Microsoft has long been the butt of many tech-jokes, especially from Apple/Linux fans. It’s not surprising. After all, it’s tough being the “king of the jungle”, especially when your operating systems keep crashing, you’re not the “cool” underdog, and user-friendliness is a concept you discovered late in 2005.
However, times are a-changing.
Over the past year or so we’ve seen some amazing things come out of Microsoft. Photosynth and the World Wide Telescope immediately come to mind. Conversely, Apple has been widely criticised for delaying the release of Leopard over and over (the very same thing they often accused Microsoft of in reference to Vista), of blunders with the new iPhone 3G, and of huge flaws with Mobile Me – the ‘upgrade’ to the .Mac service. (Read what Walt Mossberg has to say about it.)
And now, the coup de grace – The Mojave Experiment. Well, maybe not coup de grace exactly but it certainly seems to show that Microsoft is getting a little bit cleverer with its PR strategies.
Richard Muscat 