Apple Versus Microsoft: The Great War Enters a New Phase
April 9th, 2008Here’s where we left off in the 1990s: Apple CEO Steve Jobs, then with the word “interim” ahead of his title, conceded that the operating system wars were over and Microsoft was victorious. It doesn’t matter if Microsoft cheated to get there — and I think they did. In the end, Apple was doomed to be no better than second best, and, at that point in time accepted a $150 million dollar investment from Microsoft and a commitment to continue to develop Office for the Mac.
Now some felt, then at least, that Microsoft’s investment somehow rescued Apple from financial ruin, but that was simply not true. It was merely part of a deal where various disputes over patents that had consumed years of legal fights were all brought to successful conclusions.
Oh yes, Apple agreed to make Internet Explorer the default browser on the Mac OS, but we all know how long that lasted. But I’ve already written about the rise of Safari and whether the browser wars have flamed anew. Some of you think they have, actually.
