Cool Like Dat

The Brand Promise of Apple

Robert Scoble talks about Apple Computers. Good post.

Apple did, with the introduction of OS X, what Microsoft needs to do very badly - bring the core of their operating system up to date. That means abandoning what came before, getting rid of all the bloat that comes with legacy support, and starting fresh. Apple kinda, sorta cheated a bit by building on the Unix core but it worked in their favor. In fact, if they aren't already, Microsoft should probably consider doing the same. Of course, that move would be a lot harder for Microsoft than it was for Apple. Microsoft has a huge legacy market that will not be able to immediately make the switch to a completely new way of computing. In comparison, Apple had hardly any.

If Microsoft could find a way to ease that switch without cumbering the new operating system with the support system for the old one it could be their shooting star. Apple could very easily release OS X for the PC and shoot Microsoft in the leg, but I know they don't want to do that - release OS X for the PC that is, they would love to shoot Microsoft in the leg or anywhere else for that matter.

Vista is working OK for me on my desktop, it's never crashed or refused to do anything I asked of it. I don't ask much of it though, and I hate being tied to the desk to use it. I won't upgrade my XP laptop to Vista.

Same for my Powerbook Titanium. I'm not interested in upgrading from Tiger. Don't think I can anyway, it's more than 3 years old. Even so, I don't care that much. I've looked at the new features with mild curiosity and that is all.

If there is one thing I don't care about at all, it's being cool, so Apple has no appeal to me in that way. When someone asks me, "Are you cool?" My answer is a resounding, "No."