Coolaid for Table 3!

Scoble just doesn’t get it sometimes. Here’s a tip – there’s a difference between using Windows and liking Windows.  Most people hate computers in general – they don’t like Microsoft, they don’t give two hoots about Apple (though they love iPods). Most people these days are forced to use computers.  Most people aren’t qualified to evaluate which computing platform is better for them and can’t be bothered learning how to do so (when was the last time you met an average Joe who could accurately identify even a couple of key differences between OS’s).

What this means is that when you see Windows being used everywhere, don’t assume it’s because people actually like Windows or Microsoft.  Maybe it had the cheapest initial outlay (but is it cheaper in the long run?).  Maybe it was the perception that you have to run Windows to be compatible (remember that whole anti-trust thing?)  Most likely it’s because everyone else was using Windows.  There’s a whole swag of really bad reasons that people wind up using Windows even though they may have been better suited by another OS.

To then claim that the fact that Windows is used in a lot of places means that “there’s a lot of love out in that world for Microsoft” is a big leap in logic and I’d say definitely unfounded.  In fact, I’d go further than that, I’d say that the fact that Windows is used in so many places is actually bad for Microsoft’s image.  Remember, people hate computers.  So if they equate Windows with computers (and most people do), they hate Windows.  They equate Windows with Microsoft and thus hate Microsoft.

Maybe I spend too much time fixing other people’s computers, but I simply cannot remember the last time an average person pointed out how cool any Microsoft technology was.  I can remember a whole heap of times when people complained about their computers being broken or crashing etc (and I can track that back to problems with Microsoft software).  I remember people being frustrated that they couldn’t get borders in Word to do what they want (did anyone actually write a spec for how that should work and would you care to let me in on the big secret?).  I remember people swearing and cursing about how awful it is to try and use numbered lists in Word and Frontpage (for different reasons – and again, anyone bother to write a spec for that and work out how it should work).  Don’t even get me started on tables.

On the other hand, I very often hear about how cool things my Mac does are.  They love iTunes (particularly the iTunes music store).  iCal and address book get a lot of compliments too.  Dashboard is just awe inspiring for nearly everyone who sees it and not just because it’s pretty, because as soon as I activate it they can see the time in 5 different countries around the world, the weather in three different countries, the date and they quickly notice that I can look up words in the dictionary or thesaurus really quickly and easily.  I don’t even make particularly good use of dashboard at the moment, I’m still getting used to having it and finding out which widgets are useful.

Windows has improved a lot with it’s more recent releases but that will take a long time before it filters out to everyone and even when it does, it’s still got a lot of really, really frustrating things about it that just drive people nuts (not that OS X is perfect by any means).  To make people love Microsoft you have to make them love their computers because when people hate their computers, they almost always mean they hate the software that runs on their computers and that’s almost always Windows and various other Microsoft products.