In his blog post, “How to Turn Microsoft Around,” Thomas Hawk writes, “More than all of this though is the informal anecdotal evidence I’ve been seeing of a shift from the Windows operating system to the Mac. I wrote about my own conversion last year. In the past few months I’ve been completely surprised at some of the names of people that have privately emailed me saying that they were switching as well. And then earlier this week over coffee with one of the top technology journalists in the world (no, not Walt Mossberg, but close up there) what did he pull out of his bag? A brand spanking new sleek black MacBook Pro less than a week old.”
“Now the numbers are not necessarily going to reflect this yet, but when your key influencers, bloggers, journalists, etc. begin abandoning Windows and moving to the Mac it’s like a wave and over time this wave can actually threaten Microsoft’s monopoly on the operating system. Look for Apple’s numbers to continue advancing here in the months ahead,” Hawk writes. “So the question becomes how should Microsoft turn this around?”
Hawk looks at the Windows user experience, “It’s not good. Especially when compared to a Mac… Apple has the luxury of being able to test limited and known configurations on their products. Combine this with an almost manic commitment to user experience and you get a better product… Microsoft of course can’t just reverse course and piss off all of their OEMs and start building their own PC, but what they can do is create a Microsoft certification whereby thoroughly tested systems receive a special Microsoft seal of approval.”
Hawk looks at Microsoft’s Live.com, “Now it is pretty much dead.” Hawk writes about Microsoft’s big pile of dirty cash and how they need to buy “cool” companies, starting up a San Francisco-based “think tank of sorts,” and getting “their evangelism back on track. Scoble was a big loss for Microsoft. Gartenberg would have been an interesting choice to try and fill his shoes but now he’s gone as well.”
Full article here.
All very interesting, but it begs the question: why bother? Why spend all the time, capital, and effort needed to make Microsoft like Apple, when Apple already exists? Microsoft has always been a follower; one can only image what absolute garbage would flow forth from a Microsoft think tank when they have decades now of looking to 1 Infinite Loop for their R&D. Even if you could turn the Titanic around, get it into dry-dock, and attempt to retrofit the thing, it’ll still be the Titanic. All of that effort isn’t worth it when the Queen Mary 2 is already berthed in Cupertino.
And, puleeze, a Microsoft seal of approval? Is Hawk nuts? A seal of approval only works when offered by a respected entity. Microsoft is known for badly-hewn fake Macs, a bloated office suite, a fecal-colored non-selling fake iPod, unexplained and incomprehensible crashes, shoddy security software that doesn’t secure their insecure OS, the worst browser on earth, executives blinded by hubris, layer upon layer upon layer of bureaucracy, being Google’s minor league, a game console they’ve never sold for a profit, failed initiatives like watches and ultra-portable PCs, patches, viruses, overbearing DRMs, monopoly abuse, an idiotic dancing CEO/buffoon, and pure frustration. A Microsoft seal of approval would be a product’s kiss of death. Plus, we don’t think there’s even room left for any more stickers on most ugly-ass PCs. As we’re fond of saying, “The first time Microsoft produces something that doesn’t suck will be when they start making vacuum cleaners.”
Related articles:
Analyst: Windows Vista UI is step back in Microsoft’s pursuit of Apple’s Mac OS X – February 27, 2007
Gates: ‘Windows Vista’s had incredible reception’ – February 21, 2007
The Register reviews Microsoft’s Windows Vista: ‘Don’t buy it’ – February 20, 2007
Forbes: ‘Windows Vista utterly unimaginative, internally discordant and woefully out of tune’ – February 09, 2007
Digit: Don’t buy Vista; Microsoft may be driving millions to stick with XP or move to Apple Mac – February 05, 2007
TIME Magazine: Microsoft’s Windows Vista ‘an embarassment to the good name of American innovation’ – February 02, 2007
Microsoft’s Windows Vista: Five years for a chrome-plated turd – January 30, 2007
Digit: ‘Microsoft’s Windows Vista may be the best reason yet to buy an Apple Mac’ – January 29, 2007
Pioneer Press: Windows Vista shows ‘Apple is an innovation engine; Microsoft, not so much’ – January 29, 2007
Windows Vista disappoints, so get a Mac – January 29, 2007
CNET Reviews Windows Vista: Is that all? Clunky and not very intuitive vs. Mac OS X; warmed-over XP – January 24, 2007
Mossberg: Microsoft’s Windows Vista offers lesser imitations of Apple’s Mac OS X features – January 18, 2007
Windows Vista disappointment drives longtime ‘Microsoft apologist’ to Apple’s Mac OS X – January 17, 2007
InformationWeek Review: Apple’s Mac OS X shines in comparison with Microsoft’s Windows Vista – January 06, 2007
NY Times’ Pogue reviews Microsoft’s Windows Vista: ‘Looks, Locks, Lacks’ – December 14, 2006
Dave Winer: ‘Microsoft isn’t an innovator, and never was – they are always playing catch-up’ – December 01, 2006
Apple’s Mac OS X Leopard is 64-bit done right, unlike Microsoft’s Windows Vista kludge – August 14, 2006
Microsoft Windows Vista: If you can’t innovate… try to impersonate Apple’s Mac OS X – August 10, 2006
Analyst: Apple’s new Mac OS X Leopard sets new bar, leaves Microsoft’s Vista in the dust – August 08, 2006
Microsoft botches another copy job: Windows Vista Flip3D vs. Apple Mac OS X Exposé – June 26, 2006
Windows Vista rips-off Mac OS X at great hardware cost (and Apple gains in the end) – June 13, 2006
Computerworld: Microsoft Windows Vista a distant second-best to Apple Mac OS X – June 02, 2006
Microsoft — proof that you can’t be all things to all people.
