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Microsoft Under Attack - Part 2
bugbeak writes "Part 2 of BBC's report on Microsoft at its 'most vulnerable moment in history' is available. According to the article, there are six battles Microsoft must go through in order to stay afloat and win, ranging from 'sort out security' (#1) to 'get them young' (#3). The first part of the article series was also linked by Slashdot." From the article: "Already Microsoft is spending 30% to 35% of its research and development budget on security issues, [Gates] says. His promise: Longhorn, the next version of the Windows operating system, will make malicious software (malware) that gets onto computers without the users' knowledge 'a thing of the past'."
What an oportune moment for that message.
Just like the tabacco industry!
www.whitedust.net
That said, the bigger problem, as I have stated in the past, is internal. In the past Microsoft has been able to respond to a siege by motivating the troops and getting the job done. IE was possibly the last great example of the Microsoft development engine at work. Now, it is almost impossible for Microsoft to rally the developer troops for that kind of siege-mentality response. The employee apathy is thick. The old-timers can still get it up, those that are still there and haven't joined Ignition Partners or retired, but you have to keep in mind that most of the developers and program managers there today weren't there 5 years ago, and only know Microsoft as a bloated software factory. The glory years, the rally cry of Ballmer and Gates, the late night and weekender coding marathons and the 'death march' mentality are all just stories of the past. The current typical Microsoft employee is more of the 'hey, I have a family and a life, this can wait' style. Certainly there are pockets of exceptions, but generally speaking, the engine is running a bit cold.
Without the means to execute, the siege will take its toll.
A most overlooked advantage to owning a computer is if they foul up there's no law against wacking them around a bit.
Obviously going after Apple's iPod world with the line "Windows powered software & devices". MS is a smart company, don't think for a moment they are "that vulnerable" They have the money to market their products and market they will.
God: When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all.
From the article:
And it takes a fairly computer-literate user to install and maintain the open source operating system on a personal computer.
I read this and instantly started thinking about this exactly how many window users can maintain there windows box properly? 90% of the users out there have no idea how to keep there windows updated, how to reinstall windows. The only difference is that Windows came preloaded on their machines. Now this is the only difference between the two operating systems. If a Linux machine came preloaded on a computer already with all the drivers installed it is the same exact thing on how people get their machines from dell.
Longhorn, the next version of the Windows operating system, will make malicious software (malware) that gets onto computers without the users' knowledge 'a thing of the past'." I imagine a pretty little balloon that says "You've got Malware! Click here for details..."
Microsoft earned $0.75 per share in its 2004 fiscal year. That's hardly impressive for a stock that sells for nearly $28 a share. If Microsoft is done growing then its investors are going to be very unhappy. That's a return of just under 3% a year. A year with no revenue growth would be even worse.
Not to mention the fact that there is little guarantee that Microsoft will continue to be able to rake in the kind of money that they are currently pulling in. Unearned revenue continues to go down, and Linux continues to gain marketshare. Eventually MSFT investors are going to get tired of waiting for the growth to return and MSFT is going to drop like a rock. When that happens Microsoft is going to *look* vulnerable. Right now the folks selling for Red Hat and Novell have to convince their clients that they aren't crazy when they forgo the safe path of purchasing Windows. Folks that roll out Linux solutions are still taking a fairly big risk. They are betting on a David facing up against the biggest Goliath in the history of industry, and the reason that the story of David and Goliath made it into the Bible was because in real life David's get squashed. Everyone likes an underdog, but only when they win.
A serious drop in MSFT would be hitting the behemoth right smack between the eyes, and such a drop is overdue.
By using TCPA to lock out all non Microsoft authorized software & just coincidentally eliminate the open software threat to the Microsoft Monopoly.
Sorry, I refuse to play along...
Democracy is a sheep and two wolves deciding what to have for lunch. Freedom is a well armed sheep contesting the issue
bloody formatting.....
the next version of the Windows operating system, will make {insert current scare here}'a thing of the past'
Before I say this, let it be known that I am just as much of a Linux zealot as you probably are.
