At Roughly Drafted, Daniel Eran Dilger, diagnoses a recent assertion by Bill Gates regarding Microsoft, iOS and Android.
As Apple prepares the release of iOS 13 and splits off the new iPadOS 13 for specialized mobile tablets, Microsoft’s former chief executive Bill Gates mused this week that it would have been the “natural thing” for Microsoft to have been the “standard non-Apple phone platform.” But he’s wrong, here’s why.
Check It Out: A Bill Gates Regret: How It Cost Microsoft $400B
Gates is a modern day robber baron who made all his fortune3 by stealing technology, forcing monopoly positions and strangling his competition.
Now he’s trying to give away his ill-gotten fortune before he dies. “trying to get into heaven before they close the door.”
This from the company that thinks a one size fits all for operating systems UI’s – hint – it doesn’t. Never has, never will. Office on Windows 10 is a classic case in point – its the same on a tablet driven by a digit as it is on 32″ 4k display. The icons on the ribbon take up so much physical screen real estate that hiding the ribbon to create more space for content is almost essential on small screen devices. I’ve never believed that removing your fingers from the keyboard to do what a mouse should is an effective modus operandi.
Apple’s fundamental strength is the willingness to change and adapt if something doesn’t work the way it should. As I keep telling people, MacOs and iOS – in whatever form are essentially the same core operating system – with eye candy. So forking iOS to create a version to work on iPads with more screen real estate makes complete sense.