Apple vs Microsoft , Steve vs
Bill
Early PC-type computers were IBM's and came with
Microsoft's original operating system , MS-DOS . 'Compaq' under
license later began distributing their fast "IBM-compatible"
machines (with MS-DOS) . Quickly a sea of non-licensed
sellers jumped on this bandwagon with their own custom version of
PC-compatible units with MS-DOS included .
Windows soon emerged and you could have it pre-installed for a
nice price with any new IBM-compatible machine (a
pathetic image viewer program included was very similar to 'XP
Window's Picture and Fax Viewer' of 2011 [unreal]).
These 'clones' were
cheap to buy and quickly began to take over the market . Much cheaper than Macs
or even most
of the various flavors of the Apple /2/c/e/3/GS/ etc . A guy could
grab an AT and run cheap MS-DOS compatible S/W
with a machine that even had a
little upgradeable built into it , or run Windows (very slowly) with a GUI &
mouse too .
Windows grabbed market share as time passed and as IBM compatibles
began springing up everywhere , cheaper and
cheaper with the free enterprise system showing it's full benefits
in all it's glory !!! However , you get what you pay for
in the end (or in 'your end' if you don't do your homework before
purchasing , as many would find out the hard way) .
see - Part 4
In this city of 100,000 there was one single Apple Dealer (no
Amiga Dealer) and 20 IBM compatible dealers . Those
that didn't trust the little shop of horrors down the street would
simply buy from the likes of Dell computers and have it
Fed-Ex'd right to their door instead ! Can you imagine ?? Clean ,
fast , no smelly used car salesman , no eye contact ,
no condescension . Just a nice girl with a sweet voice gently
assuring you that she is not trying massage your prostate .
PC's quickly began to dominate the market , Bill's 'oh so phony'
MS Windows OS was finally selling like hotcakes !
Heaven vs Hell ?
Macs and Amigas had specialty chips right on the motherboard plus
an OS sitting in hardware ROM . The PC however
was really , even to this very day , nothing more than a glorified
calculator with a CPU . MS Windows gave these cold
hearted machines a pretty cool , state of the art GUI , but nothing
that ever , even remotely , resembled a soul .
Still , PC's had some community for certain software groups , like
game players or Excel users , etc , but many people
could see that this platform was the way of the future for small
& corporate business, and so began to study and gain
professional credentials with an eye toward making Microsoft
software their job , as repair techs or consultants or net-
working gurus , server admins and any number of growing career
paths available to serious Tech students (nerds) .
Mac users tended to love their machines , like the adoring Amigans
. Macs gained ground here & there in many niche
markets and in the printing and page setting sector it seemed to be
the choice of Pro's . Apple loved the fun of Fonts .
>From the beginning and once again Steve Jobs showed how he had a
knack and an intuition about certain directions .
Jobs was always a controversial figure it seemed . People on the
inside at Apple , or NeXT (Steve's new project after
his failed attempt at an Apple management coup netted him an
immediate dismissal) , or Pixar (another new project
that Steve's never ending ability to see the future , led him to)
would say that Steve Jobs was a very difficult , if not
impossible man to work for or with , on projects that he was
perhaps a little too passionate about .
It would be neat to add the charismatic Amiga personality into the
fray but Commodore efforts were mostly a com-
munity affair . Ego's were operating out of the limelight for the
most part . Back in the day it was more about 'steady
as she goes' , which , amazingly is basically what Bill thought
also . It was good strategy and Billy-Willy proved it to
be true (with a tiny little helping of heavy handed throat slitting
mixed in for good measure) .
Amazing Amiga !
Some may remember Amiga's Jay Miner (who many called 'Father of
the Amiga') sadly passed away just as Comm-
odore was closing it's doors . Calm-odour was well established but
was a typical 80's top heavy 'fat-cat' company .
Non-stop internal restructuring took place beginning in 1985 just
as the amazing Amiga was launching . This would
always help indeed , but then just 6 months later another big one
was required , then another one , again , again ...
Like so many companies (and governments) , it was just another
house of cards , able to go on forever as long as
everything stayed basically the same , with nothing significant
coming along to shake it's foundation too deeply ...
The cool little Commodore Vic-20 sold 1 million units by 1983 and
the Amiga sold 1 Million in it's first 4 years !
