Is Apple the New Microsoft?

[blue2blue]

This thought provoking article raises some interesting points and comes to a conclusion that might surprise some...

_______________________

 

Is Apple the New Microsoft?

 

Don't look now, but the role of the industry's biggest bully is increasingly played by Apple, not Microsoft.

 

Mike Elgan, Computerworld

[UstadKhanAli]

Rolling Stone has an article about how iTunes is now the third largest seller of music, and also about how music companies hate dealing with iTunes "my way or the highway" approach.

[kevinnem]

 

Rolling Stone has an article about how iTunes is now the third largest seller of music, and also about how music companies hate dealing with iTunes "my way or the highway" approach.

 

 

NICE!... so the recording industry is mad at Itunes for their over bearing heavy hand approach ... priceless.....I am sure that I am not the only one that sees the irony here with the RIAA and all.

[Dean Roddey]

Apple was always arrogant and a bully. It was only because they were totally ecclipsed by MS and became an underdog that these things weren't just glaringly obvious. They lost any weight to throw around pretty much, so they couldn't throw it.

 

Steve Jobs was always the most arrogant of all and now he's back at the helm. I'm sure he's been mellowed a bit by age, but still, he's not lacking in ego yet. There are plenty of books about the Apple story. I've read quite a number of them, and the story isn't a pretty one. They made so many mistakes and screwed over so many people that it's amazing they survived at all.

[Alndln2]

They made so many mistakes and screwed over so many people that it's amazing they survived at all.

I remember those days and took a bath myself. To me their worse than Microsoft in the computer department because the only way to use their OS is with their hardware. I think I'll be using Linux for net and multimedia and XP for DAW as long as I can, them migrate the DAW to Linux eventually. Gates and Jobs are one in the same to me and I would love to see DAW companies at least offer alternatives on Linux. That would be better for everyone all the way around.

[percyexpat]

Care to name any huge corporation that isn't an overbearing bully? I can't think of any thats for sure. Its a cut-throat business people, its just that companies like Apple and Microsoft are in the public eye so much that anyone takes any notice or cares. I'm not saying its right, i'm just saying they're all the same.

[UstadKhanAli]

NICE!... so the recording industry is mad at Itunes for their over bearing heavy hand approach ... priceless.....I am sure that I am not the only one that sees the irony here with the RIAA and all.

 

Bullies don't enjoy being bullied.

[blue2blue]

Well, let's not forget one thing -- in the war over content pricing, Apple manages to look like a hero to increasingly inflation-weary Americans for holding the prices down...

[Dean Roddey]

But see, this is the thing that bothers me. CDs, when they came out around 81 cost what? I didn't buy a lot of them back then, but $15 or some such thing? If they'd just kept up with inflation, they'd be probably $30 now, but instead they really haven't changed much and most stuff can be had on online stores for probably $12'ish bucks or so. So the record industry has in real terms dropped the price by half for more, while other industries have raised their prices. But the record industry get's beat up all the time for price gouging.

[Geoff Grace]

While Apple's MP3 player market share is nearly as dominant as Windows' market share, many of the other similarities mentioned in the article are a bit of a stretch. It's a lot harder to use PC software on a Mac than it is to use an iPod MP3 file on a Zune. Even Apple's proprietary iTunes format songs can be burned to CD and ripped as MP3s for use in another player. This fact alone seriously undermines Mike Elgan's contention that "Apple has an iPod customer for life" because of its proprietary practices.

 

And yes, Apple is using strong arm tactics with the record industry, but its arm isn't even as strong as Wal-Mart's. Some monopoly!

 

Also, the problem with Microsoft's Internet Explorer Web browser being bundled with Windows OS wasn't that it was "forced on users." The problem was that it destroyed the consumer profit center for Web browsers during the infancy of the Internet, thwarting a nascent industry. Who knows what options we might have had available for surfing the Web if browser businesses had been allowed to develop like normal software companies. But Microsoft effectively stopped consumers from paying for web browsers, dwindling an industry that might have made lots of money during the Internet boom into the lean cottage industry it is today. Apple, with its single digit market share in the computer industry, bundling Safari with OS X after the damage was already done, doesn't have the same impact at all.

 

Now perhaps Apple may one day become the new Microsoft when it comes to music -- and the record industry would do well to keep that from happening because music is a loss leader for computer makers (not to mention for Wal-Mart) -- but that day has yet to arrive. Elgan makes some good points, but he undermines himself by overstating the impact they have.

 

Best,

 

Geoff

[Alndln2]

Also, the problem with Microsoft's Internet Explorer Web browser being bundled with Windows OS wasn't that it was "forced on users." The problem was that it destroyed the consumer profit center for Web browsers during the infancy of the Internet, thwarting a nascent industry.

