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The purpose of this page is to express my opinions regarding one of the media's hottest issues, and one that has caused more discussion on the Internet than any other- namely Apple vs. Microsoft.
These two companies are responsible for the popularization of the individual computer desktop- more than anyone else. OK, let's also mention IBM and Dell in the mix as well.
Apple Computer first developed computers for individual use in 1976, which used a proprietary Disk operating system. It was the first attempt at simplifying the use of a tool which previously required the user to have a knowledge of profound programming skills to make a computer work.
But Bill Gates and his friends thought they had a better idea. The more single word commands and more simplification of DOS that could happen, the better. About 1981, they licensed this idea to IBM, which incorporated it into the IBM PC. a more sophisticated tool than the Apple, the IBM took off like wildfire, and the rest is history. Then MS licensed its technology to the clone vendors such as Dell. MS-DOS would be the biggest major challenge to Apple's market share.
But Steve Jobs wasn't licked just yet. He and his partners visited the Palo Alto labs at Xerox and obtained the technology needed to drive the first graphic-based computer, the LISA. As sophisticated as the LISA was, it cost far more than the mainstream DOS machine and thus was not widely accepted in the business community. So, in January of 1984, Apple Computer introduced the first popularly-priced computer for the general market that utilized the graphic interface.
The Macintosh computer.
Again, Apple Computer was behind the eight-ball. Color PC's were being introduced, and it was not until 1988 that Apple followed suit with its first color Macintosh. Still, despite the fact that the Mac was technologically playing catch-up, it took enough market share away from the PC's such that Microsoft would then introduce Windows, it's own graphic operating system. Despite its flaws, windows succeeded largely because it was so easy and economical to implement into a culture born and raised on PC-DOS.
Today's computers operate largely on two different operating environments- Windows and Macintosh.
Once the machines are set up and connected properly, either one can capably execute any and all of the tasks which are assigned to it.
The prospective computer user needs to understand first off that there are choices in the computer world. The media, peer pressure, and a boost from apple-hate sites such as this one are responsible for the limitation of such choice to Windows.
Reasons to Defend Apple:
One may have read some of my defenses of Microsoft regarding their current struggles with the Department of Justice over antitrust legislation. The fact that Microsoft has such astronomical market share in several markets, especially the Operating Environment market, has everything to do with the fact that they were there first with the first personal computing OS to dominate the business desktop.
I recommend the reader go to the well-documented Microsoft Defense Site set up by the ARI, for a detailed defense of why Microsoft deserves to be defended.
At the other end of the media spectrum, we once had the equally well-researched site, "The Microsoft Collection," which provided links which document virtually every corporate abuse that Microsoft has undertaken. This site, unfortunately, had been taken down by Geo Cities, the web host.
Reasons to Defend Microsoft:
Microsoft indeed has competition in virtually every market in which it competes. The computer user needs to be made aware that alternatives to Microsoft software which are equally capable and affordable are available.
Steve Jobs and Bill Gates are the heroes of silicon Valley. Not to mean in any way to diminish the efforts of those associated with them who are equally praiseworthy.
Not long ago, a movie for Cable TV was shown, which implicated that Jobs and Gates stole their respective technologies. This tabloid piece of trash, "Pirates of Silicon Valley", sent a disheartening, anti-corporate message to its audience, trivializing this way of doing business in its amoral message.
Jobs, Gates, and those who work in association with them and in competition with them deserve one's respect for the good they did in extending our lives and giving us tools to help with our profitability and in our work.