Google Chrome OS Targets MS and Ubuntu, Not Apple

While the web weenie in me is extremely excited about the news of a Google web-centric OS for mobile devices, I think that some of the tech press is off in their assertion that Chrome OS in some way will threaten Apple. I don't think Chrome OS will impact Apple in the notebook space anymore than Android has threatened their smartphone dominance. Neither product is targeted at Apple's consumers.

Apple sells a polished digital media experience and targets consumers who want to pay a little more for the quality, simplicity and polish. Google's Chrome OS won't target that same consumer. Google's offerings are all fantastic for what they are - free and good-enough to get the job done. They aren't in any way a threat to Apple who's customers feel that the premium price they pay is an assurance of quality and value. Besides, Google Docs are great for quick and dirty documents but they'll never provide the impact of a Keynote presentation or the pro feel of a Pages production. The web simply doesn't offer that level of software robustness today and won't anytime soon. Apple's customers care more about multimedia than they do productivity tools and Google's offerings simply can't offer the same level of streamlined sophistication or integration that the iLife suite does for managing and creating digital media.

On top of that, Apple has the advantage of deep hardware integration that augments their software in ways that won't be possible with a distributed, open-source OS. Web service integration at the OS level is relatively easy to achieve but it's not the whole story. A truly immaculate computing experience, which is what Apple customers demand, can only be achieved with hardware and software integration.

It's Microsoft that should be most concerned about this development simply because they sell software as their primary source of revenue. Google will give this OS away to anyone that wants to put it on cheap netbook hardware. These budget-conscious "laptop hunter" customers that Microsoft counts on would probably opt for the Chrome netbooks. I don't see Microsoft being able to counter this without completely altering their business model.

What about Ubuntu? While Ubuntu is a perfectly suitable OS for netbooks, it's not the most usable and won't offer the same level of service integration that Chrome OS will. Simply put, it doesn't feel like a product and I don't think it stands a chance against an actual brand.

Ultimately, both Microsoft and Google should both be concerned about Apple's missing netbook. I think we've seen what they can do when they take their time and truly let design happen. They could very well be about to deliver a product that redefines mobile computing in ways that will take the entire computing industry down an entirely different path.

The Macintosh Genesis of PowerPoint

Did you ever wonder how PowerPoint got it's start? Here's a hint - as with most of Microsoft's most successful products, it wasn't cooked up in Redmond.

Check out this MindJet Connections interview with Bob Gaskins, the father of PowerPoint. It's an interesting read.

Microsoft is now a panhandler

Okay, so I knew it was out there but had never seen direct evidence of it before.



The clearest evidence I've seen yet that proves Microsoft has no taste. None whatsoever.

Microsoft In A Gunfight...They've Brought Toy Guns

Microsoft groupie Mary-Jo Foley has a post on her "All About Microsoft" blog asking if the empire should strike back against Apple's marketing campaign. Personally, I don't think Microsoft is in the position to "strike back". Any sort of lashing out they do will be perceived by an already leery public that they're just being big, bad bully Microsoft. Honestly, I don't believe that Microsoft is even capable of countering Apple's campaign given that they simply don't have a compelling consumer product to build it around. At the end of the day, their biggest hindrance is that they can offer no objects of lust. Apple's product line is jam-packed with sexy.

Microsoft is a software company, writing mainly business applications. While software can be sexy, Office is not. Windows is not. We're not talking about gaming consoles or mp3 players so this campaign has to be about their computing experience. Without using venom against their competitors while placing focus on their product, what's their story going to be? Windows One Care is the way to go? Live! is amazingly amazing? You're gonna love the gadget bar in Vista? Our start menu is shiny? There are thousands and thousands of programs...and viruses...written for Windows Vista?

...Microsoft would wake up and smell it's brand rotting.

The NY Times has a pretty good piece on the current state of affairs for MisterSoftee. They basically point out Microsoft's futility in it's attempt to maintain it's status as tech industry leader now that the PC era is waaaay back in the rearview mirror and we're smack-dab in the middle of the internet era. I think that they start to point out some obvious reasons for the inevitability of Microsoft's fall. If you consider this article along with all of the other evidence that has mounted in recent years, you begin to see a larger theme: Microsoft can't innovate. This is a company that essentially built it's breathtaking success upon some amazing business saavy and sheer corporate market brutality. They successfully leveraged some incredibly opportunistic deals and partnerships to hoist a commoditized computing experience upon a doe-eyed market that was still just super-psyched about being able to drag files into the trash. The problem we have for them now is that both the enterprise and the consumer PC markets aren't the impressionable, uninformed pushovers that they were in the 90's. People aren't just looking for a computing experience but they're looking for the best computing experience and they demand convenience. I'll write more on this later but I think you can guess where we're going with this. Anyway, enjoy the article.

I also wanted to point out for my fellow Lotus fans that the article uses the IBM + Lotus acquisition as an example to show how the merge and aquire strategy doesn't always pan out. Lotus was an exciting, innovative software company that has arguably rotted on the vine under IBM's wing.

...more people would share their looney Zune experiences.

Oh this is a good read for anyone that's ever wondered why the Zune sits collecting dust on most Wal-Mart and Toys R Us shelves.  This is my favorite excerpt but it gets so much better...

In the software itself, there are way too many menu options--without the Zune plugged in, there's a two-line menu with five separate options: Collection, Device, Marketplace, Social, and Disc on the top line, and then Music, Playlists, Videos, Pictures, Podcasts on the second line. Plug the device in, and there's one more menu option once you click Device (Status).

Check out the rest here.