The Microsoft Wow Blog!: Organizations

Bill Gates - The End of an Era

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 13:05:43 GMT

We have already covered about the legacy of Bill Gates here but I just thought I should add something about the man who I idolized for the larger part of my not so long life.

So here’s is to the man who changed the way I interact with computers!

For many, Bill Gates and his company Microsoft would more be remembered for the evil-doings and monopolization which led to their domination on desktop PCs but for me Bill Gates is a business man in a true sense of word. He truly knew the art of doing business. He broadened the company’s range of products, and then pushed it so aggressively that it led to the the domination and success of his products. Bill Gates predicted “a computer in every home and on every desk”….and today its indeed in every home & on every desk and over 90% of those run Windows. So for me Gates will be remembered as one of the best-known business men and one of the best entrepreneurs of the personal computer revolution.

And Now June 27, 2008 marks the End of an Era that was as Bill Gates has transitioned out of day-to-day role in the company which he co-founded with his friends Paul Allen & Steve Ballmer to spend more time on his work at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. But Gates will still remain Microsoft’s chairman and will be involved in select projects based on direction from Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer and the leadership team. Microsoft will continue to be led by a deep leadership team, led by CEO Steve Ballmer, Chief Research and Strategy Officer Craig Mundie and Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie. With guys like Ray Ozzie at helm, Microsoft to me is in safe hands!

Here are some of the videos from farewell event of Bill Gates held at Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Wash. Do check them out!

Employees Welcome Gates (00:22)
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer introduces Chairman Bill Gates at the Employee Town Hall. June 27, 2008
Download: Zune-quality (.wmv) | Broadcast-quality (.mpeg)

Gates - Starting Microsoft (00:17)
Bill Gates describes how he and co-founder Paul Allen started Microsoft with the dream that software would be important one day.
Download: Zune-quality (.wmv) | Broadcast-quality (.mpeg)

Ballmer - Microsoft Vision (00:21)
CEO Steve Ballmer describes Bill’s vision of a computer on every desk and in every home.
Download: Zune-quality (.wmv) | Broadcast-quality (.mpeg)

Gates - Microsoft Leadership (00:51)
Gates describes the opportunities ahead for Microsoft’s leadership.
Download: Zune-quality (.wmv) | Broadcast-quality (.mpeg)

Ballmer - Microsoft Culture (00:37)
Steve Ballmer talks about how Bill Gates has instilled a culture of intensity, tenacity and passion at Microsoft.
Download: Zune-quality (.wmv) | Broadcast-quality (.mpeg)

Ballmer - Changing the World (01:14)
Steve Ballmer thanks Bill Gates for the opportunities Microsoft employees have to change the world and realize their true potential.
Download: Zune-quality (.wmv) | Broadcast-quality (.mpeg)

I am thankful to Gates for his contribution to personal computing and I wish him all the best and is excitedly looking forward to the Post-Gates era at Microsoft Corporation.

Taimur Asad (Via Startup Meme)

Gates talks Google, Vista and (maybe) Yahoo

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 21:15:50 GMT

Microsoft Corp.'s unsolicited bid to acquire Yahoo Inc. is still up in the air, but maybe it's inevitable in the eyes of Bill Gates.

During an appearance Friday afternoon at the University of Washington, the Microsoft chairman at one point referred to his company as if it were second in Internet search. In reality, Microsoft is in third place in search market share -- although it would move into second place, still well behind Google, if it's able to bring Yahoo into its fold.

"Often if you're No. 2 -- and in this case, a distant No. 2 -- you can try harder, so to speak, and try out new things that are quite different," Gates said when discussing Microsoft's technological ambitions in Internet search.

Whether it was a slip or a sign of Microsoft's determination to finish the deal, the comment was the closest Gates came to even alluding to the acquisition drama. But he touched on many other topics during the event – which felt like a combination homecoming and farewell address, as the last stop on his final university tour before he leaves his full-time Microsoft role.

With his father and two sisters watching from the front row, Gates recounted for the overflow crowd the well-known story of roaming the University of Washington campus as a boy with Paul Allen, who would become the Microsoft co-founder, looking for research computers that they could use in off-hours.

They were "stealing computer time, and now I'm giving it back," Gates said, to laughter.

