Jackie Goldstein's Weblog

Is Apple the new Microsoft? No... Microsoft's great success didn't come from the fact that Windows was bundled with IE.

Apple makes some nice hardware, and an operating system that is like all the rest.

But Microsoft powers developers... and developers make the universe :)

(P.S. - Apple sucks!)

Yes, I dont feel Apple is any way near Microsoft. It has just got a good success in ipod and Iphone. The problem with Iphone are already showing up. I dont think apple has what it takes to be Microsoft

I like Mike Elgan, and he's right about iTunes lock-in - it sucks. The software is awful, especially on Windows. I've tried all the alternative third party iPod manager apps though (including paying for a few commercial ones) and none of them are as seamless or have all the features. It's made especially worse by the fact Apple tries to port the "OSX" UI experience to their Windows apps.

At least the DRM is slowly disappearing from the ITMS catalog - this at least makes it much easier to back up your music, and/or shift it to another AAC compatible player that isn't an iPod.

The reason the iPod is so successful is because it's pretty much the best and most intuitive player out there. My gripe isn't with the hardware, only the software that Apple bundles.

I've already put down my money for an iPod Touch to replace my latest 2 month old iPod Nano. And I'll replace that too with an iPhone when they appear here in Europe later in the year - as long as it's fully unlocked.

I'm not buying a Mac though :)

Can anyone explain to me why I need iTunes to play Quicktime content?

A good article.  Apple has always bundled their products more tightly together than Microsoft.  Not only now, but starting back with their Mac OS and proprietary hardware.

I never understood why they got a "free pass" on that.

You don't need iTunes for Quicktime.

www.apple.com/.../download

Microsoft does empower developers, and I absolutely love the fact that I get to work with Visual Studio (with Resharper) every day.

Unfortunately, that's about all Microsoft does (they make an amazing game console too, but its focus is too narrow). The rest of the company is a disaster in the making devoid of any useful innovation or movement toward simple computers. Apple empowers consumers with stuff that "just works."

I would argue that Apple's success isn't because they're locking people into anything (remember, Linux cats make the same claims about Winblows). Apple is successful because they're making products that non-geeks can use and because they're stepping up get the things we want. In the cases where they do have an ecosystem, you're free not to enter it.

I noticed the PC World editorial proclaiming that Apple was the new Microsoft (via this blog ), and I

interesting