My father works for the local power company developing customer support systems. Rather than an Open Source alternative, such as Linux, they opted to go with Microsoft Windows. The reason? Costs. They figured that the TCO of Linux, including support, training developers, etc. would actually be more expensive than the licensing fees that a Windows solution would incur.
This being said, I would have personally gone with a Linux setup. I think that the former situation exemplifies one of the biggest misconceptions about Linux: people think that, because it's not provided by a corporation, if you have a problem, you're screwed. That's why the support services provided by Red Hat and IBM are so vital. Corporations can't just go on a developer's word that their system works well. They need someone that they can sue if something goes hugely wrong and they lose everything due to an operating system glitch. Red Hat provides a much-needed corporate backing to an already-great operating system. Most of the misconceptions out there about Linux are due to FUD spread by MS. If the open source community can simply overcome the stereotypes of Linux as having no support at all, then I think we'll see Linux begin to totally take over MS's marketshare.
Ride the skies
How many stories have I read here stating that "Microsoft is scared!" or "Microsoft is in trouble!"? How long has this been going on?
I'll start believing it when large retailers like Dell start refusing to ship units with a Microsoft OS pre-installed.
Until then, I'm going to regard stories like this as nothing more than wishful thinking.
"Ask not what your country can do for you." --John F. Kennedy
Uh, yeah Bill, we've heard this promise before. I'm not holding my breath over any Microsoft promise that ends with "a thing of the past." The past keeps coming back to haunt you with Windows.
However, let's assume this time Microsoft really, really gets it right. If so, it won't be only malware that has a hard time on your computer. With their Palladium-- er sorry, Next Generatio-- er whatever they call it this week, your own software won't trust you. Can I play this music? Dunno, let's ask Microsoft. Can I see this movie? Dunno, let's ask Microsoft. Or more accurately, let's ask the systems Microsoft has put in place to handle permissioning. Yeah, they can isolate malware, but the means by which they will do this will also isolate your own stuff every time it thinks you do not have permission to run/view it.
I don't actually care what the "experts" say. I don't think m$ is actually "scared". I do, however, believe that companies need sustainable competative advantage to compete. Tell me, what is micro$oft's advantage?
99 bottles of beer in 175 characte
It'd be interesting what kind of software Microsoft's 'malware' envelope covers. Not that I don't like a bunch of MS software, but this is starting to sound more and more like "you can only run approved software on windows"... though I'm sure that isn't actually the intent... yet.
"His promise: Longhorn, the next version of the Windows operating system, will make malicious software (malware) that gets onto computers without the users' knowledge "a thing of the past"."
-Bill Gates
That just might possibly dethrone the 640kb crack. I know, I know, it isn't what he meant and is misconstrued. THIS little gem is fairly unambigous. Yes, let's remember it.
Explain to me, when a company (or anything for that matter) is on top (Come on people, Microsoft has a ton of cash, and a ton of marketshare in lots of areas) logically are they not the most vulnerable? I mean, they have no where to go but down. It seems every so often that reporters need a fluff piece to phone-in so they choose a company in whatever field and do an "investigative" piece to determine the company vulerable.
It is how the market works, when you are on top people focus on your vulnerabilities in order to bring you down.
I like how they use the word battle. Lately I've been reading a book called The Dynamics of Military Revolution, 1300-2050. The book centers around what makes a succesful military revolution. Since they are using the term 'battles' and are in need of a revolution of sorts I'll point out what the book stated.
The basic crux of the book is that concentrating on technology doesn't make a revolution nor does it win battles. All 6 battles in the article revolve around marketing and technology. It's pretty sad state of affairs when people solely concentrate on technology and the marketing thereof over other aspects. What makes a more successful state of revolution in battle is the coalescing of technology, organization, strategy, internal culture and leadership. I would like to see such an analysis done on Microsoft.
How is M$ leadership?
How is M$ internal culture? Does it have low morale or high hopes for the future?
What is the make up of M$ strategic culture? Do they have any other strategy apart from monopolizing?
Such questions would give a much more accurate picture for the future of M$ success.
He'll do it by changing the definition of malware.
Exam 4/C again. Maybe I'll do better this time.
Market share in almost every market they are in?
.............
