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Apple vs. Microsoft Myths Revisited

Posted by timothy on from the never-heard-that-one-before-no-sir dept.

allgood2 writes "John Gruber at Daring Fireball has a great article exploring the myth that Apple could/would be Microsoft if only they had licensed their operating system. This myth has oft been purported in technology and business media."

3 of 845 comments (clear)

  1. Honestly by JanneM · · Score: 1, Troll

    I'm happy Apple never did dominate the market, whatever the reason. Having Microsoft in that role is bad enough, but a secretive, litigation-happy company like Apple with monopoly powers would have been a disaster.

    --
    Trust the Computer. The Computer is your friend.
  2. Mac Clones by Un+pobre+guey · · Score: 1, Troll
    Long ago, I thought that Mac clones were a good idea, and Apple's quashing of the nascent clone market a bad idea. Apple came close to dying soon thereafter, though very likely more from mismanagement than from supressing clones.

    These days I suspect they would have died had they permitted the clones to continue, since they seem incapable of producing competitive, cost effective hardware, and would probably not have survived as simply an OS steward/manufacturer.

    I have never used Macs for any meaningful length of time. They seem too expensive and have too small a software base compared to Windows and Linux combined. That is not an unfair comparison, given how common it is for people to have dual-bootable PCs.

    Troll: Macs are for the same people who buy the pretentious new VW sedans and put single flowers in the vase on the steering wheel column.

  3. Re:Apple does QA testing... by mrklin · · Score: 0, Troll
    Apple does QA testing? Sure, but they are hardly better than any other companies out there.

    (Advance apologies for not knowing how to linkify.)

    • Apple pulls iPhoto 4.0.2 update (http://www.macrumors.com/pages/2004/08/2004080216 4637.shtml)
    • OS X 10.3.x - Apple waits 3+ months to fix security flaw that allows the help app to be launched and execute any command such as rm -f (http://www.macnn.com/news/24722)
    • OS X 10.3 erases FireWire drives (http://www.macfixit.com/staticpages/index.php?pag e=20031110092416682)
    • OS X 10.2.8 update pulled due to issues (http://www.macnn.com/news/21257)
    • OS X 10.2.4 eats batteries and reset dates (http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=2003031 2020856258)
    • Mass recall of iBook due to logic board failure (http://www.apple.com/support/ibook/faq/)

    There are other issues like peeling paint of TiBooks, hum from 1st generation G5s, windtunnel G4s, etc.

    I would not trade my iBook for anything else except for a newer Apple laptop, but when it comes to QA, Apple is hardly infallible.