Gates discussed a wide range of topics during a speech and a question-and-answer period. Subjects spanned his interests in technology, health and education. The speech included many of the same themes he discussed at other universities, including his belief in the long-term importance of natural user interfaces, such as voice and touch input.

One example is Microsoft's Surface tabletop computer, which Gates pointed to as a sign of new ways of interacting with computers and other devices.

"We actually think it's time to amend our slogan of 'a computer on every desk,' " he said. "Because with this kind of technology, we'd want to put a computer in every desk. We want the desktop or tabletop, we want the white board, to be something that's completely intelligent."

One attendee asked Gates how he was thinking about the environmental impact of the technology proliferation that he envisions. Among other things, he talked about the reduction in the size and materials needed for computers and other devices.

"The key thing we need is energy sources that don't cause environmental side effects, and that are dramatically cheaper," he said, adding later, "You really need to take this slope where the price of energy has come down ... and consumption has gone up, and find a way to do that that has no negative side effect."

At one point, Gates was asked how Microsoft was applying "lessons learned" from Windows Vista, the latest version of its operating system, which has earned a reputation for compatibility problems and other glitches, particularly during its first year. Gates downplayed the significance of the issues.

"Every software project is a glass half-full in terms of things that went super-well and things that didn't go super-well," Gates said. "The great thing about software is, if any of your software is popular, you hear back from users. They tell you what they like, what they don't like. ... You hear about it, and it's great, because that creates that feedback loop."

At another point, an attendee challenged Gates over a past comment by Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer that Google has succeeded only in the Internet search market.

"What's another place that you think they'll be making money in soon?" Gates asked.

The attendee cited the free Google Earth and Gmail.

"No, anybody can give things away," Gates responded, to more laughter. "But they're a great company. They're doing lots of good work ... but fundamentally that search-advertising nexus is more than 100 percent of their current profit stream -- and a very nice profit stream, indeed."

One student asked Gates what made him believe so much in the idea for Microsoft that he was willing to drop out of Harvard University to pursue it.

Before Gates answered, Mark Emmert, the UW president, interjected by saying to the student, "But you're not going to take this as a recommendation to drop out of college."

"Well, if you have an idea like Microsoft," Gates responded, "I highly recommend it."

Source: Todd Bishop's Blog

Taimur Asad (The Microsoft "Wow" Blog!)

Microsoft to open Apple-like retail shops

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 13:29:58 GMT

Our sources close to Microsoft have confirmed that the company wants to reach out for the retail market presence. Microsoft wants to open and create many retail shops dedicated exclusive to Microsoft and its products.
This is something that Apple did with its many Apple retail stores around the world. Microsoft will put its retail people in the shops with hope that these skilled people will be able to show the true Microsoft experience.
We can only guess that the shop will be filled with lot of software, but it’s likely to include some peripheral stuff such as keyboards and mice as well as some MP3 Zune players. You can count on some computers, but the last paragraph is something we suspect not something that has been confirmed.
If they put all that we just listed, it will definitely look like a Microsoft copy of Apple retail stores. Maybe even some windows phones?
It worked well for Apple, so Microsoft has the chance.

Source: Fudzilla

Taimur Asad (The Microsoft "Wow" Blog!)

Microsofts First Office up for sale - Own a piece of history!

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 19:02:23 GMT

Own a piece of history, the original building where Bill Gates and Paul Allen formed Microsoft is now For Sale. Property offers a variety of floor plans for retail, office or warehouse uses. Condominium Association rules apply. Value priced and centrally located to NE and SE Heights and New Mexico State Fair grounds (EXPO New Mexico).

Property Flyer

Property Location
Street Address 1:6320D Linn Ave. NE
State or Province:NM
Country:USA
Municipality/City:Albuquerque
Postal Code:87108
Nearest MSA:Albuquerque
County:Bernalillo
Submarket:Southeast

General Information
Listing Name:Cal-Linn Unit 13
Sign Visible:Yes
Property Subtype/Proposed Use
Office Type:General
Property Use Type:Vacant/Owner-User
Essential Information
Property Status:Existing
Building Size (RSF):1,185 SF
Sale Price:$82,950
Sale Terms:Cash to Seller
Zoning:C-3

Source: www.carnm.com

Taimur Asad (The Microsoft "Wow" Blog!)

