“Microsoft was originally supposed to be broken up into pieces after it was branded a monopoly by a federal judge in November 1999. But Bill Gates won a reprieve in November 2001, after an appeals court rejected the breakup and Microsoft agreed to a settlement. Rather than busting up Microsoft, the deal blocks Microsoft from hindering rivals who would build applications that run on Windows–and Jobs has been using that ruling to turn Apple into a Windows software powerhouse ever since,” Brian Caulfield writes for Forbes.
“For starters, Apple can now do all sorts of things with its operating system that are off-limits for Microsoft. In January 2001, it introduced Apple iTunes, software for buying and managing multimedia content that is now baked into every Apple. In January 2003, it introduced a browser, dubbed Safari. In 2005, Apple released a version of its OS X operating system with a slick, built-in search feature dubbed Spotlight,” Caulfield writes.
“Better still, from Apple’s point of view, Microsoft has to keep its doors wide open to whatever Apple product Jobs cares to give away. That’s helped Apple’s iTunes software crush Microsoft’s alternative among users of the Windows operating system. ‘It’s like giving a glass of ice water to somebody in hell,’ quipped Jobs at this month’s D: All Things Digital conference in Carlsbad, Calif.,” Caulfield writes.
“Meanwhile, lawyers for Google and every other potential Microsoft target keep Gates in check. Microsoft crushed upstart browser company Netscape in the late 1990s by building a free Web browser into its ubiquitous operating system. Google is determined not to let Microsoft do the same to it by building Internet search into Windows,” Caulfield writes.
“For Apple, the endgame, of course, is selling more hardware, not dislodging Microsoft as a software monopoly. The trouble for Microsoft, of course, is that Apple can just keep giving away the software, because that’s not where it makes all its money. Meanwhile, since the 2001 deal, Microsoft’s shares are down more than 3%,” Caulfield writes. “Maybe Microsoft would have been better off breaking itself up.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Michael” for the heads up.]
I like not using any microsoft product
it makes me feel good
Apple seems to be more than just a little better
Apple products are way way better
It is only 100 billion dollar IT world that does not want lunch to change
Apple is a better company period
@ macboy
Fire good
M$ is thrashing everything in its path in its death throes as top Dog. If only they accepted the inevitability of their situation and changed tack as did Apple, the consumer would have been the winner!
Feel sorry for those who have yet to see the light!
Enjoy the light, if you do see it!!:-)
MonopolySoft
The worst thing that could’ve happened to Apple would’ve been a true break-up of Microsoft. Vista wouldn’t suck if Microsoft Pacific were competing against Microsoft Atlantic to deliver decent operating system.
Instead Microsoft is just working to burn through shareholder money by hiring ever more and incompetent employees.
“For starters, Apple can now do all sorts of things with its operating system that are off-limits for Microsoft. In January 2001, it introduced Apple iTunes, software for buying and managing multimedia content that is now baked into every Apple. In January 2003, it introduced a browser, dubbed Safari. In 2005, Apple released a version of its OS X operating system with a slick, built-in search feature dubbed Spotlight,” Caulfield writes.
———————
The context here is ALL WRONG. Search, browsers and onboard media players are NOT off limits for M$. Unremovable, forced-used search, browsers and onboard media ARE off limits for M$. iTunes, Spotlight, and Safari are NONE of these things.
I now have more Apple software on my PC than I have M$ software on my Macs. I love that.
The premise of this man’s article is flawed. M$ did not get int trouble for offering browsers with it’s OS. It got in trouble for not allowing the browser to be disconnected from it’s OS and locking out competition. It got in trouble for using the OS as a means of keeping Windoze users from using anything other than M$ products. I can definitely use 3rd party software on my Mac without losing features of the OS. Apple is not shoving an IP service down my throat each time I start OS X. This is the B$ ignorance that drives the pro M$ media.
Just my $0.02
Apple is a solutions company, or a design company, it is not a hardware company. It subcontracts manufacture of hardware products that it designs to others. In fact Apple is more of a retailer than manufacturer but the largest category that differentiates it’s products is software.
I can’t understand in simple terms why Microsoft wasn’t broken up, it would have generated more ‘shareholder value’ as two companies than as one. Unless of course there is a greater end-game than shareholder value, control of information, never underestimate the bankers. For the time being that buck has passed to Google (and Yahoo).
When Forbes disses Microsoft you really know that the game has changed.
“I like not using any microsoft product
it makes me feel good
Apple seems to be more than just a little better
Apple products are way way better
It is only 100 billion dollar IT world that does not want lunch to change
Apple is a better company period”
you wish! what about every time you withdraw money from an atm, among other day to day activities
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Breaking up is hard too do….
Details aside, this article is chock-full of delicious wonkiness!
“Apple is a solutions company, or a design company, it is not a hardware company.”
Apple derives the VAST majority of its revenues from the sales of computer hardware. Thus they indeed ARE a hardware company.
By your logic, most American companies would be called importers, instead of being called by the kind of goods and services they provide.
Yeah Apple does provide solutions and great design, which really to be honest are pretty much saying the same thing, but they do sell hardware. They are a hardware company and that does give them an advantage over software only companies.
The way Apple is going, it\’s priming itself for a forced breakup!
Mac OS X for Apple hardware only.
iTunes to manage iPods and iPhones only.
iTunes account demanded to use iPhone.
ACC DRM for iPods only
Safari only (now for Windows) to do WTF? with iPhone widgets?
WOW, talk about closed.
