Microsoft has been chasing Apple for a while now, but chasers never win, because they depend on whom they are chasing for instructions. They even hired the Apple store firm to do their stores. Now they are making notebooks at Apple's price points.
What's ironic is Microsoft has often tried things first. They tried tablets and hybrid laptops and smartphones before Apple. They even tried flat design before Apple. They have ideas, but some of their products have been just awful.
Microsoft still leads in the living room with xbox, the office with Office, and in the market (or big parts of it) with affordable computers. They're actually killing it with their smart phone apps and the subscription model. They even seem to be embracing open source. These are core strengths, and are areas where they are actually ahead.
Yet, by doing as Apple does, only later and weaker, the conversation is always about Apple being better and ahead. And the kicker is, it's true. It's hard working around the truth in America when it's this blatantly obvious.
I'd love to see Microsoft open source Windows and make it a subscription. I'd love to see them put Windows 10 on every device and produce a phone that could run the real photoshop, just as a statement, even if it sucks. I'd love to see them define a new laptop that OEMs could build instead of selling one and competing with them. I'd love to hear a competing philosophy and not just a product.
If anything, what they lack is philosophy, and a face that speaks it. What I'd love to see is a philosopher sharing ideas and inspiring an audience... I would do anything to see Steve Jobs again.
Windows 8 was not stronger. Microsoft Tablet PC was a modest attempt in 2002, but again, not stronger.
The issue with the Surface Book is how closely they intentionally align themselves with their biggest competitor. They are begging for a comparison. And I could have easily mistaken the page for a 2002 Tablet PC overview. Only the pictures are different. "Redefining the laptop" is hardly inspiring copy.
Which demo? Any great quotes?
FYI I have an iPhone like everyone else, but work on a PC. I'm not on either side.
Are you really comparing the company that just put out the Macbook (oh wow a thinner than thin enough MBA with a higher res display, no ports, worse battery, worse CPU, worse GPU, for a much higher price) and the iPad Pro (wow a bigger iPad with a pen many other tablets and laptops already had covered, that you have to charge by sticking it into the iPad like an idiot [0], to Microsoft which just demo'd a pretty damn awesome laptop which is priced like a MBP, but has touch, a pen, can work as a tablet and outperforms the MBP, alongside the newest iteration of the tablet, a phone that can work as a PC and let's not forget the Hololens which is a genuine innovation unlike anything Apple is doing, and the latter is just playing catch up? Come on, talk about bias.
So when Apple is obviously working on a self-driving car, you'd say that Apple is aligning themselves intentionally with their biggest competitor and 'begging for a comparison' to Google? Or not? Or when they finally allow adblockers, finally allow split screen, finally have a low-battery mode, finally add (private) NFC, jumped on the smartwatch bandwagon, jumped on the bigger-phone bandwagon, they're also begging for comparisons and aligning themselves with the competition? When Apple copied the Surface Pro's, and finally shipped a pencil after Jobs bashed them for years, they're also begging for a comparison?
Innovation doesn't always have to be some grand scheme that is completely unprecedented and radically different from everything else. Microsoft is engineering real innovations that are valuable and share some similarities with competitors, just like Google or Apple do, alongside of which it has some big ideas that nobody is really pursuing like the Hololens. I think you're giving them too little credit here.
Unabst was apparently of the opinion (above and in his deleted message) that the lack of innovation in the headline was much more significant than the massive innovation in the product.
Seems to me that if Apple had produced the Surface Book, Mac fans would be wetting themselves so hard that a lot of people would drown....
Please stop putting words in my mouth or those of Mac fans. I stated a simple fact, but got downvoted, so I gave up. Glad you admitted there was a lack of innovation somewhere though.
> Mac fans would be wetting themselves so hard that a lot of people would drown
> the conversation is always about Apple being better
Apple has done well. They have made great products and when my daughter needed a phone I bought her an iPhone.
But today is not a moment in time where the conversation is about Apple being better. In fact, people seem genuinely enthused with what Microsoft has created today.
Microsoft has been around a long time and so has Apple. The company that can continue to adapt will continue to stay in business. Microsoft has shown a capacity to do this and today reflects this well.
What's ironic is Microsoft has often tried things first. They tried tablets and hybrid laptops and smartphones before Apple. They even tried flat design before Apple. They have ideas, but some of their products have been just awful.
Microsoft still leads in the living room with xbox, the office with Office, and in the market (or big parts of it) with affordable computers. They're actually killing it with their smart phone apps and the subscription model. They even seem to be embracing open source. These are core strengths, and are areas where they are actually ahead.
Yet, by doing as Apple does, only later and weaker, the conversation is always about Apple being better and ahead. And the kicker is, it's true. It's hard working around the truth in America when it's this blatantly obvious.
I'd love to see Microsoft open source Windows and make it a subscription. I'd love to see them put Windows 10 on every device and produce a phone that could run the real photoshop, just as a statement, even if it sucks. I'd love to see them define a new laptop that OEMs could build instead of selling one and competing with them. I'd love to hear a competing philosophy and not just a product.
If anything, what they lack is philosophy, and a face that speaks it. What I'd love to see is a philosopher sharing ideas and inspiring an audience... I would do anything to see Steve Jobs again.