A brief thought about how fortunes have changed for Microsoft & Apple Inc.
When thinking about computing, in particular personal computing and the consumer market, it's astonishing to look back and remember the early eighties when a small california based company burst onto the scene and showed the world what would be one of the single most important and integral parts modern human productivity and interaction (even though most of us didn't know it at the time). That company was Apple. Before Apple introduced the Apple Lisa computing was purely within the realm of government, military and big corporations. The Apple Lisa is a far cry from what personal computing is today but that one machine and it's subsequent descendants propelled Apple to becoming a household name. I remember as a young kid in the 80's watching TV ads for the Apple Macintosh showing us how revolutionary it was. It's a vague memory but it had images of school kids using it learn and adults doing supposedly doing something productive.
Fast forward to the early 90's and Apple's main challenger Microsoft really started gaining steam with their OS called windows (windows 3.1 released 1992). By 1995 Microsoft released it's much awaited Windows '95 OS which whether we like Bill or not took the world by storm and every subsequent version of Windows has propelled Microsoft into the undisputed dominant software company in the world. For the better part of the last 15 years Windows had consistently crushed the Mac OS and Apple's ability to stay in the game was pretty much supported by solely by professional users such as industries working with higher end graphics such as advertising and associated industries or research work. Mostly because Macs were far better at handling graphic intensive applications. As for the regular consumer they almost all used Windows based systems. Part of the reason for this was because Microsoft focused mainly on the OS while the hardware was left to a multitude of other companies to provide. More competitors translated to more choice and better prices for the consumer. Apple on the other hand focused on both aspects. Even though in my opinion the Mac OS has always been superior you had no choice but to pay the premium for owning a Mac.
Today is a totally different story though. Apple Inc. has bounced back stronger than ever and a lot of Apple's success is also due to their high level of innovation not just in computers but also other computer related gadgets and accessories. recently it was reported that Apple notebook sales soared 66% on last year and even their desktop offering or growing in sales when Windows desktops are declining. As a consumer you still pay the premium to own a Mac compared to Windows based rivals but as always the Mac OS is still the superior. But is Apple's fortunes based solely on their superior offering or also that fact the the current version Vista is just soooooooo crap! Why on earth did Microsoft feel they need to confuse people with so many different versions? In their advertising campaigns they promised a revolutionary OS with great graphics and all the whistles. What they neglected to tell people was that you only got all the bells and whistles if you bought the most expensive versions. If you purchased the entry level versions you essentially just got a tarted up XP (which was a perfectly fine OS) but didn't work with hardly any of your old hardware or often gave problem with 3rd party software. 1 year later Vista is still crap and is rife with the same problems as at launch only with extra problems. Word is that Bill and Co. are going to rush out the next version of Windows to replace Vista and hopefully put this sad ass of an OS behind them.
