msft

This post is part of our Battle of the Brands feature. Let us know which brand you prefer, and check out other Battle of the Brands posts.

Going by ad campaigns alone, you would think that every person -- or, at least every cool person -- had abandoned their Windows PCs and hoisted themselves onto the Macintosh bandwagon. Not so. The truth is that PCs far outnumber Macs in the market. The big-business worlds of finance, law, medicine use predominantly PC, while the areas of video production, web design and art use Mac. These computers do most of the same things (play games and DVDs, word-process, create web pages, store and play music) but they are completely different operating systems. Even though Apple computers now include the Intel processor that makes it possible to use Windows-only applications, it can still be hard to compare products.

But what about the companies themselves? What does the Apple brand signify that the Dell brand does not? And vice versa.

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL): Providing innovative products and a user-friendly interface, Apple has turned the whole computer thing into a fashion accessory. For someone who used Dell products for years and then switched to Mac, the difference is like night and day. A Mac is so easy to use. With a clean interface, a near-universal compatibility with external products and tools, these computers are a beautiful breeze. And now that Macs include Intel processors, one can switch back and forth between a Windows interface and a Mac interface, making previous incompatibilities (software, games, etc.) now perfectly compatible. And when it comes to customer service (see below) Apple really socks the house.

Although AOL has chosen to withdraw continuing development of the Netscape Navigator browser, you'll be able to continue using it indefinitely. Honestly though, who would want to?

Netscape doesn't have much in the way of loyalists in the realm of content suppliers, and web users seem not to care much what browser they use as long as the utility is fast, accurate and simple. I myself switched from Netscape to Firefox during the last year because Navigator was giving me image handling problems and Mozilla Firefox proved to be easier, faster and less burdensome.

Since 1994, Netscape has been a leading-edge web utility. However in recent years, competition from Mozilla Firefox has relentlessly scooped away market share from Netscape and a strong and victorious competitive battle has been waged in the interest of Internet Explorer by Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT). Although Netscape proved to be a strong web utility, in the last few years it lacked any significant improvements in user friendliness. I think that situation is in part due to Microsoft's reluctance to make the Windows operating system play nice with Netscape Navigator. We may take pause to wonder if Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) ever properly applied pressure on Microsoft over the situation ... probably not.

In the big picture, no one is going to miss Netscape Navigator. Yes, some few loyalists might whine for a while and some people with fully loaded hard drives might find their machines maxed out by the downloading of a new browser and the system changes associated with that, but in the end it's all good if it makes the browsing experience faster and easier for the end user. Besides, it might force the sale of some new computers, yes?

Perhaps AOL should just spin off Netscape, take a bit of cash for it and write the rest off. That might be easiest in the long run. When given the fact that AOL will apparently be relegating Netscape to second-tier status, do you really think it'll ever get better?

Stick a fork in it gang, it's done.

CNN had a story yesterday showing gains in Apple Inc.'s (NASDAQ: AAPL) market share in operating systems. The recent gains in market share must be hard for Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) to ignore. It also has to make life harder for Linux and other O/S makers.

The data released yesterday, showed that the MacIntel systems had a 4.01% share in December and the Mac OS share was 3.28%, making it a combined 7.3% share in December. While the data shows that Microsoft still dominates with a 91.8% market share, it also shows that it has lost ground for seven of the last eleven months. What is interesting is that out of this 91.8% market share for various Windows O/S sales is that 76.97% is still windows XP and only 10.43% is for Windows Vista.

CNN's story covers a survey from Net Applications that uses a sample of visitors to some 40,000 websites operated by its clients rather than a total number of computer systems sold. So there is still some room for interpretation here.

Linux was shown as having a 0.63% market share. While that is up 10.5% from the previous 0.57% readings, it shows that Mac truly is the envy of Linux creators. It is also interesting that, at least according to this survey, much of the Windows sales might still be going into Windows XP rather than Windows Vista.

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) released the first public service pack for its Windows Vista computer operating system Wednesday amid a lack of fanfare by the tech media. Well, from what I saw, anyway. Microsoft's "service pack" is generally regarded as a collection of bug fixes that address certain problems within the software itself, although Microsoft as always downplayed that angle, maintaining that a service pack is more akin to adding new and exciting features more than anything else.