Why bother changing Microsoft to become like Apple?
If you don’t do that, then Apple would become the next Microsoft.
Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Sorry to burst his bubble, but the black laptop is a MacBook. MacBook Pro is shiny aluminum.
He’ll get over it. It’s just a passing phase in his inner development
“A brand spanking new sleek black MacBook Pro less than a week old.”
A rare computer indeed.
They could try reading the manual: So You Want To Turn Microsoft Around?
“How to turn Microsoft around”
With 50 pounds of C-4 and a few
flamethrowers. A .50 caliber machine
gun could help too.
M$ has already tried the “seal of approval” concept. Remember “Made for Windows 95” which was replaced by some message for windows 2k and then by “Designed for Microsoft Windows XP”
(I’m sure they have one for Vista too.)
Anyway – the Dell I use at work with a 2ghz single core pentium 4 and 512mb ram that has that “Designed for Microsoft Windows XP” sticker on it doesn’t actually work well with Windows XP…
A certification program only works well if it’s used to show that something has been tested to work well instead of just being used as a marketing tool.
I love the seal of approval part — 10 versions of Vista now. Then add 10 more for Offical Microsoft Seal of Approval PCs.
Vista Home Basic Edition
Vista Home Basic Edition for OMSAP
Vista Home Premium Edition
Vista Home Premium Edition for OMSAP
.
.
.
Microsoft keeps telling us, they’re all about choice.
“How to turn Microsoft around”
Too much counterweight.
First, you’ll have to leave a long trail of doughnuts to coax Ballmersaurus Rex from his lair and off the property.
A black MacBook Pro? Did I miss something?
Someone want to fill me in?
I think the black MBP is the best part of my day so far.
Close it down and give all the money back to the shareholders.
Wait… that’s advice for Dell
Thorin –
Forget the little stuff – you’d only piss them off!
A few Specters or a flight of BUFF’s ought to to the trick!
Do you think Microsoft uses Windows for their own security system?
MW – face – as in time to face the music…..
MDN’s take is kind of harsh.
Why turn Microsoft around? Because if there are two companies offering good products it spurs more innovation and lower prices. The consumer wins.
Admitedly having Apple as the dominant platform would be a hell of a lot better than having Microsoft, but it’s still better to have more good (and the important word there is good!) products and choices.
Microsoft has been found wanting and Microsoft will never regain the image of invincibility it once had. Redmond, WA is the Potemkin village of the digital age. The sheen is off the façade, the lie has been exposed, the rot is beginning to soil all within arm’s reach. I am confident that with the demise of Microsoft the last barrier will fall to the rise of alternative software companies. Let Microsoft slip into the archives of ignominy and profound mismanagement. The future looks very competitive indeed with the collapse of Microsoft. Apple had better think about making alliances with other innovative companies and not celebrate too soon.
Ask Clippy! Clippy can help you! Wait,didn’t they fired his ass from MS Office? Bollocks =(
But seriously now: real competition between MS and the rest of the industry is good. It’d be a shame to waste so much of MS’s billions.
Microsoft would need to buy some “vision” as well to make any kind of turn-around.
I don’t think that sort of thing is for sale. Either you have it or you don’t.