Billions in thier war-chest?
Billions in R&D?
HUGE network of partners and providers?
Hey, not saying they are untouchable and couldn't fall but you really have to ask what thier advantages are???????
"reality has a well-known liberal bias" - Steven Colbert
OK, I agree with almost everything you are saying but one part made me laugh ;-)
The stock market has a way of seeing through the BS because money is at stake
-Enron?
-WorldCom?
-Global Crossing?
"reality has a well-known liberal bias" - Steven Colbert
This scenario isn't different from computer company tales of the past.
Microsoft is a shark, at the top of its food chain. It cannot be eaten and cannot be stopped unless it stops itself. It is predictably hungry and efficient. It can take its time and wait.
But it now swims in a sea filled with other fish that are just as ravenous. They can't and won't attack the shark; they don't have to. They'll just eat the same thing the shark eats.
And that food--the market--is in short supply.
Apple, the largest desktop competitor to the "WinTel" market, is no Microsoft, but it doesn't have to be. Microsoft cannot directly attack Apple without causing legal waves as it is already a convicted monopoly. Apple hasn't the capital or mindset in the enterprise to fully cause an IT schism where businesses move in droves to Mac OS workstations and servers. But it can erode the reputation of the larger opponent by being flexible enough to try new technologies by taking advantage of the fact that people turn to places like Apple for interesting gadgets and DON'T see Microsoft as the place to buy "cool" gadgets (the Xbox notwithstanding, but do you think people really associate the Xbox with the same company that makes Windows?)
A shark moves too slowly to eat smaller fish, especially schools. And even if the shark grabs a few (buys out), they are still plenty of new fish to take their place. Time will tell if the school of fish is more flexible and malliable than the overweight, overfed and relatively uncreative and inefficient fish that Microsoft has become.
Or, you can use the Rottweiler vs. a Rottweiler's Weight in Chahuahuas analogy. Either way, Microsoft needs some weight loss. A Federally-mandated breakup might have actually been a good thing for MS a few years back to keep it stronger in the game and not this laggard monolith.
Vos teneo officium eram periculosus ut vos recipero is.
Most of Microsoft's customers are of the completely security clueless variety. The only way to protect such customers from themselves is to take away their freedom to run the software of their choice (because their choices are so stupid - even discounting the choice of MS). This is why trusted/treacherous computing is so important to Microsoft. The end user is the biggest security hole.
This is not necessarily a bad thing. It turns a Microsoft computer into a dedicated appliance rather than a general purpose computer - but there is a market for that. The danger for the free world is that Microsoft would like to make general purpose computers illegal except for (Microsoft) licensed developers.
.stranger things have happened.
The only way a company this big could be gone in 10 years (based on history) would be a major scandal, or a buyout. There's nothing desperate about MS's current position that they can't tackle. That's like saying that Pepsi is coming out with this cool new drink, so Coca-Cola may be dead soon. That's not in any way realistic.
I don't respond to AC's.
Microsoft's real product development (not innovation) lately has only occurred in areas that it has been kicked in.
.conf files for easy parsing/reading and maintenance.
Lets have a look at what's hot or not at MS:
Exchange Server - incremental development only recently. 5.5 was the last "must have" upgrade. Domino was a major workgroup compeditor, it's still there, but not dominant. Plenty of F/OSS secure and configurable email servers about.
SQL Server - Really moving. MySQL and Postgres at the low end, DB2 and Oracle at the high end with competing products.
Enterprise authentication - Incremental improvents only recently. Active Directory is dominant, NDS in non-Novell shops is unheard of. Other LDAP based products are just getting a toenail hold.
Browsers - IE dominant and stagnant. With Firefox and Opera (et al), MS is finally ramping up development of a new version.
Office products - Office95/97 was a big improvement, but most users wouldn't use the new features in XP/2003 versions. Various FOSS office products are fast approaching "drop-in" replacements for most uses and users. Don't know where MS can go with this one.
IIS - Apache is market leader by most measures, IIS is too tied to the underlying OS. Not much room to improve.
