The Time Machine Rip-off Myth
According to proponents of this myth, Apple's new Time Machine is blatant rip off of Microsoft's Volume Shadow Copy, and by extension, nothing in Leopard is interesting at all because it's all been done before. They're wrong, here's why.
WWDC Secrets Paul Thurrott Hopes You Miss
Microsoft apologist Paul Thurrott is doing his very best to scribble up a negative spin on Apple's WWDC Leopard announcements. Poor Paul! After five years of Longhorn waiting and regular Vista disappointments, his very best attempts at poo-pooing Leopard sound a lot like sour grapes.
Three Reasons Why Microsoft Can't Ship (and Apple can)
How has Apple been able to ship six major revisions of Mac OS X in the same timeframe that Microsoft has done little for their desktop users apart from service packs, patches and ads?
Market Share Myth: Nailed!
A look at the slippery aspect of numbers, proof that a quality share of the market can be better than a larger market share, and how the definition of a market is critically important in evaluating market share numbers.
The Apple Market Share Myth
According to proponents of this myth, a vendor's market share numbers speak for themselves as a critically important factor in selecting a technology product or platform. They're wrong, here's why.
New Media and Free Market Choice
Five examples that prove that intellectual property, while offering some new challenges, still obeys the same market laws of supply and demand. Along the way, I'll also prove why the market has rejected digital media rentals.
The Online Music and Movie Rental Myth
According to proponents of this myth, the real road to obscene profits in movies, music, software, and other digital media lies with online subscription rentals, not direct sales. They're wrong, here's why.
CNET's Charles Cooper Strikes Out in iPod Attack
There's a common misconception about what it means to be proprietary. Here's a disassembly of one of the worst articles yet on the subject, written by CNET's executive editor, Charles Cooper.
The Microsoft iPod-Killer Myth
According to proponents of this myth, Microsoft is out to kill Apple's iPod with a player they will design and build on their own. Once it arrives, they expect Microsoft to clean up not only the music player market, but also online music sales, leaving Apple on the sidelines. They're wrong, here's why.
The Microsoft Invincibility Myth
According to proponents of this myth, Microsoft's expertise in building software platforms ensures that everything that Microsoft does will turn to gold. This supposed invincibility is used to prove how Microsoft will eventually dominate all new markets, from online music stores to the iPod, and how advances by Linux and Apple's Mac OS X will never make any significant impact on PC desktops. They're wrong, here's why.
Open Source Values and the Peanut Gallery
The value proposition involved in choosing an open source strategy, and a roast of the emerging peanut gallery who are attempting to hijack and betray the free software movement.
BSD and GPL: Different Sources for Different Horses
The benefits and the motivations behind two very different styles of open source development: the BSD style license, pioneered by UC Berkeley and MIT; and the GPL invented by Richard Stallman, the founder of the free software movement.
Why Mobile Phones Make Bad iPods
Why mobile phones and music players are not the obvious match many analysts are describing.
The iPod Phone Myth
According to proponents of this myth, Apple's success with the iPod is about to be crushed by an onslaught of music playing cell phones, so Apple needs to desperately come up with an iPod + cell phone combination of their own to remain relevant. They're wrong, here's why.
The Revolution Will be Open Sourced!
Over the last decade, every player in the software development industry has been dramatically affected by an open source revolution. How will Apple adapt to fit into this new world? Are they leading, following, or falling behind? Do they stand to benefit from an increased adoption of open source practices, or will they simply have to change how they do business?
Stevenson Fails 'Report Card' on Mac Ads
Seth Stevenson writes a column for Salon called the "Ad Report Card," where he rates the effectiveness of advertising based on his own extemporaneous criteria. Sometimes it's the concept, sometimes execution, and sometimes he just likes ads because they are entertaining. After watching Apple's new Get a Mac ads, however, he complained.
Apple and Open Source... Strange Buffaloes?
