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Even though Windows XP won't be officially released until Oct. 25, I can hear the Mac faithful howling already. Once again, Mac heads are accusing Microsoft of building its latest PC operating system on innovations pioneered at Apple. And, quite frankly, they have a point. New XP features such as Windows Movie Maker, My Pictures, and the revamped Windows Media Player strike me as awfully similar to Apple's iMovie, Image Capture, and iTunes software.
All are part of Apple's new operating system, OS X, released in March. All comprise the heart of Apple's digital hub strategy, in which a computer serves as Grand Central Station, moving digital data across platforms and among various devices. It's a strategy, of course, that Microsoft also claims as its own.
The real question isn't whether Microsoft has copied Apple innovations, but whether it matters. I'm going to hate myself in the morning for saying this (and I know plenty of others will hate me, too) but I just don't see how it matters in the long run. It's a venerated tradition of American business to ape the successful innovations of a competitor.
If Pepsi comes out with a popular new soda, you can bet your bottle cap Coke and other beverage makers will match it in a few months. Just look at how all the other TV networks copied CBS' Survivor. Few viewers cried "ripoff" and refused to watch the copycats. In our capitalist culture, mimicry is the highest form of flattery.
INNOVATION COMMERCIALIZATION. Nor will XP's glaring similarities to the new Mac OS figure large in Apple's future. Sure, XP narrows some of the striking differences between the two platforms. Why consider a Mac if XP offers 90% of what OS X does? But the sad truth is few Windows users would ever consider switching to a Mac anyway -- no matter how superior.
Windows' domination of PCs has little to do with innovation or quality, for that matter. It rose to prominence because Bill Gates understood before anyone else that computers would become commodities. He realized that the only way to make any money would be to lock up the lion's share of the market. In a brilliant -- some critics would say heavyhanded -- strategy, Gates bested both Apple and IBM by cajoling the biggest chipmaker and manufacturers into a cabal that still dominates the PC industry.
What Microsoft has excelled at ever since is not innovation but the commercialization of the innovations of others, primarily Apple. Windows has never been great, but always just good enough for most users. Can you imagine if Windows really worked as promised? Hundreds of thousands of IT troubleshooters would be thrown out of work worldwide. I don't think the economy could withstand such a blow. But I digress.
BUFFING APPLE. Ironically, I think it actually helps Apple when Microsoft copies its innovations. It popularizes Apple's innovations. And it buffs Apple's image as the leader, a perception critical to the company's prosperity. As long as Apple keeps a step or two ahead of Microsoft it will remain the stylish alternative, the Robin Hood of computing. And every industry, whether soda pop or chipmaking, has its Robin Hood.
Truth is, PCs and Macs have evolved into largely separate and distinct markets. PCs dominate corporate and home computing. Apple is the instrument of choice for writers, musicians, visual artists of every stripe, and publishing.
There's some competition for first-time users, but this is a shrinking market. Nearly every American family that wants a computer has one now. And if you've been raised in a PC household, chances are good a PC is what you'll buy when leaving the nest. The only market where Macs and PCs still go head-to-head is education. Apple has the largest single share there, at 20%-plus. However, PCs still outnumber Macs in schools overall.
SHARING. It would be great if Apple grabbed more market share. And Apple is certainly trying to do so, both with OS X and its new retail stores. But even the rosiest of scenarios don't foresee Apple garnering more than a couple of percentage points in share. And that's okay. "Even if Apple captures just another 1% in market share it would be a bonanza for the company," says Charles Wolf, analyst at Needham & Co.
So go ahead, Microsoft. Mimic OS X to your heart's content. You'll only help showcase how superior the Mac is to a PC.
Haddad, Atlanta-based correspondent for BusinessWeek, is a longtime Apple Computer buff. Follow his weekly Byte of the Apple column, only on BW Online Edited by Thane Peterson
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