Although the courts agreed with you I always found that to somewhat groundless. Why shouldn't MS include a web in "their OS", I would have complained more if I had to pay, and who would in their right mind would plan on going into the web browser buisness on the backs of someone elses product? Does Safari cost extra? Didn't think so, and why should it? It resides on Apple's property. If somebody wrote a better browser that justified it's cost people would buy it regardless of wether or not they had a free one already. A good example is MS's included Media Player. I think it sucks and apparently so do many others, so in my case I bought Sonic Foundry's Siren a while back and other people have bought other alternatives. My take is, if your planning to start a buisness based on piggy backing on someone else's, do your homework. There are a lot of legitimate complaints about MS and I have many, but I found that to be the weakest ever and found it ironic that they got nailed for that. My opinion anyway.

[Cry Logic]

 

I would love to see DAW companies at least offer alternatives on Linux. That would be better for everyone all the way around.

 

The new (version 2) Energy XT is available for Linux ...it's still in beta but looks very promising....

[Rudolf von Hagenwil]

 

Don't look now, but the role of the industry's biggest bully is increasingly played by Apple, not Microsoft. Mike Elgan, Computerworld

 

 

But Microsoft products is provision with basic supplies, where Apple is a company selling luxury goods

 

.

[amplayer]

 

But Microsoft products is provision with basic supplies, where Apple is a company selling luxury goods .

 

 

+1

[alphajerk]

Apple is too busy packing i{censored} into everything, i wouldnt call that luxury goods... and i bet you all have to pay for this new OS version coming out, basically adding more i{censored}. Vista is the first paid upgrade in 7 years.

 

i do like the way you can pull out a lot of windows OS. you dont have to have a lot of it in there.... most people dont bother to go look to remove it.

[goldear]

I wonder what Apples new Leopard OS will be like.I heard that they will add some Iphone functionality to it. If so, it would be nice to have that stuff modular. That way, if you have no interest in Iphone, you don't have uneeded stuff loaded.If they don't pull a "Vista", I may move to Apple.

I also hope the features don't have a bad affect on security.

[alphajerk]

they pulled a "vista" when they first released OSX. that combined with their hardware changes [PCIe then the intel chip move] wreaked havoc for a long time... and still software has various code.

[offramp]

You are free to remove just about any extra crap you want from the Apple OS. Just reinstall the OS when you pull the computer out of the box, and select what you want from the custom install screen.

[blue2blue]

 

But see, this is the thing that bothers me. CDs, when they came out around 81 cost what? I didn't buy a lot of them back then, but $15 or some such thing? If they'd just kept up with inflation, they'd be probably $30 now, but instead they really haven't changed much and most stuff can be had on online stores for probably $12'ish bucks or so. So the record industry has in real terms dropped the price by half for more, while other industries have raised their prices. But the record industry get's beat up all the time for price gouging.

 

Actually they listed for about $12, didn't they? I remember they typically sold at discount for around $8 or $9 when I started buying them in the mid-80s.

 

Still, even though much of that period saw little inflation in many consumer items, inflation has greatly accelerated under the spend and borrow policies in place since 2001, and the effects of so-called "hidden" inflation before that also emerge when you look at price and true cost of living curves since that period.

 

Of course, the cost of production for CD's has certainly dropped overall, as reflected by, well, CD replication costs.

 

And that highlights the fact that much of the costs accounted to making and selling commercial CDs comes from promoting and marketing.

[blue2blue]

 

While Apple's MP3 player market share is nearly as dominant as Windows' market share, many of the other similarities mentioned in the article are a bit of a stretch. It's a lot harder to use PC software on a Mac than it is to use an iPod MP3 file on a Zune. Even Apple's proprietary iTunes format songs can be burned to CD and ripped as MP3s for use in another player. This fact alone seriously undermines Mike Elgan's contention that "Apple has an iPod customer for life" because of its proprietary practices. And yes, Apple is using strong arm tactics with the record industry, but its arm isn't even as strong as Wal-Mart's. Some monopoly! Also, the problem with Microsoft's Internet Explorer Web browser being bundled with Windows OS wasn't that it was "forced on users." The problem was that it destroyed the consumer profit center for Web browsers during the infancy of the Internet, thwarting a nascent industry. Who knows what options we might have had available for surfing the Web if browser businesses had been allowed to develop like normal software companies. But Microsoft effectively stopped consumers from paying for web browsers, dwindling an industry that might have made lots of money during the Internet boom into the lean cottage industry it is today. Apple, with its single digit market share in the computer industry, bundling Safari with OS X after the damage was already done, doesn't have the same impact at all. Now perhaps Apple may one day become the new Microsoft when it comes to music -- and the record industry would do well to keep that from happening because music is a loss leader for computer makers (not to mention for Wal-Mart) -- but that day has yet to arrive. Elgan makes some good points, but he undermines himself by overstating the impact they have. Best, Geoff

 

 

I have to say that the burn-your-DRM-protected AAC to CD and then rip again strategy -- ensuring a further degradation to the already marginal quality of 128 kbps AACs -- is one of the most absurd rationales offered as to why Apple's DRM tied exclusively to its software and players is not an intrusive hobbling.

 

I could make a cassette of it, too.

 

Anyhow, it seems patently clear to me that a rip of an AAC burn is an annoying amount of work to do to get a thoroughly degraded copy of something that was not of high quality in the first place.

 

Could we put this sorry rationale to rest once and for all?

