[Macworld.com]

While Apple’s clout may be growing, Dan Frakes thinks that calling the company the new Microsoft doesn’t make much sense. [more]

[jhmaughan]

I think Elgan would have nailed the monopoly thing if he pointed out how OS X plus Safari plus iChat plus Address Book plus iWork plus iTunes sounds a lot like Windows plus IE plus MSN plus MS Office plus Windows Media. To me, if you have one Apple app, it feels like you have to use them all. Everyone says those Apps add so much value to the OS, but if you want to use 3rd party apps, they are just a waste of hard drive space that you can never free, much like Microsoft's built in apps. It's late or I'd go into more detail...

[SteelBlades]

I think Mac World (The Mac Experts) is running the risk of loosing more of its audience if you continue to run such ill-conceived and idiotic articles as Mike Elgan's. He's clearly not the sharpest pin in the cushion, and ought not to be contributing to a website where thinking people frequent (Mac users are, on average, a bit smarter than PC users I suspect).
Thanks for your article Dan - but this is really the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff. It might be better to build a fence at the top to keep Mike from pushing the site over the edge again. His sort of article is beneath the readership of this site.
Peter C.
Dunedin
New Zealand

[garyi]

I would agree. I don't much like Mail.App but really need the address book details to sync with my phone.
I think it fair to say most companies do not want open standards for software so we can swap around, its never gonna happen.
I found the article laughable, but then I am a mac fanboi. Thos that do not like macs like the writer clearly does not would find all the points well put.
The ringtones thing will sour a lot of people, because lets face it, its taking the p*. As most of us would be quite capable of taking one of our tunes and banging it through audacity to cut it up, but iphone software prevents it use.
It ironic that practically any other phone including my nokia can quite happily use such a function. i.e. I choose one of my tunes, cut it up, save it in itunes then drag it onto the nokia bluetooth window. Job done.
Anyhoo, I don't care, I don't own an iPhone.

[Frost7]

Excellent rebuttal. Elgan just got owned by Frakes.

[JoeHeffe]

Thats silly. Apple is giving you those applications for free with their operating system. Many of these applications are very useful and many users consider their value when they purchase a Mac. However, if you don't like them you can drop them in the trashcan and free up that hard drive space. Your analogy is also a bad one because when you purchased Windows back then you were purchasing a Toshiba or IBM or Dell, etc. When you are purchasing a Mac it is an Apple product with applications made by and for the Mac that works well with the Mac. Apple also offers a free browser for both PCs and Macs. Non-PC users can download and use it or not, as they choose. But Apple does not pay PC vendors to bundle that browser exclusive to any other browser on the market.
Not sure what you mean by "if you have one Apple app, it feels like you have to use them all." You can use any or none of the apple applications. I use a couple of them and some I have never used. The ones I don't use I deleted from my hard drive. They all work independently of each other and you can choose to use something else. For instance, I use Microsoft Office on my Mac. That means I don't use the mail, spreadsheet, word processor and calendar programs that came with my machine. However, some of the apps like iTunes and iPhoto I use because they are the best programs for me and they are free.

[GoCats!]

Actually, I disagree. Apple's software is among the more open and standards compliant there is. Take for example the Address Book... Address Book allows you to import AND export in standard vCard format. Do you think Outlook works that way? Or Entourage? Nope. They each will import vCard format, but neither will export to it making it very difficult to move your data around! And, though I don't know for sure, I would suspect that if Firefox wanted to integrate contacts from Address Book it could.
With Leopard coming up Apple are pushing for and implementing a calendar format standard.
And to the other poster's point, there is very little waste of hard drive space. If you want to get rid of an application in OS X you just delete it. There are very few files scattered around that you'd leave behind. Try deleting an app in windows that way and see how long before you get a blue-screen of death.
And also don't confuse integration with monopoly. It's not that Microsoft offered integrated apps, it's that they made computer makers include them and exclude copmetitors, AND they made concerted efforts to make competing apps less functional by controlling/hiding OS api's, and then used their substantial financial backing to use preditory pricing to push their competition out of business... does anyone remember how much Office was back in 1994 when they had competition?? Do you know how much it is now??

