say that everyone is happy with their OS choice is not true. I know so many people who just hate computers and just have one because they are necessary in the world today. Windows users DON’T KNOW there’s a better option out there.
As for Longhorn, for the amount of features it has and productivity improvements (almost none) it’s weighing in pretty heavily at 4 Gigs and Microsoft expects you to have the latest processors (3500+ or more) and 2 Gigs of RAM just for the darn thing to run decently.
Longhorn will be released around Christmas 2006–maybe. Think about that … that’s almost 2 years. That’s a long, LONG, time in the tech world. It’ll be a different world by then. Longhorn will be dated before it’s even released.
I loved the line that said “Nearly every segment of the PC food chain needs Longhorn to succeed… (including)… antivirus outfits like Symantec”.
Gimme a break. It is the same as suggesting that the world needs people like Saddam, Osama and Kim Jong Il just to keep the army occupied. Or that we need cockroaches in order to keep exterminators in business.
<Macs are best for very-user-friendly, basic home usage, like email, web, pictures, dvds, music.>
They also happen to be good for graphics, media development, and video editing. Last I checked, these are a bit beyond “basic home usage.”
If I want to play games, I’ll have a Playstation 2, become some people don’t like sitting at their desks for “fun.”
I was thinking along similar lines..I don’t nead a new OS, Win2K is stable and all my programs run on it, what more do I need?
—-
Ha! Well, MS is mighty annoyed, sir, they want your money…5 years since you paid MS?! For shame!!!
“almost always contain references, criticisms, or praises about how well it works with Windows and/or Windows files”
– This is very important. How many people do you think would be using Macs if they had to convert all their music files, photos, and documents to a different format just so that they could use it on their PCs? What if you couldn’t network a Mac to a Windows server or to other Windows PCs? Yeah sure, you could still be productive on your Mac, but a lot of people would find it’s too much work when most of the world is using Windows. There would definitely not be as many switchers if none of their files would work once they tried to transfer them to their Mac.
“The reason for Longhorn being injected into Mac OS X Tiger articles is obvious. Right now, Windows users who are reading about Mac OS X Tiger have a very unpleasant feeling. It’s painfully apparent that the personal computers they are using…are far behind Apple’s Mac platform. To protect against people switching en masse from Windows to Macintosh, people need to be told repeatedly of the promise of Longhorn”
– I’m sorry but I just don’t buy that. If there is some conspiracy that is going on to protect the Windows crowd, why does Steve Jobs and Apple ads reference Longhorn so many times? If there is some conspiracy, then Jobs must be in on it too.
You don’t need to make up wild theories to try to explain Mac’s small marketshare. We all know which OS is better, just be happy with that.
I like the fact that every article mentios Longhorn being so far away. It reminds those Windows users who know Mac users how far behind their computers are getting. Just remember, it only takes a small percentage of Windows users to move over and Apple doubles its Mac sales.
Alex K. made me think of an interesting point…
How much money do you think is spent annually on power used by processors that would otherwise be idle but are instead either fighting viruses/spyware or doing their bidding as an infected spreader?
Let the world have it’s SP3… I’m not too certain how capable our economy would be were a paradigm shift to occur within the next 18 months.
The grass is greener on our side of the fence because the steer has been put out to graze…