I was talking to a friend at Microsoft who says the folks in Redmond are finally starting to pay attention to Apple as a competitor on the PC desktop. They are concerned about ways to make Windows a cooler brand. Seems to me that Apple is winning in a certain market because they have optimized the individual experience with their products. When you use a Mac, you feel like it's about you, not about the machine. Vista? Not so much.

Consequently, Apple has always had a unique appeal to GenX - not only because they were there first (many Xers remember their first Apple II or Mac Classic) and were in schools when green-screened DOS-based PCs were on corporate desks - but because of this highly personalized brand experience. Also, their stuff works.

Seems to me there is an opportunity to create a desktop OS that is optimized for the group exeprience. Microsoft has already successfully differentiated Xbox with the Live feature, and has taken that strategy with its embrionic iPod killer, Zune. Move past the GenX market of self-conscious individualists and try to tap in to the social, technology-transparent attitudes of Millennials. Of course, they don't pay me for my advice on this stuff. Oh, wait...