“WHEN I STARTED WRITING this column back in 1992, the world of personal technology was positively primitive compared with where we stand today. So armed with the benefit of 15 years of hindsight, and in this final installment of the Mossberg Report, I’d like to take a look back on the distance we’ve traveled in personal technology over the past decade and a half, as well as make a few predictions about where things might be headed,” Walt Mossberg writes for SmartMoney (Feb. 1, don’t know how we missed it. By the way, the article’s date on the SmartMoney site is currently incorrect, Mr. Mossberg tells MacDailyNews. It should be 2007, not 2006).
MacDailyNews Note: This morning, we asked Mr. Mossberg why it was the final installment of the Mossberg Report and he told us that he has decided to drop this particular column due mainly to increasing demands on his time from his D Conference (http://d.wsj.com) and a new web site launching next month which is an extension of the D Conference, called All Things Digital. See http://www.allthingsd.com for a preview. Mr. Mossberg said, “I am still writing two WSJ columns weekly (Personal Technology and Mossberg’s Mailbox), and editing (and occasionally authoring) a third weekly WSJ column, The Mossberg Solution (where our Apple TV review ran yesterday). I am still co-producing my annual tech conference, and now will be co-producing a new tech web site. I just won’t be doing the magazine column.”
“In 1992 the Internet wasn’t available to the general public. There were no iPods or any other portable digital music players. Cellphones were big, bulky and analog, mainly used in cars in the U.S. The first consumer digital cameras had just arrived: crude models that cost $800, worked only in black and white, and held just 32 images,” Mossberg writes.
Mossberg writes, “Microsoft was offering the clumsy Windows 3.1, which seemed to crash if you sneezed, and many people were still using the geeky and limited DOS operating system on their ‘IBM-compatible’ PCs. Apple’s technology was way ahead of Windows, but the company would soon enter a period of management mediocrity and product paralysis.”
“By around 2001, when the current major operating systems, Windows XP and Apple’s Mac OS X, made their debuts, personal technology had vastly improved. Many of the rough edges had been sanded off. The Mac had long been ‘plug and play,’ and Windows was much closer to that goal. Both systems were fairly stable,” Mossberg writes.
Mossberg writes, “There had been viruses for many years, of course, including some big attacks in the 1990s. But over the past five years, the security problem has morphed into a major hassle for people who own and use Windows computers… Today, warding off the myriad threats online takes more and more time, money and effort than ever before. You have to run multiple security programs, interpret all their warnings and alerts, tell them what to do when they detect suspicious activity, and consistently update them. It’s a real hassle, one that seriously interferes with the productivity, and the pleasure, computers can and should provide.”
“In fact, the burden of using a Windows computer is higher now than it was in 2001. By contrast, Apple’s Macintosh is easier to use than ever, partly because it has so far remained free from viruses, spyware and adware — except for a few minor cases. After stagnating in the mid-’90s, Apple’s software and hardware are once again markedly superior to those of Windows PCs,” Mossberg writes.
Mossberg takes a look at what he thinks the future will bring in his full article here.
Related articles:
Lack of Apple Mac malware baffles expert – March 21, 2007
WSJ: Apple makes inroads with Macs that can run Mac OS X, Linux, Windows – March 20, 2007
Network World: Need a new PC for Vista? Switching to Mac may cost less and give you more – March 16, 2007
USA Today on switching: Apple Macs can also be screaming-fast Windows machines – March 15, 2007
BusinessWeek: Microsoft’s Windows Vista is ‘slow and dangerous’ – March 15, 2007
Analyst: Microsoft’s Windows Vista is very good for Apple Mac – March 13, 2007
Windows expert dumps Windows, switches to Apple’s Mac OS X, finds software plentiful – March 12, 2007
InfoWorld: 9,000 people switch to Apple Mac every day (plus testing ‘Embrace and Extinguish’) – February 28, 2007
Netscape founder Marc Andreessen switches to Apple Mac – February 28, 2007
Computerworld: Windows expert dumps Windows, switches to Apple’s Mac OS X – February 08, 2007
Embrace and Extinguish in action: TechIQ’s ‘The VAR Guy’ dumps Windows, switches to Mac OS X – September 25, 2006
Windows sufferer spends six hours trying to ‘upgrade’ to Vista, says: ‘I should’ve bought a Mac’ – February 07, 2007
Windows Vista woes push BBC News editor to regret never having ‘defected’ to Apple Mac – February 06, 2007
Bill Gates unhinged with Apple envy; Microsoft on path to become high profile casualty – February 06, 2007
Apple takes dead aim at Microsoft’s Windows Vista in latest ‘Get a Mac’ ad (with video) – February 06, 2007
Digit: Don’t buy Vista; Microsoft may be driving millions to stick with XP or move to Apple Mac – February 05, 2007
Bill Gates has lost his mind: calls Apple liars, copiers; slams Mac OS X security vs. Windows – February 02, 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
