Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) have both been around for 30 years or more, dominating and transforming the tech industry, but they have also pretty much kept to themselves for the most part. Other than being able to use each other’s software, when it came to computers and operating systems, the two companies didn’t mingle – Apple built its hardware around its Macintosh OS, and Microsoft focused its energy on partnerships with hardware manufacturers to distribute its Windows platform.
But might Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) CEO Steve Ballmer sit down with Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) chief Tim Cook and discuss a partnership, now that a “study” revealed that Cook’s MacBook Pro actually runs the Windows software better than Ballmer’s partners do?
The reason we call this a “study” in quotes is because there seem to be more flaws than a supermodel’s makeup after falling in a pool. A firm called Soluto ran the study to determine which laptop runs the Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows platform more effectively and efficiently. The “study” – based on information from 37,000 Windows-based laptops between January and April and measuring about 1.9 million events, from start-ups to crashes to the “Blue Screen of Death” – revealed that the 13-inch Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) MacBook Pro assumed the top spot, with the 15-inch model coming in sixth. Acer and Dell had the four models in between.
The first flaw in the “study” was that 90 percent of the laptops ran the Windows 7 OS, with 10 percent running Windows 8, and there was no breakdown of the quality of the laptops that ran each. The study does not specify whether the MacBooks had 7 or 8 on them. and how they compared directly with other Win 7 or 8 laptops in their individual categories.
Another glaring flaw that Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) OEMs should be aware of is that the Soluto staffers who ran this study admitted that the Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) MacBook Pro devices were the only ones that had a “clean” install of Windows on them; all the other OEMs had what some call “crapware” installed on them, placed by the manufacturers, which slowed down the efficiencies of their laptops.
Soluto does say that it will do this study again in the new future, but will do so only with laptops that have a clean install of the Windows OS. Which would be a step in the right direction toward settling this question.
What do you think? Let us know your thoughts about this “study” in the comments section below. Can Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) claim anything from this? Can Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) learn anything from this? What about Microsoft’s OEMs?
DISCLOSURE: I own no positions in any stock mentioned.
