Apple vs Microsoft

Bryant Ri’chard 11-22-2010 Sheri Easton-Long 6 P. M. Apple vs. Microsoft Apple (formerly known as Macintosh) and Microsoft, without a doubt, produce the largest operating systems in the world OS X Lion and Windows 7. With Apple bringing in $20 billion and $4billion in profit, and Microsoft bringing in $62. 48 billion and $18. 76 billion in profit, there’s no doubt that these two super giants are going down anytime soon. Even though they are both huge companies that relatively offer the same products, they have their differences.

In 1975, a man named William “Bill” Gates started the company know as Microsoft through his interest of business and managing people. Ever since his early education, he became very competitive and driven to be on top with his company which led him to his rise to fame and unimaginable wealth. When Microsoft started, they were specializing in programming and software. Whereas when Apple started in 1976 by two men named Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, they designed circuit boards for the next generation of computers.

This led to the invention of the first ever home computer with a GUI (Graphical User Interface) the Apple Lisa. Even thought these two companies got very different starts, they have one major thing in common that makes these companies boom; and that are their Operating Systems. Microsoft’s first operating system was known as MS-DOS (MicroSoft- Disk Operating System). This system was broken down to the very basics of executing basic processes of a computer. Same was with the first Macintosh operating system named MacOS.

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Both systems were the main kickoff for the biggest rivalry in the computer world.

With both companies striving to be on top in innovation and quality, the both have come up with rivalry tools to be the king of computers. Both of these companies have come a long way over the years. With Microsoft’s operating system being Windows 7 and Apples being OS X Lion, both systems have their perks depending on which industry they are used in. Apple has always been a simple company out to make computers easy for everyone to use without offering 3rd party applications and programs. With this, OS X (all versions) has taken the lead in being the best system for anyone into music, graphic design, art, or any kind of creativity program.

Most software companies go to sell the license to apple first due to the demand of the industry. While Windows 7 still offers the same features, they have their own perks such as a wider variety of user friendly programs. Windows 7 offers more along the lines of students and businesses. This is because the company has always been ran on business since the beginning. The biggest contender/similarity/rivalry is between the Apple iPod and Microsoft Zune. The first ever iPod model released in October 23, 2001 was called the iPod First Generation.

This device had 5 buttons on the front along with a screen. It came in quantities of 5-10 gigs of memory with a 10 hour battery life and could only play music. But now today, the iPod has almost completely ditched the buttons and most of today’s Apple iPods are majority touch screens. Apples biggest selling iPod is the newest to the family, the iPod Touch 4th Generation. There aren’t many things that this iPod can’t do; it can download and play applications for everyday life or entertainment and games just to pass time, it’s almost a modern day cell phone without the phone.

Every September, Apple does the best they can to innovate and evolve their line of iPods so that it’s able to rein king of the Mp3/Video/Entertainment device. The Microsoft Zune, released in 2006, is Microsoft’s response to the booming success of the iPod. When released, the Zune was very unheard of due to its size and not very big release; people didn’t realize that it was a Microsoft product. But, at the time, the Zune had one major feature that the iPod lacked; that feature was the ability to wirelessly share music with anyone else with a Zune.

This was made possible by the innovation of Bluetooth; the users would sync together via Bluetooth and select which files to share with their friends. But eventually over the years, the Zune has also migrated to touch screen, but unlike Apple; Microsoft only sells one model of Zune in various memory capacities and colors whereas Apple sells 5 different kinds of iPod models all in different capacities and colors. Another big market these companies have exploded into is the Cellphone operating system world. Microsoft has the Windows phone.

Windows phone is almost the exact computer operating system into a phone. These phones are made by many different manufactures, such as HTC, Samsung, and Motorola just to name a few. The latest form of Windows phone operating system is called Windows Phone 7; designed to keep the business man up to date in email and edit his documents on the go. The system also allows him to browse the web in his spare time. The advantage of having a phone ran on Windows Phone 7 is that you can visit websites that operate on Adobe Flash player which allows you to watch videos and animations on a websites page.

Apples answer to phones ran on Windows was the iPhone. The iPhone is manufactured by Apple for Apple. This phone does almost anything you can imagine and is broken down to be very simple as Apple always strives for. This phone is best for any audience really, it allows the user to download apps and games out of the app store or even access the iTunes store to download music on the go. But the big feature offered by Windows that causes major controversy among the iPhone is the lack of the Flash Player.

Most people don’t realize it, but most of the sites we use today all run on flash; and with Apple not offering in on the iPhone, users are getting a very stripped down view of the site, or for some sites, no views at all. Apple (formerly known as Macintosh) and Microsoft, without a doubt, produce the largest operating systems in the world OS X Lion and Windows 7. With Apple bringing in $20 billion and $4billion in profit, and Microsoft bringing in $62. 48 billion and $18. 76 billion in profit, there’s no doubt that these two super giants are going down anytime soon.

Even though they are both huge companies that relatively offer the same products, they have their differences. With Apple being the simple and clean company and Microsoft being the business giant, these two companies will always continue to fight to be on top in the world of electronics; partnering up with faster processors such as Intel and AMD or manufactures like Sony, Samsung, or Asus or hundreds more.

Works Cited Bellis, Mary. “The History of Apple Computers. ” Inventors. Web. 21 Nov. 2010.

http://www. updatexp. com/how-microsoft-started. html> Siegler, M. G. “Apple Q4: $20B Revenue, $4B Profits, 3. 89M Macs, 14. 1M IPhones, 4. 19M IPads — All New Records. “TechCrunch. 18 Oct. 2010. Web. 21 Nov. 2010.

 ; Team, Rapid R. “Fast Facts About Microsoft. ” Facts About Microsoft. 2010. Web. 21 Nov. 2010.