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Most Famous Business Feuds
By siliconindia
Microsoft vs. Apple
Micro-soft was started when Bill Gates and Paul Allen formed a partnership in 1975; while Apple was found in 1977 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne. Interestingly enough, Microsoft was involved in the development of the Macintosh, and was the first external developer to receive a Macintosh prototype.
Apple lured John Sculley (the then-President at PepsiCo), as they wanted him to apply his marketing skills to the personal computer market. When Sculley saw the Windows 1.0, he was furious as Windows had a menu bar identical to Apple's, and many other components which were strikingly related. In the end, Apple agreed to license certain parts of its Graphic User Interface (GUI) to Microsoft for use in Windows 1.0.
In 1987, Apple released the Mac II; while Microsoft released Windows 2.0 and OS/2. This resembled the Macintosh, and Sculley considered this as a breach of contract. In 1988, Apple filed a suit against Microsoft, without any warning, and this law-suit single-handedly clouded the Microsoft-Apple relations until 1997, when Microsoft pumped $150 million into Apple.
Although the $150 million was a token gesture, the pledge that Microsoft would endorse the then-reeling Mac platform was what truly counted, and Microsoft indeed continued to develop Mac software. The truth is that Apple and Microsoft have seldom been direct competitors.
In the field of consumer products, Apple has taken a major slice out of Microsoft's market share, with products such as the iPod numbering in the hundreds of millions; but in the business space, however, Apple still controls only 2 percent of the market, and Microsoft remains the dominant force--while providing Apple with much needed software programs, such as the Microsoft Office suite.
