“I spent a lot of time last week reading the Microsoft employee blogs and apparently there is some reasonably strong feeling among many folks who work there that the wrong ‘Steve’ is running the company. This is, in my view, a ‘grass is greener on the other side of the fence’ type of perception — since ‘the other Steve,’ Jobs, that is, is neither known for being a good software guy nor being anywhere near as employee-focused as Microsoft’s executives are. He does, however, have skills that Microsoft could use desperately right now,” Rob Enderle writes for TechNewsWorld. “Clearly there would be some anti-trust hurdles in an acquisition of Apple by Microsoft, but the oil companies seem to be able to get through those reasonably well and both Apple and Microsoft have clearly done the ‘impossible’ before. Setting these concerns aside, let’s imagine what might result from such a merger.”
“While it is easy to point to the acquisition of NeXT by Apple as an example of when a purchase fixed a problem like the one Microsoft had recently with Vista, Apple really isn’t an OS company, and Microsoft’s problem is vastly broader than just its OS,” Enderle writes.
MacDailyNews Take: Uh oh, Rob’s clearly off his meds again. Microsoft’s “problem” with Vista is happening now, so “had” should be “has” in Rob’s last sentence. Enderle states, “Apple really isn’t an OS company.” What’s that supposed to mean? Apple right now offers what is simply the world’s best operating system; a feat they’ve accomplished at least three times before with totally different, unique OSes, by the way. Is Rob about to tell his readers that Microsoft wrote the first Mac OS again?
Enderle continues, “Microsoft has lost the support of many of its critical employees, partners and customers, and even the U.S. government shows little interest in protecting the company from foreign threats. Microsoft has a major image problem and an apparent inability to either recognize or deal with it. In addition, Microsoft appears to have a leadership problem, one it likely shares with companies like GE, GM, and Ford these days, where the executives are isolated, regularly tricked into making bad decisions, and aren’t taken very seriously. Broad image problems are the responsibility of marketing and public relations executives. While Apple’s public relations is mixed, its marketing is second to none and, having made the mistake of comparing potential customers to lemmings years ago, the company would probably immediately see that referring to its own customers as dinosaurs for not buying their latest offering, wasn’t particularly wise.”
“According to the Microsoft blogs, the one place inside Microsoft that doesn’t have many problems is the Mac Business Unit, which is arguably more closely connected with Apple than Microsoft these days. This would indicate a strong foundation for the belief that Apple could help Microsoft — but could Microsoft help Apple? Why Apple Needs Microsoft: The obvious word here is ‘Office,’ but recall that Microsoft provided Apple with critical funding (US$150 million) when it was about to go under so that the firm could come out with new hardware and finish its new operating system. In addition, Microsoft, in continuing to support Apple with Microsoft Office, allows Apple to sell in a lot of places it otherwise would be locked out of,” Enderle writes.
MacDailyNews Take: Microsoft’s $150 million was a dog and pony show for the media, not “critical funding.” Even in the dark days of 1997, Apple had $4.233 billion in total assets at the time Microsoft purchased those long-ago-sold $150 million in non-voting Apple shares. The real deals there were Microsoft’s promise to support Office for the Mac for 5 years (a promise that they’ve recently restated) and the payment to Apple by Microsoft of an “undisclosed” amount to settle the “look and feel” legal issues.
Enderle continues, “Imagine what would result if a new Apple OS was based on the new Windows kernel rather than on Unix.”
MacDailyNews Take: LOL! Yeah, just imagine. Imagine also, if you will, that Ben & Jerry’s replaced sugar and cream with sand and crude oil. Yum, yum! Imagine how quickly we’d switch to Linux if this particular bit of Enderlunacy came true.
Enderle continues, “Apple’s machines are long on usability but short on interoperability, which is almost the mirror opposite of Microsoft products like Media Center. In fact, Microsoft could help dramatically in getting Apple platform products to work seamlessly in Windows environments and make a Media Center product jointly developed vastly more attractive and profitable.”
MacDailyNews Take: Ooh, goody! Microsoft can help Apple make products that are long on interoperability and short on usability. Our proposed marketing slogan: “They don’t work very well, but they sure can interoperate!” We can see the midnight lines forming already.
Enderle continues, “Now, an Apple-Microsoft merger may not necessarily be a good idea because it may go too far. Much of what makes both companies interesting is what is unique to each firm. I honestly don’t see a chance that the U.S. government would allow such a merger to take place anyway. But how about a broad partnership? If Apple’s next generation OS — Leopard — was ready now the company could take some market share from Microsoft in the 4th quarter, but Apple probably wouldn’t be able to hold onto it. All reports say Leopard won’t be ready until 2007, after Vista ships, anyway.”
