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Microsoft's quarterly profit drops below Apple's for the first time in 20 years

mashable.com

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Re: Microsoft's quarterly profit drops below Apple's for the first time in 20 years

#51

Post by crs »

kenjackson wrote: post #28
cooldeal wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>How is the "walled garden" anti-competitive. It doesn't stop anyone from writing applications for android, WebOS, etc Microsoft got a lot of flak for just shipping IE with the OS, whereas Apple doesn't even allow alternate browser engines such as Firefox and Chrome on iOS. Couple that with some capricious and silly rejecting or stonewalling of apps such as Google Voice and an Android magazine apps and I feel Apple i…

Also remember Apple having to back pedal from developers even generating code from non-sanctioned languages. It was the first time in history, that I recall, where a vendor not only specified a language, but also specified how code for that language was generated.

I agree with you there, that was pretty ridiculous when I first saw they were attempting to do that. I will say though, I don't believe that was necessarily to force people to buy macs to develop. I think that by keeping people on the same toolchain, using the predetermined API's and LLVM, they could make major enhancements without having to worry about all the 3rd-party apps still working.

Re: Microsoft's quarterly profit drops below Apple's for the first time in 20 years

#52

Post by romey »

What I think is most interesting about this is that 1. People continue to compare Microsoft and Apple as if they were directly competing, in spite of the fact the Apple is [primarily] a hardware company and MS is [primarily a software co. and 2. In spite of being primarily a hardware company, Apple is still able to be more profitable than Microsoft. They truly do release their hardware as if it were software, iterating and releasing a new version nearly every year. Even more surprising is that people actually buy this new hardware annually, as if it were a software upgrade

Re: Microsoft's quarterly profit drops below Apple's for the first time in 20 years

#54

Post by raganwald »

romey wrote: post #52

What I think is most interesting about this is that 1. People continue to compare Microsoft and Apple as if they were directly competing, in spite of the fact the Apple is [primarily] a hardware company and MS is [primarily a software co. and 2. In spite of being primarily a hardware company, Apple is still able to be more profitable than Microsoft. They truly do release their hardware as if it were software, iterati…

Hardware is not software, but it's trending in that direction. The price of the raw components keeps falling, we are headed towards a future where a tablet is really a hardware dongle for an operating system or an advertising platform.

Re: Microsoft's quarterly profit drops below Apple's for the first time in 20 years

#55

Post by watty »

jammur wrote: post #45
watty wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It can be understood in multiple ways, maybe not intentionally misleading but it could be written better. "My height grew above Yao Ming's last year". Did I surpass his height last year or grow more during that period of time?

In that case, you are now taller than Yao Ming. The subject of the sentence is your height, and you said it grew 'above'. Therefore the only valid interpretation is that your height is now above Yao Ming's. For it to be interpreted the other way, you would have had to say "My height grew _faster_ than Yao Ming's last year", or "My height _growth_ was above Yao Ming's last year". My point is that people can interpret…

Hah, we're getting off topic. You're right, phrasing it that way leads to multiple interpretations whether correct incorrect. When I read the title originally, I was thinking "total profit" instead of relative. Whether intentional or not, I think the title could have been worded better.

Re: Microsoft's quarterly profit drops below Apple's for the first time in 20 years

#56

Post by prodigal_erik »

orijing wrote: post #9
runjake wrote: post #4

For me, it's more interesting that Apple did this without a lot of the shady business & licensing practices that Microsoft engages in. Edit: Before downvoting me, take a look at my comment history. I'm not your typical Apple fan/Microsoft basher.

Do you think Apple's walled approach to iOS apps and content on iOS platforms is more honorable than Microsoft's open development initiative? (i.e. letting anyone write Windows applications). To me, their decision to prevent iOS apps from getting content outside of its walled garden (and bypass the 30% fee) is much more anti-competitive than whatever Microsoft did. I don't know if anyone downvoted you (I didn't). I j…

Human beings deserve uncrippled tools, so I consider Apple's iOS appliances to be unworthy of us. But their customers are at least willingly buying into that dystopia, unlike Microsoft customers who were usually confronted with vendors who couldn't dare to sell you a box with a competing operating system even when asked.

Re: Microsoft's quarterly profit drops below Apple's for the first time in 20 years

#57

Post by kenjackson »

hvass wrote: post #43

Can someone please explain why Apple spends relatively so much less than Microsoft on R&D? I would've thought it's the opposite.

In many ways Bill Gates seems to view MSResearch and the Gates Foundation as his legacy, more than Microsoft proper. Whereas for Steve, I think Apple is his legacy.

Re: Microsoft's quarterly profit drops below Apple's for the first time in 20 years

#58

Post by runjake »

orijing wrote: post #9
runjake wrote: post #4

For me, it's more interesting that Apple did this without a lot of the shady business & licensing practices that Microsoft engages in. Edit: Before downvoting me, take a look at my comment history. I'm not your typical Apple fan/Microsoft basher.

Do you think Apple's walled approach to iOS apps and content on iOS platforms is more honorable than Microsoft's open development initiative? (i.e. letting anyone write Windows applications). To me, their decision to prevent iOS apps from getting content outside of its walled garden (and bypass the 30% fee) is much more anti-competitive than whatever Microsoft did. I don't know if anyone downvoted you (I didn't). I j…

Definitely what Microsoft participated in has been much shadier. I'm not sure it can be reasonably argued otherwise.

Everything from forcing hardware vendors to bundle their OS to forcing Internet Explorer installs to the infamous Halloween documents to their covert dealings with SCO & everyone else over Linux and patents.

Surprisingly, it still seems pretty hard to get the hardware I want without paying for a Windows OS I:

1.) Won't use, because I'd throw Linux on it. 2.) Don't need, because I already have several valid Windows licenses which are unused.

But yes, certainly some of Apple's walled garden/30% actions are alarming.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_antitrust http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween_documents

Re: Microsoft's quarterly profit drops below Apple's for the first time in 20 years

#59

Post by ootachi »

prodigal_erik wrote: post #56
orijing wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you think Apple's walled approach to iOS apps and content on iOS platforms is more honorable than Microsoft's open development initiative? (i.e. letting anyone write Windows applications). To me, their decision to prevent iOS apps from getting content outside of its walled garden (and bypass the 30% fee) is much more anti-competitive than whatever Microsoft did. I don't know if anyone downvoted you (I didn't). I j…

Human beings deserve uncrippled tools, so I consider Apple's iOS appliances to be unworthy of us. But their customers are at least willingly buying into that dystopia, unlike Microsoft customers who were usually confronted with vendors who couldn't dare to sell you a box with a competing operating system even when asked.

Well, you could always buy a Mac.

It's just a question of the degree of lock-in. And Apple is a master of lock-in: purchased apps for iOS and Mac OS X don't work anywhere else, FairPlay prevents movies purchased from iTunes from working elsewhere, AirTunes is locked via DRM to iTunes, things like MagSafe are protected with patents to maintain their profit margins, and so on.

Re: Microsoft's quarterly profit drops below Apple's for the first time in 20 years

#60

Post by ksolanki »

cooldeal wrote: post #40

Microsoft spends a significant amount on basic research, like Bell labs used to and Microsoft research publishes a lot of publications. 15% of the research budget goes to universities for research, that could keep the profits lower than Apple.

Microsoft can keep this up until profits are growing. Here's hoping this research funding doesn't dry up like Bell labs' did. It is hard to quantify the benefits of spending on basic research. Apple puts a lot of focus on design, wheres Microsoft on technology (or science?).
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