File and print services. Still a lot of offices will have this as one of the most important IT function, along with financials. Samba/CUPS is a more than adequate replacement. MS's file sharing security-model hasn't improved much since the introduction of NTFS and share permissions. No notificable improvements in speed between NT4 and Server 2003 on comparable hardware.
Issues like security and patching have improved vastly, but still have a way to go.
Management of servers is still mainly point and click, but with improvements in 'scriptability'. Still waiting for the simplicity of configuration of an "/etc" folder with a series of
The big worry for MS is that it is and will continue to lose "mind-share". It's not cool to be working with MS products. It's products are only moving forward where a serious compeditor exists.
The only thing propping MS up is an "out of the box", polished UI. However, it soon pisses off power users and is also too closely tied to the OS. Works fine for Aunt Ethel, and that's fine for Dell (et al)
The lastest generation of net-admins or programmers will be equally experienced on Unix-likes or MS, unless they went to school in a MS-only brainwashing shop.
I'd consider MS will under attack.
Q:I was listening to a CD in Grip and it sounded horrible! What's up? A:Perhaps you are listening to country music
"His promise: Longhorn, the next version of the Windows operating system, will make malicious software (malware) that gets onto computers without the users' knowledge "a thing of the past"."
-Bill Gates
That just might possibly dethrone the 640kb crack. I know, I know, it isn't what he meant and is misconstrued. THIS little gem is fairly unambigous. Yes, let's remember it.
The important thing to note here are the crucial words "without the users' knowledge" - Bill isn't promising that there will be no malware unintentionally installed - only that users will be informed about it.
And "do you really want to have your security issues discussed by the Linux developer community on a public bulletin board," queries Alistair Baker of Microsoft UK.
ummmm.... yes?
"Is this just useless, or is it expensive as well?"
Is it just me, or everytime Microsoft innovates something is because they're PUSHED to do it?
.NET
Viruses: Longhorn security features
Firefox: IE7
Java:
IOW every time you start your computer, click a link in IE, or check your emai with Entourage, you get a message saying, "Microsoft has determined you are running Windows "Longhorn", therefore you may have malware installed."
It seems pretty obvious to me that Microsoft is indeed at the crossroad, but not at the crossroad to disappear.
They are simply too huge to go away. They would have to make mistake after mistake for the stock to drop and for confidence to evaporate.
Hopefully Microsoft will soon realize that the wild growth of the 90s is gone, that they have run out of IT sectors to simply phagocyte, that they now need to really innovate rather than copy and do good-enough work, that they need play nicer and start collaborating a bit more.
There was a survey yesterday that said that basically people who choose open-source do that to avoid vendor lock-in, not for the price.
Microsoft cannot lower prices and recapture lost market, this is a race to the bottom that they cannot win. What this survey says is that they also cannot embrace-and-extend standards they way they used to because the industry has wised up to this strategy.
They pretty much own the desktop market, but there is no growth there except the natural growth of the market itself. They cannot grow all that much on the server market because Windows is not enough of a jack-of-all-trade, doesn't run competitively on large machines, and that the cheap servers run on Linux/BSD.
They are stuck. Sure they can grow on consoles, in the living room and on mobiles, but there is more competition there, and the margins aren't as fat.
Microsoft will not go away, but I wish they would realize that, become less paranoid and start behaving like a better corporate citizen. A bit like IBM has become. Start with following and proposing standards that other people can interact with.
but really , Gates however should stop saying things like Never, and Wont, and Thing of the Past. Sets himself up for failure when that happens.
Numerous times has he done this, only to be thwarted back by the hacker community, and the weak security model of his company.
Lest I remind everyone that if it werent for Gates and Baller , and ultimately all the developers at MS , that we wouldnt have malware, adware, and a large bevy of the numbers of viruses that exist.
"God of Rock, thank you for this chance to kick ass. "
First of all, Microsoft has a mountain of money, and that will keep them safe for a long time.
But there are people making decisions at the top, and I think those decisions have been flawed.
It's analagous to Intel, where they decided that 64 bits wasn't important for consumers, and that compatibility with x86 wasn't important. Intel is huge, and that's not going to come close to killing them, but it did give AMD a few openings.
