Microsoft Playing Catch-Up With Windows “Weiner”
At the risk of being labeled a complete and total geek, I have decided to post about a bit of technology news. Since I am a Mac user and avid fan, and had been a Windows user for years before, I feel that I have somewhat of an unbiased opinion about the whole PC vs. Mac issue. I also came to a realization, and decided to share it with the rest of you (if there’s anybody out there).
Recently in a blog article by Hilton Locke, a Microsoft Software Test Engineer, stated that Windows 7 (Code-named “Vienna,” hence the title “Windows ‘Weiner’”) will have some impressive new touch-screen features that will “blow away” people impressed by the iPhone. By the way, let me just go ahead and say that I made up the name “Windows Weiner” in reference to “Windows Vienna” (as in Vienna sausages), and I’m darn proud of it.
What I realized is that Apple’s competitors are constantly playing catch-up with Apple. This is because Apple’s thrust is innovation, not necessarily competition. It is competition in a way, but it’s a different paradigm than most companies.
Apple releases a product, which is revolutionary, the competition scrambles to make their own version of this product, but by the time they are done with theirs, Apple has already released something else even more innovative. Companies have to stop trying to “kill” Apple’s products. They have to start trying to innovate and build their own envy-worthy, game-changing products.
So it might be true that Windows “Weiner” will indeed blow away people impressed by the current iteration of the iPhone. But if history is any indication, by the time Windows 7 “Vienna” is released, the iPhone’s interface will seem archaic.
Kev Orng and one other person are discussing. 
emilieg 4:18 pm on December 13, 2007 Permalink |
interesting to show us the big picture. History’s full of the Pioneers and the Settlers…. those who come up with the ideas and those who expound on them.
Logan 4:23 pm on December 13, 2007 Permalink |
Which is why Apple is such a great company. They appear to do both: Invent and Develop
It seems like many other companies spend so much time looking around at what everyone else is doing that they forget to look ahead, at what COULD be done.
Kev Orng 12:49 pm on December 14, 2007 Permalink |
I don’t want to be a stick-in-the-mud, but professional Stick-in-the-mud Steve Ballmer has axed the name “Vienna”. He doesn’t like code names. They’re too much like fun maybe? Code names are just for the scruffy-chinned “I’m a mac” guy maybe? I don’t know, but Ballmer has ensured that the next version of windows under construction will be referred to by a nice, sequential, logical, no-nonsense “7″
And it works, I think “7″ has fairly positive connotations for most people. The Seven Dwarves, the seven deadly sins, the seven signs of the apocolypse. That nice movie with Brad Pitt…
Logan 2:37 pm on December 14, 2007 Permalink |
Well that’s sad to hear. We were just getting started with the whole “Windows Wiener” stuff (there is some debate about the correct way to spell “wiener,” “weiner,” “weener,” etc., and the consensus appears to be “Wiener,” though I had not discovered that when I wrote this post, obviously).
Weren’t there seven Harry Potter books? Maybe Microsoft can play that card.
Ben 2:22 pm on January 11, 2008 Permalink |
Good stuff, Logan. It does seem that MS is always chasing Apple. Instead of saying, “Current iPhone users will be impressed by how our yet-to-be-released product is even cooler,” MS should be saying “We’re making some cool stuff like nothing you’ve ever seen. It will boggle your mind and haunt your dreams!” I’m with you about the iPhone interface seeming archaic by the time 7 is released.
Now … if we get just get ‘aapl’ to strengthen. They went from $202/share two weeks ago down to $172-ish/share today! Hopefully the upcoming earnings announcement will give ‘em a boost. (BTW, I’m not an Apple user … just a stockholder.)
Logan 3:39 pm on January 12, 2008 Permalink |
Ben,
Good to hear from you. I agree wholeheartedly. I am all for good products. The only reason I am such an avid Mac fan is because I really believe their products are the best out there right now. Were MS to come out with something that truly did blow everyone else out of the water, I would use it.
As far as Apple stock goes, I think this next week’s “Mac World SanFransico” will turn things around. It seems like the market has been bad for tech lately, but Apple has managed to largely stay on top of it. Even though they have dropped in the extremely recent past, they have come a long way up in a very short time (relatively speaking).