With OS X Mountain Lion, Apple and Microsoft’s strategies grow further apart

Mobile computing has become an important piece of our digital lives, and nothing could be a better example than the release of new operating systems from both Microsoft and Apple. While we won’t be seeing Windows 8 for another three months,Mac OS X 10.8 “Mountain Lion” was released to the public earlier today.

Both intertwine the mobile experience with that of the desktop. With Windows 8, Microsoft has made the choice to unify its entire platform from top to bottom. Windows 8 looks like Windows RT, which looks Windows Phone 8, and the convergence even extends to the Xbox. In short, the operating system both looks, works, and feels the same.

Redmond sees this as an advantage: sit in front of a current Microsoft product, and you’ll instantly know how to use it once you’ve used one. It’s also the reason why touchscreens will likely appear more and more often on desktop and laptop PCs, as obviously the Metro user interface itself is built around touch.

Apple couldn’t see it any more differently, though. The company takes the position that while the operating system should feel the same, it doesn’t necessarily need to work or look the same. CEO Tim Cook took that position last year during a financial analysts call when he maintained that a unified approach just doesn’t work.

 “Anything can be forced to converge,” Cook said of the strategy at the time. “The problem is that the products are about tradeoffs. You begin to make tradeoffs to the point where what you have left at the end of the day doesn’t please anyone.”

While some of us — including myself — saw this as a bit of hypocrisy in light of Apple’s moves in Lion and now Mountain Lion to bring iOS features (and to some extent the look) to the desktop, it’s true. Look at Metro. The interface certainly translates better to touch than it does to mouse control. In fact, in the reviews of the user interface I’ve seen, that’s the most common complaint.

(As an aside, I have the pleasure of having a Samsung Series 7 slate with Windows 8 here which I’m reviewing at the moment. I will tell you I actually prefer Metro over iOS as a touch interface. But on the desktop? Metro kind of sucks. Sorry Microsoft.)

With Mountain Lion, the iOS features brought over to Mac OS X still feel like the iOS apps, but operate like mouse-controlled apps should. This illustrates the difference in strategy here between Microsoft and Apple quite well. One is embracing mobile computing wholeheartedly and changing its entire platform as a result, the other keeping it at arm’s length while maintaining the integrity of the traditional desktop.

Who is right? The consumer will decide that in the coming months.

Read PCMag’s full review of Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion

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Windows 8 vs. Mountain Lion: Does Microsoft stand a chance?

The PC is dead.

Let me clarify: The personal computer, as imagined by IBM and powered by Microsoft DOS and Windows, is raggedly exhaling its final breaths. In its place is a great big shuddering heap of conflated, commingled, converging software and hardware led by Apple’s Mountain Lion and Microsoft’s Windows 8.

The shocking thing is just how quickly his convergence has occurred. Released in 2009, both Windows 7 and OS X 10.6 had almost zero cloud-, mobile-, or cross platform features; they were both very much “PC” operating systems. This isn’t to say that you couldn’t add extra functionality through third-party software, but the out-of-the-box experience, which the vast majority of users experience, was very PC.

In stark contrast, if you take a look at Windows 8 and OS X 10.8, both slated for release in the second half of 2012, almost every feature is somehow linked to the cloud, mobile, or home entertainment; these OSes are no longer PC-oriented, but instead the central, converged hubs for your complete digital existence.

Windows 8 and Mountain Lion, using a single sign-on, will use Windows Live and iCloud to sync all of your documents, images, and music between all of your devices. You will be able to buy a Windows 8 tablet that you can use in the livingroom, and then dock it to a keyboard and mouse when you’re at your desk. With AirPlay mirroring and Game Center, Mountain Lion will double up as a home entertainment system, allowing Mac, iPhone, and iPad users to play against each other on an Apple TV. Windows 8 apps will be very easy to port to Windows Phone 8, and Windows 8 apps will automatically sync between five Windows 8 devices (home, office, tablet, and so on).

Furthermore, the difference — and thus friction — between the desktop and mobile OSes is being reduced. In Mountain Lion, a bunch of iOS features have been lifted straight out and inserted into the desktop OS; most notably the Notification Center. Many apps are being renamed so that they match the iOS equivalents, too: iCal becomes Calendar, iChat becomes Messages, and so on. These changes are in addition to Lion’s introduction of an app launcher and gestures that are virtually identical to iOS.

On the Windows side, it’s impossible to ignore the fact that primary interface — the Metro Start Screen — is very similar to the Windows Phone 7 (and 8). The latest update to the Xbox 360 dashboard is also very Metro-inspired (and there are Xbox Live companion apps for both Windows Phone and Windows 8). Finally, there’s a rumor that the Xbox 720 might even be powered by Windows 8. Microsoft insists that the Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 app stores will be separate, but I wouldn’t be surprised if — eventually — phone, console, and tablet/laptop/desktop all share the same Metro app store.

