[Macworld]

Post your comments for Microsoft: Running scared here

[AdrianJohnMurphy]

Microsoft may be losing ground to Apple in the personal computer market, but Microsoft has a very successful, lucrative, and growing market in the Xbox 360. That should be considered whenever determining the solvency of Microsoft.

[Dan Moren]

AdrianJohnMurphy said:

Microsoft may be losing ground to Apple in the personal computer market, but Microsoft has a very successful, lucrative, and growing market in the Xbox 360. That should be considered whenever determining the solvency of Microsoft.

You know, you're right. The 360 is an excellent platform?I own one myself. But this isn't necessarily about MS's solvency overall, mainly its role in the PC market. I think part of the Xbox's success was that it was able to be reactive (and thus, again, play the part of the underdog) to the established console-makers, Sony, Nintendo, and (once upon a time) Sega. The games division might be an indication of where Microsoft is heading, in the same way that IBM has transmuted into a services-based company, but I think it's the exception to the rule when it comes to the company as a whole.

[adobephile]

Perhaps Microsoft is sensing the effects of the deeper situation of the bad economy.
How many people are not only out of work, but, as they search for new ways to make money and strike out on their own, they are also free of the MS hegemony, and free to independently choose the computer system which offers better value for the money, one which is also essentially free of an IT staff in order to maintain it.
Apple also provides a more affordable developer program for both the Mac and the iPhone, as well as free development tools contained in XCode. It must also be recognized--especially as evidenced by iPhone/iPod Touch sales and App Store downloads statistics and iPhone OS developer numbers--that we have a viable new platform which offers many, if not unlimited, business opportunities.
It's a whole Brave New Apple World with a positive future!

[johndrake]

AdrianJohnMurphy said:

Microsoft may be losing ground to Apple in the personal computer market, but Microsoft has a very successful, lucrative, and growing market in the Xbox 360. That should be considered whenever determining the solvency of Microsoft.

And while you are right, the point may also be that we could see MS spin off the 360 division since it is doing so well. As Dan says in his post, I own one.

[natmusak]

AdrianJohnMurphy said:

Microsoft may be losing ground to Apple in the personal computer market, but Microsoft has a very successful, lucrative, and growing market in the Xbox 360. That should be considered whenever determining the solvency of Microsoft.

You're kidding, right? The Xbox venture has been a money pit and it's come in a distant second place twice now, first behind the PS2 and now, the Wii. A sizable portion of 360 sales are likely due to existing customers exchanging their systems at retail (or flat out buying new ones), each replacement counting as a unit sold. Until they extended the 360's warranty nearly two years after the fact, the only other option was to pay for repairs?who would do that when game stores were offering free exchanges?

[andrewrodney]

Sorry to bring in politics ... Seems the two attitudes of these companies mimic's the last presidential campaigns. Microsoft "Those Apple users are paling around with terrorists, they are nothing more than celebrities etc". Lame points that just didn't work on anyone with half a clue. Its hard to believe anyone who hasn't already made up his or her mind would view the last few ads from Microsoft as anything but a lame attempt.

[joe1946]

"Well, except when they’re actors
Really, is that a fact ? I thought all ads like the Mac ads used real people off the street.

[Jon Seff]

joe1946 said:

"Well, except when they’re actors
Really, is that a fact ? I thought all ads like the Mac ads used real people off the street.

The Apple ads use recognizable celebrities. The Microsoft ads use paid actors posing as unendorsed individuals making a spontaneous decision based on price.

[Mokoda]

I guess if you're a die-hard Mac user you have to master the "art" of the spin. LOL
But this is really goooooone around the corner. Maybe Microsoft is running scared (a highly, highly exaggerated terminology though for real), but if so, it's certainly not from a company that in the past ten years has morphed into little more than a glorified record store!
What Microsoft is likely doing is taking advantage of the current economic situation to squelch Apple's little growth spurt that resulted from the commercial failure of Vista.
The fact is, byte for byte, you can get more computing power per dollar with a Windows PC than with just about any Mac. Sure, Microsoft's exaggerating that point, but that makes the point itself no less valid. That's not saying Macs have NO value and NO place in the market, but to characterize this as Microsoft "running scared" reminds me of what the Washington Redskins tried to convince themselves to believe back in 1984, right before they got their clocks cleaned by the Raiders. Still LOL

[BradPDX]

What on earth would MS sell at it's stores? HP boxes? Dell boxes? Aside from a few non-computer devices (XBox and the poorly selling Zune) MS doesn't have much to put on the shelves other than boxes of Windows and Office DVDs. Curious.
People tell me that the XBox is very nice (when not burning up) and I have friends who love the Wii and PS3. I'll admit that at 51 years of age and really busy with projects, I have never tried any of these and likely won't have time to until I'm dead.

[BradPDX]

I know I can get Windows PC cheaper, and at times I have done that. I have done mountains of work on Windows 98/2000/XP/Vista. If all I want is "something that works" without regard to productivity, elegance and reliability, then most of those machines would pass the test. I use Macs because I can, and I much prefer the workflow and integration they achieve. Friends with Windows machines are less jealous of the appearance of my laptop than of the things I can do quickly and easily with it, thanks to Apple's solid design efforts. My work gets out quicker and looks better than my co-worker's, and that's a fact.

Besides, the cost differences are trivial. I don't know about you, but paying $100, $200 or even $1000 more for something I really like that I will use for years (plural) isn't much money. It might be if I bought a new computer every month, but that is not so.

I think it is wrong to pose this as "MS vs Apple" as if there is or should be one desktop to rule them all - that simply makes no sense, if it ever did. MS makes operating system and office software for OEMs, IT shops and corporations. Apple makes devices for consumers and end users. Much of the crossover is illusion. The fact that MS is getting so upset over something that by definition does not affect their core market says more about emotion than business, IMHO.

[Hamranhansenhansen]

I'm glad they're opening Microsoft stores next to Apple stores. The more direct the comparison, the better Apple does. You can send two similar users one into each store right next door and compare the results of the experiment.
- compare the number of people in each store
- compare the experiences and productivity results for two similar business people, one who buys a MacBook and iPhone from Apple Store and the other who buys Windows Vista and Windows Mobile from the Microsoft store next door
- compare two photographers, each has a digital SLR but no computer, and send one into each store and see how the next 3 months goes for each
- compare the experiences of a Mac user and a PC user, each with software glitches messing up their operating system, going into the Apple Store and Microsoft Store respectively

[Mac007]

Mokoda said:

I guess if you're a die-hard Mac user you have to master the "art" of the spin. LOL
But this is really goooooone around the corner. Maybe Microsoft is running scared (a highly, highly exaggerated terminology though for real), but if so, it's certainly not from a company that in the past ten years has morphed into little more than a glorified record store!
What Microsoft is likely doing is taking advantage of the current economic situation to squelch Apple's little growth spurt that resulted from the commercial failure of Vista.
The fact is, byte for byte, you can get more computing power per dollar with a Windows PC than with just about any Mac. Sure, Microsoft's exaggerating that point, but that makes the point itself no less valid. That's not saying Macs have NO value and NO place in the market, but to characterize this as Microsoft "running scared" reminds me of what the Washington Redskins tried to convince themselves to believe back in 1984, right before they got their clocks cleaned by the Raiders. Still LOL

I'm a die-hard Mac user and I see no need to master any spin. I like what I like and that's Macs. Microsoft on the other hand to me is indeed irrelevant just like IBM is. That's not spin, that's fact. Why Windows users can't understand that is the greatest mystery to date.