Apple is building a new platform, and applying lessons it learned from the 90s, when tried to launch the Newton as a new platform. Like the original Macintosh from a decade prior, the Newton started as one product, and intended to branch out into a range of systems. Here’s why it failed and the lessons to be learned.
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Contributed by: Daniel Eran, RDM

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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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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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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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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
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Contributed by: Daniel Eran, RDM

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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.
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Contributed by: Daniel Eran, RDM

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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 follow different strategies in their prerelease marketing, product positioning, and market positioning. Here’s a look at how both differ in product integration.
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Contributed by: Daniel Eran, RDM

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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.
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Contributed by: Daniel Eran, RDM

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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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