Platform Crisis: The Tentacles of Legacy
27 November 2006 12:51 EST
PowerPage Contributor
After reliance on isolationist development using proprietary technologies, the second factor of platform crisis involves embracing the suffocating tentacles of long term legacy support. Here’s how legacy plays into the past, present, and future plans of Apple and Microsoft, and what it means for users of their products.
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Contributed by: Daniel Eran, RDM
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Apple and Microsoft: Platform Crisis Meltdown
27 November 2006 12:00 EST
PowerPage Contributor
How Apple and Microsoft have both used and fallen prey to four factors of software development disaster in the past and today. Read More...
Contributed by: Daniel Eran, RDM
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The Secrets of Pink, Taligent and Copland
26 November 2006 07:09 EST
PowerPage Contributor
After Hitting the Wall in Mac System 7 development, Apple desperately needed a plan for the future. The isolationist, proprietary development style that had formerly differentiated Apple’s products now stood in the way of the company’s very survival. The same situation applies to Microsoft today.
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Contributed by: Daniel Eran, RDM
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5 Success Factors for Next Generation Game Consoles
22 November 2006 04:00 EST
PowerPage Contributor
Five primary factors will determine the winner in the new generation of consoles. Here ’s a look at the obvious differentiators between Sony’s PlayStation 3, Microsoft’s Xbox 360, and Nintento’s Wii, and how each company plays out a unique strategy in the bid to sell the most consoles
Contributed by: Daniel Eran, RDM
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PlayStation 3 vs. Xbox 360 vs. Nintendo Wii
21 November 2006 03:40 EST
PowerPage Contributor
The Sony PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii both jumped into the game console ring to compete against Microsoft's Xbox 360. Who is going to win? A half decade ago, many analysts projected a close race between the PS2, Xbox, and GameCube, but they were wrong. Here's how things turned out, and what's changed.
Contributed by: Daniel Eran, RDM
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Apple's Mac OS X Leopard and Microsoft's Vista 5: Development Challenges
20 November 2006 09:00 EST
PowerPage Contributor
Interesting look at how Apple and Microsoft have followed identical development patterns -- so similar they are almost spooky -- and how those patterns play out in comparing Leopard and Vista.
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Contributed by: Daniel Eran, RDM
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Apple's Mac OS X Leopard and Microsoft's Vista 4: Naked Sales
20 November 2006 08:00 EST
PowerPage Contributor
Apple's Mac OS X Leopard and Microsoft's Vista follow different strategies in their prerelease marketing, product positioning, and market positioning. Here's a look at how both differ in product integration.
Contributed by: Daniel Eran, RDM
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Apple's Mac OS X Leopard and Microsoft's Vista: A Risk Strategy
17 November 2006 12:37 EST
PowerPage Contributor
PC enthusiasts like to scoff at the market share of Macs in comparison to worldwide computer sales. They view the worldwide PC market like a simple board game of Risk, where market leaders Dell and HP have more armies scattered over more territories, and Apple only has armies places in a few.
Contributed by: Daniel Eran, RDM
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Digital fragility
16 November 2006 12:53 EST
PowerPage Contributor
Saw this posted on the gym wall this morning.
Made me wonder how many years of work are sitting on flash memory. The millions of 'priceless memories' that exist as JPEGs on digital cameras and mobile phones. Entire music collections on MP3 players.
Most of them won't be backed-up. Terabytes of data, all of it an absent-minded moment, or a 'format this drive' away from oblivion.
I haven't backed up my laptop for weeks.
I'll be doing it this evening.
Contributed by: Brett Jordan
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Mac OS X Leopard vs Windows Vista 2: The Indirect Choice
15 November 2006 08:14 EST
PowerPage Contributor
Apple is strongest where Microsoft is weakest, and vice versa. Despite the intense interest in pitting Apple against Microsoft, Leopard and Vista simply aren't direct competitors.
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Contributed by: Daniel Eran, RDM
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Leopard vs Vista 1: Prerelease Marketing
15 November 2006 08:05 EST
PowerPage Contributor
The biggest hurdle in directly comparing Mac OS X Leopard against Windows Vista is that Apple and Microsoft have very different marketing strategies, particularly when it comes to prerelease software. Why is Apple so Secretive? described this in greater detail. Here's the difference of 'known knowns.'
Contributed by: Daniel Eran, RDM
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The Danger of DRM
12 November 2006 11:14 EST
PowerPage Contributor
The market for digital music was repressed for nearly a decade prior to the arrival of Apple's iPod. Here's why digital music languished for so long, how Apple was able to build a digital business, and why rivals are struggling to turn back the clock and return digital downloads into a legal black hole of onerous restrictions.
Contributed by: Daniel Eran, RDM
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The Digg Fraud Campaign Behind Zune
11 November 2006 11:01 EST
PowerPage Contributor
The problem with the anonymous Internet is that services like Digg fail to exercise any of the accountability of traditional news sources, and are happy to be used to spread false information if it results in ad clicks. That’s something that Apple has the power to change, but who knows when?