Why is this significant? Windows Vista, which the world's largest software company hopes will continue turning its cash-flow machine for many years to come, still needs major acceptance from large businesses and non-consumer segments. Windows Vista has not sold at retail at near the level Microsoft had hoped, although almost every new PC comes with at least the "Basic" version of the operating system.

One of the wonderful things about the Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) Mac and its operating system was that, because so few people used them, they were not an attractive target for hackers. Apple used that fact to market itself as an alternative to Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) Windows, which is constantly fending off bugs.

All of that is changing now that computer users actually buy Macs and use Apple's new OS. The FT quotes Patrik Runald, an F-Secure security researcher, as remarking: "Over the past two years, we had found one or two pieces of malware targeting Macs. Since October, we've found 100-150 variants."

Now Apple will have to spend a lot of programmer time working on hacks the same way that Microsoft does.

The Apple hacking army is lead by a group called the "Zlob gang." It appears that they are very good at getting consumers to download software for things like watching video. All the person really gets is a virus.

It is a shame that the Mac is so successful. Now Apple will have to spend endless hours in a chess game with hackers.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

New information out of IDC research suggests that the Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) Mac accounted for 6.3% of all PC sales in Q3, up from 5.7% in the same quarter a year ago. This would move the company into third place in the U.S. market.

Steve Jobs intends to do what he can to keep Mac sales growing faster than the PC industry as a whole. According to The New York Times, "on Friday, Apple will start selling the new Leopard version of its OS X operating system, which has a range of features that in some cases match those in Windows Vista and in others surpass them." To keep adding features to the OS, Apple plans to upgrade it every eighteen months or so for several years.

But, upgrades will not be enough to continue to push for more market share. Apple is getting some Mac sales because of the public's purchasing of iPods and iPhone. Still, it is difficult to see business and enterprise customers supporting a new OS along with Windows which not only dominates the PC market but rules the server market as well.

Among consumers, the share battle may get more hard-fought. Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) and other big PC companies are going to need to defend their sales with better product and aggressive pricing. Apple has to face new competition in the U.S. markets from Asia operation Lenovo and Acer.

Apple is about to find that getting more share is tough against entrenched competition.

Google, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) likes to make the most complex thing you'll ever do into the most simplest task. Much of the planet knows how easy it is to use Google's market-leading search engine, but the talent and technology to make that possible would be mind-boggling to many of us.

If you've used a cellphone in the last year, you're probably aware of how complex that category has become. In standard fashion, cellphone makers and wireless carriers both are cramming more features into wireless phones these days as a way to recruit more customers. Long gone are the old differentiators like coverage area and minute packages, and in are MP3 players, streaming video and amazingly complex user interfaces for even the most basic of cellphones. Google wants to change that, and apparently it won't bother with yet another handset that would just get lost in the fray.

No, Google's simplistic approach, as it always has been, may be in the software that powers these devices instead of making the hardware itself. Right now, Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) makes the Windows Mobile operating system for advanced wireless phones, but it's laden with overkill for most of us. Yes, we all want email and multimedia applications on our phones, but we can do without the complexity current solutions have to offer. If Google were to license or give away its mobile operating system technology to manufacturers and have a say in the design itself beyond the software -- and support the effort using in-phone advertising of some sort -- the world of cellphones could change for the better. If we thought the Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone was "revolutionary,'" then maybe the 'gPhone' could be one step beyond that.

This post is part of our Money Face-Offs feature. Let us know who you think comes out ahead in this head-to-head match-up, and check out our other Money Face-Off posts.

The technology stories of the 1980s have a lot to do with the dawn of the PC era. IBM was about to license its personal computer technology to the open market (leading to the rising popularity of Microsoft) and Apple's computers were a hit-or-miss proposition with consumers as el-cheapo PCs made their entrance and became the dominant force in many homes and offices. Remember 1,200-bps modems and bulletin boards, folks?

Microsoft's arguably illegal tactics made it flourish in the 1990s under CEO and company cofounder William H. Gates, and the debate continues to this day whether the Windows 3.0 and Windows 95 operating systems were in part copies of Apple's MacIntosh operating system. Suggested viewing: Pirates of Silicon Valley.

