How Times Have Changed

It's a new year, MacWorld is coming, and I get teary remembering the image of the huge head of Bill Gates looming over Steve Jobs at MacWorld in Boston in 1997. You remember, too, don't you, how Gates saved Apple by tossing Jobs a hundred and fifty million dollars? In exchange, Microsoft got a settlement of Apple's patent suit that accused Windows of ripping off parts of the Mac GUI. Microsoft got Internet Explorer as the default Mac browser. Microsoft got Jobs to bless its Mac Office, which extended its Office hegemony. The audience was stunned. Boos and cries of horror were rampant. And Jobs pleaded with the crowd to stop bashing Microsoft.

How times have changed. Today, Microsoft once more dominates the tech headlines. Internet Explorer market share plunges below 70% (oh, yeah, Apple released its own Safari browser a few years ago). Early reviews of Window 7 are mainly focused on whether it can rescue the Windows brand after the Vista debacle (oh, yeah, Mac OS X has grabbed about 10% market share from the once seemingly unstoppable Windows monopoly). Zune forgets about leap years and stops working on the 366th day of the year (oh, yeah, the fix is to drain the battery; gotta kill it to save it!) And rumors circulate that there may be 10,000 fewer Softies soon due to layoffs in Redmond.

As for Apple, the main questions seem to be about Steve Jobs' health and how to further expand the iPhone, iPod, iTunes, iWhateverGadget drive to world domination. No one asks about Ballmer's health (would we notice a change?). No one asks about anything new from Microsoft dominating anything. 

How times have changed!