There are tough decisions that would have been jarring, culturally, on the Windows platform that Microsoft has shied away from. They should be pushing harder to get people not to run software with administrator privs, even though doing so would cause a lot of old software to break.
ActiveX is a security nightmare. Bagging it would cause a lot of pain and suffering in the short term, but keeping it is going to cost a lot more over the long run.
I think the main strength of open source software is that no one can make those sorts of decisions and force them on people. If you dig in on a bad decision, someone will fork the project.
I don't think that gates has had the guts to make the tough decisions since he's been the chief software architect. I know he's a genius, and he's obviously a lot smarter than I am. But I just don't see his record over the past couple of years as being that strong.
The main problem that Microsoft has now is that the bottom half of their user base (the proportion is just a guess) can't admin windows competently enough to keep the machines running reliably on the internet. Geeks can do it. My windows machines run fine, and have since the second version of windows 98. But an awful lot of people just can't pull it off -- they're bogged down in the muck, because admining their home windows boxes is too hard.
Microsoft is spending a fortune to patch bugs one at a time, but they're not addressing the fundamental architectural problems that make the bugs so damaging.
Compare that to what Jobs did with OS X. People were howling for years while they waited for it to come out. He was willing to piss off everyone by breaking compatibility with the old system. He took the long view, and he took his lumps up front to get things lined up for the future properly.
That's exactly what Gates doesn't have the guts to do. It's weak technical leadership.
Microsoft will not be "defeated" in the sense of vanishing from the field as a software company. Ever. They have achieved what is probably the most pervasive and addictive vendor lock-in situation in all of human history. An incredible amount of the information critical to maintaining our society at its current level is stored on, written for, and run by Windows computers.
g one they will be able to do it.
Remember, users will now INSIST on Windows, because they want it/know it/are used to it. This is even better than making it a legal requirement to use Windows or threatening people (by whatever means) to use Windows or else. A vast number of addicts (the situation is surprisingly analogous) to Windows will DEMAND it in spite of anything else, becasue for them it makes life easier.
What might happen is Microsoft will lower their prices and improve their quality to prevent the beginnings of a migration to another product - if they make their customers unhappy (i.e. take away what they're plugged in to) something might happen. But Microsoft will never do this. Their tendancy towards not changing anything is actually a bonus for most people, who want to learn a computer once and never have it do anything unexpected for the rest of their lives. (Please note that although I find this frustrating, it is neither surprising or blameworthy - I don't want to relearn how to drive or perform basic car maintainance every few years.) Competition does not produce products like that, since change is integral to competition. And if by some chance real innovation becomes a requirement, Microsoft may in fact be able to achieve this. We don't know - they haven't had to try. But Microsoft R&D has some good people, and it may be that if Microsoft's survival suddenly depends on an innovate product rather than an essentially-unchanging-but-incrementally-improvin
Microsoft is here to stay, in all cases where users choose stability/familiarity over performance. There are, of course, areas of society where the choice will go the other way, where people are willing to put in the extra time and effort to learn something out of the ordinary. But those will always be the exceptions, and they will only serve as a minor annoyance for Microsoft. Linux only gets so much press because of the novelty of it's pricetag and philosophy. There is no such thing as an "up and coming" Microsoft competitor. Apple produces an infinitely better product, and their market share is fairly fixed. Linux is decimating commercial Unix, but Unix users are both more familiar with the basic principles of the system and (of sheer necessity) more adaptable.
Linux will have successes - it will displace Windows in some cases, maybe even a lot of them. But most of the market share is businesses, and businesses will avoid risks that are not integral to their core business if they can. Microsoft is The Standard (de facto) and that fact is unlikely to change for the forseeable future.
"I object to doing things that computers can do." -- Olin Shivers, lispers.org
One word: Palladium.
His promise: Longhorn, the next version of the Windows operating system, will make malicious software (malware) that gets onto computers without the users' knowledge 'a thing of the past'."
Instead, Longhorn will have a nifty lil pop-up that says:
"Windows has successfully installed a new Trojan Horse/Adserver. Before you can bein using this program
you must restart the computer. Would you like to restart the computer now?"
