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Not a bad article, but it misses the key two words of the whole thing: Price discrimination. Price discrimination is attempting to get the maximum price a per

Not a bad article, but it misses the key two words of the whole thing: Price discrimination. Price discrimination is attempting to get the maximum price a person or organization would be willing to pay. Apple doesn't do that -- they just go 100% upmarket. Microsoft has the challenge of trying to get top dollar from wealthy people using top-notch machines while also preserving all their market share at the low end of the market. It's hard to say which model is better. Apple's is sexier and wins more spectacularly, for sure, and I love Apple. I'm all-in on Apple. But the Apple model is also immensely more prone to catastrophe. Two bad product cycles in a row, or missing an emerging trend and it might be curtains for Apple again. Well, they have the huge cash position. But it could get pretty ugly if they miss the boat, whereas Microsoft can even endure a mess like the huge delay post-XP followed by the heavily-panned Vista, and still be okay.

justjimmy 15y ago
My short time with Apple's OS (4 years), I noticed Apple doesn't make drastic changes but rather alot of tweaks and gradual improvements. (From a UI/UX perspective) Windows on the other hand makes erratic leaps and breaks users' expectation (from previous versions) alot, and have to relearn alot of new flow. (Not just the OS but its Office Suite as well. The Tabbed categorization of Toolbars really frustrated me). Now that with 8, they're shifting their focus, again. Will it work? Who knows – I just know I have to learn everything again, and it's daunting.
- MatthewPhillips 15y ago
  I would categorize Lion's scrolling change to be drastic.
  - justjimmy 15y ago
    Not when the underlying experience exists on iPhone and with the prominence of the touchpad (from MacBooks), it's not a blindsided change.
- UnFleshedOne 15y ago
  Interestingly it is almost opposite picture from developer's point of view -- apple breaks things every major release, windows still supports stuff back from win95 days.
r00fus 15y ago
> Microsoft has the challenge of trying to get top dollar from wealthy people using top-notch machines while also preserving all their market share at the low end of the market. Microsoft doesn't even see it that way. They inherited their monopoly directly from IBM. Their customers are really not consumers, but the PC manufacturers. The revenue Microsoft gets from OS sales directly to consumers is meagre compared to their licensing revenue from manufacturers. And this is the problem - all those windows flavors are their product to sell to the PC Manufacturers (who add drivers, support software, and probably some bloat/trail ware) who sell the actual physical hardware to consumers.

justjimmy 15y ago

My short time with Apple's OS (4 years), I noticed Apple doesn't make drastic changes but rather alot of tweaks and gradual improvements. (From a UI/UX perspective) Windows on the other hand makes erratic leaps and breaks users' expectation (from previous versions) alot, and have to relearn alot of new flow. (Not just the OS but its Office Suite as well. The Tabbed categorization of Toolbars really frustrated me). Now that with 8, they're shifting their focus, again. Will it work? Who knows – I just know I have to learn everything again, and it's daunting.

MatthewPhillips 15y ago
I would categorize Lion's scrolling change to be drastic.
- justjimmy 15y ago
  Not when the underlying experience exists on iPhone and with the prominence of the touchpad (from MacBooks), it's not a blindsided change.
UnFleshedOne 15y ago
Interestingly it is almost opposite picture from developer's point of view -- apple breaks things every major release, windows still supports stuff back from win95 days.

r00fus 15y ago

> Microsoft has the challenge of trying to get top dollar from wealthy people using top-notch machines while also preserving all their market share at the low end of the market. Microsoft doesn't even see it that way. They inherited their monopoly directly from IBM. Their customers are really not consumers, but the PC manufacturers. The revenue Microsoft gets from OS sales directly to consumers is meagre compared to their licensing revenue from manufacturers. And this is the problem - all those windows flavors are their product to sell to the PC Manufacturers (who add drivers, support software, and probably some bloat/trail ware) who sell the actual physical hardware to consumers.