Apple's Most Famous Rival Turns 50 Today

[MacRumors]

Microsoft today marks its 50th anniversary, during which time it has been one of Apple's longest-standing and most prolific competitors.

Microsoft was founded on April 4, 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, starting out as a software company developing a BASIC interpreter for the Altair 8800. It quickly become central to the personal computing revolution, including through its early collaboration with Apple, where Apple licensed Microsoft's BASIC for the Apple II in 1977.

Microsoft's most significant early involvement with Apple came with the development of applications for the original Macintosh, including Word and Excel, which helped legitimize the Mac as a productivity tool. The 1985 launch of Microsoft Windows, which featured a graphical user interface similar to the Macintosh, prompted accusations from Apple that Microsoft had copied key elements of its design.

The ensuing legal and public disputes would define the rivalry for years. In 1988, Apple filed a lawsuit against Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard, claiming infringement of its Macintosh GUI, which it ultimately lost.

Despite the rivalry, Microsoft invested $150 million in Apple in 1997, when the company was in financial crisis following years of declining market share and internal missteps. As part of the agreement, Microsoft committed to continuing development of Office for Mac and making Internet Explorer the default browser on Macintosh systems. During his keynote at Macworld Boston 1997, Steve Jobs announced the deal, stating:

We have to let go of the notion that for Apple to win, Microsoft has to lose. We need to embrace a notion that for Apple to win, Apple has to do a really good job.

Throughout the 2000s and early 2010s, Microsoft and Apple continued to compete on multiple fronts with operating systems, productivity software, mobile devices, and later, cloud services. Apple's resurgence under Jobs was driven by the success of the iMac, iPod, iPhone, and iPad, while Microsoft struggled to gain traction with mobile devices like the Windows Phone and Surface. Apple has developed alternatives to Microsoft products, including iWork, but Microsoft Office continues to be prevalent and play an important role on Apple devices, including the Vision Pro.

Today, both companies remained dominant in their respective ecosystems. Microsoft's focus on software licensing, large-scale business use-cases, and enterprise cloud computing with Azure now forms a business model that contrasts sharply with Apple's emphasis on consumer-facing products, hardware-software integration, and user experience.

Article Link: Apple's Most Famous Rival Turns 50 Today

 

[supremedesigner]

We need Microsoft to keep Apple competitive.

 

[racerhomie]

Happy Birthday to Microsoft!
Please improve Microsoft Powerpoint on iOS! It is a nightmare to use

 

[Dr McKay]

Im sure this will be an in-depth and completely unbiased discussion where not a single person will spell “Microsoft” with a $ instead of an s, post a comment that only consists of the vomit emoji, or questions how Microsoft even still exists because everyone in their close circle of friends use MacBooks.

 

[danr_97070]

Happy Birthday to Microsoft!

Please improve Microsoft Windows; it's a nightmare to use. I die a little each day I have to suffer through using this operating system...

 

[jozero]

Awesome new web page on Bill Gates site around his book release and the anniversary. If you can view it on a computer and move your mouse around the header

Gates and Allen doing Basic for the Altair was a straight out feat of engineering, and amazing given their age at the time. Since they didn't have the Intel chip Allen wrote a simulator for it on the PDP-10 they did have access to, and Gates wrote Basic against that. They had no idea if it would actually work on the real chip or machine when they took it to Altair. Just incredible

Site:
Gates Basics Original Source Code

 

[Aeronauts]

One of the best decisions Steve Jobs ever made was to take the money from Bill Gates in 1997 and stop trying to compete with them. That opened his mind to new ideas and products such as the iPod.

 

[Mousse]

Im sure this will be an in-depth and completely unbiased discussion where not a single person will spell “Microsoft” with a $ instead of an s, post a comment that only consists of the vomit emoji, or questions how Microsoft even still exists because everyone in their close circle of friends use MacBooks.

They would lose their minds if they learn that Apple still exists because of MicroSoft or Steve's deal with MicroSoft. Had they blown off Steve and stop making Office for Mac, Apple would have died--or regulated to a penny stock company--back in 1998.

 

[woolypants]

Of course, Gates was a big supporter of the Mac in the old days e.g. early 1980s. Excel and (I think) Word debuted on the Mac first. There's some good stuff about this in Andy Hertzfeld's Folklore.

I don't think there was ever any real competition between Apple and Microsoft. They were two radically different companies. It's a big like saying McDonalds and Pizza Hut competed. Yes, they're in the same industry. But nobody would seriously enter McDonalds and order a pizza, and vice versa.

What happened was that some people prefer pizza and some people prefer burgers and THAT's what people began to feel was "competition".

 

[Dr McKay]

They would lose their minds if they learn that Apple still exists because of MicroSoft or Steve's deal with MicroSoft. Had they blown off Steve and stop making Office for Mac, Apple would have died--or regulated to a penny stock company--back in 1998.

