Some equilibrium, please

Published on Tuesday, August 30th, 2005

First, I guess you need to check the description of equilibrium in the dictionary. Done? Great, let’s go to my rant.
I get tired when people criticize the hell out of Microsoft all the time, just for the sake of it. I’m not a Microsoft lover, and I do think they definitely deserve some of the bashing they get. But take a look at these examples:

Microsoft bundles their own web browser, IE, in Windows
While Microsoft are in courts, trying to not get the company split up, Apple bundles their own web browser, Safari, in Mac OS X. No one says anything.
Microsoft includes Windows Media Player in Windows
Microsoft has to battle in the European Union Court to find a compromise. Concurrently, Apple includes iTunes in Mac OS X, and I don’t see anyone raving about that either.

How long will it take before someone sues Microsoft for having the Windows Picture and Fax Viewer in Windows XP (and the same time no one will even mention iPhoto)?

Also, to me as a Windows user, it’s enormously annying that Apple forces me to download iTunes if I only want to download QuickTime to watch a movie clip.

I know Microsoft are huge, I know some of the things they do stifle competition. But to me, either something’s good business practice or bad business practice, no matter who does it. So please, give me a break; be consistent (and have some self-distance) when it comes to your criticism.

Some equilibrium, please.

 

PS. A funny sidenote is that Apple’s headquarter is nowhere to be found in MSN’s Virtual Earth. DS.

Posted in Apple/Mac, General | 15 comments

15 comments

  • Faruk AteÅŸ
    August 30th, 2005 at 12:24

    The difference between Apple and Microsoft in those examples is that Apple’s products aren’t the cause of unbelievable amounts of agony, frustration, irritation and hatred.

    Their behaviour is the same, yes, but it’s quite obvious (to me) why people don’t complain about Apple’s behaviour in said examples.

  • Faruk AteÅŸ
    August 30th, 2005 at 12:44

    Also worthwhile to note is that Apple is a niche market at this point, whereas Windows is dominating. Their enforcements apply to a LOT more people than Apple’s, and beyond that, most people who use Apple are doing so by choice, something that can’t be said about Windows. At least not until hardware vendors start offering the choice between Windows and Mac OS X (x86) as the default OS.

  • Robert Nyman - author
    August 30th, 2005 at 13:12

    Faruk,

    Thanks for your comment.
    I can understand why Apple end users don’t complain, and I know that their choice of OS has usually been a more active one.

    But what I’m saying here is that they should both be judged the same way, if it’s good or bad business practice to bundle certain software inj the OS etc.

    What happens if Apple get 80% of the market? Is it time then for Windows fanactics to encourage lawsuits against Apple for the programs (above mentioned and others) that they include by default in Mac OS X?

  • Kalle Wibeck
    August 30th, 2005 at 13:20

    Ooh, an OS war coming up ;)
    The only reason Microsoft has been brought to court is that they’ve been sued, right!? And the onces suing them are of course manufacturers of none-MS alternatives to IE and MediaPlayer.
    It’s true that the size of MS plays a big role here, everybody sane software company want a piece of that cake, right!?
    But the question is; Is it fair to treat companies completely different for the same behaviour? No, of course not.
    The same day that everybody wants “a piece of the Mac cake”, i believe Mr Jobs can look forward to a court sitting too…

    Faruk: I use MS by choice, it was the first platform I learned and tend to stick to it since my knowledge gives me more advantages in the windows environment… but I was forced to use a Mac while I was working as a webdesigner in a small advertising bureau a few years ago, hmmm I can see a glitch in your arguments here ;)

    // Kalle

  • Jeroen Mulder
    August 30th, 2005 at 13:23

    The impact on bundling software on the Mac might be much less significant than on Windows. And even though the software Microsoft produces is considered ‘crappy’, it still doesn’t justify unfair competition. Bundling is unfair competition, in my opinion.

