Microsoft's quiet campaign to undermine the Mac

If you thought Microsoft was finally treating the mackintosh as associate degree equal national, you will be defeated within the reality

There's a disturbing pattern rising in Microsoft's new "mobile 1st, cloud first" product strategy: The mackintosh is last, if on the microwave radar in the least. Seeing as however Microsoft portrays its new application strategy as serving a heterogeneous world and not being enthusiastic about Windows to drive growth, that mackintosh omission appears odd.

But it's clearly what Microsoft is doing. and that i assume i do know why.
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First, the proof. Yesterday, Microsoft declared its Sway dynamic presentation tool -- its genre PowerPoint app -- would be returning to Windows ten on Gregorian calendar month twenty nine (Windows 10's formal unleash date), following beta releases for iOS. associate degree automaton version is additionally beneath development. however no mackintosh version is coming; mackintosh users can need to use the net app.

Microsoft claims that the rationale it's a native Windows ten version of Sway however not a native OS X version is as a result of it's meant to be employed in a browser on the desktop. as a result of the universal Windows app approach, Microsoft required to form a Windows ten Sway app to be used on Windows tablets and smartphones, so in essence forced the creation of a desktop app too. Maybe, however why have that universal app on the desktop, though it required to be created for alternative devices? And if Microsoft figures why not create it on the market on the Windows desktop, then why not create the Swift app for iOS conjointly on the market for OS X -- in any case, is that the} same core code in Apple's Xcode atmosphere because it is the same core code in Microsoft's universal atmosphere. Basically, i believe Microsoft's principle is associate degree excuse, not a reason.

Microsoft's OneDrive for Business cloud storage tool has solely a beta version for OS X, however it's had iOS and automaton shoppers for a few time and is fairly well integrated into Windows. the idea is that mackintosh users would use the net consumer instead.

Office 2016 for mackintosh is additionally following workplace for the opposite platforms. though it's fortunately not an online app, the beta mackintosh version of workplace is slow, awkwardly integrates with the OS X filing system, and in some respects is a smaller amount practical than the 2008 version. (Office 2016 for mackintosh conjointly has some huge enhancements.)

The pattern is that the same: The mackintosh consumer is last and least.

Now, the why: Microsoft could claim to possess a cloud-first, mobile-first strategy, however the corporate really remains targeted around Windows, with the cloud and mobile treated as extensions of Windows.

That's utterly wise -- Apple will identical factor for OS X, after all. The distinction is that Apple creates no illusions concerning not needing to support Windows over minimally needed. Microsoft hasn't in hand up that it's identical notion, and its refer Macs being one among primarily equal content isn't true.

For example, a year ago, Microsoft corporate executive Satya Nadella same, "It seems i exploit lots of devices in my life, and that i wish that nice workplace expertise and my content on the market everyplace i am going. And that’s the promise of workplace 365, that I even have my nice workplace expertise on all my devices: computer, Mac, phone, browser and, of course, iPad." The connected Microsoft promoting place the mackintosh within the same bucket as everything else in terms of the new cloud-first, mobile-first strategy that workplace was the leading product.

So, if you think that that Microsoft goes to treat the mackintosh as associate degree equal consumer to Windows, you are dreaming. the corporate desires Windows because the center, and mobile devices and also the internet because the major satellites. The mackintosh may be a rival it doesn't wish to encourage; Windows' decline within the face of the mackintosh's growth offers Microsoft each reason to shortchange the Mac.

That Mac-least approach conjointly suggests that Microsoft isn't positive Windows ten can reverse the PC's decline. i can not ail that judgment; i am fairly assured that Windows ten will not save the computer.

So, if you were hoping you may adopt Microsoft's software system and services across all the platforms your workers and customers use, re-examine. you will still face the well-known inferior mackintosh expertise for that section of your users. That reality has not modified in Microsoft's new strategy.

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