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July 17, 2009

Microsoft vs. Apple: The battle rages on

One of geekdom's oldest cold wars has suddenly turned hot, as Redmond and Cupertino duke it out in public. Cringe has an idea who'll win

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Some fights are just classics: Ali vs. Frazier. The Jedi Knights vs. The Empire. Godzilla vs. Rodan. And, of course, Microsoft vs. Apple.

Admittedly, there's been a lull in the action over the past decade. Apple essentially ceded the business PC space to Windows, while Microsoft can't make a product consumers actually want to buy no matter how many billions they throw at it. (OK, one: the Xbox. Otherwise, nada.)

[ There's more than one rivalry in tech. See what's happening in Twitter vs. TechCrunch -- and what Cringely makes of the whole hullabaloo. | Stay up to date on Robert X. Cringely's musings and observations with InfoWorld's Notes from the Underground newsletter. ]

Suddenly, though, they're at it hammer and tongs, just like the good old/bad old days. Who's winning? That depends on whom you ask. According to MacWorld's Dan Moren, Microsoft is "running scared":

Apple has gained a lot of traction over the past decade. The iPod pushed the company back into the mainstream, and Cupertino only continued gaining currency as Mac OS X matured and it released some of the slickest machines around. Add in Microsoft's own problems dealing with Windows XP and its less-than-stellar successor, Vista, and Microsoft has started seeming like a non-entity these days.

On the other hand, PC Advisor's Simon Jary suggests Microsoft is now winning against both Apple and Google:

Apple appears rattled. And maybe Google is a little scared now that Microsoft has announced that it is to launch free online versions of its mighty Office applications.... When things looked bleakest for Microsoft the old giant has suddenly roared back to life, and it's Apple and Google who are left looking like frightened little boys just moments after apparently slaying the beast.

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12 of 14 comments
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jzr83 17-Jul-09 11:56am
I will never pay more than $700.00 for a computer and for that price a PC is the best bargain.
kbartels 17-Jul-09 12:02pm
What a load of BS! MS can't make a product consumers want to pay for yada, yada, yad. Consumers don't want to pay for anything including iPhones. But they do. Because they actually want the products. Apple is the antithesis of freedom for the consumer. That's why I never buy an Apple product - I'd PAY for Linux first. But I do buy MS because it does work. Unlike Macs - ever see a Mac user go to a small conference and try to use their Mac? Oh, no! They forgot their dongel for video! Oh, no wrong dongle. Guess I'll have to borrow your PC to show my presentation. What a bunch of crap.
MPB 17-Jul-09 12:27pm
Some say “plastics.” I say “volume.” After that, “It’s the browser, stupid.” I learned a simple economic lesson many years ago when I sold Good Humor ice cream out of one of those dingaling trucks. I made more $ selling icecycles in working class neighborhoods of Baltimore then I did selling the nice cones in the tony suburban neighborhoods. It was easier to park the truck in an apartment complex and watch the kids come running than drive up and down the streets looking for customers. We have Apple on one end of the scale, and Google on the other. Microsoft is that rancorous blob that festers in the middle. Each with its own valid business model. Earning more money on fewer items is less profitable in the global market place than a hundredth of a penny on a gazzziiilllion internet transactions. I’m betting on the many millions who come running to Google and find almost anything they want to do can run in the browser. We know that nothing is fee. But using Google services feels like it's free. They have the simplest, clearest, high volume model. Apple and Microsoft can dope slap each other all they want. But it's the browser, stupid, and Google is coming up on the outside...
mikale 17-Jul-09 1:28pm
I hadn't realized that this was "Calling all Curmudgeons" Day. (not u rxc) I thought we were talking corporate strategy not PC vs. Mac; a profoundly spiritual choice.
Apple certainly could do with some additional marketshare (spare change for Microsoft). However, For its part, Microsoft needs to focus not on Apple or its market, but on bigger game-changing developments, such as Search, Social, and Servers.
Once Google fully captures our collective eyeballs via the Chrome OS, Gears, etc., our hearts and minds will probably follow; and as always, blindly down the path of least resistance. If Microsoft wants to play against the Pied Piper of the cloud, it needs to play a song that consumers will want to hear. But Microsoft is not now, nor may ever be, an end-user/consumer driven company like Apple and Google. After 25 plus years, they’ve shown that success in the consumer realm has not been their forte; they play primarily to the business world, which represents a very different and demanding audience. I suspect that they’ve at least partially recognized new (if not innovative) sources for their future revenue stream, and are taking steps in that direction; it just won’t be as easy as it had been in the past.
And BTW I’m not anyone’s fanboy; I just want reliable functionality, and respect for my right to make choices.
malmec 17-Jul-09 3:32pm
People who don't own Macs probably drink Bud and drive Fords. Obviously the experience is lost on them...
smarkman 17-Jul-09 6:23pm
I am not an Apple vs PC vs Linux/Unix kind of guy. I have work to do and I look for something that works. I don't usually take part in these debates because there is a lot of personal preference in them and I think everyone pretty much buys what they think works best for them. Having said that, I have had so much trouble in recent years with MS-based products, that after 28 years of using PCs for business, I bought a MAC Pro and a MacBook Pro. Yes I run VMWare Fusion to run certain Windows apps I need for my partners and customers, but the Apple machines are just very solid and Apple apps are superb. So I guess for now I voted with my feet and pocket book (not with emotion). Re: Linux. I didn't want you to think I have something against that technology. Linux is just too steep a learning curve for someone like me running a small business.
lcarliner 17-Jul-09 7:03pm
Problem that has persisted for a long time is that Apple's pricing policies continue to be "rotten to the core"! Back in the early eighties, when the Mac first came out, and a decent version of Microsoft's Windows was iminent, had Apple been willing to engage in aggressive price cutting to build market share and increase interest from independent applications developers, Apple, not Microsoft would have been the king of the hill!
prowness 18-Jul-09 8:21am
A lot of assumptions could change in the next year. For one thing, Microsoft is issuing a new version of its core product into a market which is showing no demand for an operating system which for practical purposes does the same thing as the system nearly everybody already owns. For another, we can expect a few more high-profile Cloud Storage security disasters soon. It's also possible that corporate and personal budgets could be squeezed for several more years, say by increased health care costs and higher taxes to pay for the various bailouts and wars we're currently borrowing to finance. The current fad for ever more complex mobile devices could fizzle as quickly as the CB radio fad of a generation or two back.
KEN 20-Jul-09 11:22am
I think Mr Softie keeps the top slot simply because as Apple gains market share hackers will focus their attention on the Mac OS, finding new weaknesses every day. Apple has never had to deal with constant hacking and patching; the lack of experience at that time will seriously damage their credibility.
Pronounce 20-Jul-09 12:11pm
To improve Microsoft's image I suggest that Balmar and Gates publicly work to take over the rebuilding of Iraq and Afghanistan from the US government, and to facilitate the US military's disengage from those conflicts.
williebegoode 20-Jul-09 2:33pm
Every year that I go to OOPSLA, I see more and more Macs. Now the OOPSLA crowd may not represent either your typical consumer and certainly not the typical suit, but it used to be that being a programmer meant owning a PC. Since Macs have been sitting on top of UNIX, more and more geeks have been making the transition. Mac own the Art World and Education, and if MS lays another egg like Vista, that 10-1 ratio may dwindle.
Luteguy 31-Jul-09 3:09am
My church is quite noisy, but I get your meaning. Last time I was in an Apple store, there were a lot of lookers...but didn't seem to be that many who were buying.

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