Mac'em X

How Apple's Market Share Will Propel Stock to $500, Part 1

Ballmer's comments, as always, are misleading. Whenever someone carelessly tosses off "Apple 3% share vs Microsoft 97% share" (or whatever the actual numbers are), remember:

That 97% represents MS's share of the PC OS market, yes. But to keep things in perspective, what's MS's share of the PC *hardware* market? ZERO. It doesn't sell PCs.

Similarly, several PC hardware makers can boast of hardware shares that beat Apple's, but what's the PC *OS* share of all those makers *combined*? ZERO. They don't make an OS (other than, in some cases, a Linux variant with still-negligible share).

Apple does have something special going on: it holds a comfortable, profitable, and growing position in both PCs and OSs, something its competitors don't do (and IMO don't have the competence to do). Which, by itself, doesn't tell us Apple's going to $500 or even $250. But always put words by the bombastic Ballmer in perspective: He may prefer his 300 million OS customers to Jobs' 10 million OS customers, but he does NOT prefer his ZERO PC customers to Jobs' 10 million PC customers. Ballmer just "forgets" to mention that.

Microsoft Understands Making Money the Hard Way - Earning It

There are some interesting points in the article, Joel, and overall nothing wrong. Except for the title. Other than the passing comment that Windows 7 isn't so bad (compared to the reviled Vista, presumably), there's not a single note to suggest that Microsoft does (or doesn't) understand making money the hard way (or any other way). Did the part of the article about Microsoft get cut out somehow?

Do Mac and Windows Users Read Blogs Differently?

"Do Mac and Windows Users Read Blogs Differently?"

Yes. Windows users move their lips.

(Ba-dump-ching. Just a joke, all.)

Seriously, the data is interesting, yet not surprising. I have no doubt that Mac users will on average be heavier users of new services. I think the reason's simple: They're highly represented by individual purchasers who chose the Mac on their own, and have the freedom to use it how they like. Whereas while many Windows users will also fit a similarly independent profile, many, many more Window users will be using a machine chosen, owned, and managed by an organization, with accordingly less freedom of use.

That's not a dispersion on the Windows users, just an obvious nod to the platform's overwhelmingly huge presence in corporate deployments and other managed organizational settings.

How Soon Can Apple's Market Cap Surpass Microsoft's?

To the author: Interesting short overview. If I may suggest a good follow-up article, how about a comparison of Apple's revenue, earnings, and cash position vs Microsoft's? A lot of people are amazed to find out that Apple is not at all a tiny also-ran...

Microsoft vs. Apple: Monopolist vs. Innovator

@Chris Tom: "Mac'em X you are a fool if you think that the gaming class motherboards from Asus, MSI, DFI, Gigabyte, Foxconn or any major motherboard manufacturer are lower quality than what goes in a Mac..."

You'll want to recheck who your comment is aimed at. I said nothing about motherboards, video cards, or any such thing.

If gaming is your thing, then your dream gaming rig will certainly be something custom made, and not anything off-the-shelf from Dell or Apple or anyone. Build that custom machine! And you might as well top it off with a gaming OS, Windows.

Those of us wanting computers for business or other professional pursuits will often do better with a solid UNIX-based OS - and, for maximum software flexibility, on top of hardware able to run any OS. That might make for the ultimate professional machine, if not the ultimate gaming machine.

Why, it's almost as if different products were ideal for different people! Imagine that!

Microsoft vs. Apple: Monopolist vs. Innovator

Chris Tom says that for gaming, it's Windows all the way. That hits the nail right on the head: Windows is a *gaming platform*. OS X is a professional platform. Microsoft's greatest coup has been fooling the world into believing that its gaming platform is to be used in professional environments.

Unfortunately for MS, the world is wising up. And unfortunately for PC makers, even gamers are saying, "Wait a sec, with Mac hardware I can run *all* games, for Windows, OS X or Linux."

Microsoft vs. Apple: Monopolist vs. Innovator

I certainly agree that Apple is more innovative and creative than Microsoft, but I don't really follow the thesis here. Windows is complex? Yes, but so is Mac OS X. The latter is arguably *more* complex, if we can assume that higher quality = more difficult to create. I've never seen cause to claim that the robust, well-designed software tools that Apple creates are less complex to create than the weak, cobbled-together toys that Microsoft labels business software.

The claim of "twice the price" is false. Yes, Apple hardware is much more expensive than a no-name PC. But a Sony or other name-brand PC is also more expensive than a no-name PC. You need to back up a claim like that with real numbers. (Also, the article is about Apple vs Microsoft, and MS doesn't sell PCs. The product the two have in common is OS software. It's worth noting that at retail, MS's OS costs *more than* Apple's OS.)

The comments about Apple's loyal user base seem to get things backward. I see no reason to claim that Apple gains the freedom to be creative and make a better product because it enjoys a friendly, loyal user base. Rather, it enjoys the friendly, loyal user base because it's creative and makes a better product.

And so on. The conclusion isn't wrong, but the arguments supporting it seem to come out of nowhere.

New Microsoft Ad Targets High Cost of Macs

This ad abuses a tired, weak meme: that buying a Mac is "cool". In reality, owning a Mac is not "cool". Owning a PC is not "cool". "Cool" has nothing to do with real users' purchasing decisions.

Mac buyers choose Macs for value. Productivity. Performance. The combination of OS and hardware offers all of those. The "cool" straw man is an excuse offered by competitors that can't match the value, and a sour-grapes complaint by PC buyers who find they got less than what they paid for.

MS blows another small fortune on an ad campaign that can't find a single positive word to say about actual MS products. Does it get much sadder?

Microsoft: Phenomenal Value for a Tech Stock

Microsoft? Are they still in business?

Is Windows 7 Just a Vista Service Pack?

On Feb 03 03:53 PM numberoneoppa wrote:

> Myself and others who have tested build 7000 (current public
> beta) all agree that thus far Microsoft has definitely taken some
> steps in the right direction with 7.

Myself am looking forward to it!

Microsoft's Windows 7 Is a Threat to Linux - But Watch Out for Google

@Fritzair: "You all rejected Vista because it was too much and too soon"

Huh? Of every 100 comments about Vista I've heard, about... oh, 100... have said that it was too little and too late.

Zune Bug Further Blemishes Microsoft's Consumer Hardware Reputation

It's fortunate that the bug didn't affect all Zune owners. That limited trouble to dozens, not hundreds, of people.

Some say that in recent years, Microsoft has spread its business activities and its marketing messages too wide and thin. I (and my happy 4-year-old iPod) think otherwise. Every seemingly-uncoordinate... activity and apparently-haphazard campaign put forth by Microsoft is actually part of a laser-focused strategy to emblazon a single thought in every mind on Earth:

"MicroWHO?"

Can Zune Compete With iPod?

Funny, just yesterday I had checked up on the Zune on Amazon.com's electronics bestseller list.

The result at the time of my check: there was a Zune at #14 on the list, followed by another around #47:
www.microsplot.com/blo...

Which is pretty much the same sad status as two years ago:
www.microsplot.com/exp...

As you'd expect, the top numbers are heavily dominated by iPods.

Of course, the above makes for one tiny data point, and Amazon rankings can jump wildly, so don't make too much of it! But in any case, there it is.

Microsoft's New $300 Million Makeover

A sad day for Seinfeld and a sad day for his fans.

Microsoft Loses Top Exec to Juniper - Sign of Online Failure

"...successfully launched Windows Vista..." ???

In the same way that Custer successfully fought at Little Bighorn, yes.