Frank Fox argues that the PC industry is boring because almost all of today's non-Apple computers are either boringly similar to what everyone else offers or imitations of Apple's products. Using Windows only contributes the the bland sameness.
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Where PC Makers Go Wrong
Re: Where PC Makers Go Wrong
Two areas that I could definitely see them innovating are the current craze for MIDs (Mobile Internet Devices) - I, for one, hate most of them - the screens are too small and the input devices too cumbersome. If someone were, instead, to put together a MID with a bluetooth headset that also included a HUD (Heads Up Display), I suspect I would have to own one.
Another smart move would be to emulate Apple in another way - be a hardware company that happens to supply really excellent software that works with your hardware. Get some rock-solid relationships with part manufacturers - maybe even an exclusive deal with AMD - and then bring in enough staff to tweak a flavor of Linux to work perfectly with your hardware, and support it, on your hardware. Make the form factor interesting enough (like the eeePC, which has captured imaginations, or perhaps the all-in-one PCs that have everything in the keyboard and look a bit like an Amiga 500) and the software compelling enough, and people will gravitate towards you.
Another smart move would be to emulate Apple in another way - be a hardware company that happens to supply really excellent software that works with your hardware. Get some rock-solid relationships with part manufacturers - maybe even an exclusive deal with AMD - and then bring in enough staff to tweak a flavor of Linux to work perfectly with your hardware, and support it, on your hardware. Make the form factor interesting enough (like the eeePC, which has captured imaginations, or perhaps the all-in-one PCs that have everything in the keyboard and look a bit like an Amiga 500) and the software compelling enough, and people will gravitate towards you.