Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft's Future
cyberkine writes: "The Economist has an interesting article on Microsoft's technology strategies that ends with a very astute comparison with IBM's downfall and resurrection in the wake of its own antitrust battles. 'Microsoft's biggest underlying fear is that it will become like IBM - --a company that still has a strong business but no longer sets computing standards.'"
I am not quite sure when Microsoft ever "innovated". As far as I remember, every consecutive release of Windows is ALWAYS 30-35% faster than the previous release, and 70-75% faster than the one before that. Windows ALWAYS has better multitasking than the previous version. Did you know your computing experience is also more "fun" every time you upgrade. Same goes for Office. When's the last time they introduced a truly useful new feature? Aside from introducing a useless feature then killing it (him) before the general public to raise hype.
My point is, I just don't get Microsoft. They don't DO ANYTHING. They are a multi-billion dollar corporation that adds bells an whistles to a leaky boat, then resells it for $300 a pop. If you want to talk about the progress Microsoft has been making, I would not call it "innovation". All Microsoft innovation has ever been is gradually making something work better than previous releases when it should have worked right before it hit store shelves. The improvements to their flag ship products are somewhat analagous to improvements on yearly versions of Encarta!
Are they headed the way of the dinosaur? I think I'd get a resounding 'yes' from the Slashdot community, but is this thinking right? After five years of "innovation", people still get suckered into their marketing hoopla and nonsense, thinking that every new version of Windows is a revolution in the making. No, I don't think MS is doomed to the fate we all hope it will fall into. So long as they keep using pictures of people filled with joy because they use Windows, they'll convince the general population.
*ugh* Sorry, just needed to rant a bit here. MS are just ridiculous, and it's pitiful how millions of people worldwide can follow them like sheep. I can't stand it anymore
Why bother.
Sounds like the perfect article for a bunch of zealots who worship a outdated clone of a 30-year old OS to criticize another company's creativity and vent their jealousies. *Checks previous posts* Yep, I was right again!
Ah, the War on Open Source. About as winnable as the War on Terror, or War on Drugs, I'd suggest.
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
No, you've got to grow up, join the real world and realise that the line you've been fed by Slashdot about Microsoft being "evil" is utterly ridiculous. Once you've done that, then you can talk to adults about software development.
Ah, I get it. "Growing up" and joining the "real world" about software development is basically entering into the propaganda that we have to pay for something that should be free and of dismal quality. We can talk about "software development" on a platform where you can't even have the source. Yes, this is certainly maturation over open source ideals. What a fool I have been to think that I can get some magnetic signals on a disk for free all these years! How stupid I have been to expect that software have a sufficient level of quality!
Why bother.
Simple: VIRUSES AND WORMS.
VB is the biggest liability for Microsoft, and it opened thousands of companies up to downtime and excess labor costs while fighting features that basically created a giant "hack me" sign to those who took advantage.
VB may be easy to code, but its support in the OS creates holes large enough for the Queen Mary to pass through.
I would suggest a more secure way to code in Windows, but I don't think there are any...
Vos teneo officium eram periculosus ut vos recipero is.