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competition doesn't mean that there are winners and losers

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In light of a recent announcement by Apple regarding Snow Leopard (10.6, neé Tipsy), I've been asked what increased competition means for Entourage. 

I liken this to the Olympics; the summer Olympics are right around the corner, so I've been thinking about them lately. Think about many of the events, like swimming or the various foot races. The events don't consist of one guy swimming his 100-metre butterfly, then the next guy, and then the next guy, until everyone's done and we just compare their times at the end. Instead, it's a competition: all of the guys are in the pool at once, swimming the 100-metre butterfly together. Why? Because they perform better when they're competing.

Developing software is like that. When everyone's in the pool with you, you find yourself wanting to do better. As Daniel Jalkut of Red Sweater points out, the difference between this and the 100-metre butterfly is that ours is a race with no finish line. Here's a great quote from his blog:

On the Mac, we're all racing towards the same goal: mindblowing experiences for users. Even in a niche such as pixel editing, where lots of players compete, we'll never have a declared winner. To have a winner, you need a finish line. And when it comes to maximizing user happiness and productivity, there isn't one. Furthermore, the map to that pot of gold has been drawn differently by every user and by every developer.

He sums it up succinctly later in the same post: "In this competition, you win just by being in the race."

So what's my response to Apple's announcement? Welcome to the pool. I can't wait to see what you guys have to offer. And I hope that you're looking forward to what we've got to offer in the near future, too.

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