Who wants to be number one in the US, eh?

Yes... That much is clear from your original post on the subject....

However I was (naturally) using shorthand. I use a computer as an appliance, not a fashion acessory. The "Box" sits under my desk, I don't have to look at it, I only ever interact with the on\off switch and the DVD loader. It also has a reset button, but I haven't used that in ages. Form follows function to perfection.

Number one serial killer?
Number one on the FBI most wanted list.


Just noticed Apple have $31 billion in cash+equivilants... thats a lot of dosh to have under the pillow!!!!

Oooh, this is turning into one of those threads, isn't it?

Why do Microsoft keep comparing themselves to Apple?

They just set themselves up for a fall every time they do. Comments like "Our PCs are gunna look better" and "Our mobile OS will give a better browsing experience" just make people laugh, as we've seen in the threads in this forum currently.

Who else do they compare themselves to then?

You can't assess how good a company is without comparing it to other companies. MS can only compare themselves other than Apple to Google. Simply put only MS, Google and Apple have such a varied range of products and services in a similar area. Otherwise it would be like VW comparing themselves to Esso garages.... pointless.

As for the Mobile OS if you haven't used 6.5 or seen the tech demos of 7 it's more functional than the iPhone and the equipment that uses it is more powerful. Fair enough the phones might not look amazing (which is purely subjective) but the hardware is more advanced, the software is more functional.

Yes but fin, that's exactly my point.

Microsoft are very different towards Google. Although it seems to be quite a recent change, they no longer compare themselves directly to Google. For example, they don't say things like "Bing will one day provide a better search experience than Google" where-as they do say things like "Our mobile OS will one day provide a better web browsing experience than Apple".

By saying that one day their products will beat Apple, they are saying that currently they aren't as good. That's not good for them!!

Their approach with Bing/Google is much better. Whenever you read something from Microsoft about search, they don't mention Google. That's a good thing. If they did, people would only realise that actually Google is better and laugh at Microsoft. Just as they are currently when Microsoft mention Apple products.

Sure internally they should be looking over their shoulder to see how they compare to the opposition, but they shouldn't come out and effectively tell the consumer that other companies have got better products.