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Android Vs. iPhone

Resistance is Futile.
Resistance is Futile.

By: Billy BeerSlugger

With the iPhone 4 coming out later this month and 600,000 pre-sale orders already it’s safe to say that Apple’s new phone is already a hit. The millions of Apple fanboys aren’t going anywhere either. However, it is just completely inevitable that the Android OS will dominate market share on smart phones and eventually tablet PC’s like the iPad.

Why? It’s a simple numbers game and it’s a path that Apple already went down in losing the PC market share to Microsoft in the 90’s. Microsoft has dominated the OS scene because Windows can be installed on any PC. So multiple manufacturers of hardware could focus on the hardware and Microsoft could focus on the OS to run that hardware. Apple has always done both; making the hardware and the OS for it’s electronics and for the most part they do a very good job of it. They pretty much control every aspect of their products and that has lead to a lot of user satisfaction. Unfortunately, Apple being only one company competing with a multitude of hardware manufacturers allowed Windows to become the ubiquitous operating system hovering around 90% of the market.

Google took a page right out of Microsoft’s book and has taken on Apple’s iPhone OS with the open source operating system Android. So once again you have Apple in a situation where they will be competing with multiple hardware vendors and this time the operating system is free. I don’t think it takes Nostradamus  to predict what happens here. You will see Android completely saturate smart phones with Apple in a similar position in terms of iPhone market share as the Mac has been for the last 20 years.

Don’t fret though, Apple isn’t going anywhere and will continue to invade other markets (my bet is an iTV) and innovate as they have done throughout the company history. You would think that they learned from their mistakes in the PC era though.

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Windows 7, Bill Gates Out-Foxes Fox

windows_7_leakBy: Billy BeerSlugger

I’m a PC. Since 1992 and for the foreseeable future I’m sticking with Microsoft through thick and thin.  I wasn’t happy with Vista and didn’t particularly care for Windows XP after Windows 2000. Vista for the most part was riddled with problems and even though the majority of them were fixed in successive Service Packs, the negative press and word of mouth killed it’s ability to be a successful operating system in the mainstream consciousness.  Windows XP was shinier and had a updated graphical interface as opposed to Windows 2000 but also came at the expense of lag. Loading Windows Explorer was considerably slower as well as a host of other things I didn’t find satisfying on a supposed new operating system.

While Windows 7 is essentially a “refined” progression of Vista, it has given my laptop life it did not have in the Vista era.  “Aero” effects that I could run while decreasing my system stability in Vista seem to be of no consequence in 7.  Searching for a file takes seconds not minutes and overall my laptop is more responsive and “feels” better with faster page load times using the interweb and downloading files.  If you’re on a computer as much as i am, multitasking resource consuming applications this is a very good thing!

Overall, I haven’t been this excited about an operating system since Windows 95. It’s really that much of a step in the right direction though not without it’s flaws (as any OS has).  Maybe I’m a little biased given my history of working on PC’s since birth essentially, working on DOS then Windows 3.1 and so on. Or maybe it is my trip to the Microsoft’s campus in 1997 while my father’s company was subcontracted to help fix their help desk and I was able to experience a T1 line well before anyone except large companies had access to anything but dial up internet.  Either way, if you’re running XP or Vista you will be more than pleased if you upgrade given you have the recommended hardware.

But now to the reason why I’m writing this post.  Microsoft has pulled out of an advertising campaign that would have consumed all of the commercials and Windows 7 being worked into the plot of an episode of The Family Guy much like Bud Lite Golden Wheat bought all the commercials on a recent episode of Saturday Night Live.  Microsoft pulled out of the deal citing the episode’s “content was not a fit with the Windows brand.” .   Well I had been following this “breaking news” since it’s announcement and subsequently found it funny that Microsoft would pull out of the on the premises that The Family Guy‘s content was not a fit.  Have they seen an episode of that show?

However, then I thought about it.  Microsoft was in a win-win situation the whole time. Best case they get all the advertising on a show that appeals to the coveted 18 to 40+ market that they want to get the word out to and spend a lot of money doing it.  Second best case scenario, they leak the information on the web about Microsoft buying the entire advertising budget for an episode of Family Guy, wait for the eventual backlash from Microsoft haters and determine whether or not this is a great idea.  Apparently they decided to bail on actually buying the advertising time and but still take the internet buzz about the Microsoft/Family Guy union.  Another in a long line of shrewd Microsoft moves.

Check out the docudrama The Pirates of Silicon Valley for more Apple/Microsoft Steve Jobs/Bill Gates info in it’s infancy up to about 1999. Great stuff if you’re a geek like me.