Apple and Microsoft: Some things never change

Did you think the good old computer was dead? Not by a long shot. The tech giants just resurrected PCs and Macs, trying to make them fit into the future in a mobile era. In their own events, first Apple and a couple of days later Microsoft, showed off their line-up of hardware and tech for the year. They also showed that the PC-Mac war is not over.

Microsoft never did manage to make it in mobile with its Windows Phone only managing to take a little nibble at the market before becoming virtually non-existent. Apple redefined it with the iPhone and its app ecosystem, but is now facing its own challenges as it’s accused of lack of innovation.

The big talking point from Apple’s event and the launch of new MacBook Pros was the Touch Bar, a context-aware strip of OLED display that replaces function keys. So much more interesting and a feature that developers can now play with. Though on the 25th anniversary of Apple’s first laptop, one might have thought there would be something more groundbreaking. Be that as it may, the Touch Bar gives you ready access to emojis — and everyone wants those, right? Also shortcuts in PhotoShop, music controls and more importantly Apple’s Touch ID which is the thing that will secure the laptop as well as let users pay for things with their fingerprint. Apple has released a set of strict guidelines on how the Touch Bar is to be used by app developers and its true usefulness – or the lack thereof – will only emerge in time. It’s really like a small second screen that reminds me of Samsung’s Edge bar or LG’s second screen on a phone. Those should have gotten somewhere by now, but sadly didn’t. It’s more prominent than ever now though that Apple doesn’t have a full touch screen on its laptops but then it’s true that it’s an effort to reach out to the screen is not easy and people only use that capability sometimes — in Microsoft’s case it’s most often used to swipe through applications.

The new MacBook Pro is thinner and makes the MacBook Air redundant. But Apple has managed to annoy fans by doing away with the memory card slot and Escape key, resulting in much trolling online.

Microsoft took a very different approach in its event. There seems to be a general consensus that theirs was the more exciting and promising set of presentations. Having not particularly made it in mobile, Microsoft under Satya Nadella is at the very least making the most of its PC and related businesses, bringing them in line with future trends.

Microsoft’s event centred on creative people, both professional and the masses, and made much of a 3D for Everyone tagline. In fact, they tried to take a bite right out of the audience typically considered Apple’s turf. Microsoft has turned the old app, Paint, into a 3D creation tool. One can now draw in 3D or even take photographs and bring them into Windows 10 and Paint to make them into 3D objects that can be turned all around. You can even save your memories in 3D, as a Microsoft executive showed when she took a photo of a sandcastle her daughters made on the beach and used it in an overall 3D creation. In fact, Windows 10’s upgrade, announced at the event, is called the Windows 10 Creators Update.

Microsoft released new members of its Surface family, but none that made more waves than their first desktop, a large screened beauty called the Surface Studio, a creator’s delight. Thin and sleek, it angles back to just the point anyone would love to have it at to draw, paint, and play with colours. As everyone seems to be saying, it’s something you would have expected Apple to come up with. The Surface Studio will be available in several configurations, all of them pricey and available only in limited quantity. It’s doubtful whether these will make it to India.

But along with the Surface Studio, Microsoft also launched an interesting gadget called the Surface Dial which will work with other machines as well. Wired is right when it says that you may not need the Dial but you’ll want it anyway. It’s a round thing that you can twirl, with the digital pencil in the other hand, that shows up a radial rainbow of colours for artists to use a bunch of tools. It moves the position of the canvas, for example when you rotate it.

At its event, Microsoft also talked up various realities — augmented, mixed, virtual and the use of its Hololens. There’s little doubt that from becoming a bit of a dinosaur, Microsoft is now a company to watch.

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