When Microsoft was under the gun defending itself against antitrust charges from the U.S. Department of Justice, they said they only wanted to be free to “innovate.” Now it’s fair to say that there is a lot of disagreement over just how much Microsoft innovates, and how much it cribs from others, such as Apple. […]

It’s a well known fact that Microsoft user focus groups with which to test product features. Apple? Well, they aren’t saying, although the general perception has it that Steve Jobs is the focus group of one who makes all the decisions, even the minutiae that some might not consider terribly important. Sure, Apple makes mistakes. […]

It’s very easy to forget that pretty much all the companies I write about and you read about in these columns are profit-making enterprises. So naturally they want good press, and will do what they can to get those favorable write-ups. At the same time, a real journalist, as opposed to folks who just regurgitate […]

A lot of people have complained that Apple’s go-it-alone stance is bad for online music sales. Of course, the stellar sales picture shows the reverse, that having a relatively simple, unified method to buy and store your tunes is actually a good idea. Of course, Microsoft thought otherwise, and for the longest time, as most […]