There was also the very real concern that the US Government would have broken Microsoft up into several companies due to their monopoly, and speculation that Microsoft needed Apple to exist as a competitor to avoid that happening.

 

[arthurgd3]

Happy Birthday to Microsoft!

Please improve Microsoft Windows; it's a nightmare to use. I die a little each day I have to suffer through using this operating system...

Please cite specific examples of what it is you're "suffering" through. I've been using Windows since the early 90s (Windows 3.1 era) till now and am I singing it's praises to anyone that will listen? No, of course not, it has its flaws like anything else but "suffering" sounds like an exaggeration to me and not as far as I'd go with the frustrations I have with it from time to time.

On the flip side of that, I did try (not voluntarily mind you) using an iMac in a work setting for a few years and while I like certain aspects of Mac OS, the file management between the two OSes wasn't even a comparison. Even as I got acclimated and proficient in speeding up my work with system keyboard shortcuts, some that I use Windows would incorporate, Finder versus Windows Explorer, for all the issues Windows Explorer has, navigating within it, copying/moving files and folders, these tasks are a pain to do in Finder. Maybe for a lifelong Mac user, their perspective could be the opposite with how they view Windows Explorer vs. Finder but I felt everything in Finder required at least an additional step or two versus Windows Explorer.

 

[Attirex]

All hail MS! Without MS around as a competitor, Apple would have become a bloated, rudderless behemoth that had forgotten how to innovate while churning out buggy software and hardware that was--oh wait

 

[Mrkevinfinnerty]

ewwww Happy Birthday i guess?

 

[infinitedreams]

Microsoft: Here's some wallpapers to celebrate, all created using a Mac

 

[arthurgd3]

Of course, Gates was a big supporter of the Mac in the old days e.g. early 1980s. Excel and (I think) Word debuted on the Mac first. There's some good stuff about this in Andy Hertzfeld's Folklore.

I don't think there was ever any real competition between Apple and Microsoft. They were two radically different companies. It's a big like saying McDonalds and Pizza Hut competed. Yes, they're in the same industry. But nobody would seriously enter McDonalds and order a pizza, and vice versa.

What happened was that some people prefer pizza and some people prefer burgers and THAT's what people began to feel was "competition".

Not quite the right analogy/comparison. They are much more similar in a lot of ways than two completely different food categories like your example.

At the moment, there are not many examples of where Microsoft and Apple directly compete. The obvious one of course is Windows and Mac but Microsoft's own Surface line of devices sells a relatively miniscule amount of units annually even compared to Apple which sells less than the traditionally PC makers Dell, HP, and Lenovo.

But let's use that OS comparison, both are able to accomplish many of the same basic tasks but the way they go about doing it is obviously different.

So if I want a burger, of course I won't be going to Pizza Hut to get one or go to McDonald's if I want a Pizza.

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

Please cite specific examples of what it is you're "suffering" through. I've been using Windows since the early 90s (Windows 3.1 era) till now and am I singing it's praises to anyone that will listen? No, of course not, it has its flaws like anything else but "suffering" sounds like an exaggeration to me and not as far as I'd go with the frustrations I have with it from time to time.

On the flip side of that, I did try (not voluntarily mind you) using an iMac in a work setting for a few years and while I like certain aspects of Mac OS, the file management between the two OSes wasn't even a comparison. Even as I got acclimated and proficient in speeding up my work with system keyboard shortcuts, some that I use Windows would incorporate, Finder versus Windows Explorer, for all the issues Windows Explorer has, navigating within it, copying/moving files and folders, these tasks are a pain to do in Finder. Maybe for a lifelong Mac user, their perspective could be the opposite with how they view Windows Explorer vs. Finder but I felt everything in Finder required at least an additional step or two versus Windows Explorer.

Lifelong Mac user here, I have no actual problems with windows existing or any such things, and I have recently had to start using it, not voluntarily of course.
But I do not understand how the file explorer in Windows works, at all.
Finder absolutely has its flaws, but it makes significantly more sense to me.
But it’s probably just the familiarity.

 

[tonywalker23]

Bought Bill Gate’s new memoir Source Code a few weeks ago and have read hear and there when I have a long lunch break (not very far into it due to time and not being able to read quickly), but so far it has been really enjoyable. Nice to read about people who have more money in one day than I will ever see in many lifetimes, they grew up and were kids with hopes and dreams and struggles and sometimes the right thing happened at just the right time and the rest is history. I have already used a couple of the stories as sermon illustrations.

 

[markgpearse]

Apple and Microsoft... two amazing examples of American ingenuity that no other countries have been able to match.

