For years, Apple sold itself as anti-Microsoft. Now Windows 11 is an anti-Apple

[ad_1]

Windows 11 will be a free upgrade when it launches later this year.

Getty Images

At first glance, it looks like Microsoft’s upcoming Windows 11 will be a powerful update to the operating system software that powers most of the world’s computers. The first thing you’ll notice when you look at it is the new streamlined design similar to iOS smartphones and tablets from Apple and Android from Google. Microsoft has also added features aimed at helping people navigate the new ways we’ve all learned to work during the coronavirus pandemic. It includes built-in video chat software, technology to make video games look better, and more modern buttons and windows for controlling applications and sorting documents.

But Microsoft thinks its most important selling point may be what it’s not doing. After Windows 11 was announced on June 24, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said his company is building its technology to work with as many products as possible, including software for competing Android smartphones from Google. Microsoft released Windows 11 as a free upgrade later this year.

“Today, the world needs a more open platform — one that allows apps to become platforms in their own right,” he said. “Windows is a platform on which things bigger than Windows can be created.”

He pushed that point by inviting Google to bring the Google Play App Store to Windows. He also told developers that they are now allowed to sell software on the Microsoft Store for little or no commission, a stark shift from Apple and Google’s 15% minimum that has led to a flood of court cases, antitrust investigations and proposed new laws around the world. . He said he would welcome Apple’s FaceTime and other technologies on Windows 11 and in the Microsoft Store.

“We want to remove the barriers that often exist today and provide real choice and connectivity,” he said. “Operating systems and hardware should fit our needs, not the other way around.”

Microsoft is building its own Teams video chat in Windows 11.

Microsoft

Microsoft’s move with Windows 11 represents the latest radical change for the world’s top software company. Two decades ago, Microsoft’s attempts to crush competitors with its Windows software led a federal judge to declare it a monopoly. Microsoft’s blunt tactics and problematic software made it so hateful that people across the tech scene reduced the company as a million dollars in chat rooms to what they saw as the company putting profit before the needs of the people using its products.

Competitors joined, too. In the early 2000s, Google marketed its fledgling search engine with the corporate ethos of “Don’t be evil.” And when Apple began crafting its “Get a Mac” campaign to help market its PCs in 2005, it portrayed Microsoft’s PCs as an arrogant, arrogant idiot.

The character said, “The truth is you’re selling like hot cakes now, and I have to get my message across, so I’m marketing a little buzz for good old computers, the only computer you’ll ever need.” PC, played by comedian John Hodgman, then holds up signs saying “Amazing!” and “Absolutely awesome!”

But things have changed since then. Google dropped its famous “Don’t be evil” mantra in 2015, opting instead to “Do the right thing.” (Perhaps not coincidentally, the search giant is now facing antitrust scrutiny itself.) Apple’s control of the iPhone and its App Store has led to an increase in lawsuits and government investigations in Europe and the United States, which have been fueled by complaints from major partners such as dating app Tinder. Maker of IAC, music service Spotify, and developer of Fortnite Epic Games.

Read more: Windows 11: These are the best new features and how to use them

Meanwhile, Nadella has been making changes at Microsoft since he was appointed CEO in 2014. He has pushed Microsoft to soften its approach with partners, competitors, and even within its own divisions. Nadella told CNET in 2018 it’s about “as much about a renaissance as it’s just about fixing something that’s broken.”

Now, with Windows 11, Microsoft sees an opportunity to stand out from the crowd, rather than just compete. It will come quickly. Microsoft plans to release Windows 11 later this year, after this summer’s public beta testing period. It’s rumored to arrive in October, around the same time Apple releases its free annual software updates on iPhone, iPad, and Mac as well.

“This is the first release for a new era of Windows.”

Satya Nadella, CEO of Micsoft

“Now is the time,” said Maribel Lopez, an analyst at Lopez Research. For a long time, Nadella told developers that Microsoft is more open, easier to develop on, and with hundreds of millions of PCs sold each year, it’s still a platform with opportunities. Even Microsoft’s biggest hurdle – the lack of a smartphone operating system – fades away as mobile chips begin to power more PCs and fonts become more blurred.

This does not mean that there is an easy path for Microsoft. Although the company makes its single operating system more accessible to developers, Apple boasts two popular platforms in iOS and macOS.

“You can’t underestimate Apple,” Lopez said, noting that there is an ongoing “war” for the future of technology.

coming windows

Windows 11 has a lot of features inspired by smartphones and tablets.

Microsoft

In the 1990s, when people were buying their first desktop computers and logging on to the Internet for the first time, Microsoft’s stated mission was to put “a computer in every office and in every home.” By 2015, it had been largely successful — and that groundwork helped put a computer in everyone’s pockets, too. (Despite Microsoft’s best efforts, the devices did not have the Windows logo on them.)

So what will you do next? Nadella decided he wanted Microsoft to “empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.” This thinking ended Microsoft’s obsession with Windows, cementing it as a company whose products help power the company’s other products.

But the old Microsoft isn’t completely gone. Analysts believe that Nadella’s criticism of Apple during his Windows 11 launch speech was not just about hitting Microsoft’s biggest enemy. His tone wasn’t playful, nor was it as dismissive as former CEO Steve Ballmer when Apple co-founder Steve Jobs debuted the iPhone in 2007. Nadella was serious.

“You cannot underestimate Apple.”

Maribel Lopez, Lopez Research

“He’s trying to break through the veil,” said Patrick Moorhead, an analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, referring to Apple’s position as a brilliant innovative kid in the tech industry. “How many chances do you have to pierce the veil?”

Moorehead noted that Microsoft put a lot of effort into making sure that Office productivity apps, Teams chatbots, and other software work well on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. But Apple has barely updated iTunes on Windows over the years, and hasn’t made apps like FaceTime available for download.

Microsoft refused to make Nadella available for an interview to discuss the motives behind his speech. Whatever his reasons, Nadella’s move showed that under Microsoft’s cool shell, it still had that business sense of monopoly.

“I can see why they are so envious of Apple — everyone is bowing to that company as if it were a religious incantation,” said Roger Kay, an analyst at Endpoint Technologies Associates.

Read more: Windows 11: All the big differences from Windows 10

But attacking Apple may not be enough to change people’s perceptions. In 2001, more than nine out of 10 computers on the planet were running Windows. Today, we’re close to seven out of 10, according to StatCounter.

The iPhone makes Apple hard to crack.

Sarah Teo / CNET

So Nadella might want to position Windows 11 as an anti-Apple, but these days Microsoft’s influence extends largely to people who already have Windows. These people will either download the free Windows 11 update when it’s released this fall or wait for their company’s IT staff to let them.

“Microsoft is only competing against itself,” Kay said. “No one cares”.

And if that’s not enough, Microsoft is building its Teams software into Windows in a similar way to how Apple uses FaceTime with its devices. But it’s clear that Microsoft wants to establish its own identity with the way you open Windows.

“We are building for the next decade and beyond,” Nadella said in his Windows 11 speech. “This is the first release for a new era of Windows.”

Perhaps most important to him, it will not be Apple.

Stay up-to-date with the latest Microsoft news, plus reviews and tips about Windows PCs.

[ad_2]