MacDailyNews Take: In all of the reports that we’ve read and covered, Apple is slated to release Leopard, the next release of OS X, either late 2006 or early 2007. Vista’s most-recent slip has it being released in January 2007. Based upon past performance, no one should have any confidence that Microsoft will hit that date. Besides, if properly introduced to the world, Apple’s Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar — which debuted years ago — could take share from Microsoft’s Windows, as could Mac OS X 10.3 Panther and 10.4 Tiger. Apple doesn’t need a “next-gen” Leopard when even their old Jaguar would stun 90-percent of the PC-using world with its UI and features. Sigh. If only Apple did a better job of showing the world the Mac and the benefits it offers…
Enderle continues, “What if Apple worked with Microsoft to make the iPod ‘Plays for Sure’-compliant, and Microsoft worked with Apple to make the Mac OS a true peer platform to Windows?”
MacDailyNews Take: Yeah, what if Apple made the iPod compliant with all of the online music services that nobody uses? One can only imagine the wide-ranging non-effects. What if the Mac OS became a “true peer platform” to Windows, whatever that means? Since it’s an Enderle suggestion, we’ll assume that whatever he thinks it means is pure stupidity.
Enderle continues, “Employees might also move more freely between the firms, providing a formal system of cross-pollenation in skills and practices that both could use.”
MacDailyNews Take: Yeah, Microsofties could go down to Cupertino whenever they wanted company-provided towels or stock options that don’t chart like a parking lot. Apple employees could head on up to Redmond whenever they want a dose of stifling bureaucracy or a tutorial on how to create tangled, bloated code coupled with unintelligible, ugly user interfaces. A perfect world indeed; like an Elvis existence: too high, take a downer; too down, take an upper. We can see the human resources videos already: “Apple employees, are you too happy, too optimistic? Do you think different and see a world where anything is possible? You need a dose of reality: transfer to Microsoft today!” “Microsoft employees, are you suicidal, trapped in your cubical, stifled under layers of retarded bureaucracy? Do you like the comfort of group think and are perfectly content with “good enough” results? It’s time for a trip to Cupertino!”
Enderle continues, “This is all an ideal-case scenario, and things seldom work that way. Apple historically has not been a good partner and the distrust that surrounds Microsoft is near legendary. Still, stranger things have happened. While neither company is in critical shape at the moment it does appear that both firms need each other right now — with an urgency that is unprecedented.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: iMacs in earthquakes and Paris Hilton in an Apple Store! Whenever you think Enderle can’t go any deeper off the end, he does it.
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Related articles:
Enderle: Microsoft employees voice concerns about working for dysfunctional company – March 29, 2006
Big surprise: Enderle was wrong about Apple’s holiday quarter Mac sales – January 19, 2006
Enderle: Microsoft’s ‘PlaysForSure’ going to be a long-term problem for Apple – January 09, 2006
Enderle: Apple+Intel could be wonderful for those of us that love design and use Windows – December 26, 2005
Tech pundit Enderle: ‘Microsoft wrote the first Mac OS’ – September 28, 2005
Enderle: ‘iPod Halo Effect is just a myth, same thing as having Paris Hilton visit Apple stores’ – May 02, 2005
Tech Pundit Enderle: ‘This year will be more difficult for Apple Computer’ and iMacs in earthquakes – January 24, 2005
Enderle: maybe it’s time for Apple and Sun to merge – August 10, 2004
enderle
1. noun – The back part of anything, especially a human, as in There’s a smell emanating from that person’s enderle.
2. noun – The buttocks, as in I’m afraid these pants don’t fit my enderly.
The noun enderle alone has been used in both these senses, the first since the late 1900s and the second since the early 2000s.
3. adj. – tiresomely long; seemingly without end; “enderle debates”; “an enderle conversation”; “the comment seemed enderle.”
4. adj. – occurring so frequently as to seem ceaseless or uninterrupted; “a child’s incessant, enderle questions”; “your perpetual, enderle complaints”
5. acronym – Epitomizing Nincompoop Diddler Echoing Rejected Locquatious Exaggerations
If Microsoft does this then it would solidify them as a Monopoly.
They need Apple to be popular and to grow to help them in the anti-monopoly trial coming up.
If Apple wanted to put a Fly in M$’s ointment they could re-release NeXT as a software only package that runs on generic PCs.
