Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft Goes Head-to-Head With IBM
conq writes "BusinessWeek has a piece on Microsoft's latest announcements that it is going after large-business computing, a realm that IBM currently has a stronghold on." From the article: "In both cases, the company has fashioned 'enterprise' versions of the products with additional security and collaboration-enabling features for sale to large businesses. Microsoft has spent $20 billion over the past three years on these upgrades, and Ballmer says it will spend $500 million over the next year marketing them to corporations. 'We're unlocking the next wave of growth for Microsoft,' Ballmer predicted during a press conference after his speech." We've previously discussed Microsoft's plans for IBM.
Wouldn't that require an operating system that didn't suck?
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
..er, no - thats Billion! (with a B)
But yes, with your keen eye to detail you should have gone into advertising. Not so much an emphasis on things like 'facts' in that industry.
Starsucks
They have an iPod killer.
They have a Google killer.
They have a Java killer.
They have an IBM killer.
Microsoft has a killer for everything!
Dubya should hire Microsoft to develop a terrorist killer! War on Terror would be victorious!
Please wait for your airline reservation while critical update download completes.
Oooh, they implemented OLE in Outlook! How 1995 of them.
GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
'We're unlocking the next wave of growth for Microsoft,' Ballmer predicted during a press conference after his speech.
Microsoft getting bigger? I only have one word for that:
Tetsuooooooooo!
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
$20 Billion bozo.
Is that the sequel to Million Dollar Baby?
This guy's the limit!
They are going after IBM yet their real competition is Google in web services, Linux on servers, and Apple on the desktop and multimedia.
Could this just be a $500M ploy to make people think they aren't paying attention?
I remember these guys. Wasn't it them who said they were going to build a desktop operating system to beat OS/2? Then they were going to build a word processor to beat Word Perfect, then a spreadsheet to knock Lotus 123 off its perch, then they were going to build a database that was cheaper and easier to maintain than Oracle. At one point they even said they getting into games machines.
But only slightly less well known, is never go head to head with IBM.
Waiting for ad.doubleclick.net...
... a tearful Sam Palmisano announced that IBM was immediately directing its vast army of Indian developers to begin rewriting zOS as a .Net client.
"When I woke up this morning and saw my kid's pony's severed head in bed next to me, I just knew it was Balmer. When I went down for breakfast and found all my coffee dumped on the floor, I knew he meant business."
At least he didn't threaten with chairs and profanity.
Seriously, after IBM exited the desktop PC hardware business, any usefulness they had to Microsoft vanished, and they became just another competitor -- one with considerable corporate influence and a bigger source of Java legitimacy in the corporate world than Sun (who is on a short leash to Microsoft in any event), AND the biggest legitimizer of Linux for corporate use around.
The miracle is that Balmer wasn't throwing chairs and spewing profanities during the interview.