"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
Under the law, life is harder when you're in a monopoly position, that's just the way it is. Otherwise it would be prohibitively difficult to unseat a monopoly, which is not in the interest of the consumer.
In any event, people only cry anti-trust when it comes to Microsoft because they think it'll work, and they think it'll work because Microsoft (deservedly) has been convicted on several counts of anti-competitive behaviour. This was particularly so with the Netscape deal (it made no fiscal sense to release a web-browser for free at the time - they still haven't done it with word-processing for example - it was just done to crush a strong competitor).[1]
Intel for example, has held a monopoly for just as long, and hasn't seen half the problems MS has, despite tricks like frequently changing their pin layout to lock buyers into buying their motherboards. They've just been a bit more subtle in their business dealings, and have always released high-to-adequate quality products.
No-one seriously objects to Microsoft bundling basic video and photo-editing tools with the OS. The media player thing was just bad blood with RealMedia (whose CEO is an ex-Microsoft employee). But such is their scale, and, crucially, their history, that they will always be viewed with suspicion.
Realistically though, Microsoft was late with the GUI, late with the adoption of the Internet, late with a managed language platform, late with an emphasis on security in the Internet-age and they're late with a GPU-powered GUI and an integrated file-indexing solution. They're a company of incremental improvers, not innovators, though some of those incremental improvements have resulted in products of undeniable quality like MS Office and C# and even IE back in the day (Netscape 4.0 was a horrendously bad browser).
We'll just have to see if, as in the past, they can deliver products that are "good enough" as Windows heads into adulthood.
[1] While Microsoft escaped punishment on appeal, the conviction was upheld.
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.