Microsoft’s Daily Challenge

Mobility Digest’s internal staffnotify mail is a constant flow of chatter relating to one subject or another. Often times it has been shared with our readers as “Mobility Leaks”. One common theme that has been popping up lately is Microsoft’s perceived inability to keep up with their competitors in areas like home automation. Or, with Microsoft’s own products, including; Skype, XBox Music and Office. The consensus is often that Microsoft seems to have more interest in enhancing other platforms, before taking care of their own. And while some will argue that proprietary and exclusive features enhances a platform’s desirability, even to the point of considering switching to that alternative proprietary platform, Microsoft (and I) generally disagree.

Consider the following analogy:

Imagine for a moment Microsoft having to make an oil filter that fits and works on every car manufactured in the world, say in the past fifteen years. And then Apple, who only has to make an oil filter that will work on a 2013 Camary (ok, maybe the 2009 to 2013 Camary). Then of course there’s Google, who doesn’t give shit whether their “free” oil filter fits or not. If it doesn’t fit, just buy a new car.

That’s why Apple has so much free time to (re-)invent stuff. And Google can just do their own thing, not worrying about the outcome. All while Microsoft tries to figure out how to fit the square peg into the; round, hexagonal, triangular, rectangular, pentagonal, octagonal, nonagonal, heptagonal, decagonal, elliptical, trapezoidal and quadrilateral holes.

So the next time you want to hate on Microsoft because your friend or neighbor has a new feature or update that your still waiting for, remember that oil filter. It might not quell your frustration, or sway a future purchase decision. But it might just make things easier to understand.