I've been thinking about this topic a lot lately. It's easy to forget that there are still a lot of WinMo phones out there with a Start menu and a task manager. MS did a complete turn around with their new Metro UI and the fact that it is aesthetically distinct from anything of Apple's earns them some points in my opinion.
I've been thinking recently about the notion that Apple has been successful in recent years because of their amazing design abilities. More and more, I'm coming to the conclusion that this idea is wrong.
I think the real reason Apple has been successful is that they care a lot about QA. I know a ton of switchers - from Linux and Microsoft to Apple desktops and laptops, and from other smart phones to iphones. I very rarely hear people talk about how beautiful or intuitive their
new devices are (in fact it's often the opposite - "why doesn't the green button maximize windows properly?"). But one thing that always comes up is the expression (usually said very giddily) "everything just works!".
I disagree. The switchers I know have often been frustrated by the UX, and haven't seemed to care very much about the aesthetics. But they really care about things (finally!) just working. This is overwhelmingly achieved by QA.
Agreed. My uncle used to have an old g3 macbook, and a Windows notebook. A year ago, he dropped both for a Macbook (when they dropped the price to €999, not the unibody one) with OS X Leopard, because he had this "notion" that the Macs just "works", and are "virus proof".
You had to see his face when the OS would hang when he performed an update, or the wireless connection problems.
Design is what matters you just have to change your perspective on what design is all about.
I understand what design is - I'm not trying to claim it's just aesthetics.
My claim is merely that this part: "he applies design thinking to his company" is less important than this part: "Apple have almost complete vertical integration both on the hardware and the software side" - it's exactly this integration makes QA's job easier, I would guess by several orders of magnitude.
The very fact that he uses design thinking means that he will try to do everything he can to control the process. Vertical integration is a byproduct of this thinking not the other way around. It's not just something they accidentally happened to have.
Why do you think they have introduced a processor that they are involved so heavily in?
None the less this post is not about Apple but about Microsoft. So let's just stop here :)
I think you're mostly talking about the hardware compatibility, since the actual OS / default software coming with it, while OK, personally I've had lots of problems with it (including Samba sharing not working, wireless connectivity at a conference not working, Finder crashing on me, etc...) Not to mention that most multi-platform software packages are better supported on Windows (Flash, Photoshop).
Related to hardware problems, when coming from Linux, it may be quite true, but in case you're thinking about a future Linux-powered device, search for the ones that are compatible (for example Dell or Acer laptops are usually fine).
On both Windows / Linux ... it's much harder to do QA on hardware compatibility when your list of supported devices has all the devices ever created. Try installing OS X on top of an AMD processor.
The people I know that switched to Macs have done it because ...
* they want Unix and their company only allows Windows / OS X
* they love Linux but need commercial software (Photoshop)
* they want Unix, but hate Linux's problems
* they want to look cool
That last point shouldn't be underestimated. Almost every Hollywood movie that features a man/woman in front of a computer, it's from Apple.
I've never seen a single normal person that voluntarily choses OS X over Windows / Apple over Dell ... because of technical superiority or because of the lack of viruses (if they do, they saw it in an ad).
Normal users don't think about such things because normal users blame themselves when the shit hits the fan and they always have a friend that can fix it (over and over and over again). And when they buy from Apple, guess who are they're gonna call when their old webcam isn't supported or when some piece of software they've got from work isn't working :)
"[In Windows Phone 7 Microsoft is] dictating screen resolution, GPS, accelerometer, memory, CPU, even the number of physical buttons that can exist on a device...
...[Android has] not established a strong design language, which has led to a hodgepodge of app quality and interaction metaphors which makes it difficult to just "know" how a new app works."
