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Archive for April, 2008

Jobs On Monopolies – Brilliant

Posted by Christian Messer on April 25th, 2008

Thanks to the people at MacDailyNews, I read this great 2004 response from Steve Jobs on monopolies, specifically Microsoft. Brilliant Steve – brilliant.

Excerpts from a BusinessWeek interview with Apple CEO Steve Jobs, October 12, 2004:


BusinessWeek: What can we learn from Apple’s struggle to innovate during the decade before you returned in 1997?


Steve Jobs: Apple had a monopoly on the graphical user interface for almost 10 years. That’s a long time. And how are monopolies lost? Think about it. Some very good product people invent some very good products, and the company achieves a monopoly. But after that, the product people aren’t the ones that drive the company forward anymore.

It’s the marketing guys or the ones who expand the business into Latin America or whatever. Because what’s the point of focusing on making the product even better when the only company you can take business from is yourself? So a different group of people start to move up. And who usually ends up running the show? The sales guy… Then one day, the monopoly expires for whatever reason. But by then the best product people have left, or they’re no longer listened to. And so the company goes through this tumultuous time, and it either survives or it doesn’t.



BusinessWeek: Is this common in the industry?


Steve Jobs: Look at Microsoft — who’s running Microsoft?


BusinessWeek: Steve Ballmer.


Steve Jobs: Right, the sales guy. Case closed.

On Microsoft… | Comments

And Tripping…

Posted by Christian Messer on April 24th, 2008

The other day I came across this diddy from MacDailyNews:

“As PC users clamor for Microsoft to continue to support Windows XP, company CEO Steve Ballmer called the Vista OS ‘a work in progress’ at an annual Seattle event on Thursday,” Nancy Gohring reports for IDG News Service.

“‘It’s a very important piece of work. We did a lot of things right and have a lot of things we need to learn from. You never want to let five years go between releases,’ he said,” Gohring reports.

“While Microsoft recently extended the date when the XP software will be available for low-cost PCs, it doesn’t plan to listen to some other complaints, including that Vista is too big. ‘Vista is bigger than XP and it’s gonna stay bigger than XP,” Ballmer said. “We have to make sure it doesn’t get bigger still,’” Gohring reports.

Ok – how is that possible? Calling your HUGE new product that everybody is counting on, because its been so damn long since an update – a work in progress? I feel your pain people – really. I do.

I can’t count on my fingers and toes how many people I know who have switched because of this, and getting fed up with the work involved with Windows. Of course it helps when they have me as a resource to go to about Apple. I should get a comission. Apple do you hear me?

On Microsoft… | Comments

Microsoft Keeps Tripping

Posted by Christian Messer on April 24th, 2008

Microsoft is losing it. First there was Zune, the company’s direct knock-off of the iPod. What was with the Brown option anyway? Needless to say, it tanked. Yes, it may have sold a million or so – but it doesn’t rival the ipod and its footprint as king.

Then came Vista. Way overdue, pushed back too many times, and then when it came out, a good portion of the Windows world hated it. Now comes the XP users who are trying to get Microsoft to extend the “force quit” date for XP, when the company intends to take it off the store shelves and discontinue support. Here’s a pretty one too:

In a January 7, 2004 e-mail, the chief of the Microsoft Windows team, Jim Allchin wrote to Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer:

“I am not sure how the company lost sight of what matters to our customers (both business and home) the most, but in my view we lost our way. I think our teams lost sight of what bug-free means, what resilience means, what full scenarios mean, what security means, what performance means, how important current applications are, and really understanding what the most important problems [our] customers face are. I see lots of random features and some great vision, but that doesn’t translate into great products. I would buy a Mac today if I was not working at Microsoft… Apple did not lose their way… They think scenario. They think simple. They think fast.”

Do I have to mention that the Zune wasn’t compatible with Vista? Enough said.

On Microsoft… | Comments