06.07.07
Late To The Party
I realize this is close to a week old news, but I’m just now watching the Bill Gates and Steve Jobs interview at D5 (iTunes Link), and there’s something that they said that struck me. The conversation turned to whether or not the Web 2.0 paradigm (thin-client, service-oriented applications) would naturally obsolesce the traditional business models of both Apple and Microsoft. Myself, I’ve constantly heard rumors that there will eventually be only a browser and that Google was developing a network-based operating system.
Let me state this perfectly clearly. The browser is not and can never be an operating system. The whole reason we’re using personal computers these days is because they’re Personal Computers. We do not need to connect to a centralized, big-iron mainframe, because that processing capability is local. As much as I want to say that the browser is the wave of the future– mostly because it’s kind of what I do for a living– I know for a fact that it’s patently not true.
Steve and Bill both agreed that the real benefit that came out of the Apple-MS rivalry was a diversification in what a computer is and could do. Both companies branched out from just general-purpose computers and developed some damn good hardware of their own that is specialized to a specific purpose (iPod and to a lesser extent iPhone, and the MS Sidewinder line and their mice). Both companies are heavily focused and invested in the idea of a local machine doing the majority of the work, and for a personal computer that’s the way it should be. For large-scale information-retrieval systems and data collection/distribution systems, mostly the kinds of things that I do, you need it to work on a thin-client level.
There is never, never a single solution to all computer problems. Despite my fanboyishness, a Mac cannot do everything well; a Windows box, likewise, cannot do everything well. What they do do well, they are exceptional at, and what they’re evenly matched on is still good enough to let it be a matter of taste. The two companies need to be complementary, not strictly competitive.
Anyway. I got a little bit accomplished this evening, and things are progressing nicely on another project. I’ll keep you all informed.