by , 3:30 PM EST, December 27th, 2004
In a sign of the ever-changing times, the Seattle Times has published an editorial by Paul Andrews that compares both Apple and Google to not only Microsoft, but the Microsoft "of old." Mr. Andrew looks at Apple's successful iPod and Google's successful Internet and desktop search platforms, and wonders how it is that Microsoft has allowed itself to be so outmaneuvered by the two companies.
The comparison lies in the fact that historically speaking, Microsoft has dominated and smashed almost every market it has entered, especially in the 1980s and 1990s. More recently, however, Apple's iPod and iTunes Music Store, as well as Google's own search site, have resisted any and all efforts from Big Redmond to unseat them as the uncontested leaders in their respective markets.
The Microsoft of old, said Mr. Andrews, would have quickly developed a "WinPod," a "new, cheaper, Windows-reliant MP3 player in versions from Lexar, Hewlett-Packard, Samsung and on down the line."
Likewise, the Microsoft of old "would have unveiled Wingle, a search service that combined results from a Windows PC with Web searches while at the same time making Google searches curiously slow and garbled."
Instead, according to Mr. Andrews, Microsoft has been left flatfooted, and Microsoft shareholders are left wondering "what happened to the old Microsoft way of 'innovating'?"
There is much more in the full column, which we recommend as an interesting read.
The thing we find most interesting, however, is that this is the first mention we have so far encountered that compares Apple to Microsoft "of old." The notion that Apple is the Microsoft of any industry is a fascinating one, and it bodes well for the Mac platform, even though that aspect of the company gets the least attention these days. Apple as a healthy and profitable company will have no trouble keeping the Mac platform viable.