I have hinted at it before, and I have told family and friends this point, but I fully believe that:
The only way that Microsoft can avoid destruction is to start over. In the above-linked post, I talked about the problem that Windows has: legacy issues. I believe that the only way for Windows to beat the legacy issue is to start from scratch. They can say "we are coming out with Windows X in five years. If you want to run our software, you will need to abide by these codecs and regulations." They would, in a sense, force people to conform to what THEY say, instead of what they do right now, which is conform to what everyone else says.
I understand that this is not "practical" for Microsoft, but I still believe that it is the only way for them to survive after ten years. However, the above is not what this post is about (the above is not even a fully developed explanation of my point).
Today, Apple announced the next version of their Operating System: Snow Leopard/ (due out "in about a year"). As they say on the site, in their recent OS Updates they have delivered "more than a thousand" new features (an exaggeration, IMO), but in this version, they are not focusing on features, they are focusing on performance.
That's right: Apple is doing what Microsoft SHOULD be doing! They are stepping back and saying "What we have is good, it has a lot of good features, but it is a little top heavy. Lets stop and focus on a few key items: performance, security, and developers." By doing this, they are securing an OS footprint that will last for the next ten years, while Microsoft can't see past the next bad update of Windows. Apple is once again proving to be a progressive company, while Windows just tries to keep up with it's own success.
Matthew
PS: Sorry, this is not a fully developed idea/post. It is 1 AM, and I just had the above thought, so I thought that I would get it out ASAP.
2 comments:
So, Steve Jobs is going to steal the world-famous motivational developer speech from Microsoft's Steve Ballmer? And I quote the most compelling part of his dhertorical brilliance for you benefit: "DEVELOPERS, DEVELOPERS, DEVELOPERS, DEVELOPERS, DEVELOPERS, DEVELOPERS, DEVELOPERS, DEVELOPERS, DEVELOPERS, DEVELOPERS, DEVELOPERS, DEVELOP.... YEAH!!! DEVELOPERS, DEVELOPERS, DEVELOPERS, DEVELOPERS, DEVELOPERS, DEVELOPERS, DEVELOPERS, DEVELOPERS, DEVELOPERS, DEVELOPERS, DEVELOPERS, DEVELOPERS."
To what crude plagarizm must Mr. jobs stoop? ;-)
I disagree with your assessment. Microsoft is filling a very different niche than Apple OS. Apple OS is designed for Mac users to operate Apple programs on an Apple network using Apple peripherals to perform Apple-esque tasks with other Apple devices like making a photo album or a family movie.
Microsoft, on the other hand, is focussed on making their product available to a wive range of developers who are able to be more creative. For example, I would bet (although I don't know) that much of the reason that there aren't as many games for Apple as for Win is that when programming for Win, the game developer can say "you know what; the old pixel shaders just aren't cutting it anymore, I'll just make my own, and since I have a Microsoft SDK, I can be sure that it works in Windows. Oh, but Apple says I have to use their pixel shader... too bad for Apple."
Additionally, developers can do things that have never been done before like tell Lightwave that it can use the video card to render too instead of just the CPU and primary RAM. You can't do that with Apple because it's so proprietary.
Proprietary technology severly restricts the development of new technology because there might not be a way for that new technology to accomodate itself to the unyeilding OS. Whereas an OS that is designed to be molded instead of BEING the mold will allow developers to do dangerous things in order to make something new.
Linux is just the next step in the direction of "dangerous and flexible."
Sorry about all the typos... Firefox rules, Internet Explorere drools...
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