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> "in the software business, you can't afford not to have a hacker-centric culture" can be contradicted with a single word. Apple. Since when is Apple a softwa
by mseebach 16y ago
> "in the software business, you can't afford not to have a hacker-centric culture" can be contradicted with a single word. Apple.
Since when is Apple a software company? They make consumer hardware, and the bare minimum of software needed to make this hardware deliver the value users expect. That's why OS X isn't supported on other hardware than Apples own. That's why you need iTunes to interact with your i{Pod/Pad/Phone}, rather than exposing a standard interface.
To Apple, like Yahoo, programming is little more than a commodity.
- brownleej 16y agoIn Paul's essay, he suggested that a software company was any company that needs to have good software. I would say that Apple fits this description.
- wtracy 16y agoOS X and iOS sell Apple hardware. How many people would really buy Macbooks with Vista installed? How many people would really buy iPhones with Symbian installed? Yes, Apple's income technically comes mostly from hardware, but all that would dry up without their software.
- philwelch 16y agoHonestly, if I needed a Windows notebook, I'd still be pretty tempted to go with Apple hardware. Conversely, I'd be loath to carry around a Dell or HP box, even with Mac OS X installed. Apple's hardware is a positive competitive advantage, not just a lock-in scheme for them to extort more money for their software.
- j_baker 16y agoIn the big Steve Jobs/Bill Gates interview a couple years back, I recall Steve saying that Apple is a software company and that the computer is the pretty box it comes in. Although they might require their own hardware, the hardware isn't all that different (from a functionality standpoint) from the hardware that other manufacturers were putting out. So I'm inclined to agree with Steve. Apple is a software company. The hardware is just a pretty box.