I’ve been involved in personal computer industry for the past 25 years and for almost that entire time Microsoft and Apple have slugged it out. Some of the behind the scenes behaviors from both companies have been downright nasty – maybe someday I’ll write them. About 15 years ago, Apple was almost left for dead but Microsoft couldn’t land the knock-out punch. Apple’s recovery was nothing short of amazing and in past few years Apple has won a number of battles (ex. iPod over Zune), and on TV you can’t help but laugh when a cool and calm (and somewhat smug) “MAC” is always getting the upper-hand on the frazzled and drab “PC”. But, the war is waged on many fronts. From financial perspective, it’s still Microsoft that has the biggest punch and war chest. In the last financial quarter Microsoft made $4.0 billion and had over $31 billion in the bank without any debt. That said, Apple is doing better with each passing quarter and has amassed over $20 billion in liquid assets although they have a bit of debt to go with it. (You can look the financials of each company in the links below).
Microsoft Financials http://www.microsoft.com/msft/earnings/FY09/earn_rel_q4_09.mspx#income
Apple Financials http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bs?s=AAPL
In the coming few months you’ll see the battle return to its traditional battleground; the operating system. Next month Apple will release OS X 10.6 (also called Snow Leopard) and this will be followed by the formal release of Microsoft’s Windows 7. Much like politics, there are many people that will vote on which is superior based on their current ‘party’ allegiance. But, also like the political arena I detect a growing number of folks moving toward the middle and independence. This particular battle will not be the final one in this war but I do think it could be a turning point. It feels as though the momentum has been in Apple’s favor for quite some time and this will be Microsoft’s best chance in the foreseeable future to gain some of their own. Below are some links comparing the standard desktop wallpapers that will be included with both Snow Leopard and Windows 7. Its most just eye-candy stuff and certainly not a reason to choose one over the other, but maybe it’s an indication of what we’ll discover as we explore each one in depth. Check out these links and decide for yourself….
Snow Leopard Desktop Wallpapers http://creativebits.org/inspiration/snow_leopard_desktop_pictures
Windows 7 Desktop Wallpapers http://creativebits.org/inspiration/windows_7_wallpapers
My two favorites both come from Apple: Leaf and Pond Reeds. So in my opinion, the first blow in this battle has been landed by Apple.
-By Bob Burnett
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