Those unfamiliar with Apple’s Mac OS X may be impressed with Windows Vista – January 29, 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
Microsoft emails reveal serious Mac OS X Tiger envy – January 26, 2007
Analyst: Microsoft’s Windows Vista could be an opportunity for Apple – January 26, 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
Unlike Microsoft’s Windows Vista, Apple’s Mac OS X Leopard will create no new jobs – December 12, 2006
A Windows expert opts for a Mac life, finds the experience ‘superb’ – December 07, 2006
15-year Windows vet tries Apple Mac: ‘My God! This is amazing!’ – December 04, 2006
Dave Winer: ‘Microsoft isn’t an innovator, and never was – they are always playing catch-up’ – December 01, 2006
Harvard Medical School CIO picks Mac OS X over Linux and Windows – November 30, 2006
A Windows expert opts for a Mac life – November 06, 2006
Apple Macs can run more software than Windows PCs – October 30, 2006
Embrace and Extinguish in action: TechIQ’s ‘The VAR Guy’ dumps Windows, switches to Mac OS X – September 25, 2006
Top Windows developer dumps Microsoft’s ‘pile of crap’ for Apple’s Mac OS X – September 12, 2006
$399 for Windows Vista Ultimate?! (Hint: Get a Mac) – August 29, 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
Dude, you got a Dell? What are you, stupid? Only Apple Macs run both Mac OS X and Windows! – April 05, 2006
Apple Macintosh simply does more and costs less than Windows PCs – February 14, 2006
Defending Windows over Mac a sign of mental illness – December 20, 2003
Go Walt!
I am not gay but …I Love This Man.
“management mediocrity and product paralysis”
Sculley: Sold out to Bill Gates under pressure. Biggest blunder in personal computing history and the single biggest mistake for Apple Inc.
Spindler: Couldn’t forecast rain even if he was standing knee deep in water under black skies with constant thunder and lightning.
Amelio: Brilliant mind. Wrong place, wrong time, wrong company.
Fake Steve sums it all up:
http://fakesteve.blogspot.com/2007/03/why-we-love-walt-mossberg.html
Walt is pretty smart but he just does not listen to Bill Gates, or believes that he will be a non issue in a few years.
Walt says”I believe that in the future the Internet will become more like the electrical grid, a behind-the-scenes platform to which all manner of gadgets will be directly connected, each taking some power and intelligence from the network to perform its task. While personal computers won’t go away, they won’t be the main way to get online, or even needed as intermediaries by many devices.”
But recently Bill Gates talked about adding the number of personal computers to the home. Remember, he said that we should have a “HOME SERVER” to handle the electronic traffic around the home, so that way he can sell us multiple copies of Vista media center. LOL
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ne
You know, in those last few paragraphs in which he was talking about what was needed in smart phones, I kept checking off points against what we know about the iPhone. A modified Mac OS X will solve pretty much all of what he asked for. I’m glad he does keep the partisanship out of pieces sometimes. Not sure how he resisted saying, “iPhone, bitch!”
The iPhone computer and MyVue type glasses will replace laptops
Once again The Moss Man sticks it to Gates. How does he do it? Think about it, he writes for the WSJ and doesn’t flinch at calling M$, the darling of the industrial complex shit.
Walt reminds me of that AC/DC song big balls (http://www.purelyrics.com/index.php?lyrics=cfaaofya).
Rock on Walt!
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Your microwave oven, for instance, will use the Internet to quietly download information that will allow it to recognize the bar codes or radio tags on packaged food products and cook them appropriately.
Is that his best example of the future? Geeze, that’s pathetic. I’d have it do a multiple scan of the package, figure out what are the discreet contents, their size, weight, water content and structure, and figure out the best compromise of power and time according to a map of food types; not to mention warn of unsafe packaging, unsuitable food combinations or spoiled food, among other things.
What I wouldn’t want is a microwave that goes online for any reason. That kind of thinking belongs to the idiots in Redmond.
“Your microwave oven, for instance, will use the Internet to quietly download information that will allow it to recognize the bar codes or radio tags on packaged food products and cook them appropriately.”
What the heck…. most people don’t have any concern whether or not their processed, pre-packaged food is healthy, just whether or not it TASTES GOOOD!
Having done 2 days of Windows, I would say the burden of running Windows networks has become impossible. It’s a godawful mess out there…
I wouldn’t switch to Windows even if Gates offered me his entire wealth… and I mean that too.
But of course, since we will obviously have the technology to “scan” things for any manner of properties that we can imagine.
Much like I “scanned” my girlfriend with my iPod to see if she’s pregnant. She didn’t notice.