"When Windows first shipped, 20 years ago this month, it was considered nothing more than a slow operating environment that had arrived late to the party, well behind the industry leaders, Apple and Xerox PARC. Now, it's the operating system used on nearly 95 percent of all the desktops and notebooks sold worldwide. Take a look at Window's past and present, and what lies ahead in the future, including an interview with Mr. Bill Gates himself."
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Member since:2005-07-06
Just remembered, one place where Apple is undoubtedly taking the lead is in digital convergence (making TV, Hi-fi and computer all the one). They've got the software and system for acquiring and working with digital images, movies and music tracks, and with the new iMac they've got a system for working with it from a distance.
The only fly in the ointment is that people put computers on desks, not in sitting rooms. However Apple's been working on the solution for the last two to three years. The Airtunes box already lets you stream music over a wireless network from your computer to your Hi-fi. It's got a theoretical maximum bandwidth of 54Mbps; according to Apple you only need 8Mbps to stream HD video content. I imagine in the next year they'll release an "AirMovies" device that lets you look at your computer's display on your TV, using a remote (the AirMovies box will probably convert the IR signal to a command on the network) to control what you see.
So you buy your music and favourite TV shows on Apple iTunes, and then get out your remote and listen and watch these things - stored on your Apple PC upstairs - on your TV. When your friends are over, if you're feeling especially masochistic, you can even get them to sit down with you in front of the TV while you show them your picture collection from your holidays.
It's all really, really interesting. For the first time in my life, I'm seriously thinking of buying a Mac. Anyway, sorry for the diversion into Apple territory, I'm just still excited from what I saw on Wednesday.
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2005-07-06
Technically Microsoft caught up with Apple when Windows 95 was released: it was a pre-emptively multi-tasking operating system with memory management and a modern GUI with some worth-while interface innovations like the taskbar and the (arguably mislabelled) Start button. They sailed past when Windows NT 4 was released.
Apple was aware of this, but all the changes of mind during the Copland / Rhapsody years really set them back, and it took an inordinate amount of time for them to get their OS strategy sorted. It's only really been with the release of Mac OS X Tiger that they've passed Windows out again (while visually impressive, early versions of OS X had significant performance issues).
Right now, Vista hasn't been released, so we'll see who gets the OS crown in a year's time. My bet is actually on Apple, they've already achieved with Tiger what Microsoft is hoping to achieve with Vista, and they've given themselves 18 months to stretch that lead.
Where Apple could fall down in the future is in the absence of a modern platform for application development. Compared to .Net, with it's conventional syntax, memory management, support for generics and a massive library, Objective-C is looking a bit archaic. Even the Linux crowd are doing well in terms of application development with languages like Python and its various bindings.