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Pirates of Silicon Valley: Then and Now
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I am a huge fan of Pirates of Silicon Valley. It’s hard to believe that this came out over 11 years ago (June 20, 1999).
If you are not familiar with the movie, it is a history of how both Apple and Microsoft started as companies from doing business out of garage/dorm rooms to establishing themselves in Silicon Valley. To a lesser degree you see how companies like IBM and Xerox played as part as competitors.
In the movie you get to see the following:
- The origin of DOS
- The origin of Mac OS
- The rise and fall and rebirth of Apple
- Apple Lisa
- and more…
This movie ended by showing that Microsoft was the ultimate winner in the feud between Apple – by having Bill Gates introduce Steve Jobs on stage to announce a truce between companies.
So much has happened since this movie came out, particularly to Microsoft and Apple. What if this movie were to be re-made today? You could produce an entirely new movie based on these two companies just on the past 10 years alone. Here is what you might see:
Personal Music Players
The most obvious thing that you would see is the introduction of personal music players: iPods and Zunes. Just two years after this movie was released Apple redefined itself as a company with the release of the first iPod. Ever since, you have seen numerous companies produce their own version of the iPod – some were even created well before the iPod (See Diamond Rio PMP300). It took Microsoft five years to produce their own personal music player: Zune.
Remember Me?
Operating Systems
When this movie came out the primary operating system was Windows 98 and Mac OS 8. How many different operating systems have you gone through since?
Microsoft
- Windows ME
- Windows XP
- Windows Vista
- Windows 7
Apple
- OS 9.0 – 9.2.2
- OS X (10) Cheetah – OS X (10.6) Snow Leopard
Microsoft has had successes (Windows XP and Windows 7) and failures (Windows ME and Windows Vista). Like with the iPod, 2001 was an important year for Apple when it released the first version of OS X.
Other Players
When you think of the dominating tech companies, it’s no longer just between Microsoft and Apple. You also have giants such as Google.
You may see more competition between Google and Microsoft with Google and Bing:
- Search Engine
- Maps
- News
- Shopping
- Advertising
A rivalry between Google and Microsoft is more apparent from the standpoint of the web. But how has Google influenced Apple?
We haven seen a preview of Google’s introduction into the Operating System market with Chromium OS.
Perhaps this is what will be Apple’s main competition in regards to Google.
Smart Phones
So what about Smart Phones?
Apple has clearly set the bar in both Smart Phone hardware and software with the iPhone. So where do Microsoft and Google stand?
We have already seen Google’s failed attempt to enter the Smart Phone hardware market: nexus one. However, in terms of software Android has had success on third-party phones:
- Motorola Droid
- HTC Droid Incredible
- HTC EVO 4G
- HTC Hero
- HTC Droid Eris
Can we see Google attempt re-entry of the hardware market with the acquisition of one of these companies?
Microsoft has been in the Smart Phone software business for a while with Windows mobile; however, they have only recently attempted to enter the hardware market with Windows Phone 7.
It seems like we hear the term “iPhone killer” everytime a new mobile device comes out, but everytime it fails to do so.
The Future
What will the spectrum of tech companies look like in the next 10 years? Will Google be the dominating company – where every product is successful? Or will another company emerge?
Other Views
Apple: The new/old Pirates of Silicon Valley?
Google Android phones vs. Apple iPhones, who is winning the wallets of consumers?
Apple vs Google vs Microsoft: Battle of the Titans
Fat or Thin? The Future of Web Clients
No, I’m not talking about the millions of people who use the web, but rather they way that we access web content.
Thin
What do I mean by thin? I mean accessing and interacting with web information by the means of a single application: the web browser.
If you haven’t seen Google’s ChromeOS yet, it is the epitome of a thin client. It is like a stripped down Linux distribution with nothing more than a web browser.
When web 2.0 first introduced itself, we saw web sites that behaved like desktop applications. Technologies like AJAX and Flash combined with broadband internet changed the way we interacted with the web – the web browser was the primary application for accessing web content.
Web applications still had a few major flaws: the capabilities of the browser to adhere to web standards (HTML & CSS).
Who had an iPhone the first year they came out? If you did, you might remember that if you wanted to access sites like Facebook or MySpace (who uses MySpace anymore?), or if you wanted to play any games, you needed to do so with Safari.
That first year, the iPhone also teased us with some built-in applications like YouTube and Google Maps.
Web applications have been successful due to the convergence of web standards: XHTML and CSS, but are still dependent on the speed of the network and the capabilities of the browser.
Thick
Today, how often do you use the web browser on your iPhone?
There are over 100,000 custom iPhone applications that provide different ways to access web content. As a result, web clients are getting fatter and fatter.
Why apps?
Accessing web content via apps is a more pleasant user experience because we are relying more on the capabilities of the device operating system vs. the capabilities of the web browser.
How many of you access your e-mail through a mail application or read blogs with an RSS reader, or use Twitter through a desktop client?
Internet-enabled applications are not unique to mobile devices nor are they anything new.
Your web browsers isn’t as thin as it used to be
All of the primary browsers today support the use of extensions or toolbar add-ons to enhance your browsing experience. As a result, our web browsers are also getting fatter.
The Future
Our mobile devices are now loaded with applications for accessing web content: FAT, at the same time netbooks are becoming increasingly popular: THIN.
So where are we headed?
I believe that the application-based client will be the future of the web because it allows for the best user experience. The traditional web browser won’t go away, but will continue to supplement the application.
Because of the difficultly involved in maintaining software updates and new features – the success of web-enabled application will depend on the update delivery model. Applications will thrive if using push-notification models for updating like Apple’s App Store and Firefox’s Add-On manager.
What do you think? Will Google’s ChromeOS eventually have it’s own app store like the Android Market? Or will all future browsers adhere to the same web standards offering the same browsing experience?