Scoble goes (again) into a non-issue discussion

Again Robert Scoble has started a discussion about whether Apple is better than Windows Vista (link).
Just like the other instances he is trying to compaire apples and oranges.

Apple
Apple is a hardware and software supplier. It produces software (application and a OS) which will only run on hardware produced and sold by Apple.

Microsoft
Microsoft is a hardware and software supplier, but mostly a software supplier. It produces software (applications and OS) which will will run on any hardware, produced and sold by anybody, as long as it is based on the old PC design.

In his new post Robert complained about that his new Dell which gave him a blue screen while booting. I’ve been using Dell, Fujitsu, Asus, Compaq, Tatung and HP machines and I agree that there are qualilty differences between the brands but also between the models within a brand. None is trouble free and every model I have used needed two or three firmware updates in order to solve problems with OS during it’s lifetime.
So I ask Robert; Is a blue screen the problem of Microsoft or the problem of the hardware supplier.

Long Live Closed-Source Software! | Computers | DISCOVER Magazine

You have got to read this! [link to document]
Jaron Lanier states that the open-source model will hold back radical, unique and one of a kind new designs. As an examples he uses Linux with it’s many distribution versions, the iPhone as a product and the scientific practice of doing research and publishing your result at the moment your result is ready.
Very interesting.

Long Live Closed-Source Software! | Computers | DISCOVER Magazine

Apple sucks!

I am a regular reader of Robert Scoble‘s blog since he popped up on the Microsoft Channel 9 website. Last Saturday he wrote a most amusing piece about the “Brand promise of Apple” and how, in his view, does not match up with the promise.

Apple’s promises:

  1. Apple will always work,
  2. Everybody can use an Apple,
  3. Apple is better that the ‘other brand’.

1) Apple’s will crash. Either due to hardware failures or software failures.

2) Most people can ride a bicycle. That does not mean that everybody can repair a bicycle? So why does Apple have a “Genius line” in their US Apple shops?

3) This is rather a bold statement from a company with not more than 5% market share in the US and even less presence in Europe and Asia. I would say that Apple is where Sun was some 5 years ago. Apple produces software which can and may only be run on hardware which is produced by Apple. Comparing Apple to the “other brand” is like comparing potatoes to strawberries.