Facebook and Microsoft Expand Strategic Alliance

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 17:39:15 GMT

Facebook and Microsoft Corp. today announced that the two companies would expand their advertising partnership and that Microsoft will take a $240 million equity stake in Facebook’s next round of financing at a $15 billion valuation. Under the expanded strategic alliance, Microsoft will be the exclusive third-party advertising platform partner for Facebook, and will begin to sell advertising for Facebook internationally in addition to the United States.

“We are pleased to take our Microsoft partnership to the next level,” said Owen Van Natta, Chief Revenue Officer, Facebook. “We think this expanded relationship will allow Facebook to continue to innovate and grow as a technology leader and major player in social computing, as well as bring relevant advertising to nearly 50 million active users of Facebook.”

“Making this investment and expanding this partnership will position Microsoft and Facebook to better take advantage of advertising opportunities around the world, and is a great win for not only for our two companies, but also our collective users and advertisers,” said Kevin Johnson, president of the Platforms & Services Division at Microsoft. “We have partnered well over the past year and look forward to doing some exciting things together in the future. The opportunity to further collaborate as advertising partners is a big reason we have decided to take an equity stake, and is a strong statement of our confidence in the long-term economics of this partnership.”

Facebook continues to experience strong growth both in the U.S. and international markets; almost 60 percent of Facebook’s users are outside the U.S. With an average of 200,000 new users registering each day, Facebook continues to be one of the most-trafficked sites on the Internet.

On Aug. 22, 2006, the companies announced a U.S.-only strategic alliance that named Microsoft the exclusive provider of standard banner advertising on Facebook using Microsoft’s digital advertising solutions and the Microsoft^® adCenter platform. In early 2007, the terms were extended to 2011.

Two companies expand advertising deal to cover international markets, Microsoft to take equity stake in Facebook.

About Facebook

Founded in February 2004, Facebook is a social utility that helps people communicate more efficiently with their friends, family and coworkers. The company develops technologies that facilitate the sharing of information through the social graph, the digital mapping of people’s real-world social connections. Anyone can sign up for Facebook and interact with the people they know in a trusted environment. Facebook is a part of millions of people’s lives and half of the users return daily. Facebook is a privately-held company and is headquartered in Palo Alto, Calif.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Facebook is a registered trademark of Facebook, Inc.

Microsoft is registered trademark of the Microsoft group of companies.

Taimur Asad (The Microsoft "Wow" Blog!)

P.S. Happy Birthday to you!

Apple to release Vista soon - Who's the copycat now?

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 21:33:15 GMT

Looking through the feature set of the latest Macintosh offering from Apple i.e. Mac OS X 10.5. . . lets see what does it offer new to the table?: We've had tagging of applications downloaded from the Internet since like XP SP2 (attachment manager api). We've had the ability to sign applications since like Windows 2000? XP SP2 / Vista have application firewall capability, Vista supports volume encryption. They finally get ASLR - which has been available in Vista since it shipped. SMB packet signing is somehow worth calling out as a security feature of the OS? Must have been running a little short of things to talk about. One interesting thing is 'sandboxing' support . . . but of considerable note is the lack of 'Safari' as one of the applications that is sandboxed?

Paul Thurrott's SuperSite for Windows wrote a great article on why he thinks Leopard is not a new step in OS X growing lists of 10.x versions.. but just another Vista:

"Sometimes I wonder how Apple CEO Steve Jobs can sleep at night. He appears to spend half his waking hours ridiculing Microsoft's admittedly behind-schedule operating system, Windows Vista, for copying Mac OS X features. But this week at Apple's annual Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC), he announced ten new features for Leopard, the next version of OS X, most of which will seem more than vaguely familiar to Windows users. I'm not dim: Microsoft does copy Apple on a fairly regular basis. But seriously, Steve. Apple's just as bad.

More important, perhaps, is that the new OS X features that Jobs and company announced this week aren't, by and large, all that impressive. Two of the new features--Time Machine and Spaces--are valuable additions to OS X and worth discussing, though both, interestingly, have been done before in other OSes. The other Leopard features Apple announced, alas, are almost all a complete waste of time. They're the types of things one might expect of a minor, interim update, or from free Web downloads. They are certainly not major features as Jobs claimed.

OK, enough Jobs bashing. The guy's a visionary and truly important presence in the industry, and it will be a sad, sad day when he steps down from his post at Apple and fades into the sunset. (The reality of this possibility seemed all the more real this week. Am I the only one that though Jobs looked oddly gaunt and sickly during the WWDC keynote?) But as I've often said of Apple and Jobs: They do good work. It's too bad they feel the need to exaggerate so much.