 

[StoneJack]

Lifelong Mac user here, I have no actual problems with windows existing or any such things, and I have recently had to start using it, not voluntarily of course.
But I do not understand how the file explorer in Windows works, at all.
Finder absolutely has its flaws, but it makes significantly more sense to me.
But it’s probably just the familiarity.

Indeed two different concepts. I prefer Finder

 

[StoneJack]

Apple and Microsoft... two amazing examples of American ingenuity that no other countries have been able to match.

Nokia
Sony and toyota
Huawei and Xiaomi
LG and Samsung
BMW, Audi

Etc

 

[Dr McKay]

Please cite specific examples of what it is you're "suffering" through. I've been using Windows since the early 90s (Windows 3.1 era) till now and am I singing it's praises to anyone that will listen? No, of course not, it has its flaws like anything else but "suffering" sounds like an exaggeration to me and not as far as I'd go with the frustrations I have with it from time to time.

I wouldn't describe my usage as "suffering" either, though I do have minor annoyances, but you'd get that from every OS. Most of mine stem from my refusal to turn automatic OneDrive backup on. So Windows puts a permanent yellow dot on my profile picture as though I have an important system notification, but all it is, is a reminder to turn OneDrive backup on. Every single explorer window I open, the file path starts with a OneDrive logo followed by "Start backup". Half the time I open settings, there is a banner spanning the entire window reminding me to turn OneDrive backup on. It feels like an annoying attempt at getting me to fill up my OneDrive so that I'll be forced to buy more OneDrive space from them. Plus, there have been stories of people having their Microsoft accounts banned because Microsoft scanned their OneDrive contents and found content that goes against Microsoft policies.

If I want something backed up to OneDrive, I manually upload it. I also perform external backups to a storage drive. Windows refuses to let this drop.

 

[elrojo69]

Microsoft products are so bad. If it wasn't for my job, I would never touch a microsoft software/hardware.

 

[mzeb]

Microsoft products are so bad. If it wasn't for my job, I would never touch a microsoft software/hardware.

Ya know, I always get a kick out of stuff like this. I used to be in this camp (see old issues of MacAddict) but in 2006 I got hired on to the Windows team at Microsoft as a developer and changed my tune. Right tool for the right job.
Today, As my laptop I use a Mac, general server a Windows Server 2018 machine, and my router and VPN is a raspberry pi (it also runs a Minecraft server). I do this because each one fills the role the best.
I tried running macOS Server both in its paid and free incarnations and it never held up. It was clunky and if something went wrong it was hard to figure out what. Likewise, I’ve used Windows on the desktop plenty and it never measures up to the ease of a Mac.
Having built software for years now I am also very sensitive to price. I just bought my iPhone 16e but in this day not everyone has the budget for even the low end iPhone. Inexpensive Android phones are suddenly the option that’s available. Likewise with that $400 Windows laptop vs a $1000 MacBook. You also have to work with what you can afford and Apple does provide good options for those in a tight budget.
So it is suddenly the right tool for the right job at the right price. Blanket opinions aren’t nearly nuanced enough.

 

[mlayer]

The Windows 11 laptop I am forced to use at work is the bane of my existence, mostly because it is the rare animal of a fairly new machine (2022) that still has a hard drive instead of a solid-state drive. It is pokey and I need to reboot it every two days otherwise it rapidly dies due to poor memory management (thanks Chrome). That isn't entirely MSFT's fault, it's just that they allow far too many machines to work with minimum specs that they really shouldn't. Users like me suffer as a result. Happy birthday anyway MSFT.

 

[jimimac71]

I am surprised anyone would even mention the $ in Microsoft today.
My Dell AIO is 10 years old and I have done the Rufus bypass to install Windows 11.
Yeah it works but I went back to Windows 10.
I don't want a Mac but want an iPad with a full blown desktop version of Safari.
I want to be able to sort my bookmarks and export them.
My old iPad 7 is very tired these days.
I use Chrome as my browser as it works the best with Windows/iPad/Android.
Except for the Windows desktop version of Chrome, there isn't any Adblock for Chrome on mobile.
To be clear, I don't want Mac OS on an iPad, just the desktop/laptop version of Safari.
I don't use Safari, BECAUSE, it isn't on anything but Apple hardware.
With a Chromebook, you get the desktop browser.
I bad mouth everyone who I believe deserves it. EVERYONE.
My iPad has been a good product, better hardware than Android.
Longer life too.
Won't be able to install iPad OS 19 as I have the 2019 iPad.
More than half of my 32 GB storage is for the OS alone.
I go all the way back to MS DOS with a Tandy computer.
The iPad and my Android tablets have caused me the least amount of trouble.
Can't ever say that about Microsoft or Mac.
I'm no expert but shouldn't have to be.
Will have to figure out something before October.
(I must ask, why the thumbs down? It would be nice if MacRumors removed it.
Too easy to make someone believe they made a mistake.)