Imagine this:
Apple releases NeXT, without the Apple name attached, and it runs on generic PCs. It is essentially OS X, but with a different GUI the old NeXTStep/OpenStep would do) and a TCM flag that inhibits Final Cut Studio and other Pro apps from running. It’s a way to build the OS base rapidly without undercutting the high margin Pro Mac business model.
If Apple wanted to put a Fly in M$’s ointment they could re-release NeXT as a software only package that runs on generic PCs.
Imagine this:
Apple releases NeXT, without the Apple name attached, and it runs on generic PCs. It is essentially OS X, but with a different GUI the old NeXTStep/OpenStep would do) and a TCM flag that inhibits Final Cut Studio and other Pro apps from running. It’s a way to build the OS base rapidly without undercutting the high margin Pro Mac business model.
If Apple wanted to put a Fly in M$’s ointment they could re-release NeXT as a software only package that runs on generic PCs.
Imagine this:
Apple releases NeXT, without the Apple name attached, and it runs on generic PCs. It is essentially OS X, but with a different GUI the old NeXTStep/OpenStep would do) and a TCM flag that inhibits Final Cut Studio and other Pro apps from running. It’s a way to build the OS base rapidly without undercutting the high margin Pro Mac business model.
If Apple wanted to put a Fly in M$’s ointment they could re-release NeXT as a software only package that runs on generic PCs.
Imagine this:
Apple releases NeXT, without the Apple name attached, and it runs on generic PCs. It is essentially OS X, but with a different GUI the old NeXTStep/OpenStep would do) and a TCM flag that inhibits Final Cut Studio and other Pro apps from running. It’s a way to build the OS base rapidly without undercutting the high margin Pro Mac business model.
It would be the biggest disaster in the computer industry.
I think the only bit of truth in this guys whole article is the last bit where he says “Still, stranger things have happened.” This is obvious because he is still published by TNW and continues writing articles that people read. While he’s at it, let’s imagine what would happen and the cultural and economic benefits would be if the US government decided to have a personnel exchange with North Korea. I can see the endless possibilities already…
Hey Mr. Enderle:
With respect to your most recent misguided attempt at journalism, you posed the hypothetical question, “What if Microsoft Bought Apple?
Ahh… what if monkeys flew out of my butt?
In your article, you state, “Recall that Microsoft provided Apple with critical funding (US$150 million) when it was about to go under so that the firm could come out with new hardware and finish its new operating system.”
No…. no, I really can’t say I recall that. Stop trying to rewrite history to fit your Microsoft-tool viewpoint.
Says here at The Motley Fool that in the 3rd quarter of 1997, “Apple finished the quarter with over $1.2 billion in cash or cash net of both long and short term debt of $152 million.” I don’t know how anyone but you could possibly conclude from those numbers that Apple was about to go under, but for Microsoft riding in on a white horse with a cool $150 mil to save the company.
According to [url=”http://news.com.com/2100-1001-202143.html
“]CNet News[/url], “Microsoft chairman Bill Gates said today that the software giant will invest $150 million in Apple and will develop and ship future versions of its Microsoft Office, Internet Explorer, and development tools for the Macintosh.”
This is a “vote of confidence” move on Microsoft’s part, Rob. It’s simply Microsoft assuring the cash-carrying Macintosh faithful that yes, there will be more versions of Microsoft Office for them to purchase, and nothing more. It has Nothing To Do with Apple’s cash position at the time.
Imagine what would result if a new Apple OS was based on the new Windows kernel rather than on Unix. It would be much more acceptable to a broad cross section of companies that wouldn’t touch it with a ten foot pole today.
The truth is that the “broad cross-section” of companies wouldn’t touch Vista with a 10-foot pole — today, tomorrow or next year. Vista is still-born. Nobody wants its bloated nightmare on their computer, especially in the corporate and business world. As an IT Manager, you think I’m going to put that crap on my users’ desktops? Not a chance, buddy. The only way Vista will eventually gain market share is through consumer sales to unwary purchasers of new computer.
Most companies are only now getting around to upgrading to XP. There’s no way that Vista will see appreciable market share until early 2009 at the soonest.
Apple has a great chance right now to make inroads onto the corporate desktop, simply because Microsoft blew it, big-time. So tell me, why would Apple want to get involved in such a mess? Where’s the advantage in tying yourself to a sinking ship?
Now recall that Apple’s most successful products, iPods, are dominant because they run on Microsoft’s platforms and because Apple licensed the interface, creating a Microsoft-like infrastructure of accessories and partners to surround the product.
I’m not even gonna touch this. It’s simply not worth the time.
All in all, Rob, this is one of your worst, most ill-informed and poorly conceived pieces, ever. It’s a pathetic attempt to make Microsoft look good and Apple look like it’s floundering, when in truth, the exact opposite is the case.
