Apple is becoming the next MS

[Wiglaf]

I believe i have cracked the case??

Isn't this the equivalent to Sony finding a way to make Gamecube games work on PS2, And then Nintendo stopping that with some fix or patch?

Sure you could say Nintendo is being bad for consumers. But its their product and Apple's i-Music store that makes their respective companies big profits. Apple must look out for it like Nintendo with their gamecube..

[Asher]

That's a great comparison, because Nintendo's Gamecube is declining very rapidly in marketshare and falling out of favor with consumers.

[MarkG]

Originally posted by Asher

I was criticised heavily when I called Real's actions a hack on Apolyton.

It's funny that now those same people are giving to this comment, conceding that I was right.

are you talking about me? please find my quote on this....

[lord of the mark]

The commission's decision is partly based on an array of internal corporate memos, which offer an illuminating picture of Microsoft's own attitudes to its software and business practices. In a memo from Bill Gates, for example, the company's chairman makes it clear that the loyalty of application makers is due not so much to the superiority of Windows as to the difficulty of making Windows applications cross-platform.

"The Windows API is so broad, so deep and so functional that most ISVs would be crazy not to use it," said the Feb. 21, 1997, memo, drafted for Gates by C++ General Manager Aaron Contorer. "It is so deeply embedded in the source code of many Windows apps that there is a huge switching cost to using a different operating system instead. ... It is this switching cost that has given customers the patience to stick with Windows through all our mistakes, our buggy drivers, our high TCO, our lack of a sexy vision at times, and many other difficulties.

"In short, without this exclusive franchise called the Windows API, we would have been dead a long time ago," the memo said.

[Q Classic]

real.
mac fanbois

i really can't support apple's move here, mostly because i hate itunes/windows and can't use an ipod on linux. therefore, i still am pretty certain an ipod isn't for me.

[Agathon]

You are less of a zealot than our vocal Mac users, but you are a fanboy nonetheless. I precisely remember you arguing how superior IE was to Mozilla/Firefox because tabbed browsing was so confusing for the average user.

Yeah, I remember that.

Almost as funny as the time he said that having a big green "X" icon for Excel would confuse users.

You can call me what you like, but at least I'm reasonably consistent.

BTW: I supported Real's actions.

[Dinner]

The anwser is so simple. Right now I refuse to buy any CD player which is designed not to play MP3 CDs. I won't buy from Sony or several other hardware makers because they are trying to tell me what I can or can't do with music I've bought but luckily there are several makers who do sell players which let me decide what I want to play.

Portable Music players are the exact same. There are a ton of great players on the market several of which don't try to force me to only play music I buy from one company. I like competition and having choices there for I have never bought anything from Apple.

[Agathon]

What's really funny is that this update (if it is the one I think it is) came out about six weeks ago.

It must be that insane demand for Real's product which has produced such instant and massive outrage from consumers.

[Agathon]

I like competition and having choices there for I have never bought anything from Apple.

So you'd rather be compelled to use software made by a company convicted of anticompetitive practices.

Windows is a joke. It's about three years behind the Mac OS with regards to things like graphics, search, and security and this will only get worse with the release of the next version of the Mac OS in a few months.

[Imran Siddiqui]

You know, the funny part is that if MS had an mp3 player it would probably do the same thing that Apple is doing here and Asher would back it! Saying something like LOTM is saying with "you buy the player, you also buy the service". He's such a fanboy.

I'm with Aggie. I think Real should have been allowed to continue, but I understand why they were stopped by an Apple hack.

[Atahualpa]

Originally posted by lord of the mark
What makes me think that the demise of the PC will come first?

Possible...

[Agathon]

I think Apple offered Sony compatibility with the iTMS when it first started out, but Sony turned them down because Sony wanted to use ATRAC.

You know, the funny part is that if MS had an mp3 player it would probably do the same thing that Apple is doing here and Asher would back it

Yep. Which shows about how much credibility he has.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
You know, the funny part is that if MS had an mp3 player it would probably do the same thing that Apple is doing here and Asher would back it!

The funny part here is that MS does make an MP3 product, called Portable Media Player, and it is open -- not closed like Apple's.

I would not back anything that artificially closes a market, it's no good to the consumer.

MS developed and promotes an OS and interface (along with codecs, etc) for upcoming MP3 players. The new Zens use a subset of it (WMP sync), and stuff like Creative's Portable Media Center and Samsung's upcoming products use the full-blown OS and interface.

MS may not be making the hardware itself, but that's beside the point -- MS does have a portable media product, and it is open.

Your entire assertion, especially Aggie's assertion about it showing my credibility, has certainly just backfired.

[problem_child]

Re: Apple is becoming the next MS

Originally posted by Atahualpa
It seems that Apple is on the same path as MS. I am sure I won't be getting an iPod after this.
What's that for a company denying people the option to purchase where they want.
It was bad enough that they wouldn't give anybody the chance to download iPod compatible music, but now that a company made it and sold millions of songs, Apple betrayed its users. It can still be justified of course, but I don't think this is user friendly anymore.

If they continue like this we may have Yet Another Microsoft. I've always supported Apple and its products, but at some point you have to say: NO!

*smug chuckle* Finally, the world is beginning to see the light, to know the true nature of that.... APPLE corporation.

Long Live PCs!

Down with Control Freaks!

[Giancarlo]

Originally posted by Oerdin
Apple's just doing what it has always done. Try to lock in users with hardware then deny then choices from competition.

No wonder why it only controls something like 2% of personal computer market...

Apple I think will experience a further decline. Particularly with the Ipod, which I think will fall out of favor pretty soon.

"It's about three years behind the Mac OS with regards to things like graphics, search, and security and this will only get worse with the release of the next version of the Mac OS in a few months."

If you are comparing Windows 95 to Mac OS perhaps. But this is year 2004. It isn't time to live in the past. Furthermore, I'm sure Mac OS has a huge amount of security exploits that haven't been discovered because they control such a miniscule and statistically insigificant part of the market. Hackers are creating security problems for the OS most people own.

"What makes me think that the demise of the PC will come first?"

The issue with this statement is that won't happen. Why? Because of the high amount of competition in the market. It drives down prices and pushes advancement.