Apple has the upper hand

It’s clear, then, that Microsoft and Apple have both settled on a post-PC reality — but, interestingly both companies are converging from completely different directions. Microsoft is trying to leverage its way into the tablet and phone market by way of its massive Windows user base. Apple, on the flip side, is trying to get iOS users to pony up for a Mac laptop, Apple TV, and eventually an Apple iTV.

The problem, of course, is that Windows 8 is a massive, revolutionary gamble that takes Microsoft way beyond its comfort zone. For 30 years, Microsoft has been making money on x86 PCs and servers, and the Office suite of software. With Windows 8, Microsoft is moving to a brand new architecture, giving away Office for free, doing away with the Start button and menu, and generally making a huge mess of the Desktop/Explorer side of things. Adding to this, Windows Phone 7 is limping along, and there’s no real indication that Windows drives users to the Xbox 360, and vice versa. In short, Microsoft needs Windows 8 to succeed on tablets and drive sales of Windows Phone 8… or it’s screwed.

Apple, on the other hand, has the iPhone and iPad; two of the world’s most desirable mobile devices. On the back of just these two devices, Apple’s fourth quarter revenue was over $46 billion. More than 50 million iPhones and iPads were sold in this period, and it’s really no surprise that the same quarter also saw record breaking sales of Macs. In short, Apple already has a huge head start in The Great Convergence. Apple has already made its revolutionary leaps — way back in 2007 with the iPhone, and again with the iPad in 2010 — and the payoff has been huge. Where Microsoft now has to bet it all on a form factor it has no experience with, Apple has a proven formula that it can tweak and refine.

The only way Microsoft will come out of this alive, and maybe even the winner, is if it differentiates itself from Apple.

Imagine that the path to computing convergence is a thick jungle. Apple is pushing ahead, gradually and sensibly chopping away with a machete and occasionally discovering hidden treasures in (oc)cult temples. The path is only wide enough for one, with no possibility of Microsoft (or Samsung or Google) squeezing past. If Microsoft walks in Apple’s shadow, which so many other companies have done — if it tries to imitate Apple — it will lose. If Microsoft can forge its own path, perhaps with a metaphorical tractor or some good ol’ napalm, it could come out on top.

The good news is that Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 are shaping up to being very different beasts to OS X and iOS. Microsoft won’t have the chance to prove that its path to convergence is better than Apple’s until they launch, though — and a lot can happen between now and fall. The iPad 3 and iOS 5.1 are due to be announced any day now, and the Apple iTV should appear before Windows 8, too.

Read more about Windows 8 or iOS

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Apple OS X Mountain Lion unveiled: Consumer dream, developer nightmare

In a decisively uncharacteristic twist, Apple has unveiled Mac OS X Mountain Lion (10.8) through… a press release. A handful of top tech blogs have had their hands on a preview version for the last week, and now Apple has announced that the Developer Preview is available to members of the Mac Developer Program. There’s no keynote, no boom!, and certainly no one-last-thing.

It is very, very odd for tech sites to get their hands on a new operating system before developers. Usually this is only done when a company expects backlash from developers, and so it tries to preempt bad publicity by handing an almost-exclusive story to googly-eyed reviewers.

But what exactly is Apple concerned about, when it comes to Mountain Lion? If you read PC Mag’s review, you’ll note that almost every new feature has been yanked out of iOS. Notification Center, AirPlay mirroring, and Game Center are all billed as major new features in Mountain Lion — and they’re all exactly the same as their iOS equivalents. If that wasn’t enough, Apple has renamed iChat, iCal, and Address Book to match their iPad doppelgangers; they’re now called Messages, Calendar, and Contacts. Reminders and Notes are now standalone, iCloud-enabled apps — and yes, iCloud integration is now a lot deeper; you can save documents directly to iCloud from the File menu. Finally, “share” buttons with Twitter integration can now be found throughout OS X. So far, so good.

As far as new-new features, though, there’s only one: Gatekeeper. Gatekeeper, by default, only allows your Mac to run apps from the Mac App Store, or apps that have been signed by the developer. It will apparently be quite easy to sign an app — Apple insists that the process will be quick and easy — but as yet there’s no confirmation on whether developers will be vetted/moderated/reviewed by Apple. The idea is that, out of the box, Gatekeeper will prevent malware from being executed — the caveat, of course, is that developers have from now until Mountain Lion’s launch in the summer to get their apps signed, or face being ostracized.

Then there’s the aforementioned Notification Center: Only apps that come from the Mac App Store will be allowed to use it. Deeper iCloud integration, too, will only be available to Mac App Store apps. This, plus Gatekeeper, are probably the features that Apple expects developer backlash from.

As far as consumers are concerned, though, Mountain Lion looks absolutely awesome. The Verge has a video of AirPlay mirroring in action — watch it, it’s amazing. With Messages, you can now seamlessly chat to any other Mac or iOS device. With Game Center, you can network up a Mac and an iPhone or iPad for competitive gaming. With Mountain Lion, Apple has almost turned its PCs into an all-in-one consumer home entertainment system.

It a genius move: Apple is giving consumers exactly what they want. It would be a foolhardy developer that complains in the face such zealous adversity.

Read more at Apple

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