Emperor Jobs Strikes Again

It is often popular to describe Bill Gates and Microsoft as evil and to cast Gates in the image of a Borg leader or Microsoft in the image of the Evil Empire. Yet, in the process of poking fun at Darth Gates, people often forget the cloaked figure quietly looming in the background--Steve Jobs.

As I have detailed in an older post, Jobs and Apple are far from angelic, and by many measures are much worse than Microsoft. They exert tight controls over their software and hardware, they overprice their products, they are litigation-happy (just ask the person who wrote a book about Jobs titled iCon; do you see Bush suing the scores of liberal authors who write books about him?), they are deceptive (unfair benchmarking, and have you seen those recent deceptive anti-PC ads about the hassles of PC drivers?), and they try to leverage anti-competitive market power whenever possible (e.g., iPod interoperability).

More recently, however, they have been leading Intel around on a leash. Dell has been a loyal Intel-only customer for as long as they have existed. Apple, on the other hand, was waging anti-Intel marketing campaigns just a few year ago. Dell sells huge volumes of Intel chips and places Intel's beloved "Intel Inside" stickers on its products. Apple sells relatively low volumes of Intel chips and refuses to place "Intel Inside" stickers on any of their products. Apple even launched an controversial ad early this year--without Intel's approval--describing PCs with Intel chips as boring little boxes that angered Intel's PC partners. So how has Intel rewarded Apple for their troublesome behavior? By allowing Apple to be the first to launch Intel's Yonah (Core Duo) chips early this year. That was over half a year ago. Intel will officially launch its new Conroe (Core 2 Duo) chips later this week. These chips have been shipping to various computer manufacturers and retail outlets for some time now, so they should have these chips in stock and ready come the launch date on July 27. However, it has recently been revealed that Intel has forbidden them to sell any of the chips with the exception of the ultra-high-end $1000 versions until August 7. This is in stark contrast with Intel's plan earlier this month, which was for a general availability launch on July 23. How odd, you might say, for Intel to put off general shipment of its most anticipated chip ever for nearly two weeks even though everything should be in place. Well, August 7 is also the date of Steve Jobs' keynote at Apple's developer conference, WWDC, where he is widely expected to announce the new Mac Pro computers with Intel's new Conroe (or Woodcrest) chips. Of course, this may very well be nothing more than just a coincidence. But given history, it seems unlikely. So in order to give Jobs the honor of being the first to launch Conroe-based computers and in order to help that megalomaniac inflate his already overblown ego, Intel has ordered all of its loyal retail partners to hold off on selling the new chips until the Apple launch.

I should note that not all the fault falls on Apple. Intel's CEO needs to grow a backbone; anyone who saw a video of the Core Duo launch early this year would be struck at how timidly Intel's CEO acted next to Jobs when presenting the new Intel chips to Jobs like an obedient fetching puppy. Intel should recognize that Apple is one of their smallest customers and that it is not wise to snub its larger customers (who are also more cooperative--though that may just be the problem) in order to favor Apple. Perhaps Intel should learn from IBM (the previous chipmaker to be caught in an abusive relationship with Apple)...

In the end, most people do not see Apple as evil, simply because, unlike Microsoft, Apple has not been successful and strong enough to exert its power. But as Apple grows in popularity and market share, people will see begin to see why Microsoft's triumph over Apple may have been a godsend. ;)

Edit: This is a good "what-if" read...

This entry was edited on 2006/08/23 at 00:15:16 GMT -0400.

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In time you will see the errors of your ways. You will join us and watch as the unworthy wither away, else you will perish as one of them. Glory to the emperor and the power of the forbidden fruit! Even the guys in bunny suits can redeem themselves, can you? :P Your analysis is keen as usually, but what puzzles me is not how Apple acts, nor how people see Apple, but why Intel is acting the role of the puppy. Presenting Microsoft as a godsend is also a bit of a stretch. They have done their own share of controlling their allies, customers, and competitors as nearly any company with market clout would try to do. Most companies just don't make the radar screen when they do. Microsoft has. Death to the evil empire and Darth Gates! Though your analogy seems to admit that even he serves Emperor Jobs. ;)

Oh, I never said Microsoft is a saint... just that from my perspective, Apple isn't that much better; it's just that unlike Microsoft, Apple has no teeth with which to bite. :)

I'm not sure why a giant like Intel is allowing itself to be led around on a leash. It might be that Intel's new CEO has no backbone (whereas Jobsie has lots). It might be that Apple's launches are more glamourous than Dell's (though if its glamour that Intel seeks, it can generate enough of its own; remember those Blue Man Group ads back in the days of the P3?).

It's just that, as someone who's been waiting for this launch for over a year now, to see Intel hold back for a couple more weeks because of Apple is... well, frustrating.

... I, uh, used a Linux box for the first time last week (and "box" is not far from the truth; it was, iirc, running Fedora Core 2 at about 166 mHz.)

The number of posts I have seen recently that go something like "The impending doomsday is going to make you wish you had enjoyed the current crappy situation" is truly alarming. I hope it's just gallows humor and not a forecast from the collective subconscious. (First the destruction of the Amazon and now the iFuture? What are we going to DO??!)

The Apple/MS debate fascinates me most in terms of the idea of "sticking it to the Man". Apple bills itself as the bastion of free thinking, but it's just a different machine, y'know?

I have seen recently that go something like "The impending doomsday is going to make you wish you had enjoyed the current crappy situation" is truly alarming.

LOL! :) I'm not worried about Apple taking over (though that would be ghastly). I'm just saying that as Apple grows stronger and flexes its muscles more, people will hopefully begin to see Apple for what they really are... But I don't think they'll ever grow strong enough to be a problem of any sort.

Anyway, the whole post was more or less just me letting off steam at Apple. Not doomsday--that's Bush's job, not Jobs'.

The Apple/MS debate fascinates me most in terms of the idea of "sticking it to the Man". Apple bills itself as the bastion of free thinking, but it's just a different machine, y'know?

That's what most people think, simply because Apple's the underdog. But looking at Apple's practices, they're just as much of "The Man" as Microsoft is (if not more); it's just that without market share, it doesn't become very apparent. As for being a bastion of free thinking, it is a bit ironic that the iPod cash cow of a company that wants us to "Think Different" is based on people buying a product because it's the "in" thing that everyone else is using. "Think Conformity" :)

Not that I'd call this an Apple/MS debate, either, because as much as I very much dislike Steve Jobs and Apple, I am also not awfully fond of the other Steve (Baller) and Microsoft. It's not so much that Microsoft is good and Apple's bad, but rather, Microsoft is bad, and I'd really wish that people would stop automatically thinking that all of Microsoft's competitors are thus good. Some are (I, for one, would welcome our new Google overlords), but some aren't (Apple).

Finally, I saw this on the web the other day...
- Linux: Communist
- Microsoft: Cutthroat Capitalist
- Apple: Fascist
Unfortunately, this means that none of the Big Three are very appetizing, and indeed, I have qualms with all three...

Google overlords sound great to me.

Next chance I get, I'm going to learn enough to work on open-source projects.

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