Dear Apple: Please be nice to Microsoft

Business Insider ^ | 08/02/2015 | MATT WEINBERGER

[SeekAndFind]

It's been a few days since Microsoft Windows 10 launched and so far I'm loving it — and that's coming from someone who's been using a Macbook for the last 10 years.

There's just one thing missing. Well, two, technically.

I really miss my Apple and Google apps.

There are lots of perks to buying into the Apple ecosystem. With a Mac and an iPhone, you get all kinds of computing superpowers.

There's Handoff, an Apple feature which lets you shunt websites and draft emails from the phone to the desktop. There's Apple's Airdrop, which lets you send files (mostly photos) wirelessly between iPhone and the Mac. There's Continuum, which lets you receive phone calls on the computer or iPad.

But for my money, the best and most useful thing on the Mac is the Messages app, which lets you read and reply to text messages straight from the desktop. Originally, it would only work for Apple's own iMessage standard, but it was broadened earlier this year to include all text messages.

It's absurdly useful, especially while I'm trying to multitask at work.

On Windows, you lose all of that. There's likely no technical reason why Apple's couldn't make these features available on Windows, but Apple prefers to keep its best toys on its own side of the fence.

That makes a lot of business sense: Mac sales have defied the overall shrinkage of the PC market.

That's at least partially because Macs make an amazing complement to the always-popular iPhone — a smartphone that sells 47.5 million units during a bad quarter, and the cash cow that allows Apple to sit on a massive mountain of cash.

But Apple's no-Windows policy could also backfire if Windows 10 becomes a smash hit.

[tacticalogic]

I challenged you to provide EVIDENCE of Steve Jobs' choosing to not develop networking for the Mac that could connect to IBM mainframes.

If he wanted to develop that networking back in the early '80s then we'd have seen Apple making 3270 coax adapters and SDLC adapters, and the terminal emulation software to go with them. Deciding to support Token Ring 5 years later was closing the barn door after the horses are gone.

[tacticalogic]

Your point is totally invalid because they did "lift a finger" and their computers did indeed have the software and the means to connect to the IRMA boards. You love to nitpick at things you don't know. . . but we do. Apple made the interfaces from the Apple to the devices. SHEESH!

Apple gets credit for that because they made the bus slot the card went in?

[tacticalogic]

"I'd like to be able to offer these to everyone that can use it," Smith said during the videotaped interview. "We've got to find a way to make the overall cost the same or lower than PCs to make that happen."

Finally, they're getting a clue.

[mad_as_he$$]

Once again I never showed any cult like support for Windows. Liar.

[mad_as_he$$]

+1.

[mad_as_he$$]

Guess you need it in Ispeak to understand a simple concept.

[tacticalogic]

In the late 70's and early 80's microprocessor technology was becoming advanced enough to finally leave the realm of hobbyist computing and become a commercially viable commodity market. Apple was the largest manufacturer of personal computers. If anyone had an advantage in that market and was in a position to ride the revolution it was them. Now 35 years later Microsoft Windows is the dominant operating system in across both business and home computer segments.

The only explanation for how this came to pass that I've seen that you won't argue with is "They're all stupid".

[mad_as_he$$]

I recall clearly when the decision was made by my then employer(a big high tech company) to dump Apple for the new IBM system. It was an extensive process and the Apple products came out lacking for the business environ. Guess they were just all stupid. I think they are still called intel. Oh and the operating mainframes were HP not IBM.

[tacticalogic]

+1.

The first 16MB token ring cards were made by IBM in 1989. It's not possible for the adapter in that picture to be mid-80's vintage hardware.

[House Atreides]

VERY perceptive (and quiet correct IMHO) post. There’s a one-sided mental derangement going on and the underlying psychology driving it is a mystery to me.

Again, good post and analysis.

[zeugma]

Thanks for the kind words. I too would like to more fully understand what is fueling the hatred seen here. As I mentioned, I have theories, but it is all supposition.