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Microsoft: The Faint Smell of Rot
happycorp writes "A business reporter for ABC/Fortune
is asking whether Microsoft is poised to collapse, based on years of industry observation
(with successful calls in the past, he notes) rather than
purely technical considerations.
A short read, with this favorite quote:
"if you sniff the air, you can just make out the first hints of rot.""
notion suddenly appeared in my mind: Microsoft is dying What?! Even with all the horrible press in 2004 due to all the security issues, MS increased profit by 11 billion dollars... How is this "dying"?
Even so, do I really need to nitpick this uninformed fool's words? It's 95% opinion, and 5% conjecture. Why on earth did this article get green lighted?
Could you give me your dealers number?
You have how many shares of MS stock options?
And they're vested when?
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
Democratic Senators and the editorial board of The New York Times all said that the Soviet Union was a permenant fixture on the world stage, that co-existence rather than opposition was the only way to deal with it
What? That's a bit of a sweeping generalization without any links to back it up.
And please, no Freeper or NewsMax articles, thanks.
But when was the last time you thought about Microsoft, except in frustration or anger? The company just announced a powerful new search engine, designed to take on Google -- but did anybody notice? Meanwhile, open systems world -- created largely in response to Microsoft's heavy-handed hegemony -- is slowly carving away market share from Gates & Co.: Linux and Firefox hold the world's imagination these days, not Windows and Explorer. The only thing Microsoft seems busy at these days is patching and plugging holes.
What has astounded me is Microsoft's inabilty to flourish in any are other than Windows and Office. Xbox is just beginning to turn a profit, but they have a long way to go before they can make up their losses and actually make money.
Nabisco used to be a cigarette company - that's right, Nabisco the _food_ company. Microsoft must shift away from Windows and Office as their main profit center. But the fact they have been unable to do this is an indication of the market's hatred for their past sins.
Maybe Microsoft wants to be forgiven and move forward, but the rest of the world is fresh out of sweet forgiveness, as am I.
Rot in hell Microsoft.
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