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April 10, 2008 10:08 PM PDT

The problem with Windows.

Posted by The Macalope

Poor Microsoft.

No, really.

OK, stop that. Stop that snickering.

OK, well, just a little snickering. Go ahead.

OK, done now?

OK.

But, look, they really have a tough job. Apparently -- and who could have predicted this? -- there's a cost to being everything to everyone. The Macalope doesn't envy them. They have a gazillion different users with a gazillion different requirements and hundreds (thousands?) of hardware manufacturers they have to get their software to satisfy those requirements on.

Suddenly the Apple method of making the whole enchilada doesn't seem so bad now does it?

So, again, please tell the Macalope how Apple desperately needs to license the Mac OS, because facing the choice of continuing to wrestle with this unmanageable hydra or breaking it apart into multiple code bases as Gartner is suggesting just sounds awesome.

Of course, it's not to say that Microsoft should necessarily jump on this advice. Gartner, you may recall, is the firm that famously said Apple should get out of the hardware business (albeit by licensing to only Dell).

Go back and read the arguments Gartner put forth. They seemed laugh-out-loud funny then and are even funnier now. So let's just say that not all of Ma Gartner's sons are business geniuses.

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Add a Comment (Log in or register) 12 comments (Page 1 of 2)
by hypermark April 11, 2008 12:54 PM PDT
Irony of ironies, before dumping my PC and moving to the Mac, I wrote a blog post comparing Microsoft to the fall of communism; namely, that an inefficient system was collapsing under the weight of an enormous legacy, and that entropy awaits. Here is link to full post if interested: http://thenetworkgarden.com/weblog/2007/03/microsoft_and_t.html Cheers, Mark
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by hypermark April 11, 2008 12:55 PM PDT
Irony of ironies, before dumping my PC and moving to the Mac, I wrote a blog post comparing Microsoft to the fall of communism; namely, that an inefficient system was collapsing under the weight of an enormous legacy, and that entropy awaits. Here is link to full post if interested: http://thenetworkgarden.com/weblog/2007/03/microsoft_and_t.html Cheers, Mark
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by drfrost April 11, 2008 2:02 PM PDT
If Apple would embrace PC clones they would triple the size of their market overnight. And they don't even have to support all hardware vendors. It's not like Microsoft's strategy of doing so has landed them in the poor house...
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by dappya April 11, 2008 4:43 PM PDT
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by ripragged April 11, 2008 4:54 PM PDT
Gartner, schmartner. Microsoft is toast.
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by GadgetGav April 11, 2008 6:12 PM PDT
I'll admit I only skimmed that article, but are they really calling Windows too monolithic..??? How many versions of Vista are there..? How can something that's sold in so many versions be monolithic..? If you start looking at OSes for embedded systems (as I am at work at the moment) you find that there are versions called Windows XP Embedded and Windows XP Embedded for Point of Sale. Vista will be available in Vista Business Embedded and Vista Business Ultimate Embedded. Surely the problem for Windows is a confusing mass of different versions with unclear distinctions between them. Then the suggestion that the OS should be configured to suit different applications. Wha..??? Are they talking about an OS here..? Why would I want an OS that was tailored to my application? If I install a new app, I'll have to go and get some other parts of the OS that weren't installed before..? What kind of madness will that be..? At least the MacOS market share should go up. I'll happily pay the "Apple Tax" of $129 every year or two for a simple, one box OS that just works and keeps out of the way.
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by ripragged April 13, 2008 8:43 AM PDT
How can an operating system with so many versions be called "an operating system." It takes three years to patch a new version for each individual manufacturer's catalog to the point where it's even considered useable on a broad basis, and even then it's buggier than s#1t. XP is only just now a stable platform, as an example, and it's 8-years old. Innovation in that model is glacially slow. Every change has to await stabilization of the entire market. Years pass before a new paradigm is useful. If Apple ever embraces that model, we'll need another company to step in and innovate. Otherwise personal tech will stagnate. Utterly. Microsoft has done well in that model because Apple was idling, and there was no competition. In that time, Microsoft became big and scary to most of the industry. Whatever His Steveness's faults and weaknesses may be, being scared of Redmond isn't among them. To restate my earlier comment, Microsoft is done as a big, scary, monolithic entity.
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by rasnet April 15, 2008 9:48 AM PDT
Although Garter's suspicion that Intel could not really be Apple friendly with regards to pricing has thus far turned out incorrect, I think they're suggestion isn't as drastic as it might seem. Really, it seems that they're just advocating making Macs on Dell's assembly lines to take advantage of Dell's higher volume purchase of all the components that Macs and Dells share. Other than where you send your hardware in if it needs repair, I suspect such a deal would result in the unique, distinct Apple branding we have become accustomed to in our Macintosh computers.
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by BenOvermyer April 15, 2008 10:52 AM PDT
Microsoft as a corporate entity is not going anywhere. They are too well entrenched and too involved in other ventures (esp. entertainment, in the form of the Xbox/360) to simply die. With that said, there are probably some big changes on the horizon as far as Microsoft's business model for its Windows operations.
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by Practical-Mac April 25, 2008 7:09 AM PDT
The BIG problem with Mac/Apple is: You cannot create custom enclosures, such as kiosks and panel PC's, such a monitoring system. Apple should offer components/kits so companies can create hardware setups in those limited applications. Another example is Panasonics ToughBook. Apple should lisence the internals to Panasonic so they can offer a line of ToughMac(TM) for those who need a Mac outside the studio. Jobs is dead wrong to keep it Apple only, but he was right to see the original cloning agreement was dead wrong too. Nirvanaintosh is in between.
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  • Born of the earth, forged in fire, the Macalope was branded "nonstandard" and "proprietary" by the IT world and considered a freak of nature. Part man, part Mac, and part antelope, the Macalope set forth on a quest to save his beloved platform. Long-eclipsed by his more prodigious cousin, the jackalope (they breed like rabbits, you know), the Macalope's time has come. Apple news and rumormonger extraordinaire, the Macalope provides a uniquely polymorphic approach. Disclosure.

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