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About this siteFor six years, the Internet Nexus served as my technology blog, but I've since started blogging at the SuperSite Blog instead. If you're looking for the blog, please head there. --Paul Saturday, August 24, 2002The real difference between Microsoft and Apple......is that Microsoft is big enough to throw project after project against the wall and see what sticks. Apple, meanwhile, is so small that it pretty much has to come up with ideas and only execute on the very best ones. It's debateable which approach will ultimately be more successful. This fall, Apple has a new OS version and a few new interconnectivity apps to brag about. Microsoft has Windows XP SP1, XP Tablet PC Edition (and the new Tablet PC devices), XP Media Center Edition (and the new Media Center PCs), Windows Powered Smart Displays, a new CE .NET version, Windows .NET Server, a new Visual Studio .NET update, a new Windows Messenger version, various new consumer-oriented applications, numerous new PC games and Xbox titles, and so on. I'm probably missing most of what they're doing, to be honest. What's most interesting here is that much of what Microsoft releases this fall will eventually just fail or be rolled into other proudcts (XP Media Center Edition comes to mind) or, in the best tradition of the software giant, simply be pulled along as loss leaders until they're eventually successful. That's what you can do when you rule the world, I guess. Another related note: Because of the relative sizes of the two companies, Microsoft can afford to do a lot more in-house research, while Apple's best ideas (iPod, various XP-like features in Jaguar) have come from outside the company. That means that Microsoft is innovating a lot more than Apple and a lot more than they're given credit for. It's been this way since at least 1994, and I don't see any serious reversal of the trend this decade, though again we should give Apple credit for only executing on their very best ideas. It makes them look focused and, yes, innovative, when in fact they're just running for their lives. But this kind of situation can often bring out the best in companies, just as it does in people. And I think Apple is now executing on strategy better than ever. It's just that the Microsoft tidal wave is also bigger and faster than ever as well. [ Posted at 9:52 AM | Permalink ]
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