    Microsoft and Apple have every right to bundle software though. It’s their platform, but if we’re going to shoot down Microsoft for doing so, at least be consistent and apply the same to everyone else, including Apple. I bet Konfabulator’s marketshare on the Mac has dropped significantly with the introduction of Dashboard. Can’t believe it has done them any good :-)

    I don’t think Robert’s entry is as much an attack on Apple, as it really is a wake-up call to people that continiously bitch at Microsoft (or Apple or anyone else for that matter) for being a commercial company.

  • Robert Nyman - author
    August 30th, 2005 at 13:37

    Kalle,

    Is it fair to treat companies completely different for the same behaviour? No, of course not.

    Jeroen,

    I don’t think Robert’s entry is as much an attack on Apple, as it really is a wake-up call to people that continiously bitch at Microsoft…

    Thank you guys for getting my point! It’s not about Microsoft vs. Apple, it’s about principles and being consistent in judging.

  • Lars Kasper
    September 7th, 2005 at 10:59

    Well, there is no problem if a company ships its software with its operating system. And today, an operating system without a browser or a media player is unimaginable. In my opinion, every software company should ship its OS with elementary, basic software, like a Web browser, mail reader, news reader (one for NNTP, one for RSS/Atom), media player, …

    There is a problem if a company forces the hardware vendors (like Dell, HP, …) to ship the OS without any addional software. As far as I remember, Microsoft forbade hardware vendors to install additional software like Netscape Navigator, Sun‘s Java, etc. on their products.

  • Robert Nyman - author
    September 7th, 2005 at 14:07

    Lars,

    Thanks for your comment.

    Regarding your second paragraph: yes, that’s when it becomes a problem, as well as bad business practice. But up to that point, it should be up to the company do ship what they want.

  • Henrik
    September 9th, 2005 at 20:30

    Is equilibrium the correct word for this?
    The swedish word is “jämvikt”. Doesn’t quite fit… Fairness or objectivity are words I’d opt for perhaps :)
    Anyway, I agree totally with you. Commented something along the same lines at IDG yesterday.

  • Robert Nyman - author
    September 11th, 2005 at 11:58

    Henrik,

    Is equilibrium the correct word for this? The swedish word is “jämvikt”. Doesn’t quite fit…
    Fairness or objectivity are words I’d opt for perhaps

    I have three replies to that. :-)

    1) This blog is in English, so it doesn’t relly matter what it translates to in Swedish, does it? ;-)

    2) What I was looking for was a word in style with the description linked to above:

    In general, a system is said to be in a state of equilibrium if all influences on the system are cancelled by the effects of others.

    3) Of course, “fairness”and “objectivity” would be good words for it too, but I wanted to use a title for it that would make it stand out a little more. :-)

    Apparently I’m just rambling here! :-)
    Anyway…

    I’m glad that you share my opinions about this. :-)

  • shannon
    October 21st, 2005 at 21:35

    A side note- wanted to inform anyone interested that there is an installer for QuickTime without iTunes (although it’s been hidden well) http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/standalone.html

  • Robert Nyman - author
    October 22nd, 2005 at 10:28

    shannon,

    Thanks for the tip!

  • Gustaf
    January 18th, 2006 at 9:15

    Bundeled softare is nice — it reduces the time it takes to get a working system up and running. Diskspace is cheap and harddrives are large today, so I generally don’t see a problem.

    What I do not like is not having the option of selecting what software should be installed (it’s also nice to have a range of software to select from, but it’s understandable that MS does not want to ship netscape or firefox bundeled or preinstalled with windows). I don’t like that interoperability becomes dependency either, but that’s besides the point. :)

  • Robert Nyman - author
    January 18th, 2006 at 9:26

    Gustaf,

    I guess bundling of software is ok, if the end user gets to choose what’s bundled. Mostly what I’m after, though, is just the constant attitude that if Microsoft does it, it’s evil, and if Apple does it, it’s cool.

  • Operating System market share prediction - Robert’s talk - Web development and Internet trends
    September 18th, 2008 at 10:16

    [...] Mac OS X and Apple products in general, which is overall a good thing, I think; as long as we get some equilibrium, please. Just as with web browsers, what would be really good if we got two or three major players having [...]

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