Is iCloud a direct challenge to Microsoft?

[alfredo]

Cringely thinks so.

http://www.cringely.com/2011/06/iclouds-real-purpose-is-to-kill-windows/


This redefines digital incumbency. The incumbent platform today is Windows because it is in Windows machines that nearly all of our data and our ability to use that data have been trapped. But the Apple announcement changes all that. Suddenly the competition isn’t about platforms at all, but about data, with that data being crunched on a variety of platforms through the use of cheap downloaded apps.

What this requires from Apple is a bold move that Microsoft would never make: Jobs is going to sacrifice the Macintosh in order to kill Windows. He isn’t beating Windows, he’s making Windows inconsequential.

Having been shown the way by Apple, I expect Google to shortly do the same thing, adding automated backup, synchronization and migration to Android and Chrome.
Both companies will be grabbing for data, claiming territory, and leaving Microsoft alone to defend a desktop that will soon cease to exist.

[Stinky The Clown]

1. Two words:

Paradigm Shift

[alfredo]

4. If it works. Of course the change to USB, no floppies, no SCSI

was met with skepticism.

[onehandle]

2. Steve used the word 'demote' when referring to traditional computers on Monday.

Not just an assault on Microsoft, but also Google. I don't see Chrome progressing much further.

[alfredo]

3. It's been a long journey, but their end run around Microsoft

could pay off big time.


They said content creation and content delivery was their focus.

Google is not a hardware company. They don't have a range of integrated devices. Apple does.

[struggle4progress]

5. I'm not excited about the cloud myself: I think it poses major security risks and that

a breach may compromise a huge number of people

[alfredo]

6. I'm not too enthused, but I'm an old fart. I like my hard drive,

and the power of a desktop.

People raised on smart phones may not have the same qualms about the cloud.

I love my iPad.

[bullimiami]

7. I think its an acknowledgement that mobileme is a failure just like .mac and eworld.

So they try something else and right now its all about the "cloud".

[alfredo]

8. The service works, but nobody wants to pay for it.