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- TheWerewolf, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Actually - you both got some of it right and some of it wrong, although I'd say you're more right than Mossberg.
The first error is the notion that there is 'a' customer - or that all customers have the same priorities. That's why Macs are still around when all logic dictates it should be dead. There is a group for whom end-to-end style and design is more important than cost and choice. They will buy Macs and they hate PCs and nothing will shake this stance. (Believe me - I've tried... being an ex-Mac fan and developer for many years who did make the switch to PCs.)
Then there are the DIY types. They want to do it their way and they don't care if the experience is smooth from start to end - it's the fun of putting the Lego together, not the final model that's important for them. Think Linux Geek.
In the middle, there's the person who wants flexibility, but also wants the ride to be fairly easy. They don't mind that the OS comes with everything they need - as long as they can download or buy more stuff and install it. They ARE price conservative - but they don't want rubbish either.
The other problem with the one-size-fits-all model is that it's only good IF you happen to hit the right model. This is exactly where Mossberg and other Macistas get it wrong. The iPod is NOT popular because it's 'seamless'. It's popular because was the first audio player that happened to get the big picture elements right. It looked very stylish compared to the rest. It has a hard drive so you could carry lots of music. It had a big, easy to read display. It was relatively easy to use.
And Apple marketed it very cleverly - at first ONLY Mac users could have one. That built up a kind of product envy and viral marketing you rarely see.
Ironically, many Windows users I know (including myself) detest iTunes. It doesn't work the way we like or want. But we have no choice but to use it if we have iPods.
As for the components model, this is more a failure of Microsoft to get the idea right - although they do get it right with ActiveSync and PDAs. Windows Media Player simply doesn't do synching and maintenace well against most Windows compatible media players. The problem isn't end to end HARDWARE... it's end to end SOFTWARE.
I've had a fair number of PalmOS users say how impressed they are with ActiveSync - you cradle your PDA and voila - it just works. No buttons to push. Nothing to do. Yet Windows Mobile PDAs are entirely components and parts not end to end.
Microsoft CAN do it - but they have too many divisions trying to reinvent the same wheel and mostly not getting it right, or learning from the parts that DID get it right.
As for open source - well, I'll put it simply: I have never seen a real world, typical consumer ask if anything was 'open source'. What they care about is 'how much and how well does it work' and I'm sorry - most Open Source apps simply are not user friendly. Open source is about ideas and implementing them - not about building great user experiences.
The fact is that Microsoft, for all its flaws, get more of it right than either of the ends.
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