Upstart?? Netscape? This guy loses all credibility wiith that statement. Netscape was the direct descendant of Mosaic, which was the FIST effin browser out there. MS was late to the game and leveraged its monopoly to take over and win the first browser war.
I hate how Microsoft killed Netscape’s Marketshare. Maybe one day it’ll come back, Netscape 9 beta was just released and there are still people using it, I’m with Safari, but Netscape isn’t half bad.
closed isn’t illegal, not even close
being a monopoly isn’t illegal either, there are plenty of legal monopolies.
What is illegal is being a monopoly and using that power to sustain the monopoly by excluding others. MS is very good at that.
If one sustains a monopoly by simply providing better product, then no problem. Success on its own merits isn’t illegal.
Further, Apple’s system isn’t closed. There are alternatives, although not very popular ones to Apple software. Most of the unpopular stuff is that way because it isn’t any good.
Camino and Opera are very fine web browsers that have low market share but still work fine. Apple does nothing to interfere with them as MS did against Netscape. If somebody made a jukebox as good as iTunes, some Apple users would probably adopt it. The barrier to entry is too high in this case because iTunes generally works well enough, its free and it would take a lot of work to make a similar product for very little market share. However, Apple isn’t doing anything to PREVENT that from happening.
> For Apple, the endgame, of course, is selling more hardware, not dislodging Microsoft as a software monopoly.
I actually think that “dislodging Microsoft” is Steve Jobs’s “endgame.” But in the near term, Apple will exploit it’s advantage of being able to give away great software, because Apple mostly profits from hardware sales. Mac OS X, iTunes, and now Safari are tools to promote sales Macs, iPods, and soon iPhones.
Heck, Apple even provides the frameworks and API’s, and some great developer tools. For example, you can add a “WebView” to any OS X application, and it uses the same exact frameworks as Safari. Or, you can code your own. OS X is far from closed….
Mac OS X for Apple hardware only.
OMG!!1!!one! Apple has a monopoly on the Mac!!! Alert the press!
Hey, The Way!
I call bullshit on your FUD.
>The Way: Mac OS X for Apple hardware only.
No problem here. This is the same model that embedded device manufacturers use for their products. Nintendo does not license the embedded software controlling the Wii to competitors either. Anti-trust — no problem here.
>The Way: iTunes to manage iPods and iPhones only.
So what! Does Garmin software on Windows allow you to set up Magellan hardware? Anti-trust — no problem here.
>The Way: iTunes account demanded to use iPhone.
No, it is to synch the software and set it up. Lots of device manufacturers run their software on PCs and Macs to work with their devices. Remember Palm? Again,
anti-trust — no problem here.
>The Way: ACC DRM for iPods only
Bzzzzzzzzzt! ACC is not DRM. In fact, it is nothing. There is an AAC, which is the codec that Apple uses for the iPod. It is not Apple’s property. AAC is controlled by Dolby labs and is licensed from them. Sony’s PS3 uses AAC. So can the Zune. Apple uses FairPlay DRM at the insistance of most content owners to protect AAC encoded tracks. Apple does not owe it its competitors to “share” in its intellectual property. There are alternatives, such as (screwed) Plays For Sure. Again, anti-trust — no problem here.
>The Way: Safari only (now for Windows) to do WTF? with iPhone widgets?
There has to be some way for Windows drones to work with the iPhone and do it securely. Why not Safari? Again, anti-trust — no problem here.
>The Way: WOW, talk about closed.
Wow, talk about astroturfing bullshit.
Uhh…
Some people are forgetting the MAJOR reason Apple is not an abusing monopoly….
Macs can run Windows as their primary OS. Apple hardware is not even tied to Mac OS X. How’s that for allowing competition !!!!!
Its really this simple: I am your average JOE!
I work everyday on my Windows XP box supported by a team of folks that can barely keep it up and running because of how ripe for issues it is… I have an XP box at home that is around the same… but has even more issues because alas “no support team to help”
Then one day I realize that in addition to my iPOD(s) and my iPHONE… I am happily plugging along with the superior and easy to use iTUNES. The browser that I installed to interface with my iPHONE has replaced my Internet Explorer and get a more robust and more importantly stable surfing experience everyday.
Then “ONE DAY” Google and Apple announce a totally free office suite that interfaces with my iPHONE and is interchangeable with all Word / Excel / PowerPoint files etc…
I wake up one day to realize that I am currently using Apple or Google software for 90% of what I use my computer for… its stable, robust and FREE!
MY NEXT COMPUTER IS A MAC!
@SirROM
Sorry to have to correct you, but that’s only because Apple doesn’t licence its OS to be used like that.
Companies like Parallels have publicly stated they are ready and waiting to be given the go-ahead…which Apple, of course, won’t give them.
it boggles the mind why people keep b*tching about iTunes being the default on the mac, Safari being the default browser, spotlight being there by default
iTunes = free software apple bundles on it’s hardware like sa HP does on it’s more useful. you can remove it easily, drag and drop to the trash empty trash, it’s gone.
Safari = yes system default but install your desired web browser which ever it may be, go to safari preferences and select your new default web browser. that’s it you won’t hear a squeak out of Safari again unless you try and use a file that’s associated with the program. you can remove it just like iTunes but you have to make sure your new web browser can change the system defaults, just incase you want to change again
this above is no where near the lock in Microsoft has on it’s equivilent programs
Spotlight = ok i’ll give you that but it was implemented at a time where google wasn’t doing it’s desktop search most certainly not on the Mac. hardly Apple’s problem now is it?