Windows: The New Classic

Has Apple Computer become once again Apple Computer rather than Apple iPod?

John Gruber writes fascinatingly about the suddenly and brilliantly changed dynamics of the personal computer world. In the favor of Apple.

“Holy shit!” seemed to be the consensus reaction to Boot Camp’s debut yesterday; it was my reaction, at least. But like many seemingly shocking announcements from Apple in recent years, after just a few hours, it now seems so… obvious... But now that it’s here, Boot Camp does seem like an obvious move for Apple, no? It’s a low-risk, no-lose proposition for them, and but the potential upside is huge. The old equation - decades old - is that most computers ran Windows (or, if you go back far enough, DOS) and some other ones, the ones from Apple, ran Mac OS. As of today, the new equation is that all computers can run Windows, but some, the special ones from Apple, also run Mac OS X. (Including other PC operating systems like the various Linux distributions doesn’t really change the equation.) The distinction between these two equations may strike you as subtle, but the difference is potentially momentous. The point is that it recasts Macs from being “different” to being “special”. (italics mine - dmg)

Continue reading here John Gruber's excellent and insightful essay. (You gotta love his X marks the spot comment.) John explains, although not explicitly, why this most recent company strategy, seemingly so obvious (especially in retrospect), resulted in a spike of the stock price. (And why that move is nowhere near complete. So place aside your technical analysis, allow for oscillations -- and hold on!)

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Suddenly, it becomes increasingly apparent that Microsoft/MSFT's hegemony is threatened on all fronts; not only does Google/GOOG badger them in search (and increasingly on the desktop) and Linux with the OS, but now Apple/AAPL has the effrontery to state, "We are back in the fight for the hearts and minds of computer users everywhere!" For a 30-year old, Apple Computer suddenly has the swagger of an adolescent. Steve Ballmer's recent exhortations re the iPod ("That is a market we want to be in."), Google and search, etc, increasingly appear as so much baying at the moon; Microsoft/MSFT, like Rome 1500 years ago, must now feel the heat of the hordes, the barbarians are at the gates. Who, I wonder, manifests as the Vandals, Goths, and Visigoths? And so it begins...

I prefer not to become too rhapsodic, at least not too quickly and so easily, so I would love to hear from you re this topic; please consider this post as an open thread. Offer your comments and insights, professional and/or personal, re the two operating systems -- which is better, and why -- and why this most recent move by Apple/AAPL is simply brilliant. Or not.
-- David M Gordon / The Deipnosophist