[Yes] [Ok]
do() || do_not();
Q: How many Microsoft employees does it take to change a light bulb? A: None, we'll just make darkness the new standard.
All your Sybase are belong to us.
Question everything
Quite.
For example when was the last time General Motors was the best at making cars? They have survived thirty years because of the size of their network and their financial strength despite being regularly whupped by Japanese and Europeanoutfits on a technical basis.
Come to think of it when was Microsoft last at the cutting edge if it ever was?
Hundreds of companies have had technical leads of Microsoft and not lived to tell the tale. All you can say is that anyone who beats Microsoft will have some kind of technical lead but the argument doesn't work the other way round.
80% of Microsoft's revenue comes from the top 20% of their enterprise customer base, meaning that 80% of their customers (likely you and I) do not get the attention that the big customers get. This is why security is such a big issue for them. It isn't to make your home PC more secure, that is just a side-effect.
The reason for pointing this out is that it is the largest 20% of the customers in the enterprise space that drive Microsoft's technical direction. Ever wonder why the Mac is better for the home market and novice user? It was designed and is driven by the desires of the home market, not the enterprise market. As long as Microsoft's focus remains on the large enterprise space, the product will continue to be just 'average' on the desktop. This is the crack in the market that Apple is going after.
A most overlooked advantage to owning a computer is if they foul up there's no law against wacking them around a bit.
Are you on crack? Firefox is continually gaining ground on IE and Linux has sure as hell made a dent in Windows. What OS do you think those webservers/fileservers/print servers would be using if they weren't using Linux? The desktop is a different story, but corporations have already taken notice of Linux on the desktop and they are being deployed around the world as we speak. Linux on the corporate desktop has been a relatively recent development and it will take time to incubate. This is only the begining of Linux of the desktop.
Time makes more converts than reason
Critics suggest a simple solution: use Apple or Linux to be safe and sound.
But Linux (and Unix) systems have been hacked before, and Apple's brand-new Tiger operating system has already been fingered for a security flaw.
Yes, Microsoft's software has security holes, but hackers mainly love it because there are so many Windows PCs out there. Write one virus and 90% of the wired world could be yours.
Not this again. I can see an ignorant PHB still flippantly throwing this lame FUD around, but a journalist? For the BBC, no less?
Tiger has "a security flaw," so the implication is that it's just as vulnerable as Windows? That's clearly what the article is insinuating.
For those who don't know, all OSes get attacked. Given 100 Windows machines and 100 Linux machines, the success rate with attacks on Windows is a hell of a lot higher.
How can a journalist do even a modicum of research outside Redmond and not know this?
The Internet is full. Go away.
Make malicious software a thing of the past??
I don't think so. As long as there is a will, there is a way...
(and Microsoft is pretty good at providing the will)
Could Jesus microwave a burrito so hot that he himself cou
"His promise: Longhorn, the next version of the Windows operating system, will make malicious software (malware) that gets onto computers without the users' knowledge "a thing of the past"."
:-)
-Bill Gates
He might be quite right, malware running on longhorn will have a option button saying "Do you want to install Bonzo?" with only an accept option. Yup, the user will be informed that software is being installed
Warning, comments may not have been passed by the sanity department of my brain.
Uhh, according to my sources, Microsoft made $1.03 over its trailing 12 months (ttm - 2004). The company generates $1 BILLION cash every quarter. It has gross margins north of 60%. It just paid a large cash dividend to shareholders and there is rumors that another is on the way.
What, exactly, is impressive in your book?
MSFT is the GM of the computer world. It will NEVER go away (unless America, somehow, goes away).
Isn't this an oxymoron?
Stories like this only hurt M$ alternatives. Here's how I see it:
1. Media constantly searches for new stories to entice readers to look at ads.
2. To entice readers to look at ads, writers build tension. In this case, the hero (big advertising $$ Microsoft) is being "challeneged" by other market participants. It doesn't matter how they define the issues, there's a challenge. This builds tension and a sense of excitement.
3. Microsoft finally releases something new(ish) and the writer proclaims, "Microsoft destroys its enemies! Our hero lives another day!!!" To the great pleasure of readers, Microsoft and the media outlet who just got you to look at more ads.