 

I'm not buying it and I think few outside of the Apple apologist camp do.

 

[i'd like to point out, right here, that in my second-most recent post above I was pointing out some positives for Apple; let's keep in mind that I'm not grinding axes, here. I"m calling 'em like I see 'em. And if this counts for anything -- I think the Zune is one of the most pathetic and annoying product platform launches ever, building on what MS saw as tolerance for Apple's quasi-monopolistic ultra-vertical product integration, and doing so in a patently boneheaded and tin-eared clumsiness that was surprising even for the Beast of Redmond.]

[Marvel627]

 

Is Apple the New Microsoft?

 

 

no.

[blue2blue]

 

Although the courts agreed with you I always found that to somewhat groundless. Why shouldn't MS include a web in "their OS", I would have complained more if I had to pay, and who would in their right mind would plan on going into the web browser buisness on the backs of someone elses product? Does Safari cost extra? Didn't think so, and why should it? It resides on Apple's property. If somebody wrote a better browser that justified it's cost people would buy it regardless of wether or not they had a free one already. A good example is MS's included Media Player. I think it sucks and apparently so do many others, so in my case I bought Sonic Foundry's Siren a while back and other people have bought other alternatives. My take is, if your planning to start a buisness based on piggy backing on someone else's, do your homework. There are a lot of legitimate complaints about MS and I have many, but I found that to be the weakest ever and found it ironic that they got nailed for that. My opinion anyway.

 

 

My take on the browser issue, also.

 

As long as I could install another browser on my system and use it transparently, I was pretty OK with that. People can give me all the free software they want. And I'd FAR rather see an unused IE icon on my desk (although at that point, I'd all but given up on Netscape and was using both IE and Opera) than a forest of Norton, AOL, and MacAffee adware icons.

 

I also had little sympathy for the old Netscape leadership who put other browsers out of business by giving their product away and then went running to their right wing protectors (with little apparent regard for the karmic ironies involved) to initiate investigations and prosecutions against MS when they did essentially the same thing.

 

That said, I think MS did engage in some anti-competitive practices that came to light in that era of investigation. Perhaps MS should have been investigated for those practices primarily, instead. But the Netscape leadership had a good hookup with the congressional right wing and the rest is a footnote in history.

[blue2blue]

But Microsoft products is provision with basic supplies, where Apple is a company selling luxury goods .

 

Well, I hope you read the whole article -- while he concludes that Apple is using much of the same "bullying" that MS did, he doesn't find anything that he feels should warrant government intrusion then or now.

 

 

FWLIW (for what little...) -- I tend to agree with this general take.

 

The structure of the highly proprietary vertical market created by Apple around the iPod has a huge number of warning bells that would keep me from investing myself into it -- but I don't see anything I think should encourage government intrusion, by and large. (There may have been an early window when consumers were unaware of the arbitrary limitations imposed on iTunes-purchased media but I think most folks are aware of it now.)

 

I see this as a consumer awareness issue. If people are aware of the limitations they are buying into with an iPod, I say let 'em plunge if they want.

 

But really, the sad truth is that among those I know with iPods they are used overwhelmingly in the aquisition of other people's music (ie, unlicensed copying) and not as a vehicle for iTunes purchases. But I do know a fair but sizable minority who only rip their own CDs. And -- it's clear that someone is buying from iTunes.

[Dean Roddey]

The thing that always distinguished Microsoft from Apple is that MS would just get something out there. It wouldn't be great, and sometimes laughable compared to the competition, and they would take all kinds of crap about it. But, they generally wouldn't give up. They would just keep banging away on it and improving it until it wasn't laughable anymore and eventually became one of the big or the biggest product in that category.

 

Apple always wanted to be artists, and put out the perfect, artsy product, no matter what it cost, but they wouldn't follow through. And they maintained that 'high right' pricing strategy way after their technological lead no longer justified it.

[Anderton]

Well as a member of the media, I must say that Apple is far less accommodating than Microsoft. When I've dealt with Microsoft in the past, they've always had a "So tell us what we can do better" attitude, quite humble really. There was one trade show where I just wanted to get a press release on Apple's new products and was bounced around from one person to another until they finally decided I (presumably) wasn't important enough -- the lady I was talking with excused herself, said she'd be back in a minute, and 15 minutes later I just said to hell with it. Then there was the time they sent copies of Logic out to reviewers that timed out after 30 days...

 

And at one trade show, a product guy was demoing GarageBand, talking about how Apple had invented this great looping technology. I watched the demo for a while, and said "So what's the biggest difference between this and Acid DJ?" He didn't know Acid DJ, didn't even know Acid existed, didn't know the guy behind GarageBand was the same programmer who came up with Acid. As far as he was concerned, Apple had invented loops and time-stretching.

 

I know this sounds like an Apple bash, I could just as easily talk about the beautiful industrial design of their products, their brillliant takeover of online distribution, and the many "firsts" they've contributed to the industry. And I'm writing this post on a Dual G5 But they're another ruthless corporate entity, just like most of 'em these days, and more power to 'em for coming back from the dead.