Microsoft has NO vision and never has.
If there’s a black macbook pro…
I WANT
Just wanted to say, nice QM2/Titanic reference.
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Long live Cunard! Long live Jobs!
While everyone could just buy a Mac and solve most of their computing problems. The sad truth is that while Apple is growing market share at an incredible rate, it will be a decade before we could hope that parity with MS could be reached.
This is not really a problem as many have pointed out that Apple is growing in the most profitable sectors, so Apple will be the driving force in computers for some time. But the days when we can ignore the windows market are in the distant future.
Microsoft has several things propping it up:
1. Perceived need – most people feel that they need windows to live. This is exaggerated by the fact that most normal people go to their windows friendly IT staff of game playing geeks that care nothing about ease of use and assume that because they can’t play counter-strike and half-life on the mac that it has no value.
2. Fear of proprietary hardware – Many people believe that competition yields innovation and do not understand that this ceases to be true once something becomes a commodity, lower price drives out R&D. They believe that Dell, HP and Gateway are pushing the state of the art forward and to fall back on Apple alone would sniffle development due to lack of competition. The reality that Apple is the only reason there have been advances in PC’s for the last decade escapes them. Most people do not understand that the hardware has been stagnant (other than clock speed) since Windows took over.
3. Developer Base – MS has done a great job at building a very loyal developer core. There are corporations that are buying .net en mass because MS has convinced them they need it. In spite of the fact that it gives them all the VM slowdown of java without the hope of cross-platform operation. This will keep people locked into MS for years as the software they use is Windows only.
These things will keep MS alive for decades and keep holding back the industry.
In addition, Microsoft is entrenched in the economy – Even after the dot com crash, tech is still a huge part of the economy. Most people own MS stock – usually unknowingly in their 401K. People gauge the entire sector by MS’s health. When Dell’s sales fall off, they assume the sky is falling. So a titanic shift away from MS would scare the financial markets.
The stockholders of Microsoft will insist on improved revenue growth – so MS will be forced to find ways to produce. At some point they have to acknowledge that The entire company is riding the Windows/Office Wave of the 1990’s that has crashed ashore already will set in. I would argue it has already, that is why they have been pushing XboX, Zune, Windows CE, etc. Only XboX has had minor success, the rest have been flops.
The first step is for MS to recognize that they have a problem.
The second step is to realize that using the OS monopoly to drive everything is drying up. Apple and even Linux have become legitimate threats by offering people an alternative to the MS trap.
MS next needs to decide that they are about making money not dominating the market. I believe that the only reason they have pursued the path of market domination is that they fear that they can not compete in a competitive market.
They need to realize that the best way to regain the OS market is to give it up. The should sell an API runtime to allow windows apps to run on Mac’s and linux (think Wine by MS). Why would you care losing a $30 OEM windows contract if you trade it for a $50 runtime API sale. Once the API is broken from the OS and generating more revenue they could then develop a totally new secure OS to sell to run under that API.
If I was Bill Gates, that is what I would do. I believe that MS could take this route to increase revenues while losing OS/Share and leverage that to retake the market when they have a viable OS.
I doubt MS would ever do this, because they have tunnel vision on Windows domination as the Key. I believe that instead, MS will continue to erode into GM over the next couple of Decades. But if I ran the place, I would take the high road and grow even bigger.
Seems like another naive “take” for MDN.
Microsoft is too big of a company to allow to collapse. Just look at the fallout and lives ruined by WorldCom, Enron, etc. To have similar fate befall either Dell or Microsoft would catastrophic. Just remember that Microsoft’s Market Cap is worth more than many countries.
However, something dramatic will need to be done to turn it around. The image of invincibility is almost gone. Once that passes, MS will actually have to innovate to compete in the market. MS won’t go away any time soon. But unless it changes directions soon, the proverbial crack in the dike will continue to cause problems.
There is such thing as a BLACK MACBOOK PRO, look up the recent article with the rumor about the black iMac and follow the link MDN gave……
Frankly, I’d love to see MS turnaround and become a decent company. If Apple becomes the big dog in the computer world, they may not remain the Apple we love. Let Apple get a healthy 20% marketshare and continue to do what they do best. Let MS grow a heart like the Grinch and maintain their hold on the market, but start using that power for good instead of evil.
Step one, get rid of Ballmer!
A black anodized MacBook Pro would go nicely with my Calphalon cookware. As hot as the MB Pro gets, I could use it to cook on.