Anyway, what I'd like to do here is address Apple's comments about Windows Vista and Microsoft, and take a look at the Leopard features Apple announced at WWDC. It's important for you to understand, however, that I don't have Leopard. I'm basing this only on what Apple showed off at WWDC."

Leopard feature rundown

During the first public preview of Leopard at the WWDC keynote, Jobs and a curiously selected flunky (Scott Forstall, Apple's vice president of Platform Experience) ran down a list of ten "major" new features in Apple's next "major" operating system release. Again, most of these features are not major by any definition I'm aware of, and if this were all the new features in Leopard, I'd have to describe this cat as a minor update at best. But Jobs mysteriously promised that Apple would reveal "some top secret features" at a later date. "We don't want our friends to start their photocopiers any sooner than they have to," he said [Yawn]. Whatever. Here's what they talked about.

1. 64-bit application support

Thanks to the 64-bit Xeon chip that will be shipping in the new Mac Pro systems, Leopard will be fully 64-bit enabled (unlike Tiger, which is only partially 64-bit and then only on certain Power PC systems). That means that OS X will finally do what Windows XP x64 Edition did last year: Run 32-bit and 64-bit applications natively, side-by-side. Good for them.

2. Time Machine

Time Machine is a truly good idea: It helps you automatically back up everything on your system and restore earlier versions of files at any time. But this was a great idea over three years ago when Microsoft first added it to Windows Server 2003 as Volume Shadow Copy (VSC, or "Previous Versions" to end users). In fact, VSC is such a good idea, Microsoft is adding it as a purely client-side service in Windows Vista as well.

Now, Apple being Apple, Time Machine is implemented with what can only be described as an over-the-top user interface that consists of an animated star field and a series of windows disappearing into the back, where the Big Bang at the beginning of time (apparently) awaits. Get it? You can go back in time.

Anyway, it's a neat feature, and it's certainly a major feature that will benefit end users. It looks silly, but maybe that's just me.

3. The Complete Package

Apple is integrating applications like Boot Camp, Photo Booth, and Front Row into Leopard. Previously, these applications were only available with new Macs, or in the case of Boot Camp, as a free public beta download. Sorry, but this is hardly impressive.

4. Spaces

Another truly major new feature, Spaces lets you utilize multiple desktops, each of which can contain its own set of application. Multiple desktops have been around for decades, and even the earliest Linux versions had this feature. Microsoft even implemented it in NT-based versions of Windows, though the company curiously never made it easy to access this functionality until it shipped a free PowerToy for Windows, called Virtual Desktop Manager, in 2001. It works an awful lot like Spaces, frankly, though Apple's version is obviously more polished and, well, Apple-like.

5. Spotlight

Apple's version of Windows Search will now search other Mac clients and workgroup servers, functionality that Microsoft will add to Windows Vista with the release of Vista SP1 and Longhorn Server in late 2007. It will also support advanced search features, like better search syntax, just like Windows Search. And, as with Windows Vista, you'll be able to launch applications and find recent items with Spotlight. Gee, Spotlight still seems an awful lot like Windows Search.

6. Core Animation

A low-level graphics technology aimed at developers, Core Animation will usher in a new generation of graphically animated application. Time Machine's hokey effects were designed with Core Animation, but I'm hopeful that other developers will do something cool with it (Apple did show off a gorgeous screensaver it created with the library). The end result is that Core Animation will not directly effect end users in Leopard until developers take advantage of it. Clearly, it was thrown out as a bone to the developer-heavy crowd.

7. Accessibility improvements

Apple is working to dramatically improve how well Leopard will work for people with disabilities, and they certainly deserve some credit for this work. Leopard will new voice technologies, Braille support, positional audio cues, and extended keyboard capability, in addition to closed captioning. The voice feature seems like a decent improvement, but didn't sound any better than Vista's voice synthesis to me (Jobs played both side-to-side during the keynote).

8. Mail

Apple's Mail application (often called Mail.app in reference to its beginnings on the NeXT platform) is being updated with some truly lame features: Stationary, notes, to-do notes, and RSS. Ugh. These aren't major features, and they're certainly not worthy of the time Jobs gave them during the keynote. Outlook Express users have been clogging the Internet with Stationary-based HTML email for a decade, and it's as unwelcome now as ever. Integrating notes and to-do notes into Mail is nice, but then Microsoft's Outlook has done this for several years. And RSS functionality is welcome, if overdue.

