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Well, from my experience, when looking at improving Windows, money seems to be the most important driving factor?

* What can we do to make sure we remain just ahead of the competition so that our customers continue to pay us?
* Lets see what our Most Valued Customers (i.e. the ones paying us the most) are asking for, since they're the ones that we really need to keep happy

It never seems to be a case of: "What do people really want from our software, and how can we deliver that?"

I'm not saying Apple's approach is necessarily perfect (I personally think it has quite a long way to go!), but it seems to produce results that are a lot better.

To me, when using Windows, it always feels like they've simply thrown Human Resources at the problem until it's "Good Enough." With most (but not all!) of Apple's products it actually seems like people-who-understand-what-people-want have actually sat down and decided what the best way of tackling the thing is. Also, if there is something that you don't like, or want to see added, there does seem to be a fair chance that Apple will get round to doing it at some point.

Edited 2005-11-14 00:50

I have a couple of examples for you.
They knew they had a good OS with Win 2K, but how many desktops or laptops did you see with Win 2000 installed by default? They had to sell ME instead.
Similarly they knew that they had a good OS with Win 2003. Did they listen to the thousands of users asking for a Workstation edition?
Do I need to explain why? Obviously because they have to sell their better OSes at a much higher price.
Well, now we'll have Vista based on the Windows 2003 kernel, but just because they realized that keeping patching XP wasn't feasible any longer.

I think they believed there wasn't anything sexy about Windows 2003 for home users to care...

And as for ME, I think they were still under this insane assumption that people wanted speedhacks instead of stability because their computers were "slow."
So they grabbed up the 18 least intelligent guys in the company and had them make some "fixes" and add on some "features" to Win98SE and they shipped that as WinME. Oh, I forgot, they added a new intro video right?

Windows 2000 was not nearly as compatible with existing consumer applications and devices as it needed to be for MS to promote it as the combined consumer/business client OS. It's as simple as that. A lot more work went into software and device compatibility in XP. Part of the work was done for Windows 2000, as it was originally planned to be the OS for both markets, but it couldn't meet the compatibility goals in time. For similar reasons, XP x64 is an OEM-only release and there won't be a x64 product distributed at retail until Vista. Just as with Windows 2000 though, however MS targets a product doesn't stop people from other markets from using it if it also meets their needs.

There's no reason to release a seperate SKU for Server 2003 to use as a workstation when 1) that's XP's role and 2) those wanting to use Server 2003 as a Workstation can (and do) purchase one of the Server SKUs and use it in that role anyway simply by enabling some of the services that are off by default.

Actually, Yes - let's mention Apple.

* Apple put up the huge financial risk to create the iTunes Music Store, _nobody_ was interested in making a legal store because it was thought that nobody would use it and piracy would never change. No other company in their right mind would have enough belief in their consumers to know that despite the huge risk and undertaking it would work. Would you go to Sony and say - "we think we should make an Online music store, even though Piracy is at 80%" (Yes Apple had to kiss RIAA's arse for the DRM, but still they built the best online music store and created a market with shear bravado.)

* Apple's iTunes Music Store is a first class consumer-orientated shop. They try and feature as wide a variety as music as they can. If this was anything other than Apple's store you could bet large swaves of money that Adverts for outside products would be there and that the entire front page would be full of marketed tweeny-pop crap. It's not. They try and feature everything that's quality, good, and entice you to explore more artists. Heck you can even write album reviews on there yourself - do we want to be more consumer friendly?

* Apple invented an MP3 player that the average person could use. Apple saw a small 5% market of geeks that bitch, moan and complain at features and specs no matter what God blessed device you give them, and a market of 95% of people who couldn't take their entire music collection around with them with an MP3 player because they just couldn't understand the self-centered, geeky and badly designed other devices. (Copy and pasting folders is soooo the superior and easy way to sync :|)

The iPod is a three fold strategy. The device needs to be simple and do one thing _really well_. Multifunction means everything is done poorly. It must also Sync with the computer so easy a child of 6 can do it. And so they can, no other MP3 player is as easy to sync and that is why they just don't understand why they're getting beaten by Apple. And thirdly, brand and marketing. Trust me when I say, iPods were selling well on the back of word of mouth and quality before all the massive marketing happened. The marketing informs people of the product, the quality of the design sells it. You can mega-multi-billion build a brand around a piece of turd, but at the end of they day, if it's too hard to use, people won't buy it.

* Apple have the best OS for consumers. Have you ever actually tried installing a bluetooth device on windows? It's like the most pain inducing thing anybody has to go through. Windows is completely shit when it comes to anybody but those who know what they're doing.

* They constantly try to avoid stagnation. Unlike Microsoft who ride on the back of one great success (Windows95) and then try and milk the cow until blood comes out of it.


At the end of the day, Apple is a company and must make money - and they must make as much money as possible. But they believe that they do that by making the absolute best quality products and consumer experience. Microsoft believe that to make profit they have to rape you for ever penny you have through arcane licesning. vendor locking and bullying tactics.

So don't even say Apple are anti-consumer until you've walked into an Apple store and realised it's like no other store you've ever been in, it's friendly.

Except that Apple was not even close to first to market with an online music store (not even first to popularity).

Oh yeah, that iPod thing. There were definately harddrive MP3 players around way before the iPod and much easier wayse of connecting them to the computer (you could only use iTunes in the beginning). People actually had to make hacks so that they could use it with a decent media player (before iTunes was launched on Windows, as MusicMatch has always sucked).

How is no other MP3 player easy to synch? They came with special software just for synching. You could plug it in just like an external harddrive and it would pop up in Explorer. Or, you could use your favorite media player to connect to it. Thre was nothing revolutionary about the iPod except for the sleek look.

Well, let's see. They pushed for software patents after they became a monopoly, but were against it before, they constantly threaten about patents, spread FUD, only support their users without legit copies because they didn't know how NOT to before. They don't support non-legit copies anymore. Hide key interfaces when all non monopolies encourage interoperability, hide proprietary file formats, try to addict people to their technology through questionable means (forced licenses for Windows, bundling with browsers, streaming media, Office back in the older days - although not true bundling). Deny under oath about hidden API's then release them the same year, keep source closed since it would be security disaster, and then share the code with China within a year.

I guess I could go on, but if you haven't been following the news this whole time, this is just the tip of the iceberg to what the original poster was referring.