Windows 2000: An Apple Opportunity

by: Conrad Gempf

Quietly, under cover of the media storm surrounding the Microsoft DoJ trial, the software giant has announced that work continues apace toward the release of Windows NT 5.0, but that the product will bear the name Windows 2000. The significance of this announcement for those corporations that use Windows NT is minimal -- they probably don't much care what it's called. By phrasing it as an announcement about NT, Microsoft have minimized the impact. The people who will care, who should really sit up and take notice, are users of Windows 95 and 98, for this is a clear signal that the operating system that they currently use has reached the end of the line. The move from Windows 98 to Windows 2000 will mean a huge change in operating systems and probably involve changing all software, or running it under emulation.

The opportunity that this presents to Apple should not be underestimated. If the El Capitain series of professional computers is as good in its genre as the iMac has proved in its, ordinary Windows users, presented with the need to change operating systems anyway, could be enticed away from Microsoft. Here's what needs to happen, in my view:

* the El Capitain series needs not only to be visually striking and internally powerful, but also needs to attract MacOS versions of business software the way that the iMac attracted home software and games.

* Palm and the Psion consortium need to be brought into a close partnership to ensure that the best personal organisers on the market synch easily and elegantly with the Mac (include WinCE connections as well?) Perhaps each desktop Mac should include an Apple-subsidized half price coupon for a matching Palm?

* Emulation of Windows 98 needs to be built into the standard MacOS configuration, so that it's clear to users that the switch to MacOS will inconvenience them no more than the switch to Windows 2000. Perhaps get the software companies to offer generous side-grade deals?

* Another blitz of intense and high quality advertising, as good and pervasive as the U.S. iMac stuff, but targeted as carefully as the Wallstreet Powerbook ads.

This could be an excellent time for Apple to increase its business market share as it appears to have done with its home share.

But neither should the opportunity be overestimated -- it will be a hard slog. The main folks that stand in Apple's way are the computer managers and consultants who already use Windows NT. Apple has to make its alternative something that end users really, really want, but also something that they can rationally defend. It's not going to be easy, but the success of the iMac convinces me that it can be done.

Dr Conrad Gempf lectures in London and has had articles and product reviews published in such print magazines as *MacUser UK*, *MacTimes* and *Program Now*. He is webmaster of and regular contributor to the online webzine 'Pages for You' at http://www.londonbiblecollege.ac.uk

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February 09, 2010