9. Dashcode and Dashboard improvements

Hoo-boy. Destined for the same thrash heap as Automator and Sherlock on most user's Macs, Dashcode lets developers build Dashboard widgets with templates, debugging tools, a visual editor for CSS, and other tools. For Dashboard itself, Apple is allowing users to sync Dashboard widget preferences to two or more Macs, but only when you pony up $69.99 a year for the .Mac service (another nice annual cost that many Mac users gleefully pay).

10. iChat

Leopard will include an enhanced version of iChat that includes multiple-logon support, invisibility, animated buddy icons, video chat recording, and tabbed chats. These are the types of features many free IM applications already include, so it doesn't sound particularly compelling. But Apple is adding a number of additional features that are somewhat interesting, like Photo Booth effects, photo slideshows via a video chat, and backdrops, where you can underlay video or still images behind your video image in a video chat. Cool, but again, not what you'd call a major OS feature.

Taimur Asad (The Microsoft "Wow" Blog!)

Microsoft shares up as 'Halo 3' soars

Wed, 10 Oct 2007 19:12:39 GMT

Microsoft Corp. shares hit a two-month high Tuesday after Goldman, Sachs & Co. said rising demand for the video game "Halo 3" will boost profits this quarter.

"We are expecting a strong quarter," analyst Sarah Friar wrote in a note to investors. The San Francisco-based analyst, who has a "buy" rating on Microsoft, raised her profit forecast for the fiscal first quarter by a cent to 40 cents a share.

Microsoft, which is scheduled to report results after the market closes Oct. 25, may show a profit of 39 cents, according to analysts polled by Bloomberg.

"Halo 3," the latest installment of the alien-shooting Xbox 360 game, brought in sales of $300 million in the week after its Sept. 25 debut, making it the fastest-selling video game ever.

Friar also boosted the company's earnings estimates for the next three years, citing the purchase of online advertiser aQuantive Inc. as well as rising sales of Xbox 360, Office 2007 and Windows Vista.

For 2008, Microsoft may report profit of $1.73 a share, the analyst said. That's a cent higher than her previous estimate, which is also the average analyst estimate from a Bloomberg survey.

The analyst raised her earnings predictions for 2009 and 2010 by a cent each, bringing the estimates to $1.94 a share and $2.28 a share, respectively.

Microsoft climbed 26 cents, or 0.9 percent, to $30.10 in Nasdaq stock market composite trading, the highest since July 25. The stock has advanced 0.8 percent this year, compared with a 14 percent gain for the Dow Jones industrial average.

Source: seattlepi.com

Taimur Asad (The Microsoft "Wow" Blog!)

Bill Gates tops US rich list for 14th year

Fri, 21 Sep 2007 16:34:01 GMT

Microsoft founder Bill Gates is the richest person in America for the 14th year in a row, followed by investor Warren Buffett, according to Forbes magazine's latest list of the wealthiest Americans.

The pair's fortunes each grew by US$6 billion ($8.25 billion) in the past year, Forbes said, with Gates' fortune US$59 billion and Buffett US$52 billion.

Buffett has pledged 85 per cent of his net worth to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and family charities.

Taimur Asad (The Microsoft "Wow" Blog!)

Microsoft Issues 10 Reasons Why Enterprises Shouldn't Use Google Apps

Tue, 11 Sep 2007 14:31:00 GMT

Up till now, Microsoft has been very quiet about the nascent Web Office threat from Google. But today, in response to the news that IT systems consultancy CapGemini has partnered with Google to sell Google Apps Premier Edition (GAPE) to enterprises, Microsoft issued an email listing 10 "top questions that enterprises should ask when considering the switch to GAPE." The questions read more like reasons why enterprises shouldn't choose Google Apps. This list was first published by Mary Jo Foley, who says it was an unsolicited email from a Microsoft "corporate spokesperson".

The 10 reasons make for fascinating reading - and show just how concerned Microsoft really is about not only Google Apps, but Web Office in general. Here is a copy of the email list:

“1. Google touts having enterprise level customers but how many “USERS” of their applications truly exist within the enterprise?