Contributed by: Daniel Eran, RDM
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Apple's Adventures in Retail
11 November 2006 07:19 EST
PowerPage Contributor
Along with producing its own unique software, Apple's retail efforts are largely overlooked as a major component of the company's recent success.
Here's how Apple got started in a rotten economic climate ripe with naysayers. Read More...
Contributed by: Daniel Eran, RDM
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Strike 3: Why Zune will Bomb this Winter
10 November 2006 11:13 EST
PowerPage Contributor
The Microsoft iPod-Killer Myth already outlined why Microsoft's overall online media strategy has tanked so far, but the Zune faces three additional strikes this winter that will prevent it from making any headway in its goal to unseat the iPod.
Contributed by: Daniel Eran, RDM
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Apple's Retail Challenge
07 November 2006 10:07 EST
PowerPage Contributor
For Apple to make any progress in selling Macs, it would need to figure out how to do retail itself. To get started, Apple took a few pointers from Dell. As Steve Jobs said: "We're coming after you, buddy!"
Contributed by: Daniel Eran, RDM
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Marketing Macs in a PC World
06 November 2006 09:00 EST
PowerPage Contributor
An accidental discovery was key to Apple's recovery but it wasn't the only way the new Apple revitalized its Mac platform. Another contributing factor involved learning how to effectively sell its products.
Contributed by: Daniel Eran, RDM
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How CPR Saved Apple
23 October 2006 05:14 EST
PowerPage Contributor
Apple's efforts to boost market share in the 90's not only failed, but distracted the company away from what was the really critical problem: potential new customers had no reason to buy a Mac. Here's how CPR from NeXT saved the company.
Contributed by: Daniel Eran, RDM
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Why Apple Failed
21 October 2006 10:43 EST
PowerPage Contributor
Why Apple's market share always been low, and why it failed to make any progress in the 90's. Here's an interesting look at why the Mac fell into crisis, and why the solutions of PC analysts--to be more like Dell, HP and Microsoft--didn't work, leaving Apple to find its own turnaround strategy.
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Contributed by: Daniel Eran, RDM
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Zune Myths: Wireless, Markets, and BROWN
20 October 2006 08:14 EST
PowerPage Contributor
The latest iPod Killer from Microsoft has raised a lot of questions. RDM is full of answers! Here’s why many analysts are getting it all wrong on competition, markets, squirting and Brown.
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Contributed by: Daniel Eran, RDM
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Ten More Myths of Zune
18 October 2006 12:22 EST
PowerPage Contributor
"Ten iPod vs. Zune Myths" took apart the spin on Zune, but there’s plenty left to examine. Here’s a look at the whimpers of jilted executives, painful marketing drivel and fan speak, the geeky in-jokes, as well as the market realities and technical problems facing everyone’s favorite iPod Killer. Read More...
Contributed by: Daniel Eran, RDM
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Vista and Parallels: Pony Up
16 October 2006 08:17 EST
Jason D. O'Grady
Microsoft's latest licensing salvo on Vista means you pay more for the same experience.
As a part of Vista's new licensing procedures, Microsoft has announced that only Vista Business and Ultimate will be legally permitted to be installed in a virtual machine. Parallels is a virtual machine. This means that in order to have a legal install of Vista on Parallels, you must have either Business or Ultimate.
Of course, there is nothing stopping you from installing Vista Home or Premium in Parallels, Windows Genuine Advantage and Activation will not block Home versions of Vista from being installed in Windows. Microsoft has only stated their interpretation of the license... we won't be able to analyze the license itself until it is released.
Windows has in the past made sketchy details about licensing, opening OEMs to legal threats of being forced to refund the cost of Windows, should a user chose to install Linux on their system. And while Microsoft ex-post-facto can chose to say whatever they wish about the license... it may not be legally binding.
In short, you won't get in any trouble legally for installing Vista Home (Basic or Premium) in Parallels, but Microsoft says you shouldn't. Considering Parallels only takes advantage of the full feature set of Home Basic, it appears that while Microsoft says no, the actual answer is yes, you can.
Contributed by: Christopher Price - www.pcsintel.com
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Apple and Microsoft: Planting Software Seeds
16 October 2006 08:11 EST
PowerPage Contributor
How the two tech giants watched each other for ideas to copy and failures to avoid. Busts the "Myth of Expensive Macs" and the "Apple could have been Microsoft Myth". Plus the $10,000 computers of 1990, and how both provide value with integrated products.
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Contributed by: Daniel Eran, RDM
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Why the World Went Windows
16 October 2006 08:10 EST
PowerPage Contributor
How Microsoft combined savvy marketing, fortunate events, and fraudulent marketing to take the tech world by storm, displace terminals and Unix workstations, challenge the Macintosh, and build an empire.
Contributed by: Daniel Eran, RDM
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Platform Death Match! 1990-1995: Apple vs. Microsoft in the Enterprise
12 October 2006 04:01 EST
PowerPage Contributor
"Why Apple Will Change TV" compared how Apple is poised for success in areas where Microsoft is currently failing. But circumstances are subject to change!
