Microsoft vs. Apple - The History of Computing (Infographic)

Excellent Infographic spells out major points of history in both companies.

Manolution has created an infographic (about 3MB) that chronicles some of the major points in the histories of Microsoft Corporation and Apple Inc., from their formation in 1975 (officially) and 1976 respectively, right up to the launches of Windows 7, Windows Phone 7 and OS X Lion.

Alone the timeline it gives information on stock value, while giving little nuggets of information alongside product launches of major changes in a company.

Manolution is encouraging everyone to embed the infographic wherever they want, and to remember to link back to its original source.

(If viewing this on news homepage, be warned that the image you are about to download is about 3MB in size, so remember that before you click Read More.)

Written by: James Delahunty @ 28 Jun 2011 11:54

DVDBack23

Great infographic....

I did tell James though before he posted, don't "cry" for Microsoft's stock price here, Apple has under 1 billion available shares while Microsoft has over 8 billion outstanding after many years of splits. If all things were equal, Apple would have a stock price of $35 or so :)

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28.6.2011 12:00 #1

Dela

Originally posted by DVDBack23: Great infographic....

I did tell James though before he posted, don't "cry" for Microsoft's stock price here, Apple has under 1 billion available shares while Microsoft has over 8 billion outstanding after many years of splits. If all things were equal, Apple would have a stock price of $35 or so :) James? Very formal of you Mr. Yoskowitz!

28.6.2011 12:21 #2

dali

This is an awesome work of research, which shows what both companies have being doing best and worst across time (in the case of Apple, the obvious constant is sueing other companies and let no one look like them, even if that costs them hoards of money, like when they decided to buy back all of the Mac-clone licenses).

It also comes pretty clear for me that Apple would be dead nowadays if it wasn't for iTunes and the iPhone, two of their products which I particularly hate most.

Only one small concern about this excellent infography: They don't give credit to IBM as co-releaser of OS/2 (and later sole owner since Win 3.0 came out).

�You know, it seems that quotes on the internet are becoming less and less reliable.� -Abraham Lincoln.

28.6.2011 14:20 #3

xnonsuchx

Originally posted by dali: This is an awesome work of research, which shows what both companies have being doing best and worst across time (in the case of Apple, the obvious constant is sueing other companies and let no one look like them, even if that costs them hoards of money, like when they decided to buy back all of the Mac-clone licenses).
The Mac clones were approved by the idiot Apple CEO, John Scully, and were seen by many as actually diluting the platform further rather than helping.

28.6.2011 17:02 #4

dali

Originally posted by xnonsuchx: The Mac clones were approved by the idiot Apple CEO, John Scully, and were seen by many as actually diluting the platform further rather than helping.
Yes, you are right. But maybe he had a point. Just take a look at the recent computer history and tell me: How many companies actually managed to survive such philosophy? Even the Commodore Amiga, which was a great platform, had to die eventually. And there are examples of that everywhere around. Sony's minidisc could have killed CDs off, because it was so much better in all senses, but they started allowing others to build them too late and the standard vanished from the markets like it had never existed. As I said, and must insist, if it wasn't for iPhones and iTunes, Apple could have disappeared as well a few years ago.

They say that Android's fragmentation is a bad issue, but the strength of this platform lies, precisely, on the so many major brands behind it. Don't you think so?

�You know, it seems that quotes on the internet are becoming less and less reliable.� -Abraham Lincoln.

28.6.2011 18:19 #5

jackalguy

Very informative and interesting infographic, but I found myself wishing that it also explicated splits in the two giants' stock.

29.6.2011 02:34 #6

xnonsuchx

Originally posted by dali: Originally posted by xnonsuchx: The Mac clones were approved by the idiot Apple CEO, John Scully, and were seen by many as actually diluting the platform further rather than helping.
Yes, you are right. But maybe he had a point. Just take a look at the recent computer history and tell me: How many companies actually managed to survive such philosophy? Even the Commodore Amiga, which was a great platform, had to die eventually. And there are examples of that everywhere around. Sony's minidisc could have killed CDs off, because it was so much better in all senses, but they started allowing others to build them too late and the standard vanished from the markets like it had never existed. As I said, and must insist, if it wasn't for iPhones and iTunes, Apple could have disappeared as well a few years ago.

They say that Android's fragmentation is a bad issue, but the strength of this platform lies, precisely, on the so many major brands behind it. Don't you think so?
No.

29.6.2011 02:39 #7

dali

OK. What about this, then:

http://www.afterdawn.com/news/article.cfm/2011/06/29/google_daily_android_activations_hit_half_a_million

Also, remember what happened to Nokia.

�You know, it seems that quotes on the internet are becoming less and less reliable.� -Abraham Lincoln.

29.6.2011 05:11 #8

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