Tim Bray's "Time to Switch?" and John Gruber's "Why Apple Won't Open Source Its Apps" both discuss the potential risks and benefits Apple would face in open sourcing their consumer applications. Here's my take: Apple does not make fierce profits from $130 Mac OS X retail sales, and there isn't a conspiracy behind new apps not working on an old OS.
The 'Mac OS X Closed by Pirates' Myth
According to the proponents of this myth, Apple has abandoned their open source initiatives as they move to Intel, because they are afraid that, armed with the Darwin source code, pirate 3lit3 haxx0rs will p0wn them and have Mac OS X running on generic PCs. They're wrong, here's why.
10 Reasons Why Apple Can Kickstart Web 2.0
Reasons why Apple is a force to be reckoned with on the new web, and how this will enable them to do things other industry players can't.
Universal Applications
How the transition to Intel is very different than the move to PowerPC.
Unraveling The PowerPC Obsolescence Myth
According to proponents of this myth, Apple and third party developers will soon stop making software that runs on PowerPC Macs; even Leopard, the next release of Mac OS X, will be Intel only! They're wrong, here's why.
Unraveling The Mac OS X Linux Kernel Myth: Part 1
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According to proponents of this myth, Apple will, could, or should shortly replace Mac OS X's kernel with Linux. They're wrong; here's why.
Unraveling The Copy/Paste Development Myth
According to proponents of this myth, complex software development is a something like making funny madlibs from refrigerator magnets. Pick out features, line them up appropriately, and voila: an operating system! They're wrong, here's why.
Unraveling the Mac OS X Microkernel Myth
According to proponents of this myth, Mac OS X is in grave danger because it has a microkernel and Linux doesn't. They're wrong; here's why.
Unraveling the Utopian System that Runs All Software Imaginable Myth
The Utopian System that Runs All Software Imaginable Myth speaks of a hardware or software solution that... does it all. It seems like such a great idea, but is it?
Unraveling the Office for Mac Withdrawal Myth
According to proponents of this myth, Microsoft is poised to drop Office for Mac, resulting in immediate devastation for the Mac platform. They're wrong; here's why.
Unraveling the Red Box Myth
According to proponents of the Red Box Myth, Mac OS X will supposedly soon run Windows software natively, perhaps as soon as Leopard 10.5. They're wrong; here's why.
Where is the iPod Killer?
Pundits have been busy trying to find an iPod Killer. Suspects have included Microsoft's WMP, Sony's onslaught of reanimated Walkmen, the cheapskate Yahoo, and an aging Napster cat, now on extended life support. This month, it was music executive Edgar Bronfman Jr.
Part 1 - Where is the iPod Killer?
Part 2 - The Killer Piandntilde;ata
Part 3 - Edgar Bronfman Jr. is a big fat idiot
Why Apple won't suffer the Osborne Effect
Tech columnists love to rehash old stories and suggest the future will play out just like a vaguely similar event from the past. But as old stories are retold, they become celebrated legends that eventually grossly distort what actually happened.
Analysts fail to predict Apple's success with iPod
Analysts comfortable with predicting Microsoft's impending takeover in new markets are sweating bullets. For years, they've felt safe in discouraging any potential competition to Microsoft, and instead forecasting an inevitable domination of any and all markets to which the software giant shows any interest in entering.
Part 1 - Analysts fail to predict Apple's success with iPod
Part 2 - For the record, some facts
Part 3 - What works and what doesn't
Three Strikes
For the last two decades, legions of industry wags have kept repeating three things Apple needed to do in order to survive. But they were never right, and even when they appeared to be right, they weren't.
Part 1 - Three Strikes: Analysts Wrong on Apple
Part 2 - More Right Than Wrong
Part 3 - Much Ado About Intel
Part 4 - Putting the Mac in Mac OS X
Part 5 - A Shock to the System
Part 6 - How Apple And Intel Fit
Part 7 - Tears of a Clone
Beyond Luxo Jr : The next flat panel iMac
Is the iMac in trouble? Sales are down sharply from last year's, prompting dire screams of Apple-panic from the usual suspects. However, reality is far simpler than any pundits suggest. The next step for the consumer icon is, well, plainly obvious.