What Me Worry? Microsoft And Apple’s Five Year Report Card.

Technology changes quickly. Five years is an eternity. Five years ago there was no Windows XP, only a beta of Mac OS X, no iPod, no iTunes Music Store. Stocks were flying high (about to fall).

What’s the Five Year Report Card say about Microsoft’s performance in the market? How about Apple?

Five years ago Apple began the launch of Mac OS X and a new era at Apple. Five years ago Bill Gates stepped down from the CEO position and moved up to Chairman and Chief Software Architect (co-founder Steve Ballmer took over as CEO).

Five years ago Microsoft owned about 95-percent of the world’s market for computer operating systems, thanks to the success of Windows, Microsoft Office.

Five years ago Apple was struggling to make their next generation OS a reality, struggled to make a profit, struggled in the arms race of CPU mhz and ghz.

What’s happened in five years? Plenty. More than plenty. A simple report card on the past five years comparing Microsoft to Apple reveals one thing: change. In this case, substantial change.

How do the two compare? What criteria should be used? Here’s my take (with some help from Tera) on Microsoft and Apple over the past five years.

Stock Price
This category is a no brainer. Microsoft shareholders cannot be happy. In five years, during what amounts to a down market, Microsoft has gone down, Apple has gone up.

Apple’s stock is trading in record territory, in large part to the success of the iPod, which didn’t exist five years ago.

To be fair, Apple’s stock began it’s record breaking climb only in the past few years. Still, Apple gets an “A” and Microsoft gets a “C-” for stock performance.

Public Relations
This category is defined as ‘how the public generally perceives the company’ and Microsoft doesn’t fare well here, either. Apple is the media darling and Windows customers exposed to 20-million chic iPods tell the tale. Microsoft is Goliath, Apple is David (David won, by the way).

The media buzz over Mac OS X Jaguar, Panther, Tiger, iPod, iTunes, iTunes Music Store is overwhelming considering Apple’s market share. The buzz on Windows XP, Windows Media Center, Windows Longhorn/Vista is like a paraphrase of the proverbial tree in the forrest; ‘if it falls, does anyone care?’

Microsoft, in a mere five years, has become embattled on all fronts. Security problems with Windows has created millions of customers who hate the company, hate Windows, hate Bill Gates. That’s not likely to change soon.

In the meantime, Apple’s legions are growing and probably more devout than ever.

Apple gets another “A” for PR, while Microsoft gets a “D+”.

Product Innovation
Outside of the whole Mac vs. Windows issue, no topic generates more discussion than so-called ‘product innovation.’

Apple touts itself as the innovator, Microsoft the copier (‘Redmond, Start Your Photocopiers…/). While some definition of ‘innovation’ may be required, Media pundits generally agree that Apple is putting out more new products with pzazz, #####, and attractive wares than Microsoft.

What about Microsoft’s Xbox? That’s a new product for Gates’ company, but hardly innovative. Even the use of “X” in Xbox and Windows XP seems like it came from Jobs’ minions at Cupertino.

Windows XP and Microsoft Office? Iterations of an old theme. How about .Net and Longhorn. Puhleeze. We can all spell .Net but can’t give a definition as to what it is.

Longhorn? It died, only to be reborn in Windows Vista, a seven-flavored Hydra operating system that looks more and more like Windows XP Service Pack three with Mac OS X icons.

In the meantime, look at Apple’s last five years of products. iPod, iTunes, iMac G4/G5, iTunes Music Store, Final Cut Pro (obtained from Macromedia), Logic (obtained by buying eMagic), Mighty Mouse, iLife Suite, iWork Suite, Motion, iPod mini, iPod shuffle, iPod nano.

I’m sure there’s more, but you get the idea.

To be fair, Apple’s list is impressive but some would argue not fully ‘innovative’ (we’re back to that definition thing again).

Still, Microsoft earns a “C-” while Apple gains at least a “B+” just for how well everything works together.

Is there anything over the past five years that Microsoft has done well that Apple has not? Yes. On to Page 2 for the gory details. Click Here for Page 2.