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I disagree. It's more about money than innovation. The non-copy arrangement that Microsoft & Apple have led to Windows Phone which I think most would agree is t
by jsz0 14y ago
I disagree. It's more about money than innovation. The non-copy arrangement that Microsoft & Apple have led to Windows Phone which I think most would agree is the most unique and maybe the most innovative platform. Would consumers be better off if Microsoft could have puked out an iOS/Android clone instead? Arguably Windows Phone as we know it may be suffering commercially because it is a departure from the iOS/Android model. So in this case is being less innovative actually a smarter business move? If so that's really troubling. We are not seeing small companies getting stomped out over patents but instead giants fighting over who gets the most money selling essentially the same basic products.
- randomfool 14y agoWhat non-copy arrangement? AFAIK Microsoft and Apple have fairly broad cross-licensing agreements, and that some of the items that Apple has been suing Android for infringing are implemented on Windows Phone as well.
- josephlord 14y agoIt seems to have emerged that: 1) Microsoft has a cross license deal with Apple. Samsung's license 'offer' from Apple included discounts when using licensed OSes and the example was MS provided OSes. 2) Said deal include terms requiring Microsoft to make products that aren't too similar to the iPhone although I'm not sure how that is defined.
- bborud 14y ago> Would consumers be better off if Microsoft could have puked out an iOS/Android clone instead? No, and I'll tell you why: if Microsoft felt they could have made an UI that followed the new design language that is about to become canonical for smart phones, more consumers would be tempted to buy Windows Phones. If Microsoft were to make a comeback and become a dominant player it is 100% guaranteed to result in zero innovation. Microsoft NEVER innovates when in a dominant position. So in a sense, Microsoft condemning themselves to irrelevance by having to desperately invent new designs that don't actually work IS good for the consumer. In a roundabout sort of way.
- sigkill 14y agoNot to forget that Microsoft is pushing metro everywhere. If somehow Windows 8 becomes a success with the consumer market, I see limitless demand for Metro tablets and consequently metro phones.
- WayneDB 14y agoIncorrect. Microsoft invented XmlHttpRequest during the time that they had the dominant browser. They also brought Windows from 95 to NT, 2000 and 7, with plenty of innovation, during the time that they had the dominant operating system.
- bborud 14y agoYeah, that really moved the goalposts further afield.
- xyzzyz 14y agoMicrosoft invented XmlHttpRequest during the time that they had the dominant browser. Ability to make HTTP requests from JavaScript can hardly be described as innovation -- all the other languages had this far earlier. The innovation, though, was using XHR to create highly dynamic web applications without refreshing page, and it wasn't Microsoft that started doing it at large scale.