You should really retire from writing and find a job where your misguided perceptions will do less harm. Say, in gardening. Or oyster-diving. Or maybe washing windows on skyscrapers. Or a logger, or a small-aircraft pilot, or a fisherman. Something where the mortality rate is really, really high.
Steve Johnson
Network Administrator / Webmaster
Vision Graphics, Inc.
MW: “Europe”, as in, “If I give Europe, will you go hang yourself?”
Life’s to short, I’m never reading another article that has Enderle in the title.
Instead of buying Apple, M$ should just license OSX from Apple as one of their disguntled employees suggested on the Windows blog.
word=game, as in “game over man”
Are you suuure Enderie and the President aren’t the same person??? Scary.
How about we look at this from another angle?
The solution would not be for Microsoft to buy Apple…but for APPLE to buy MICROSOFT!
Microsoft, admittedly, makes top-notch business software. Office is probably the premiere office bundle for both Macs and Windows (even my dad-in-law had to wean himself off of Lotus). And FileMaker notwithstanding, no one’s really made a dent in Access in terms of basic databases (for folks who don’t need Oracle or somesuch).
So here’s the deal — Apple develops a flavor of OS X that will run on computers currently running Windows. Maybe it would be a version that would not include all the whistles and bells available to Mac users; sort of an OS X Lite perhaps. Then Apple buys Microsoft, phases out the Windows division, and lets them concentrate on providing business and media software (perhaps incorporating QuickTime into Windows Media Player).
This would allow developers to no longer have to worry about providing content for both Windows and OS X, especially media providers who have to decide in what format to provide their products.
Hey, it could happen…
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I won’t waste time dissecting his arguments, ’cause that would be redundant, but I would like to ask where I can get a job like Enderle where I can spew the most ludicrous and illogical nonsense and get PAID for it.
MDN leave “The King” out of it.
Office is not good, just more proliferated.
Seems like Enderle wrote an April Fool’s article just for MDN…
I don’t have a defribolator.
Please. My heart.
It’s stooooooooooooooooooooooo
If this were to happen:
1. The new company would have to be a Steve Jobs dictatorship.
2. 10-20% of all Microsoft employees would be immediately fired. Not necessarily a bad thing. It is well known that Apple has better people. (They also pay more.)
3. Enderle talks about the importance of interoperability. Actually, they would need to stick with OS X since interoperability with Unix would suddenly be the only important kind of interoperability.
4. Basically, Apple would ditch its hardware business except the iPod, Microsoft would ditch its OS, and OS X would ship on all new PCs.
Yeah, but Bill would still have to dodge sniper fire and hurdle barricades to get to his office. Then, he would have to deal with the hostile employees.
While I’m loathe to defend good ol’ Robby in anything, I think the idea is an interesting topic to consider. Robby’s problem is that he doesn’t approach the topic in the hypothetical but wirtes like he’s somehow ‘in the know’ when he has no idea what he’s talking about. Now, if he had approached this article as a “What if”, it might have been an interesting conversational topic along the lines of “What if the Union lost in Gettysburg” or some such thing…
I love this line:
“Enderle continues, “Microsoft has lost the support of many of its critical employees, partners and customers, and even the U.S. government shows little interest in protecting the company from foreign threats.”
What, so it is up to the US government to plug the holes in Microshaft’s leaky boat? Gimme a break!
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Actually, he may be on to something! Maybe Vista IS Leopard!!! (same release dates?/big announcement). Maybe that’s the real reason Apple shifted to Intel?
When you think about Jobs selling small, dynamic Pixar to megatith, lumbering Disney (so Disney could get its hands on the vastly superior Pixar crown jewels), then it all makes some kinda errrrrr…. sense?
This guy is such a moron. He actually believes the token $150 million MS invested in Apple “saved” the company. And he believes a Mac OS X based on Windows would be great thing. No one can be THAT stupid. This must be a belated April Fools joke.
If MS continues to self-destruct, it will be Apple buying Microsoft soon enough. Then again, why would Apple want Microsoft (except maybe to get the Mac BU on the “home” team).
This article IS a joke, BUT, the take that “Microsoft’s $150 million was a dog and pony show for the media, not “critical funding.”, I am not sure about. You need to make up your OWN mind. Click the link below, download the 1997 Boston Keynote, fast forward to 27min in, and listen to the REST of the keynote. Jobs thought it was important and actually chides the audience for their boos – and believe me, I AM NO M$ APOLOGIST.
Download 1997 Boston Keynote Here
Information…process it you desire.