Monday, June 16, 2008

"Apple and Microsoft are NOT competitors. I swear." [Updated for Chrominess 6/16/2008]

From the beginning, as Jobs reminds us in a flashback during D5, Steve has cooperated with Microsoft in every way he can. And it's wise to do so. Apple needs Microsoft. Because Microsoft owns too many standards.

But during the exact same interview, Jobs characterizes Apple as a software company. He says that Apple's main focus is it's operating system. But wait - Microsoft's main focus is its operating system... and Jobs insists that if you are a passionate software company, you're going to want to make your own hardware, too (but wait - Microsoft doesn't make their own hardware...). And not only does Apple focus on their software - they elsewhere claim that it's more advanced than Microsoft's:



But notice how, with one hand, Apple's product (which directly competes with Microsoft's) is praised as being superior, Apple stresses compatibility and cooperation with the other hand.

All the while at D5 Jobs talks about how PC Guy is lovable and the ads foster a cooperative attitude and he and Gates have always been buddies and Microsoft revolutionized computing etc. ad infinitum (but if Apple is more advanced than Microsoft, what does that say about Apple?). Steve Jobs, you are a subtle and cunning spin-master and I love you. Not like I love my wife though. Take a look at another example of Apple's near duplicity:



"iWork is the BEST way to create DOCUMENTS, PRESENTATIONS, and SPREADSHEETS. And one of the biggest virtues of this suite is that it works with OFFICE. Because Office is the standard, duh - everybody knows that." Or how about:



"Remember me? I invented the friggen iPod, right? Well I built this new thing called 'MobileMe.' It's like Microsoft's Exchange, only way better on so many levels. I'm branding it as 'Exchange for the rest of us,' because Exchange is the standard for businesses. But it is interestingly available at the same time that this new toy (you may have heard of it, the 'iPhone') begins supporting Exchange. So you can choose which service you want to use (hint: mine is better)."

Apple makes it as easy as possible to switch. You can still use whatever services and formats you're used to. But when everybody else starts switching, there won't be any reason not to use Apple's superior versions of all these things. Apple just keeps insisting that they are not direct competitors with Microsoft, they keep improving compatibility, and they keep coming out with products that one-up them (also - Office can't read iWork files [like Macs can run Windows but not vice versa] - all roads lead to Apple, and they are ONE-WAY, baby yeah!).

Brilliant.

Slick.

Shiny.

Glossy.

Chromy.

9 comments:

  1. it's too bad iWork still sucks. let me know when that changes, will you?

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  2. Keynote is superior to PowerPoint on 8 out of 10 counts, and has many features that merit its preference over PowerPoint at times, but still needs work. Pages is really sleek and intuitive, but is lacking a number of features that Word has (I personally don't even notice, since I never use those features). But Numbers is lacking far too many features, and has too many ill-set defaults and behaviors to be worth using in lieu of Excel. But we've talked about all this. And I will keep you posted.

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  3. Apple Mail however, in my humble opinion, is way better than Microsoft Outlook or Entourage, and it comes standard with your OS (not even a part of iLife)!

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  4. Why can't I post a comment on your libertarian post?

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  5. let's all think about that for a while.

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  6. really, Bri? just because Brandon was a jerk once doesn't mean he can't learn to post nicely. and it's not like Louis doesn't respond and post like a jerk all the time anyway! It's a copout not to allow comments on a post like that. cute, Louis.

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  7. we've had this conversation in real life before. you can't come on here and post it like it's original. post it like you stole it. or something. i read that on a bumper sticker once.

    louis: you should just disable all comments henceforth til the end of time forever and ever. amen.

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  8. For some reason despite my higher sense of irony, I feel compelled to respond to David's comments.

    "just because Brandon was a jerk once doesn't mean he can't learn to post nicely."

    While that's true and I hope he does, it doesn't obligate me, socially or otherwise, to offer to field comments about every post I choose to make on my own blog. Brandon is free to do whatever he wishes with his own.

    "it's not like Louis doesn't respond and post like a jerk all the time anyway!"

    If I have written anything that offends you David, please let me know and I can amend the attitude with which I wrote it, or the actual assertions I made by it if need be.

    "It's a copout not to allow comments on a post like that. cute, Louis."

    "Copout" is defined by Wikipedia as "an idiom meaning to avoid taking responsibility for an action or to avoid fulfilling a duty". The burden of proof remains with you to demonstrate what action I have failed to take responsibility for, or what action I have the duty to take but have not.

    It is silly to assert that I shouldn't take the liberty to share my thoughts on my own blog and commence disabling the comments on them as a reflection of my lack of desire to interact conversationally concerning such post. It's not like I responded to one of his blogs or comments but refused to let him rejoin.

    Rest assured, I will post again on something Brandon will want to comment on, and I will enjoying dialoging with him about it.

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  9. I suppose I just found it funny that the one and only post on which you've ever chosen to suppress comments was the one dealing with libertarianism. Reading the post inititally, it looked like you were picking a fight (like you were clearly doing with the 2nd amendment post), and that's cool; I laughed. But when I realized you weren't accepting comments (again, for the first time in your blogging history) it shocked me.

    I think I'll stand by my "copout" comment, given my previous experience of the way you blog. I do, however, concede that you have the right to not desire (nor accept) interaction on any given subject. You're welcome to change the way you choose to blog on a whim, and then suddenly change back if you wish. Awesome. I'll henceforth adjust my assumptions that you desire dialogue on everything about which you blog. *shrugs*

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