Microsoft understands computers.
Apple understands people.

This is the difference and here are my reasons why:

Microsoft and Apple have two quite different strategies for developing software and for getting the message to their user base. The execution of these two strategies is the prime reason for the current Apple fandom and Microsoft, uh, frustration. Lets examine a couple big parts of these concepts.

One, a unifying and inspirational vision for a company and its products.
Two, an understanding of your customers and writing software for them.

I have been working with both Microsoft and Apple for years. I know both companies pretty well and also have a good understanding about both companies and their business strategy.

Microsoft has a variety of problems right now. Stock is flat. Excitement at main campus is about as low as I have ever seen it. But, the biggest problem is they do NOT seem to have any idea how to get people to understand their business and IT strategy. It never ceases to amaze me how a business like Microsoft can so completely befuddle their customers to the point where they don’t understand what these people, to whom they are paying hundreds, thousands or even millions of dollars, are doing. Scarier yet, the people working at Microsoft don’t understand it much better than the customer.

What you say? How can this be? Surely customers know what Microsoft is thinking and their vision of computers since Microsoft spends millions on marketing. True, but, how can one properly convey a message if one does not know the strategy herself. This is one of Microsoft’s big problems.

The vision? Oh yes, certain teams know. Also, particular people know. But, there is no one unifying vision. No one individual knows. Instead it is an amalgam which “just comes together”–sometimes.

Contrast this with Apple, who in the person of Steve Jobs, does have a unifying and clearly defined vision. While different departments do different things with little or no contact with other departments, because there is a goal in sight the system works.

Steve often gets accused of “management by walking around”. Yes, he does that a lot. He gets in peoples faces. Hell, he got in my face ( shudder ) more than a couple of times. But, he knows what he wants and he has a vision and people get that from him and work hard FOR him.

Microsoft has lots of contact internally between departments, at least more than Apple does. People sometimes think Microsoft has a good management strategy. Wrong. Microsoft is in a management meltdown. They talk together, but don’t get a lot done and worse, they seem to be in endless debate about everything. Managers and above worry not about their people and their product–they worry about themselves. Teams set up protectionist tactics in order to ensure their viability and ongoing funding. They are not there for “the customer”. They are doing business

They are there for themselves and maybe they can help a customer too.

Sadly, this is common in business. It is not just Microsoft doing this sort of thing. It is the majority of the Fortune 500. It is, in my opinion, “How Harvard Business School Ruined America” and a subject upon which I have written several articles and perhaps will even compile a book. The fundamental misunderstanding of business is why Microsoft and so many others are so painfully wrong.

It is also why Apple is cleaning Microsoft’s clock. 

Which brings us to the second point, the understanding of your customers and designing software for them.

Look, customers are not idiots. They know what they want and they just want to have the thing they bought work. They don’t want to have to think to much to get a task done.

Picture in your mind a microwave oven.

Microsoft’s microwave would require reboots, eight different sub menu navigations, twenty different ways to cook a pizza and oh yes, because some program manager would not back down, seven different ways to turn the oven off. 

Apple’s oven would just work. No crazy menus. One way to turn on and off. You could cook pizza Apple’s way or set minutes yourself, but still one way to cook pizza. It would not require thinking or manuals or understand a pizza icon with a ice cube means thaw first but a pizza icon with a sauce ladle means extra soupy. In short, it would be simple.

Why is this you ask?

Microsoft is run by and their applications are written by a bunch of people who love and understand COMPUTERS. They “grok” CPUs and C++ GUI Assembly Language Algo… well, you get the picture.

They also seem to love logic puzzles. These are puzzles where the common sense answer MUST be wrong and the first answer the majority of people come up with first MUST also be wrong. Heck, I used to train program managers for Microsoft and they would only hire people who did well on and liked these things. There are books written about it.

However; these same people do not love and understand PEOPLE.

Now ask yourself why Vista and Windows Mobile act like they do. We love puzzles with no common sense answer and we love computers, but we don’t love our target audience. Hmm…

Apple has those folks. Programmers and leaders at Apple most commonly understand people first, computers second. This is not a trival matter at all. Let me put in shortly and succinctly.

Microsoft understands computers.
Apple understands people.

I can’t make it any simpler. 

This in a nutshell is the root cause of all the woes of the former and the success of the latter. Apple is poised to move in on the new age of customer centric computers. Where Joe Auto Salesman, Jane Doctor, Steve the Boater and Lisa the Mechanic all can use a computer without thinking about HOW TO USE IT!

Until Microsoft get this in their head. Until Microsoft redefines and starts thinking and loving people, not just paying it lipservice, Microsoft will continue to suffer. They could even die. It has happened before with more than a couple companies.

Apple should be a model for businesses everywhere. How many do you know that come back from the brink of death not once, not twice, but three times and each time stronger than ever. They are a triumph of customer service and customer engineering. Apple is what every capitalist should strive to be.

A company that makes money.
A company that makes customers happy.
A company that make headlines.
A company that makes the rules.

They are an American success story and their service oriented ways are going to lead us into a new era of computer use. 

I for one am happy to be along for the ride.

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