And there was the Internet

The most interesting controversy of the three American superbloggers about openness and closeness on the example of Apple. The first one says that openness usually wins closeness, the second: nothing of the kind, the third: the rights of the second, but partially.

Anyone who is interested in checking out the thesis “the history is written by the winners” should read Tim Woo and John Gruber ’s controversy about why Apple has been so good at knocking everyone out of the game since the late 1990s.
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Wu, who is confused about the definitions of open and closed systems (he uses several definitions at once), claims that Apple’s victory is an exception, as it is a closed system. Gruber retorts that the issue of openness and secrecy does not matter, and Apple’s success is explained only by the fact that it produces excellent products and quickly (that is, it is the first to bring them to the market). Gruber's argument can be summarized as follows: " Genius-driven companies are usually more successful than genius-driven ones ." And I agree with that. Except for one moment.

The Internet.

When Gruber says: “ Of course, in the 1990s, the Wintel duopoly pressed the Mac, but this coincided with the disappearance of the Mac's superior quality, ” he is right. But it would be more correct to say: “ This coincided with the end of the pre-Internet world .”

To talk about Apple against Microsoft without mentioning the Internet and the browser is like talking about World War II without mentioning the atomic bomb. It is foolish to clothe this discussion only in the terminology of open-closed operating systems, the quality of hardware or software, or who was the general director.

Because without the Internet, Apple would never succeed.

Before the Internet, all that interested most people was Office. Moreover, Office was the only reason everyone wanted a Windows computer, not a Mac.

I remember well this endless debate about Apple versus Windows in the early 1990s, when I was in college. Everyone said that Macs is better, but Office is a huge problem. It was difficult to transfer files between operating systems, and usually a Windows machine was needed to work in Office. Macs were for students messing around with graphics. Windows machines were for adult uncles.

Of course, in the mid-90s this changed. But until people started buying computers mainly for Internet access, Apple’s business was very bad. Its market share was so low that even the question was whether Microsoft would continue to do Office for Mac.

Then for Apple, everything changed almost simultaneously. In 1997, Steve Jobs returned. He also forced Microsoft to confirm the development of Office for Mac. In Wikipedia we read:

At Macworld Expo in 1997, Steve Jobs announced that Apple is entering into an agreement with Microsoft. According to its terms, Microsoft pledged to release Microsof Office for Macintosh for five years, as well as make an investment of $ 150 million at Apple. As part of the deal, Apple and Microsoft agreed to resolve the old dispute about whether Microsoft’s operating system is violating any of Apple patents. It was also announced that Internet Explorer will ship as the default browser on Macintosh. Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates appeared on the screen and highlighted Microsoft’s plans for Mac software development. He added that he was very happy to help Apple succeed again. Then Steve Jobs addressed the exhibition audience with these words:

“If we want to move forward, see Apple healthy and prosperous again, we have to forget a few things. We must forget that to win Apple must lose to Microsoft. We need to arm ourselves with the idea that to win Apple it must do its job very well. And if others want to help us with this, great, because we need all possible help. And if we fail and cannot do our job well, it will be not our fault, but ours’s fault. Therefore, I think this is a very important perspective. If we want Microsoft Office on a Mac, we should have some thanks for the company that releases it. We like this program. Therefore, the era when everything was arranged as a competition between Apple and Microsoft is over, as far as I understand. Now it’s about how Apple should be a healthy company, capable of making an incredibly wonderful contribution to the industry, becoming healthy and flourishing again. ”

But more important than all the above, was another factor - the Internet. At that time, Office was the first program I installed on a computer, and a computer without Office was defective. But with my last two computers I didn’t care if the Office was there or not, I didn’t even install it.

The Internet has changed the whole game for Apple, just like Office in 1997. It was accessed through the most important virtual machine / operating system of our entire life - the browser. The Internet has completely balanced the odds of all players.

Office suddenly ceased to be the main point of computers. Now it was Office plus Internet. Office on Mac was only in a slightly stripped down version, and the Internet worked perfectly. As the Internet matures and browsers improve, all the “problems” have dramatically decreased. Five years ago, Office lost its relevance so much, and Mac and Windows compatibility became so good that it finally fell out of the equation.

The rise of the Internet and the fall of Office is the real reason Apple wins. Or, in other words, it gave Apple the opportunity to compete with the same starting positions, as a result of which people finally imbued with all sorts of wonderful advantages of Apple and began to buy its products. From the thesis “I would buy a Mac, but I need Office too much” we went to “I would buy a Mac, but it’s damn expensive.”

The pre-Internet and pre-Internet Apple barely made ends meet. Post-Internet Apple won (due to the equalization of the starting positions and only then all the arguments of Gruber). It is so obvious that everybody forgets about it.