Apple seemed dead in the water in the mid '90s, and Microsoft was growing by leaps and bounds. Bill Gates became the richest person in the world on paper (which would last more than a decade), and Steve Jobs came back in 1997 to try and resurrect a floundering Apple that had not done much in terms of innovation or growth under then-CEO Gil Amelio. Gates seemed on top of the world; Jobs, not so much.

A funny things happened yesterday. Shares in Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ: JAVA), which have been trading up for two weeks, took at dope mid-day. The drop was fairly sudden and happened just after noon.

That would have been the same time that Sun announced it would be selling Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) Windows pre-installed on a number of its servers. According to The Wall Street Journal, Redmond will get a license fee for each server. This was an odd turn of events since Windows competes with Sun's own Solaris system.

Both companies pledged that their server software would interact and work with new virtualization technologies that allow processing to be shared across servers and cuts hardware cost.

What happened to Solaris then? According to Sun, it would become a de facto standard for server operating systems, but the market wasn't buying it. The reason Sun's shares fell is probably because the announcement was a tacit admission that Solaris cannot pull Sun's growth out of the mud.

In the last quarter, Sun's revenue was flat. Of course, Sun does not have to pay Microsoft license fees on Solaris, so margins will be cut each time Windows is shipped on a Sun server. Sun will now have to pay out money for the privilege of using Windows. The market knows that.

But, it is better than hitching the company's wagon to a star that is setting.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.

As many U.S. citizens sit back for a brief period today to remember those victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks, we'll reflect on many things. The war on terror, the innocent casualties of war, the downturn of the stock market after the attacks and the triumphant return years later and many other things. To give a welcome piece of relief, let's take a quick look at some companies and look at where they've arrived in the last six years in terms of growth.

Let's begin with Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT). In the September 2001 time frame, the world's largest software company was just on the cusp of releasing the Windows XP operating system to OEM computer manufacturers and consumers. In the fiscal year ended in June 2001, Microsoft's annual revenue stood at roughly $25 billion. By contrast, the software giant's revenues annually for the year just ended in June 2007 stood at $51 billion. That's a doubling of the revenue base in six years, which is exponential growth if you consider the 30-year history of the company.

Now, there are others that have accomplished this as well. Consider Yahoo, Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO), which stood at annual revenue of $717 million in 2001 to over $6 billion last year, despite its much-publicized problems in 2007. And Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT)? How about $191 billion in 2001 to $344 billion in 2006? If one thing is to be learned here, it's that the stock market recovery -- the indexes, individual equities, most everything else -- has come roaring back from the sad and frustrating days at the end of September 2001.

[photo luisvilla]

The Justice Department came to an agreement with Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) in 2002 to regulate what the government saw as non-competitive actions by the big software company. According to Reuters: "Microsoft was found to have unlawfully used its monopoly in personal computer operating systems to discourage computer manufacturers from loading non-Microsoft software on their machines."

Now, the feds are saying Microsoft is doing just fine playing with others and the issue of competition has receded. Not so, say several state attorneys general. They don't believe that Gates & Co. have done much to mend their evil ways.

It is hard to say how the states measure this. Does Linux have a better footprint in the server market? Yes. Is the PC market more open to operating systems outside Windows? No. But until Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) makes its OS broadly available there are not any other alternatives.

Microsoft is certainly using the OS to help it in other areas, like keeping its browser in first place. But areas like web video are now dominated by Adobe (NASDAQ: ADBE)'s Flash platform. That was not true five years ago. PC software security is dominated by Symantec (NASDAQ: SYMC).

If there hadn't been a federal case against Microsoft, the landscape might remain the same as it was throughout the 1990s. But, with competition from Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) and other large software companies, it is hard to say that conditions have not changed.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) will ship a version for its Safari browser that works on the PC, a piece of real estate that has been owned by Microsoft's (NASDAQ: MSFT) Internet Explorer and is on the Windows operating system.

One analyst told (subscription required) The Wall Street Journal that the news was not a big deal: "Overall it was a disappointment," said Gene Munster, an analyst at Piper Jaffray. But, to a large extent, that depends on what Apple's goals are.

The browser serves a number of functions aside from being the PC portal to the Internet. Several new Microsoft versions incorporate the company's search technology, and important part of its competition with Google (NASDAQ : GOOG). If Apple uses eventually uses Google for that function, it could further advance their lead in search.

