Hurry Up Microsoft!

So I am sitting here with my beloved Macbook, using Microsoft Word for Mac 2004. Airport is off because Microsoft’s illogical and unexpected licensing means only one person can use office at a time (even though the license is for three computers) and OpenOffice, a program I despise yet for some reason still have installed, has just crashed the computer. Only three programs have ever crashed my computer before, Word was one of them and it doesn’t really count because that is just what Microsoft products do- heck they even built a gaming console that crashes. The second is iChat. I’m not sure how it crashed but it was when I first got the computer and I was playing around to see how it worked. It didn’t work, largely because I didn’t have an account it could run off and also because I had no idea how to use it. But that was a minor crash, it froze for about a minute (the program froze, the rest of the computer was fine) and then closed itself. The third crashing program was Starcraft which you should all know I am in love with. I was trying to join a private Battlenet game my friend had set up and no matter what we tried, as soon as I joined the game the program would close and my desktop would screw up. Battlenet is ordinarily fine and it was only playing with him that caused this problem, so while neither of us know what it was causing the problem I suspect date differential in patch versions and such may be responsible.
But now it seems that OpenOffice has just crashed and this time I am fully uninstalling it.

However right now I will ignore it and hope it dies in a permanent fashion. All this talking about my current computer situation isn’t just because I’m bored (well it is to an extent I suppose, but it isn’t irrelevant to the point of this post), it is because this post is about computers.

Since June I have been on the light side of the computing force and have been using my Macbook, which is confusingly enough called Cailie and when I talk about how much I love it many people online take a while to work out that Cailie is in fact my computer. The reason I have a Mac is because I urgently needed a new computer and I was given the option of Windows Virus- I mean Vista, Mac OS Leopard or Linux. I have no idea how to use Linux so after some consideration about the type of people I would be most likely to communicate with online I decided that I’d go with the Mac. Since the release of Windows Virus- I mean Vista there have been many people switch to Macs, in fact most IT people hate Windows Virus- I mean Vista and suggest the best thing you can do for your PC is hold on to your XP install discs with everything you’ve got.

In terms of OS popularity Windows has been in the lead for well over a decade, mainly due to dodgy business aggression but also due a little bit to the fact that Windows has been the defining state of computing for so long that’s just what people use. When I started school we had Macs in the classroom and I was relieved when the school got its first computer room because the new computers ran Windows 98. Until June when I got Cailie I was still using Windows 98, really I don’t see any problem with it, it was a good operating system. Terribly outdated now and not really suitable for anything but basic operations like word processing and solitaire but that is still a good deal better than Windows Virus- I mean Vista.

But although a good computer will continue working until the day you switch it off for the last time in a decade (bad computers on the other hand last about 3 years and then the memory dies and you buy a new one), you will need to upgrade long before that which is why it is more important to look at recent events.

Which is where Apple comes back into play. It started with the iPod and iTunes and from there Apple has successfully asserted that they are the best computer choice for all your entertainment needs- all your entertainment needs that is except for gaming.
So Windows, still living the glory of XP and about to release Vista can claim that. Get a Mac if you want easy to use entertainment, both production and consumption. Get a Windows PC if you want games and compatibility.
If you are just doing business then you need not worry because Microsoft Office has been available on Mac as far back as I’ve known people with Macs (and earlier, apparently back to 1997).

So now Apple and Microsoft are waging their next battle. Microsoft isn’t trying much harder than they ever did but when you dominate the market with as much force as they do and have done for so long sometimes you don’t think properly about campaigns. So Microsoft is waving the gaming flag. And they have a right to because I’ve spent much time browsing for games on the Mac and really they are puzzles and kids games. The only serious stuff I’ve found is of course anything by Blizzard (though if you have Mac OS X then you’ll be unable to run Warcraft, Warcraft 2 or Diablo. Starcraft, Diablo 2 and Warcraft 3 all run though) which includes World of Warcraft, a point that many people have used to state “yeah I could probably live with a Mac, it runs WoW.” But anything else and you’ll walk into EB and see “Games For Windows” on every box, nicely sitting beside the Windows Virus- I mean Vista logo.
It’s not a complicated situation, if you want to play games buy a Windows PC.