Just over a decade ago, Apple began facing serious legacy problems with its platform, with many parallels to today's Microsoft. Examining Apple's dramatic fall provides a series of notable platform lessons that no company should ignore.
A look at the forgotten failure of Apple's PowerTalk.Read More...
Contributed by: Daniel Eran, RDM
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The Secret Failures of Microsoft
11 October 2006 12:01 EST
PowerPage Contributor
The big corporations partering with Microsoft suggest that the company knows what it's doing, but real the secret is that Microsoft hasn't ever earned significant profits in the consumer hardware business. Here's why DRM is the least of the Zune's worries!
Contributed by: Daniel Eran, RDM
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Why Microsoft Can't Compete With iTunes
10 October 2006 10:56 EST
PowerPage Contributor
Secret answers that expose a series of myths about Microsoft’s ability to own new markets, how it uses its monopoly in the PC industry, and why its monopoly position won't be of any help in fixing the company's broken retial consumer electronics strategies.
Contributed by: Daniel Eran, RDM
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iTV Interactive: The Apple Game Console?
09 October 2006 10:14 EST
PowerPage Contributor
Unlike the passive entertainment of TV, interactive content involves users. There's nothing entirely new, just a wide open markets for Apple to target with the iTV: games and entertainment, e-learning, Gutenberg text and hyperlinked PDF eBooks, live web clippings in Dashboard Widgets... What's next for TV!
Contributed by: Daniel Eran, RDM
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How Apple's Original Content Will Change Entertainment
09 October 2006 08:00 EST
PowerPage Contributor
Steve Jobs has connections in music, movies, and TV - how long before Apple begins commissioning original programming? Here's a look at the music, movie and TV business, and why Apple's involvement in each is far larger than the mainstream media seems to understand.
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Contributed by: Daniel Eran, RDM
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Where is Apple Going?
06 October 2006 12:00 EST
As a computer company, the path seems pretty straightforward. Apple has transitioned to Intel processors and Leopard will take running Windows on a Mac out of beta. Market share is rising, price points are great for most machines and performance is where it needs to be. Also, the product line looks great.
Portables
MacBooks are probably the biggest hit Apple has had since the original iMac. The MacBook Pro is due for a new Core 2 Duo processor and should be through with initial teething problems by then. The iMac and mini are great consumer machines and the Mac Pro has moved to Intel along with the Xserves. What's not to like?
iPods in Transition
The second generation iPod nano is by far the best music player Apple has ever produced. It's smaller than the original nano, but with the superior industrial design of the iPod mini. There is something so appealing about this design. It's cleaner than the split stainless and plastic casing of the original iPods with a durable anodized finish. The iPod shuffle also benefits from this aluminization.
I broke with Jason when he panned the original iPod shuffle. I liked the concept and thought the product was neat and clean. The new Shuffle with integral clip and aluminum finish is gorgeous. Maybe O'Grady was right about the original. Suffice it to say, that the second-generation shuffle is near perfect now.
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(Contributed by Bob Snow)
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Apple iTV Promises Alternative Content
06 October 2006 12:29 EST
PowerPage Contributor
Apple's iTV promises the delivery of shared content created by individuals: independent, amateur, and academic. Alternative content is huge, even if, like personal content, there's not usually a direct business model to support it. What's next for TV and podcasting:
Contributed by: Daniel Eran, RDM
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Five Ways Apple Will Change TV: #2 Personal Content
05 October 2006 12:30 EST
PowerPage Contributor
The previous article considered how Apple is pioneering delivery of on-demand commercial content, in particular music, movies and television programming. Apple also has investments in the production of that content, with pro software tools such as Final Cut Pro and Logic, as well as hardware engineered for audio and video production work, from the Mac Pro to the Xserve RAID.
Apple also builds production tools for a wider audience: the rest of us. Apple's digital hub may have started with iTunes, but now it's a suite that includes iMovie, GarageBand and iPhoto. Each is designed to catalog and polish personal content.
Contributed by: Daniel Eran, RDM
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Five Ways Apple Will Change Your TV #1
04 October 2006 12:51 EST
PowerPage Contributor
Why Apple Will Change TV presented similarities between the iPod and iTV, and introduced how Apple is poised to add value to existing content using the iTV in much the same way that the iPod added value to CD and MP3 music collections. Here's the first of Five Ways Apple Will Change Your TV.
Contributed by: Daniel Eran, RDM
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10 iPod vs. Zune Myths
03 October 2006 10:18 EST
PowerPage Contributor
Poor Microsoft! Its abandonment of PlaysForSure partners and other strategies related to its solo iPod killer efforts have been mercilessly attacked before the company can even get the new device into the hands of users.
On top of that, it's also facing stiff competition in pricing. However, according to proponents of Ten iPod vs Zune Myths, the Zune is technically superior, with brilliant wireless sharing features, and will be able to compete with Apple’s iPod as a cheap loss leader. Ahem. They're wrong, here's why.
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Contributed by: Daniel Eran, RDM