The Commodore 64 was the King though , selling 17 million units in
10 years , a Guinness world record for one
model . All were unique machines , easy to use , very capable ,
quick , fun , dynamic development teams . Duh !
Didn't matter . Multiple new Presidents of this division and that
, which worked for only a short while and then yet
another wrinkle would need addressing . Eventually that which was
telegraphed finally occurred . The spring of '94
and Commodore bore shareholders with the news that it was finally
finished - liquidation began . Two months later
Jay Miner was also gone forever . Amiga lovers refused to believe
it was over so hope reigned and was dashed .
... And Then There Were 2 ...
Steve and Bill were both very driven (how's that for an
understatement?) but from almost opposite directions or
desires . Jobs loved to push the envelope , to create , explore ,
follow his nose . Confines of the corporate wasn't
his thing , yet early in his career at 23 years of age he was worth
$100,000,000.00 . Not bad for a smooth geek .
Bill seemed much more comfortable in a 3 piece suit . Good that he
had money because without it he might never
have gotten laid (if he ever did) . Voted 'Nerd of the Month' 27
times during his college stint , William was more
than content to just dream about money and the kinds of things it
could bring him one day , like cars , and girls ,
and if he played his cards right , perhaps even a cool friend or a
kind of personality for himself .
Don't think Billy ever actually dreamt about becoming a real boy
though . Things of that nature were for suckers and
fools . A good used 4-cylinder Camaro could easily net him
companions and with the addition of chrome wheels and
some nice shiny custom paint plus cool Big-Blue graphics it might
even get him a date (don't jinx it-don't jinx it !!!) .
These 2 opposing forces met at a critical moment . Was it King
Kong vs Godzilla ? Was it Night vs Day ? Hardly .
Nobody was going to loose their 33rd floor South Beach condo due to
these 2 nerds softly beating their chests .
The jousting of Steve vs Bill was a kind of 'so-what' Techno
precursor for the 2010 era Kardasian nonsense .
It was more game-like than actual battle stations . The media
rarely reported on their sordid love affair which went
on for well over a decade (while Microsoft steadily ate up the
crazily expanding market like a PAC-Man on steroids) .
Hell Freezes Over !
Time marches on until , in 1997 -
- Apple buys the company (NeXT) that Steve Jobs created when he got
kicked out of Apple , for 500 Million $ .
- Jobs almost immediately sells those 1.5 Million shares of Apple
he was given for NeXT , to raise some cash .
- Jobs is oh-so suddenly named the head of Apple , after a 12 year
banishment, with a "sorry we kicked you out" .
- A rat is quickly smelled .
- John Wayne is heard spinning in his grave , like multiple Ramjets
running in series .
- Martha Stewart (that darling little homemaker) continues to hope
she will not ever have to visit 'The Big House' .
... And , as if it's not already happening way , way too fast ,
Steve Jobs invites Bill Gates to join him on stage
(via live satellite feed) to announce to a very excited Apple
partisan crowd (and to the world) that ...
... brace yourself - that Microsoft was going to reach a brand new
relationship with none other than their very
favorite computer maker , Apple , via a one time , $150 Million USD
, non-voting , investment !!! " Isn't that
great everybody ? Hey , let's hear it for Bill " .
The crowd ? Shocked , silent . Then started booing Bill Gates
right to his weaselly (virtual) face . Just how Jobs
managed to get out of that room alive only served to prove that he
was , yes indeed, a man of multiple talents .
For a paltry , chicken-feed $150 Million USD , Apple agreed to
drop a lawsuit against Microsoft , and-and-and ,
also agreed to make MS Internet Explorer the default browser for
Apple Macintoshs (among other very interest-
ing details) . I'm not kidding . Bill Gates was being portrayed as
galloping in on a white stallion to rescue Apple .
Seriously , look it up . RoughlyDrafted.Com
or http://tinyurl.com/2daucl
An excerpt below , from the link above ;
" The Department of Justice later opened a new monopoly
investigation into Microsoft, joined by the
Attorneys General of twenty states. In
putting a case together, prosecutors were overwhelmed with
evidence. Nearly every company ever
involved in any business dealings with the company was
ready
to testify against Microsoft. "
As the beloved departed Amiga , Apple Inc did have a soul , but
that day , August 6 1997 ... it was traded away -
GC
Part 4 -
Crooks , Crooks ... and More Crooks !
