This is all, very literally, Microsoft's fault. Specifically, the fault of Bill Gates.
I can remember back in the old "DOS" days, when word first started to trickle around that "someone" had software that would open multiple windows for multitasking. It seemed like only about 15-20% of the techies I knew were even interested in it.
But, it would seem that Bill Gates could see the potential, and how to monopolize on it. He sent spies to Apple, stole the Windows software, and then beat Apple to market with it. The coup-de-gras was that when Apple tried to bring their version (essentially the same thing, since Bill stole it from them) to market, Bill sued for infringement & won. Then he started working on the contracts that got Windows embedded on nearly all new computer systems sold direct-to-consumer, and Microsoft became the biggest company in the world.
Steve Jobs has a lot of reason to act the way he does. He's already been burned, severely.
Well, that's not really quite how it happened. Apple and Microsoft each accused the other of stealing the idea of graphical windowing interfaces from the other, but the truth is BOTH of them stole the idea from Xerox PARC.
That said, Windows 1.x and the Mac OS 1.x were really not all that similar at all beyond the conceptual level. Totally different architectural approaches implementing very different GUI metaphors.
As for Steve Jobs, ... well, there's this joke about the Steve Jobs Reality Distortion Field. Now, obviously I don't see the man every day. But from what I've seen, it seems like over the past 10 years or so his visible decisions have been becoming ... I won't say erratic, but there's something that bothers me.
He seems to be more secretive. He's been through major surgery, and that often changes personality. On the other hand, his marketing decisions are still dead on. There is no other company that could do what Apple has done with the iPhone and iPad. Maybe Google would have got Round Tuit eventually, but they're the only firm I can think of.
Something really wrong with our creativity, I think.
Bill Gates is shit on tech, but he's a brilliant marketer and business strategist.
Steve Wozniak is a brilliant engineer and technician, but what he knows about running a business could fit on a 70's-era 256 BIT dynamic RAM chip - unpowered.
Steve Jobs _thinks_ he's the next Bill Gates, but he sucks at both tech and marketing. He does, however, have people skills to hook up with and manipulate those who do have tech and business savvy/.
I often wonder where we'd be if Gates and Woz had hooked up ...
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I can remember back in the old "DOS" days, when word first started to trickle around that "someone" had software that would open multiple windows for multitasking. It seemed like only about 15-20% of the techies I knew were even interested in it.
But, it would seem that Bill Gates could see the potential, and how to monopolize on it. He sent spies to Apple, stole the Windows software, and then beat Apple to market with it. The coup-de-gras was that when Apple tried to bring their version (essentially the same thing, since Bill stole it from them) to market, Bill sued for infringement & won. Then he started working on the contracts that got Windows embedded on nearly all new computer systems sold direct-to-consumer, and Microsoft became the biggest company in the world.
Steve Jobs has a lot of reason to act the way he does. He's already been burned, severely.
no subject
That said, Windows 1.x and the Mac OS 1.x were really not all that similar at all beyond the conceptual level. Totally different architectural approaches implementing very different GUI metaphors.
As for Steve Jobs, ... well, there's this joke about the Steve Jobs Reality Distortion Field. Now, obviously I don't see the man every day. But from what I've seen, it seems like over the past 10 years or so his visible decisions have been becoming ... I won't say erratic, but there's something that bothers me.
no subject
Something really wrong with our creativity, I think.
no subject
Bill Gates is shit on tech, but he's a brilliant marketer and business strategist.
Steve Wozniak is a brilliant engineer and technician, but what he knows about running a business could fit on a 70's-era 256 BIT dynamic RAM chip - unpowered.
Steve Jobs _thinks_ he's the next Bill Gates, but he sucks at both tech and marketing. He does, however, have people skills to hook up with and manipulate those who do have tech and business savvy/.
I often wonder where we'd be if Gates and Woz had hooked up ...
no subject