Comments on: Comparing Apple to Microsoft in PR

Apple gets a free pass on just about everything. It shouldn't be this way.

[dustinfrank]

Thanks for the open and honest commentary, Matt. I have to admit i've grown quite tired of that double-standard in the media. Its nice to see that is being acknowledged from within.

[pdskep]

Nice. I know you and others might like Apple OS over Vista, but the truth is it's a very good OS for what it has to do. There are reasons to like Apple more for some people, but Vista doesn't deserve the bad press that it gets.

[shawn1313]

Exactly. Everyone thinks microsoft is so evil, but apple does things that are as bad as or worse than microsoft on a regular basis. No one thinks of microsoft as being some saintly benevolent company, and they don't seem to try to pass themselves off as such. Apple, however, wants everyone to believe that they're the saviors of the tech world, and a lot of people buy into that notion. I'm glad that you don't, because your posts are always very insightful and I'm sure a lot of people are influenced by them.

[Vegaman_Dan]

It's hard to run any profitable company without stepping on someone's toes. You can't please everyone all the time. Sometimes there is favortism by fans or media and that can really skew the perceived reputation a company can have. Just look at Ford and GM. They have their fans as well, and for a very long time the media was accused of going after Ford for every little thing and recall whereas GM had them too, but it just didn't make the news as much. It's just a matter of what you hear.

[kwhsy82]

Agreed on two fronts.

A. Apple products clearly have had shortcomings in the last year. IPhone pricing; MobileMe; the endless software patches; the pre-announced (but not availability of IPhone 2); apparently 3G issues on IPhone.

I'm sort of sad to conclude that the "It's from Apple, it just works" is on hold. If they keep doing it, it will cease. Their ambitions have increased with success; their system test resources seem not to.

Their TV spots are brilliant but will lose credibility shortly if they continue to ship MobileMe, etc..

B. Steve Jobs's health is a material issue to shareholders. Period. It goes with the territory: He's wealth and a celebrity, thanks to hard work and talent. Conversely, more disclosure and responsibility comes with running a public company, period.

C. It is also pretty clear that Apple can act with as much arrogance as any. Take Flash on the IPhone. Most users would love to have it. Instead of working with Adobe to see if it's feasible, it becomes a corporate ego issue apparently to bash Adobe. Ditto MobileMe -- one Apple excuse is that it's "flaws with Outlook" that prevent it from working. News flash, Apple: Outlook is far from perfect, but others have figured their way to work around those imperfections. It's hard, grungy work -- but....

If Apple really wants to return from "niche" to a true alternate to Windows, then it better deal with criticism better and do the hard work of creating products that work in diverse environments. Or sadly, it will remain a high-priced alternative to the cognoscenti.

[mrwullie]

I agree 100%. As a 19 year Mac veteran, I am currently fighting Apple's corporate arrogance in order to get them to acknowledge there are very serious problems with the first generation 24" Intel iMacs. Customers everywhere are experiencing frustrating video/display meltdowns, freezes and crashes in machines that are barely 2 years old - and Apple is yet to acknowledge or address the situation. If it's from Apple...it doesn't always work. It's painful to say that, being such a defender of the company in the past, but I'm left holding the bag on a $2800 desk ornament. I feel betrayed and frankly, ripped off.

[openhelix]

Matt, good to see someone else calling out the double standard. Even the Mac versus PC commercials wouldn't be tolerated if MS were the aggressor. That says nothing of the inexcusable iphone activation and mobile.me outageas. Everyone loves an underdog but Apple has proved relevant again and should be held to the same standard as the rest of the industry.

Speaking of MSFT, did you hear they launched Windows Mojave yesterday? ;)

[jmvapa]

Personally, I don't fault Apple for stumbling occasionally, but I do believe there's a difference between Microsoft and Apple when it comes to wrong information. I submit that there are 2 major differences:

1. MS is #1 in do as I say, not as I do.
2. MS says very misleading things about their products, and when it catches up with them, they and their defenders resort to "That's all in the past, trust me now".

http://darkbrownhole.blogspot.com/2008/07/what-do-microsoft-people-say-about-macs.html

The antics of Steve Jobs seem almost paranoid and tyrannical some times, but he does things consistently with what he says, he is passionate about his product, and responds to constructive criticism. Apple is sometimes a little slow to hear their customer, but they are listening.

It seems to escape Steve Ballmer that he is the personification of Microsoft. What he says and does is amplied many times over, because the Steve Ballmer projection is bigger than MS and his products.

IMHO

[alegr]

It took so long for you to realize that? Man, you was blinded.

[Sumatra-Bosch]

Oh, you noticed that the press shows up on all fours to cheezy product demos with Jobs claiming to 'reinvent' stuff? The difference in the way the companies are treated by the media may have to do with product quality overall. MSFT stuff is broken when it ships and then decays from there because, given boot loader lock-in and their contracts with the manufacturers, it doesn't need to work too well, if at all. (You should write about the boot loader issue, at least once a week. Ballmer will call you up and scream at you or drive to SF and bite your face.)

Apple's stuff works more often than not because customer have to go out of their way to buy their stuff historically. Jobs is a sad, twisted psychopath but he is at one level an honest shopkeeper in that he knows the customer should be satisfied by things that work. MSFT, really, just a law firm with programmers, looks for choke points to jam and control to manipulate the market to its advantage and finally to its monopoly control. In that way, it's one-trick pony company but one that has never had customers in its product development equation. They're completely external to the company's thinking.

Apple asks: how can the product make the experience complete or more useful for a consumer/user, pain in the rear that he may be?

MSFT asks: how does MSFT manipulate and control the marketspace to make sure that the wants and interests of the consumer are completely irrelevant?

OK, Apple sends stuff into the marketplace that works a lot of the time. Maybe that's enough to get the benefit of the doubt from reporters. Still, it doesn't explain why they actually show up to the company's product demos like sheep.

[mayadanteamihan]

Very simple. There's a whale of a difference between Microsoft products and Apple products, that's why. Despite its fumbling of late, I, and many people with me who have been using Macs after growing up and old on Windows, Apple products remain reliable overall.

Isn't that precisely why there's been a lot of negative press about Apple lately -- because, after the iPhone hoopla died down, media's been looking to publish anything about Apple, that being the only way they can get a wider reading public?

Admit it.

[Jonthin]

I can't let these comments pass - which were predictable.

THE reasons why Apple gets benefit of doubt is:

- Apple is a GOOD business that does RIGHT by its customers, partners and shareholders.

- Microsoft is a BAD business that MISLEADS and GOUGES its customers and everyone else.

The evidence of this over the years is so overwhelming that to argue anything else is madness.

AMEN

[S!egfried]

Wow. I'm impressed. There is hope for you yet!