[qkarmark]

Quote:

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How many times have you heard someone say, You know, Apple had this OS innovation years ago, but it never worked well; Microsoft really got it right...?

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I had a very similar discussion with my manager (VP, marketing) recently, when I posed this theory: Walk into a room full of Wintel users and ask any one of them, "Hey, what wonderful things did you do/experience today on your Windows-PC?" and the likely responses might be something along the lines of, "Have you been drinking?", "Nothing I haven't done a hundred times before.", or "It's just a Windows machine, what kind of things were you to expect me to be doing?" ...and then the subject would quickly change. Then do the same of a room full of Mac users. Needless to say, you may or may not get a response from everyone telling of some wonderful experience that particular day while using their Mac, but you can sure as heck bet they'll all know exactly what you're referring to, especially the switchers.
I've been a Mac user since Adobe Illustrator '88 and the Mac Plus. Just so happens it was also the first time I became a computer user period. And I've been using Adobe and a Mac ever since. Lately though, I've also become a PC-user: my employer of 1.5 years (software programming company) is all Wintel (well, sort of: we've recently hired a photographer/videographer who has been blessed with a new iMac). I guess that also makes me a switcher too.... of the worst kind! Most days I can't wait to get home and do something - anything - on my Mac. Don't get me wrong, as an art director, I love my job, I just can't stand the tools I'm being asked to execute it with. For example, I produced a thirty-second sample video at home using a trial of Keynote '08, and took it to work to show our HR manager. Her response was, "great mock-up, how soon can you have a full-length version for our corporate website?" I answered, "To be honest, I don't know when: I'm afraid if I attempted this using my work PC it would be frustrating as hell, likely wouldn't appear nearly as professional, and truthfully, I'm not a video editor nor is my Windows machine presently equipped to do this: this demo was meant to illustrate how our corporate video should look - I merely used the simplest tool I had available at the time to help present this 'look,' there was hardly any skill on my part - aside from the vision - involved at all." (But task the same thing of our editor sitting at the iMac and such a production would all come together unfettered and spot on).
My point is this: as an art director, my job should be that of doing my best to satisfy our stake-holders and ensure that our corporate image has its best foot forward, and not be that of 'piecing together' wares and work-flows in hopes of resulting in anything more than a polished turd. If we creative professionals are to continue to operate under the ill-equipped, corporate 'me-too' Wintel mantra, so be it (I can only hope it won't be permanent): just don't expect us to consistently and proudly live up to our role. And if the Dan Frakes of the world are to continually respond to the likes of Mr. Elgan and their ill-gotten keyboards, so be it: just don't view such responses as an invitation to more of the same. Frankly, that is all too often the case. (read: those who can't write, write manuals.)

[kimhill]

Elgan's article was truly idiotic -- trolling for web traffic, I suppose. It's sad to see someone like yourself expend so much effort in countering transparent nonsense.
Tell your sister publication that they need better quality control. The PC World article was an embarrassment.

[canettijazz]

The article was like a elementary school research paper - full of unsubstantiated assertions and opinions rather than anything factual. I can't believe ComputerWorld actually pays this guy. Frakes and numerous others had sound responses to the idiotic assertions.
This is Microsoft's monopolistic behavior:
1. Identify market to takeover.
2. Bundle it for free with a useful Microsoft product (eg. Word)
3. Halt development once they control the market.
Apple isn't the company that made their web browser intimately tied into the OS, so that it can't be removed unlike MS Explorer. On a Mac, you can dump Safari and freely use any alternative. The price arguement was just as idiotic. A monopolist undercuts the market leader until it dominates the market. Once it has destroyed the competition, it then raises the price. Apple's never been accused of undercutting anyone on price. Competing mp3 players and smart phones will often offer more features, capabilities for a lower price. The ipod is truely a testament to consumers choosing quality over price. Maybe the iphone will do the same.
I can't believe ComputerWorld actually pays this guy.

