10 Things Microsoft Could Learn from Apple
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Apple and Microsoft have been among the top information technology companies since their beginnings. When they were first getting started, they competed heavily with each other; later, things began to shift, as the two started to appeal to somewhat different market segments. In this article, we'll take a quick look at their very different philosophies, and consider what the software giant can learn from its old rival.
Microsoft took the approach of "let's sell as many as possible." Apple went with the idea of "build a great computer." In the last year there has been a rebirth of action around the Microsoft vs. Apple rivalry. Apple has been surfing the wave of success with its iPods, and building on that success with Intel-based Macs.
Microsoft, meanwhile, seems to have stumbled upon some hard times in Redmond, WA. Consider its lackluster performance with the Zune, the bad reputation of Vista, and its ongoing competition for search engine market share against nearly-untouchable Google.
Apple has been down before and come back. Perhaps it knows something Microsoft doesn't? Here are 10 things Microsoft should learn from Apple.
1) Hardware Support - I'm sure the people at Microsoft know this already, with the legal issues they currently face. That whole "Vista Compatible" and "Vista Home Premium Capable" debacle has landed them in court and under lots of heat. It hasn't cost them anything yet, but I don't think this case will end in Microsoft's favor.
Microsoft let itself be bullied too much by companies like Intel into what hardware should be supported, even when they knew that it won't run on what they were working on. Hey Microsoft, do you get any say in how many cores Intel puts on what chip? I don't think so. Why don't you simply design the best possible OS with the standards you want, and let Intel deal with the compatibility issues that arise from the chip maker using older chipsets it shouldn't be using to begin with?
Apple makes their own computers, so they can directly control the hardware. I'm not saying Microsoft needs to start making PCs; the US Department of Justice would have that shut down before the first ones get off the ships from China. But Microsoft needs to not give in to other requests.
2) 1 vs. 100 - Okay, maybe that's a little unfair, but note, there are only two versions of the Mac OS. There is a server version and a standard version. It's pretty simple to conclude what version you need for what you do. If you have a server, use the server edition; everyone else can use the standard version. I have never heard a Mac user say "oh darn, I got the wrong version."
Now let's jump to the PC side. There is Vista Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, Enterprise, and Ultimate. That is six different versions of the same OS, with only minor changes. But wait, there's more: you can have either 32 or 64 bit in all flavors except Starter. Simply picking out an operating system for your computer involves looking at 11 different versions, not two as it would for Apple. By the way, that doesn't include any of Microsoft's server operating systems, which adds nine more.
So the final tally is two versions for Mac, and 20 for Windows. I believe in the KISS (Keep it simple stupid) principle. Microsoft apparently doesn't. I'll let the server editions go, since there are many different needs for a server OS, from small businesses to data centers, but the everyday PC OS needs to come in only have a few editions. There is no reason for anything less than Home Premium for home use.
As for the business level, I couldn't find anything differences between the Business and Enterprise editions other than the fact that Enterprise has a Volume License Key. Why not one version if they are exactly the same?
That only leaves Ultimate. In a perfect world Microsoft would just give everyone this and we'd be happy, but no. The Ultimate extras aren't worth the price, so throw this edition out the window. Now we are down to two versions, a home-friendly version and a business version. Hey, this sounds familiar...oh yeah, XP was done this way!
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