“2. Google has a history of releasing incomplete products, calling them beta software, and issuing updates on a “known only to Google” schedule – this flies in the face of what enterprises want and need in their technology partners – what is Google doing that indicates they are in lock step with customer needs?

“3. Google touts the low cost of their apps –not only price but the absence of need for hardware, storage or maintenance for Google Apps. BUT if GAPE is indeed a complement to MSFT Office, the costs actually become greater for a company as they now have two IT systems to run and manage and maintain. Doesn’t this result in increased complexity and increased costs?

“4. Google’s primary focus is on ad funded search. Their enterprise focus and now apps exist on the very fringe and in combination with other fringe services only account for 1% of the company’s revenue. What happens if Google executes poorly? Do they shut down given it will them in a minimal and short term way? Should customers trust that this won’t happen?

“5. Google’s apps only work if an enterprise has no power users, employees are always online, enterprises haven’t built custom Office apps – doesn’t this equal a very small % of global information workers today? –On a feature comparison basis, it’s not surprising that Microsoft has a huge lead.

“6. Google apps don’t have essential document creation features like support for headers, footers, tables of content, footnotes, etc. Additionally, while customers can collaborate on basic docs without the above noted features, to collaborate on detailed docs, a company must implement a two part process – work together on the basic doc, save it to Word or Excel and then send via email for final edits. Yes they have a $50 price tag, but with the inefficiencies created by just this one cycle, how much do GAPE really cost – and can you afford the fidelity loss?

“7. Enterprise companies have to constantly think about government regulations and standards – while Google can store a lot of data for enterprises on Google servers, there is no easy to use, automated way for enterprises to regularly delete data, issue a legal hold for specific docs or bring copies into the corp. What happens if a company needs to respond to government regulations bodies? Google touts 99.9% uptime for their apps but what few people realize that promise is for Gmail only. Equally alarming is the definition Google has for “downtime” – ten consecutive minutes of downtime. What happens if throughout the day Google is down 7 minutes each hour? What does 7 minutes each hour for a full work day that cost an enterprise?

“8. In the world of business, it is always on and always connected. As such, having access to technical support 24/7 is essential. If a company deploys Google Apps and there is a technical issue at 8pm PST, Sorry. Google’s tech support is open M-F 1AM-6PM PST – are these the new hours of global business? And if a customer’s “designated administrator” is not available (a requirement) does business just stop?

“9. Google says that enterprise customers use only 10% of the features in today’s productivity applications which implies that EVERYONE needs the SAME 10% of the feature when in fact it is very clear that in each company there are specific roles people play that demands access to specific information – how does Google’s generic strategy address role specific needs?

“10. With Google apps in perpetual beta and Google controlling when and if they rollout specific features and functionality, customers have minimal if any control over the timing of product rollouts and features – how do 1) I know how to strategically plan and train and 2) get the features and functionality I have specifically requested? How much money does not knowing cost?

Full Story At Source

Taimur Asad (The Microsoft "Wow" Blog!)

It's Official: Apple is the New Microsoft

Fri, 07 Sep 2007 18:22:51 GMT

Ten years ago, Microsoft was the company everyone loved to hate.

The most vociferous Microsoft haters slammed the company for being a greedy industry bully that used its monopolistic, clunky, copycat operating system to force software on users and coerce partners into unfair licensing deals.

Don't look now, but the role of the industry's biggest bully is increasingly played by Apple, not Microsoft. Here's a look at how Apple has shoved Microsoft aside as the company with the worst reputation as a monopolist, copycat and a bully.

Apple the monopolist

The core complaint about Microsoft in the 1990s was that its Windows market share gave it monopoly power, which it abused in multiple ways. Attorneys General and others zeroed in on the "bundling" of the Internet Explorer Web browser, which they claimed was forced on users because Microsoft offered it as part of Windows.

People love iPods (including me; my family of four has purchased 12 iPods in the past few years). But iPods come bundled with iTunes. Want to buy music from Apple? Guess what? You must install iTunes. Want an Apple cell phone from AT&T? Yep! ITunes is required even if you want only to make phone calls. Want to buy ringtones for your Apple phone? ITunes.

Apple not only "bundles" iTunes with multiple products, it forces you to use it. At least with Internet Explorer, you could always just download a competitor and ignore IE.

Full Story: pcworld.com

Taimur Asad (The Microsoft "Wow" Blog!)