Okay. As if it’s not weird enough that more than 60% of Americans believe that Saddam Hussein was involved in planning the September 11 attacks (despite all lack of evidence), now a report shows that the nation’s leading executives name Microsoft as the most innovative computer company, followed by Dell (huh?) and Apple all the way down in third place. Never mind that Dell simply re-brands other people’s technology, and that nearly every so-called innovation that Microsoft has brought to market was invented or developed by Apple first.
This study and the whole Iraq thing are symptoms of the same problem, really – people believe hype and the manipulation of reality that is so prevalent these days. What’s really scary is this: the continuing consolidation of the media means that people are even less likely to hear multiple viewpoints… or the truth. In the case of Iraq, the media have not been eager to tell us that they are the ones who have been passing along the administration’s misleading statements without question. Microsoft certainly isn’t going to admit that they’re not particulary innovative (unless you count the many innovations in creating security holes on computers), and their promotional materials, backed by billions in marketing money, will also stretch the truth.
The problem is that people will believe anything.
[via Apple Turns]
And don’t forget that Apple got much of its Mac-incorporated “innovation” from Xerox PARC, and that its current operating system is based on Unix. Microsoft and Dell (not that I’m defending them, far from it) certainly are not alone in innovating by adopting and copying; Apple has its own checkered history in this regard.