I read an article a few days ago titiled Apple Kicks Microsoft Where It Hurts.  Articles like this seem somewhat popular among the Apple community.  Usually, it means Apple is implementing a feature in their OS that Windows has had for years.  What I didn't expect was that the article would be about a new spreadsheet application called Numbers.

Yep, Apple is creating their own spreadsheet application and bundling it into a standard office suite called iWork which will sell for $79.  I'm not impressed.  I'd love to see Microsoft kicked a little, but this seems like the wrong way to do it.  Google and other companies are doing the same thing with online office suites that you can access from anywhere with any computer using just a web browser.  OpenOffice has a free office suite that runs on any major computing platform, including the Mac.

Just how is Apple going to kick Microsoft with their new suite?  They aren't.  They're trying the same game Microsoft used years ago.  They're trying to charge for software that does something that most people are able to get for free.  I really don't think that model is going to work no matter how much better than MS Office it ends up being.

From my perspective this is just a simple repetition of history.  Many people remember what happened to American car makers in the 70s and 80s.  They plodded along producing a product that most people no longer wanted, but bought anyway because there was no reasonable alternative.  Sure there were German cars or high-end sports cars but those were out of the reach of most people (with the exception of Volkswagen).  Then the Japanese cars came along with competitive pricing, better reliability, and better gas mileage.  The market shifted.  In the 90s the Honda Accord sedan was the most popular car in the U.S.

We have a similar pattern in computing today.  Apple is the expensive German producer.  They make a Mercedes or a BMW type of OS and software.  Microsoft is creating the equivalent of a gas guzzling, nonresponsive, full-size American GM model sedan from the 70's and 80's.  Meanwhile, Linux and Open Source are creating the Hondas and Toyotas.  Linux is responsive, reliable, and can be customized to fit any common computing need for free.

A similar shift is upon us right now.  Major computer makers have announced concrete plans to sell Linux preinstalled on consumer machines.  Dell has been selling Linux preinstalled to home users for months.  Dell keeps saying their program is a success and they back up those statements by expanding the models that come with Linux. 

It took Honda and Toyota a decade or two to achieve dominance in the U.S. automotive market.  How long would that revolution have taken if their cars were free?*

*Yes, I know computers aren't free.  But Linux is free as opposed to Windows and OS X.  Additionally, many people have older computers that will run Linux just fine.  Putting Linux on an old P4, P-III, or Athlon XP computer is like getting a new computer for free.