[RobK]

Microsoft begins with the letter M?

[Hutch]

Quote:

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The ringtones thing will sour a lot of people, because lets face it, its taking the p*. As most of us would be quite capable of taking one of our tunes and banging it through audacity to cut it up, but iphone software prevents it use.
It ironic that practically any other phone including my nokia can quite happily use such a function. i.e. I choose one of my tunes, cut it up, save it in itunes then drag it onto the nokia bluetooth window. Job done.
Anyhoo, I don't care, I don't own an iPhone.

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What's ironic is that the iPhone can too. See here. All you have to do to make a free ringtone for use on the iPhone is exactly what you said. I'm guessing you didn't look into this before making your post and that you just read somewhere that it wasn't possible.
Spreading incorrect information is a bad thing.

[keath]

The biggest argument showing why Apple is not like Microsoft is that although Apple has gained considerable clout in the music business, and is feared for it's influence and supposed lock-in, they are willing to let go of that lock.
Steve Jobs has argued against using DRM on the music files they sell, and iTMS does sell songs and albums without DRM where allowed. The company believes in their products, and is willing to compete on the merits of what they produce. Their focus is on making things work for the user.
Compare that to the Zune, which exists only because the success of the iPod undermined Microsoft's ability to control digital media formats. Microsoft's platform, the thing they are selling, is Windows Media subscription based DRM. If the market share difference between Zune and the iPod were reversed, would Microsoft argue against DRM in favor of consumers? I didn't think so.

[AS]

First, I've been a computer user for about 12 years, since Windows '95, and in all these years I've only used Windows until about a year ago when I switched with the purchase of a MacBook. While I'm no programmer, I've know a lot about the user experience on Windows. So, it's kind of baffling to read people complaining about the bundled apps on a Mac. To compare them to what you get in Windows?--well, I don't know what to say except that there is no basis for comparison. As an amateur musician, I'm beyond impressed with Garageband, especially considering that it came FREE on my Mac (or, at most, costs $79 to upgrade as part of iLife). Or take Address Book and Mail: head and shoulders above what you get in Windows, etc. And if you don't like them, you're free to use third-party apps. But Apple's point is to push usability right out of the box, and in that, they're better than anyone else I know. And in fact, Apple has been for years pushing open standards, and it makes sense. If you're the minority OS out there, you want open standards to ensure compatibility. And, whether you're on Windows, Mac or Linux, such compatibility ensures a better computing experience.
Regarding the insipid monopoly argument, I'd point to a comparison of how Apple handles its near monopoly on music vs. how Microsoft handles its near monopoly on OSes. Apple often times gets into fights with the music industry because they want to ensure 1) prices remain low; 2) consumer usability remains good; 3) DRM is eventually eliminated. These are GOOD things for the consumer! Consider the push to eliminate DRM in music; sure Apple is in a good position to argue for that given the dominance of its iPod products. However, what arguing to eliminate DRM means is that Apples needs to constantly update and improve the iPod product line in order to remain in the lead. The difference between how Apple treats consumers on the one hand and how the music/TV/film industry and Microsoft treats consumers is very telling. For the latter, we're all a bunch of thieves or potential thieves ("it is estimated that the typical iPod contains a significant amount of illegally downloaded material" was the line from NBC). The way Apple approaches the question is to say that if you provide a well-priced, easily accessible and enjoyable alternative, piracy would go down. To be concrete, look at the recently announced NBC/Amazon "Unbox" service. Leave aside that it's Windows only (talk about monopoly!). What is interesting is it shows you what NBC meant about "concrete steps" to be taken to combat piracy. If, for example, you have a situation like I do at home--where my girlfriend and I each have separate accounts on iTunes AND share each other's purchases on our respective iPods or on our one Mac--you're out of luck with "Unbox," where you're only allowed one account per computer! There's fine treatment of the consumers.
So, in answer to gkarmark's question, "what wonderful things did you do/experience today on your Windows-PC?", nothing. However, on my Mac, I created a 15-minute music composition, something I was never able to do on my PC without spending an exorbitant amount of money.