Windows Internet Explorer also contains other Microsoft products like Window Messenger. Computers with the Safari browser would not have easy access to that.

Apple's initiative may be small, for now, but with Mac sales growing adding a Windows version of its browser further helps Apple to expand into an areas that has been owned by Microsoft and the PC manufacturers.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.

This post is part of our Battle of the Brands feature. Let us know which brand you prefer, and watch out for more Battle of the Brands posts.

It seems that the competition that has been brewing between Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) has never really died down from the late 1970s, even as both companies have had ups and downs in the stock market and in the consumer products market as well. The battle between Apple and Microsoft has been (and will be) a perfect case study for future business textbooks at the best universities, as the fight between the two has been nothing short of amazing in the past 25 years or so.

Apple

Apple's start began with Steve Jobs (visionary guru) and buddy Steve Wozniak (tech guru) trying to find a way to get customers buying the personal computer before the market and world even knew what a personal computer was. Steve Jobs was trained in calligraphy and wanted the PC experience to be just as much an art and visceral, visible experience as a technical, computer program-interface experience. With that vision, and with a little help from friends, the two Steves started selling Apple's first PC products out of a garage about 27 years ago in the Southern California area, after Jobs dropped out of college due to lack of funds and general boredom.

What transpired throughout the early 1980s was the rapid growth of Apple Computer Inc. as the PC powerhouse at the same time it was grabbing the attention of MicroSoft (later renamed Microsoft Corp.) founder Bill Gates, who had dropped out of Harvard to pursue his vision of coming up with a PC operating system that he could "license" to all the big hardware manufacturers to use on their machines. But, Gates needed a nice interface to ensure his product was better than Apple's.

Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) -- strange bedfellows or enemies? The iPod and the Zune, the Mac OS and Windows. Is Microsoft really helping Apple selling Macs?

Well, not entirely. According to The Wall Street Journal, the ability of the new Intel Corp.- (NASDAQ:INTC) powered Macs to run Windows is winning fans [subscription required] with consumers, schools and small businesses. As the paper writes, "support for Windows on Apple hardware looks to be playing a key role in persuading some users to switch to Macs."

Apple really doesn't need the help. In the latest reported quarter, Mac sales rose 40% to $2.4 billion. Sales of portable Macs rose 79% to $1.455 billion.

The knock against the Mac at most companies is that its OS does not play nicely with Windows. No longer. Now, Apple computers run the stuff. Apple's marketing strength, however, remains directed at the consumer, due, in part, to the success of the iPod and the upcoming launch of the iPhone.

Perhaps Apple will actually put some sales effort against enterprise sales of the Mac. That could make things interesting for companies like Hewlett-Packard Co.(NYSE:HPQ).

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.

Yesterday, there was news of two initiatives International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) is involved in that may put pressure on Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT).

First, IBM joined forces with rivals Intel Corp. (NASDAQ:INTC) and Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE:HPQ). It is expected the companies will announce a new Linux cooperative, the Linux Foundation, that would promote Linux open-source operating system. This, of course, puts direct pressure on Microsoft's Windows operating system.

The other news item was from IBM's Lotus unit. The unit will introduce Lotus Connections, a new collaboration software that combines five components: member profiles, activities, blogs, communities and "dogear." It functions like MySpace but is for office workers, providing an easier way to work together on projects. Lotus Connections will become generally available later in the first half of 2007. Pricing hasn't been disclosed.

Lotus Connections is offering the equivalent of MySpace.com or Facebook, Yahoo Inc.'s (NASDAQ:YHOO) bookmark sharing site del.icio.us and a blog search tools like Technorati.com. These are combined in one package, which could be seen as a renewed challenge to Microsoft and other competitors such as Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ:ORCL) and Adobe Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE).

Last year, IBM said Lotus Notes had 125 million users. This could rise to 150 million with the collaboration software. Microsoft has 200 million Outlook users and signed up another 80 million licensed users of SharePoint software, according to a Burton Group analyst, who also thinks corporations might reconsider Lotus Notes following these enhancements.

It's good to see IBM busy, but I'm sure Microsoft isn't going to sit idly by and just let things happen.