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Microsoft At Middle Age
gordyf writes "The Seattle Times has an interesting article concerning Microsoft's current position in the market. It describes how its customers and parners are reacting to its heavy-handed tactics, and how 'you can point to Linux being one of the major drivers for this decade.' An interesting read."
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"In a sense, despite the market climate, everything, we need to be even more committed to charging in and helping out and building products in areas where we don't compete today ... because that's what's really in the best interest of the customers," Ballmer said.
The last thing I want is for MS to be in new markets. They have a tendancy to move in to a market, play 'fairly', and manage to use Windows to kill everyone in the market.
The problem here is that they don't really make great products. They make mediocre products that 'look nice,' but nothing that's really spectacular. Shouldn't they be dedicating more of their time towards creating an OS that is not a security risk, and not in expansion to other markets?
You need to restart your computer. Hold down the Power button for several seconds or press the Restart button.
GUI is just a small part of the real battlefield: functionality. Sooner or later, Linux is going to blow past MS in terms of user experience due simply to the fact that they can pick-and-choose which bits to emulate (fast-launching browser in, annoying Clippy and friends out). At that point, it won't matter if MS gives away Windows because nobody'll want it anyhow. The only way they'll survive is if they can consistantly innovate new, useful features at a reasonable price to stay ahead of the curve, something which MS has *never* been able to do.
So, MS will have to flee off the desktop to other things the OSS community doesn't do well -- game development, console systems, etc. There, they'll have to compete in a far more level playing environment and will in the long term probably get their monopolostic asses handed to them by smaller, faster companies.
How can I predict this? Because that's how things work with most industries which don't exist as regulatory monopolies. I don't see software being any different -- in fact, I predict the decline of MS on the desktop will come so quickly that if you blink you'll miss it.
Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
I love this bit:
... because that's what's really in the best interest of the customers," Ballmer said.
The company is trying to adopt a more paternal role. It's using its vast resources to help the ailing PC industry in new ways.
So, Microsoft's press pack for lazy journalists says that MS is now a mature grown-up company. Lazy journalist writes that MS has changed for the better.
Argh. And don't you just hate MS doublespeak!:
"[..]we need to be even more committed to charging in and helping out and building products in areas where we don't compete today
Steve. Please. Drop the bullshit. You need to move into other markets to maintain your current revenue growth. It is not because "that's what's really in the best interest of the customers".
Do you think Microsofties say these things to themselves so many times that they end up believing them? It's kind of like a bizarre cult. I chatted to some friends of friends the other day who work at Microsoft. I was ruminating on the facts surronding OSS. They just flipped. They couldn't believe that I could be so stupid as to think that OSS was ever going to get anywhere. MS calls OSS people "zealots", but believe me, you wouldn't believe how fanatical and brain-washed some Microsofties are.
Rant over and out.
Just for the hell of it, the other day I typed 'Windows' into Google. I got (about) 57,600,000 results.
Then I typed 'Linux'. I got (about) 53,700,000 results.
Now, one could write a whole book on how unscientific those statistics are, but it was still interesting to see a (damned near) 1:1 ratio. I had anticipated something more like 5:1
Sigs are bad for your health.
For the record, Gnome 2 is generally faster and has lower system requirements than Gnome 1.4.
It's hard to be religious when certain people are never incinerated by bolts of lightning.
Uh, duh. Boss. Chief. The Big Man. He who leads. Does this mean anything to you? Microsoft is 100% Bill Gates' vision as the Ultimate Money Making Machine. Let's face it: many people have spent much time trying to build such things, dreaming of such things, wondering what it would be like to have an endless flow of dollars. Billy G just happened - by luck, family, and intelligence - to make it come true. If you choose to use words like "blame", then you must point the finger at the right person, and that is William H. Gates III personally.
But the entire discussion is tedious and vapid. Wealth comes from careful and lucky negotiation of the (male) networks that thread our business world. Get born into the right family, with the right brain, and at the right time, and you stand a good chance of being rich. Choose the wrong parents, genes, and place and time, and you will dish out hamburgers.
Talking about it just mixes jealousy and ignorance. History shows that wealth never stays in one place for very long. Inequality of wealth creates the condititions for its own redistribution.
With Microsoft, its very stranglehold on PC operating systems has been a major stimulus behind the development of what will become the de-facto standard operating system, being Linux of course. Without Microsoft as the enemy, would so many people really have focussed on one single reliable alternative? It certainly did not happen before.
So, sit back, and watch history in action. We are approaching a period in which the Linux OS is becoming a standard commodity product, and in which all businesses that rely on control over one or other OS will die. If Microsoft realize this within two or three years and embrace Linux fully, they will survive. If they continue to rely on Windows, they will fail.
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MS has soemthing the tobacco industries don't: Users that only know that system.
I would say operating systems AND tobacco are similar when it comes to addictions. Yesterday at the gas station, I watched a customer insist on purchasing some obscure brand of smokes. He was so picky for the right one, with the exact size, and exact type of box, that he might die if just one thing changed about the package. It may just be nicotine, the same stuff in pipe tobacco, but he had to have his brand recognition matched exactly like if it was a member of his family.
Many people buy completely into branding. Even though there might be a bulk generic product, they will think its the curse of the devil and the fall of civilization if it doesn't have brand stamping on it. Operating systems, cigarrettes, cars, motorcycles, soft drinks, you name it. Linux vs. Mac vs. Windows is just heating up and the boundries are just beginning.
IBM thought they could dictate the new *standard*. .NET, License 6, and other MS BS look more and more like an MCA kind of thing.
Their arrogance cost them dearly.
Palladium,
I think that within 2 years there will be a mass exodus from Microsoft by developers, OEMs, large and small business sites, and finally, even home computer users.
May you live in interesting times, Mr. Gates.
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For the record: I do not use XP and what little I've seen of it confused me.
That being said, although XP isn't perfect, I've anecdotally heard a lot of positive comments regarding it's UI. Sometimes you HAVE to change things around to make something more intuitive. Sure, you and I are very used to the win9x interface, but a new computer user may find XP more user friendly. Human's naturally resist change, so don't mistake change as "less user friendly" in this scenario.
There is no longer anything that can be done with computers that is nontrivial and clearly legal. -- Paul Phillips