However what Microsoft is doing they have been doing for years, it is what Apple is doing that is exciting and if you are a Microsoft employee, pretty terrifying. Apple is waging full force into the compatibility battle. The excuse for not buying a Mac had always been that you’d only be compatible with 5% of the world. That is no longer the case with most websites supporting both major platforms, and I imagine also Linux but I don’t use Linux so really can’t say. But as someone who is living on a network comprised of both Macs and PCs I can tell you that it’s the PCs that cause all the problems.
I’ve been spending too much time on the Apple site recently (I say too much because now I am just heartbroken at the fact I’ll never be able to afford a Time Capsule even though I really want it) and everything they’ve released recently (including the Time Capsule) is fully compatible with Windows. In fact if you buy a new Time Capsule you actually get Windows software with it. As means of nagging for an iPhone I’ve been pointing out that an iPhone can be used as a remote for a Mac, but it was only just before writing this that I discovered that it can also be used as a remote for Windows. If this keeps up with all further Apple releases the situation will be that if you go Windows then you’ll be compatible with Windows users, the large majority of computer users. If you go Mac then you’ll be compatible with Mac and Windows users. (I’m leaving out Linux because I know so little about it, but most of the recent Apple releases support Linux as well. I can’t say about whether this is the case with Microsoft.) That makes Macs more generally compatible than Windows, which should scare Microsoft silly.

So what is Microsoft’s big news other than “look- games!”? Well their new operating system Midori. They are trying very hard for Midori not to be their big news and aren’t offering sufficient details about it but we do know that it is being built completely from scratch, rather than just building on top of the latest version of Windows- a practice used for every version of Windows since who knows when, which could explain why Windows Virus- I mean Vista- is so system draining. We also know that Midori is a web-based OS, the next generation of computing, an OS to keep up with the fact most computing is done online and putting all the power in the individual machine is useless. In my previous post about Midori I stated my opinion about this and the problems it will cause. Being unable due to Microsoft’s stupid licensing crap I’m unable to go back and check whether it was Microsoft or the author of the article I was reading that said this new OS model was necessary because Windows wasn’t keeping up. While I don’t like the idea my grounds a political rather than technical and if this is the way computing goes in the future (as it looks like it will be) then so be it.

But first a jump back to Apple. Although you can get the Leopard Server which is compatible with every system in the known universe (or at least popular computing, including Linux and their clones) they don’t have anything in the same league as Midori. Seeing as Windows and headache are today synonyms Midori could be the fast relief needed to restore popular faith in Microsoft. The technology they are basing Midori on (which I understand but not well enough to explain it) has been in development since 2003, so this is by no means the quick fix to complaints about Windows Virus- I mean Vista.
The problem that Microsoft faces is that Midori isn’t even being spoken about openly yet, they are nowhere near releasing it and before they consider that they have plans to release the next Windows OS. The release date I’ve read for the new Windows is 2010 but I’ve heard from a reliable source that it has been moved forward to this year. This new operating system is the natural progression from Windows Virus- I mean Vista. Apple are becoming the great compatible monster happy to share with everyone with a computer right now. People are still stuck in the Windows way, but it is changing quickly and if Apple can convince the computer using population that they are in fact more generally compatible than Windows then no amount of gaming talk will be able to save Microsoft. I’d even go as far as to say it will be “game over man, game over!”

It seems to me that Microsoft had better act quickly because I see it that they are like an enormous country with no border patrol and Apple is a plague of invaders, armed with the most soldiers and best weapons available knocking loudly on Microsoft’s door and Midori is the only thing that can stop them.

Computing over the next year will be very, very interesting.

Oh and OpenOffice is still frozen.