I think M$ competitors are willing participants because they get "some" press, but they are playing a losing game unless they can come up with more advertising dollars than Microsoft.
I'd like to know if anyone has a strategy to break this cycle. Other than IBM's mega-bucks linux ad campaigns, I don't know where to begin.
http://www.maxineudall.com/2010/02/should-economists-be-sued-for-malpractice.html
Perhaps Gates should've said: Longhorn, the next version of the Windows operating system, will make computing freedom 'a thing of the past'.
Here is my opinion regarding Microsoft. Microsoft is targetted by far more hackers due to the popularity and "success" by the company by being on the average computer users computer. I'm sure this is obvious and probably mentioned in these comments before. However, Bill Gates promises the following in Longhorn: Malware will be a thing of the past. In my theory, I've gotten the same promises in email that I've received from Nigeria. Anyone with the patience and presistance will be able to exploit software, regardless how well it has been programmed. Surely there was a developer that isn't 100% perfect.
I can't believe that any "PC" tech who has been working more than a year or so hasn't installed Linux. Not even Knoppix? Are you living under a rock? No, I've got it ... it's your first day here!?!
As soon as I heard of it (about 6 years ago) I had to have a go, installing Slackware from diskette on an IBM thinkpad (Pentium-S, the S is for Slow I think!). IF only because I fancied messing about with partitions and seeing if I could reinstall windows.
As far as career development goes I'd have thought some *nix|*BSD|MacOSX experience was essential.
But hey, no-one offered me a job so I s'pose I got it bass-ackwards.
Seriously I'm not trying to offend but I can't actually believe I saw your post on Slashdot.
My apologies if this is less than coherent, but I'm not in the best headspace right now...
Convergence is good in the sense, as you said, of everything just working together and not having to deal with mixing and matching and fine tuning your solutions. That is what customers want, and I agree, it's a Good Thing.
What is bad is the way that MS and most everybody else has been going about it: the approach of "everybody wants their word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation software to work together, so we'll make an integrated wp/ss/presentation combo package!" This encourages too much interdependency on specific other products, vendor lock-in to whoever makes your preferred end-to-end solution, and compromise in the quality of the individual parts of the integrated package. That's a Bad Thing.
The right way to go about convergence is similar to the old (and sadly failed) document-centric computing approaches like Apple's OpenDoc, or the unix "pipe" concept, and the associated staples of both of the above: standard, free and open formats and protocols and specific tools that do one thing extremely well.
So in a sense, what you're saying is spot on: it's not the one box that does it all that we need, it's the one network that'll make all out boxes work together. But the "network" doesn't have to be just the internet, and all our "boxes" don't have to be separate physical devices. I still want my general purpose computer. Hell, I want a general computer the size of a small PDA that doubles as a cell-phone-alike (ala VoIP). I don't want a thousand special-purpose little devices, I want one device to which to which can add and change functions and have it all Just Work. And I want my data and my processing power to rest primarily with me, and not rely on some remote network to function properly.
The "network" isn't the necessarily the Internet, it's the protocols and formats that let things like the Internet work. The "boxes" don't have to be literal separate devices but any specific components (either hardware or software) that operate together over those protocols without caring what each other are.
It's great that this type of interoperation can scale to remote inter-device levels too, and allow us to take advantage of remote services, but that's not the key factor. The key factor is the protocols and formats. They are the core of integration and "convergence", and they could work just as well in a single box as over the network.
In the history of computing, the death of the document-centric computing concept (where a vast array of different, specialized tools all work together seamlessly as though your whole OS was one application), and the associated stagnation of standardized file formats, has got to be one of the saddest events that I have witnessed.
People think MS Office and Adobe Creative Suite are great because "it all just works together". We were once promised that our entire computers would function like that (again, only now in the graphical environment too). It was companies like MS and Adobe, who refused to support document-centric paradigms (lest people not be locked in to using *their* entire suite when they could mix and match their own just as easily), that saw the efforts of those promises stillborn.
-Forrest Cameranesi, Geek of all Trades
"I am Sam. Sam I am. I do not like trolls, flames, or spam."