Why Mac's are a great platform

25/09/08 12:22
imapc
It was fun to read the reviews of the Microsoft campaign featuring Jerry Seinfeld. It's no wonder that they dumped the campaign as there is nothing in that campaign that makes anyone want to upgrade to Windows Vista. So now the latest campaign is "I'm a PC" and again this is supposed to make people want to upgrade to Vista? Is Microsoft that lost?

In the meantime Mac's continue to pick up market share and Mac laptops are making serious inroads into the market. Why? It's simple OS X is simply a better operating system and there are so many programs that just work better on a Mac so why not? Microsoft should not concern itself with Apple, after all Microsoft still has a predominant share in operating systems, browser and Office suites. What Microsoft should be doing is try to make Windows cool again so that the line will return a-la the launch of Windows 95.

One of the primary reasons that so many people purchase Apple products is that they are "cool". That is a hell of a lot of brand equity to try and challenge as companies like Samsung and Sony have tried to figure out. The Apple experience starts with the packaging and extends all the way through their support. Try and call Microsoft support and get after getting bounced around for a little while you too will throw up your hands in frustration.

Now granted Apple has a much smaller base to deal with than Apple but with all their cash they could certainly do a lot better job of getting closer to their customers. Another issue that Microsoft has to deal with is all the hardware and software configurations that every OS must try and satisfy. While this is a hefty nut to crack maybe it's time that Microsoft designed the next OS for newer PC's to leverage newer technology. With the price of PC's so low people will be able to upgrade and that of course would make people like Dell very happy.

But back to the coolness factor, Windows has not been "cool" for a long while. As the OS software had become bigger and bigger Microsoft has chosen to be all things to all people. People are using PC's now for photos, blogging, and eMail yet there are a wealth of other features that are included in Windows that people do not want to deal with or never use. In the office people use Windows for Office which is the standard suite for most companies.

I am not sure that the people at Microsoft believe in their company anymore or that the passion of the CEO is as intense as Steve Jobs. I had recommended a long time ago that Microsoft purchase a campus in Montana and go about building an environment like Google where people can be creative and get away from the corporate bullshit. But then remember Microsoft purchased DOS, purchased the Mouse technology from xerox and stole the Windows idea from Jobs. Maybe it's getting tougher to steal ideas today...
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