Commentary: Disney vs. Microsoft? (Part One)

by James Bain Feb 23, 2007

Hey, folks! I’m heading off to Disney World. Yup, I’m taking my family on a vacation that part of me is looking forward to and part of me is dreading.

You see, in my old view of the End of Days, all that would be left would be Disney and Micrsoft slugging it out over the remains of the technological universe. And here I am heading out to one of the possible future ground zeros.

Hey, the kids will have fun, and it’s Florida, right? Orlando! Those entertainment industry people are experts at making grouchy, overworked people relax. So the grouchy and overworked people will feel more comfortable spending money. It’s a win-win!

So, if I survive the flight and arrive safely, I’ll soon be wandering the Magic Kingdom and Epcot Center, trying hard not to listen for Terminator theme music starting up softly in the background.

One thing that I’m thinking of as I prepare to wend Orlandowards, is ain’t it ironic that the Mister Rogers of the Tech World basically owns (or is that pwns?) Disney now, in all its iconic glory? He’s its largest shareholder.


Ironic? Iconic? Bad almost-pun, but really folks, it is straight out-and-out weird.


From that crawling baby short to Disney-opia, Stevie has, like, conquered!

Everyone (read >95% of the population of the technological world) has seen at least one Disney movie and everyone (see previous definition) has or does use Windows operating systems on a day-to-day (or workday to workday, like yours truly) basis.

My question is: can Steve SOMEHOW leverage his mass market dominance into some sort of push against the Microsoft hegemony?

My hegemony is bigger than your hegemony-like?

Don’t get me wrong. I am not anti-Microsoft. Don’t get me started about SharePoint. There are some things that Microsoft does so well (or has bought so well) that it’s painful. Stuff that Apple just sort of doesn’t bother with. I’m mostly thinking again of enterprise things, BackOffice as opposed to FrontOffice stuff, stuff that really matters to big companies but that your average one- or two-computer families don’t really even think about (currently).

I would, however, like to see a little less TOTAL DOMINANCE on the desktop. Maybe a little bit more interoperability and diversity.


I’m a very old fashioned capitalist. I think competition is good. Maybe that makes me an anarcho-libertarian, but the total dominance of an industry kind of stifles the industry, doesn’t it.

Pushing the analogy a bit, if everywhere you look you only have one variety of sheep, one variety of chicken, one variety of cow, one variety of wheat (corn, to some of you all), one variety of corn (maize, to some of you all), one variety of turnips (rutabagas to some of you all), one variety of yadda yadda yadda, then you don’t have biodiversity. If that is all that’s produced, one variety each, because it’s good enough, or fits the present need, or is just what’s there now that all the other varieties were bred out or pushed out, well, it only takes one tiny little disease (or trojan) to devastate that variety. Suddenly you’re very very short of a commodity species (animal, vegetable, or operating system) and have no alternatives left to fall back upon.

Biodiversity is a good thing, if only to have a bank of options to draw on later in case everything goes horribly horribly wrong.

So I’ll match and parallel this with technodiversity, a technodiversity with common, open standards and interoperability. My computer would run whatever OS I wanted, my iPod could connect to whatever media service I wanted, and my friends could connect to iTunes with their Treo phones rather than have to burn lossy files to CDs and rerip them again to lossy MP3s.


Maybe, just maybe the question isn’t HOW can Steve Jobs leverage Disney against Microsoft. Maybe it is SHOULD he? Or maybe it isn’t even a question, because he already is and has started leveraging the Disney advantage.


So, as I firmly affix those Mickey Mouse ears onto my head for a week, I’m thinking about biodiversity, tecnodiversity, and more than a little bit about cultural diversity.

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Comments

  • Sooooo, going to d-world eh?

    I dare you not to spend more than $30 per child on those crappy Disney pins!

    tundraboy had this to say on Feb 23, 2007 Posts: 132

  • If you’re looking for a solution to monopolistic hegemony, Steve Jobs is the wrong savior.  It’s like running from a Doberman into the mouth of a Pitbull.  The iPod is almost as dominant of its respective market as Windows is of its own.  And Jobs flatly refuses to make it interoperable.

    In fact, asking a big corporate conglomeration for any kind of rescue from big corporate domination is kind of an exercise in futility.  These companies HATE competition, to the extent that they have joined similar companies together into one cartel (the MPAA, the RIAA, etc) so they don’t have to compete.

    Beeblebrox had this to say on Feb 24, 2007 Posts: 2220

  • The iPod is almost as dominant of its respective market as Windows is of its own.  And Jobs flatly refuses to make it interoperable.

    There we are. Just thought I’d reprint that for comedy value.

    Benji had this to say on Feb 24, 2007 Posts: 927

  • Actually, the iPod is interoperable!  It works with windoze, Linux and Mac.  So, in your world what part is not interoperable.

    Now to find a totally inoperable device look no further than the ‘iPod’ killing Zune.  Zune does not even work with other windoze components (Play for Sure…).

    vingtsun had this to say on Feb 24, 2007 Posts: 1

  • Now to find a totally inoperable device look no further than the ‘iPod’ killing Zune.
    That is a good point.

    Actually, the iPod is interoperable!  It works with windoze, Linux and Mac.  So, in your world what part is not interoperable.
    That is not. Obviously he was talking about interoperability with other music players. That the Zune is (vastly) worse than the iPod does not make the iPod’s position any better.

    Benji had this to say on Feb 24, 2007 Posts: 927

  • Zune does not even work with other windoze components (Play for Sure…).

    Note that you’re comparing two different things.  Operating systems with other DRM schemes.  Zune is incompatible with PFS, true.  But so is the iPod.  If that makes the Zune interoperable, so is the iPod.

    It’s funny how it takes an attack on MS for you to understand these basic terms, but when it comes to Apple, your brain glazes over like a frosty covered donut.

    Beeblebrox had this to say on Feb 24, 2007 Posts: 2220

  • There we are. Just thought I’d reprint that for comedy value.

    I’ll bet you’re a lot happier now, Ben, that you’re totally brainwashed by Steve Jobs and Apple as opposed to only partially brainwashed like you were before.  Not having to think for yourself frees up a good portion of the day, I’m guessing.

    Beeblebrox had this to say on Feb 24, 2007 Posts: 2220

  • Read much of what I’ve written lately?

    Benji had this to say on Feb 25, 2007 Posts: 927

  • Read much of what I’ve written lately?

    Would it be the post you dare not doubt Steve Jobs’s word or the one where you hate DRM but Apple’s DRM is perfectly okay?

    Beeblebrox had this to say on Feb 25, 2007 Posts: 2220
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