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You know I miss the days when Apple (as in Steve) went after Microsoft and IBM with a vengeance. That battle didn't turn out too well for him, but it was fun t

You know I miss the days when Apple (as in Steve) went after Microsoft and IBM with a vengeance. That battle didn't turn out too well for him, but it was fun to watch. It would be fun to see Apple and Google go at it. The history of the PC vs. Mac wars showed us that an open platform (as in able to be installed on any non-apple device) wins over a closed platform controlled by one company. It will be interested to see what happens this time around.

pyre 17y ago
> The history of the PC vs. Mac wars showed us that an open platform (as in able to be installed on any non-apple device) wins over a closed platform controlled by one company. It will be interested to see what happens this time around. Not necessarily. Care to comment on the era where Apple opened itself up to 3rd-party hardware vendors?
- bad_user 17y ago
  When Apple licensed the Mac OS and Mac ROMs to third parties, in '94, the first clones hit the market in '95. The truth of the matter is, they did it too late, and when they did, their competition released Windows 95, and later Windows NT 4 ... which were seen as big improvements over their predecessors, and Mac OS 7 wasn't that great compared to Windows. Practically, it was too little, too late, and it only lasted until 97.
- markkoberlein 17y ago
  I'm not saying that Apple wasn't successful. Just like they have become the "mind share" (RIM still has the market share) leader in the phone market, they ruled the personal computer market before the PC clones and Windows 95. I can see how they had some success during their time with 3rd-party hardware vendors but that was short lived never truly made a big challenge vs. the Win/PC market. Also, this was during the non-Steve Apple and we can be sure that he won't be opening up any Mac OS to third parties because he wants to keep that control. I'm saying that if you look at the entire time period from when Apple had a 90% PC market share to it's less than 10% and compare that to entire Win/PC market you have to say that a system that is open to 3rd parties is more successful than one which is locked down. The iPhone and iPad will probably be better products than any Android powered device but that doesn't matter because history shows that a closed strategy isn't successful in the long run.
  - pyre 17y ago
    > a system that is open to 3rd parties is more successful than one which is locked down. It was competition that won out in that respect. Competition drove down prices. PC hardware became a commodity.
- dagw 17y ago
  The Apple clones where a success for everybody, except Apple. Apple closed down the clone operation because they started cutting into Apple's profit margins. I think that was then Apple decided that they'd rather have a huge slice of a small pie, than a small slice of a huge pie. I don't think Apple cares too much about winning any sort of platform war. They're perfectly happy about being in second place as long as they make the biggest profits.
austinshea 17y ago
I think the PC vs Console software sales showed us that you can make a lot more money, if you have nintendo style control.
- markkoberlein 17y ago
  That's an interesting analogy and I agree with it, but I think the gaming market is more of a niche compared to the general PC and mobile market.
  - hussong 17y ago
    Maybe the iPhone is actually more in the gaming market than the general mobile market?
- pwhelan 17y ago
  Well, most families didn't have computers for a long time, but they did have televisions. Buying a console was much cheaper (and easier to understand). I think that sort of became the SOP as opposed to computers during the rise of gaming. Oh and let's not forget Shigeru Miyamoto's awesomeness helping out :)

pyre 17y ago

> The history of the PC vs. Mac wars showed us that an open platform (as in able to be installed on any non-apple device) wins over a closed platform controlled by one company. It will be interested to see what happens this time around. Not necessarily. Care to comment on the era where Apple opened itself up to 3rd-party hardware vendors?

bad_user 17y ago
When Apple licensed the Mac OS and Mac ROMs to third parties, in '94, the first clones hit the market in '95. The truth of the matter is, they did it too late, and when they did, their competition released Windows 95, and later Windows NT 4 ... which were seen as big improvements over their predecessors, and Mac OS 7 wasn't that great compared to Windows. Practically, it was too little, too late, and it only lasted until 97.
markkoberlein 17y ago
I'm not saying that Apple wasn't successful. Just like they have become the "mind share" (RIM still has the market share) leader in the phone market, they ruled the personal computer market before the PC clones and Windows 95. I can see how they had some success during their time with 3rd-party hardware vendors but that was short lived never truly made a big challenge vs. the Win/PC market. Also, this was during the non-Steve Apple and we can be sure that he won't be opening up any Mac OS to third parties because he wants to keep that control. I'm saying that if you look at the entire time period from when Apple had a 90% PC market share to it's less than 10% and compare that to entire Win/PC market you have to say that a system that is open to 3rd parties is more successful than one which is locked down. The iPhone and iPad will probably be better products than any Android powered device but that doesn't matter because history shows that a closed strategy isn't successful in the long run.
- pyre 17y ago
  > a system that is open to 3rd parties is more successful than one which is locked down. It was competition that won out in that respect. Competition drove down prices. PC hardware became a commodity.
dagw 17y ago
The Apple clones where a success for everybody, except Apple. Apple closed down the clone operation because they started cutting into Apple's profit margins. I think that was then Apple decided that they'd rather have a huge slice of a small pie, than a small slice of a huge pie. I don't think Apple cares too much about winning any sort of platform war. They're perfectly happy about being in second place as long as they make the biggest profits.

austinshea 17y ago

I think the PC vs Console software sales showed us that you can make a lot more money, if you have nintendo style control.

markkoberlein 17y ago
That's an interesting analogy and I agree with it, but I think the gaming market is more of a niche compared to the general PC and mobile market.
- hussong 17y ago
  Maybe the iPhone is actually more in the gaming market than the general mobile market?
pwhelan 17y ago
Well, most families didn't have computers for a long time, but they did have televisions. Buying a console was much cheaper (and easier to understand). I think that sort of became the SOP as opposed to computers during the rise of gaming. Oh and let's not forget Shigeru Miyamoto's awesomeness helping out :)