News, info, and opinion by Mac users, for Mac users.

June 27, 2008

rivals

Billy G bids us bye-bye

Posted Jun. 27, ’08, 8:56 AM PT by Dan Moren
Category | Apple » Rivals

billgates.jpgToday is Bill Gates’s final day at Microsoft, and it’s a bittersweet moment for us Mac aficionados—perhaps best encapsulated by my trip to Microsoft’s website this morning. Upon clicking on the big Bill Gates banner on the front page, I found myself confronted by a blank blue page featuring only an “Install Microsoft Siverlight” button.

Yeah, I’ll pass, thanks.

Gates has long been perceived as Apple’s archrival, an image that I think Steve Jobs has tacitly supported and even benefited from—exemplified by Gates’s Big Brother-like appearance at Macworld 1997 (seriously, like Steve didn’t know how that would play given the famous 1984 ad). The identity built around Gates was one of conformity and assimilation, the very things that many Mac fans saw themselves as fighting against. Never mind that in recent years, that Gates’s identity has become more and more complex, especially with the advent of his influential and, yes, admirable charity efforts.

But even as Bill slowly stepped away from the Microsoft limelight and Microsoft’s outward face became instead the bumbling, confrontational persona of Steve Ballmer, Gates remained the iconic representation of Microsoft.

So now that he’s gone, now what? Last year, I suggested that Apple had perhaps managed to defang all of its most prominent enemies, leading me to worry that an Apple with no one to rebel against would find itself directionless and disadvantaged.

All this talk of Apple supplanting Microsoft, or Redmond crushing Cupertino is foolhardy and misplaced. Microsoft is Apple’s last rival of any import and Apple needs them, just as they need Apple. The two have a symbiotic relationship; not just in business or software, but in ideology. The loss of Microsoft’s dominance—or even just its relevance —could very well be the worst thing ever to happen to Apple, prompting Jobs and company into a lax complacency that would be their undoing.

But with Gates stepping down, I can’t help but think that this could be a great time for Apple to embrace a new image: one where they don’t even bother caring about Microsoft. Apple has shown that it’s capable of holding a stable, successful position in the tech marketplace, and maybe that’s enough.

All of this talk of Gates’s retirement has also led to an increasingly focused look at what will happen when Steve Jobs inevitably leaves Apple: will the company survive without being propped up by his sheer force of personality? If the company is going to continue then perhaps it’s time for Apple to start defining themselves not merely by what they’re against, but by what they’re for.


8 Comments

machead said:

That's quite the photo ... gag, barf...

June 27, 2008 9:17 AM
Sean Coffee Author Profile Page said:

Wow. That "Install Microsoft Silverlight" pretty much sums it up, no? Microsoft's tribute to Bill Gates is... a thing that doesn't work right the first time.

June 27, 2008 9:32 AM
Barbara said:

I just tried it at work and got the Silverlight thing... I asked one of the tech guys about why it wasn't installed. "We only install the necessary Microsoft stuff due to security issues." HAAA!!!

June 27, 2008 11:03 AM
gmacguy said:

I heard Steve Jobs sent Bill Gates a 3G iPhone as a retirement gift.

June 27, 2008 1:31 PM
Myles said:

Interesting how an article about Bill Gates becomes all about Apple. Man things sure have changed in the last decade or so.

I heard Steve Jobs sent Bill Gates a 3G iPhone as a retirement gift.

I read that too and I don't think it was really happening, they were just saying WHAT IF, Steve Jobs sent him an iPhone.

June 27, 2008 2:19 PM
Missing_DLL Author Profile Page said:

Gates was a good guy

June 27, 2008 5:07 PM
NicleT said:

I like this photo with the Mac Plus behind.
Uncle Bill isn't retiring, he's starting his second life.

June 27, 2008 9:47 PM
Googler said:

Bill Gates is just tired of what Windows has become - a spyware, adware, boalted OS. There is no hope left so he quit - jumped off the sinking ship with all the money leaving everyone at mercy of Apple and Linux.

It seems that Bill Gates is bored of endless fixing, rebooting, patching a broken operating system.

Sorry but microsoft business model is in dust. I think Dell, HP and other hardware resellers are really afraid - since if Apple wins it will be game over for them.

Winners : Apple, Intel, Google, Redhat, Sun

Loosers : All Microsoft partners ...HP, Dell, Acer...

June 30, 2008 3:25 AM

Leave a comment

 



Visit other IDG sites: