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Is Microsoft Silent Before a Deadly Storm?
M$FTjack writes "Discussions about Microsoft are all over the place, esp. with its recent delays to Vista. Some consider Microsoft to be doomed, while others say Microsoft is silent before a deadly storm. According to the article on CoolTechZone, the author believes that Microsoft will unleash an abundance of next-generation applications that will take everyone by surprise. From the article: 'So why am I citing all these examples? Simply because I think Microsoft is itself poised for a big leap. Despite all the rumors about Google and how it will topple Microsoft, I don't see that happening in the near future ... people (and I don't mean technology enthusiasts) will continue to purchase Microsoft products simply because of the sheer familiarity and comfort levels (BSoD et al) that they have with Microsoft software.'"
the author believes that Microsoft will unleash an abundance of next-generation applications that will take everyone by surprise.
No - thats the way Apple works (taking people by surprise with cool new stuff)
Microsoft announces products years in advance in an attempt to stop people buying the competitors products. When MS's software finally arrives, it tends to be..... dissapointing.
people (and I don't mean technology enthusiasts) will continue to purchase Microsoft products simply because of the sheer familiarity and comfort levels (BSoD et al) that they have with Microsoft software.'
No, this should read:
people (and I don't mean technology enthusiasts) will continue to purchase Microsoft products simply because of vendor lock in - they will continue to need to run specialised applications that only exist on the windows platform.
Quotes from the article:Gosh, that's the worst mispelling of six years I've ever seen!Thats just the problem - no new features compelling people to upgrade from office 2000 (or 97 for that matter)The only feature on Live Local I like is the birds eye view - and it doesn't work where I live! (large US cities only). A pity - as virtual earth problaby has better data then google earth, its just that google earth presents it nicer!Riiiight...just like IE7 will mean no need to install firefox!
Analysis like this presents Google as the only competitor to MS - but the fact is their market is being chipped away from all sides, by a multitude of competitors.
There are shills on slashdot. Apparently, I'm one of them.
Given the internal conflicts within Microsoft between application teams and the fact that the community gets leaked memos and rumors from time to time about inner goings on, I would say no, they are not working on anything special. The amount of human resources required to develop these "next gen apps" that they allude to within Microsoft would most likely generate some rumors that would have given us such an indication. Microsoft is under too much of a microscope for something like this to slip by. If it is a new development, then it will be a while before we see such apps. Besides, Microsoft's marketing technique seems to be based on people knowing what are going to be in their applications before they are released. I think this is just wishful thinking.
Silent but deadly. An apt description.
Rumors of microsoft's death? Netcraft have anything to say on it?
...was silent after a deadly storm (of traffic).
Key moment in the slashdot article:
I think the user community along with the technical community approaches the tipping point with Microsoft, especially with more and more alternatives like web based applications. Microsoft may join that fray, but they've sandbagged themselves, and they may not recover so nimbly this time (though I'll never count Microsoft out).
Microsoft has spent so much ill-will capital, the collective technology users' almost (almost) want Microsoft to go away. Microsoft is still powerful, but a lot of that power today is inertia as Microsoft tries to think of ways to re-invent itself yet again in time to maintain its control. I hope it doesn't.
Meanwhile, users (though they don't quite yet know it) are offered virtually every function as a web application, at least for ninety percent, and in many ways the new applications surpass the old resident application paradigm for convenience, service, and ease of use and maintenance.
And that app is named Duke Nukem Forever. No really. Instead of just displaying number in a spreadsheet the little avatar has a machine gun and shoots "virtual" holes in your spreadsheet to match your data. Its pretty cool. And if you don't take proper care of him, then machine guns the whole screen until only the blue in the back can be seen. Good stuff.
If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
Sometimes when I eat a lot of burritos and drink a lot of beer I won't say anything for like 20 minutes and then I unleash my deadly storm! So if you see me silent in a taco bell then run!
-Dipster
Microsoft is actually duke nukem forevered in that it will take them forever to go out of business.
Come on, MS doomed? Is the other side of the picket sign "End of the world"? MS is huge, they have a HUGE customer base. They are not going out of business anytime soon. They have TONS and TONS of highly qualified techies who are working to make new products that MANY people will buy.
I mod down so you can mod up. Your welcome.
Light a match!
If you post it, they will read.
Who honestly considers Microsoft to be doomed? They have too many products spread across several different technology markets to be anywhere near doomed. Is the writer dillusional?
Microsoft is a lot like McDonalds... Both are global forces and probably aren't going anywhere soon. But you feel kinda guilty after buying anything from either of them, and you usually have a bad taste in your mouth for days...
Besides Interface and Technical Stuff I really don't see the advantage of Windows Vista. Unlike the move from windows 3.1 to 95 when there was the issue of better Internet Connectivity, which everyone wanted, and "Real" Multitasking. The move from 95,98,Me,2000,XP to Vista will not have much of a difference. Sure in the long run they will be better off because of security patches and supported software for the newer version. But if they are happy with what they have now there isn't anything I can see that they really want or need in Longhorn that they don't have now. There is no big push to technologies like the Internet. It is just an improved same old same old. The reason for the Huge Migration from 3.1 to 95 was the promise of better Networking support making it easier to connect to ISP (For anyone who used winsock would realize), and "real" multitasking which allowed people to run long tasks in the background while doing something else.
But what is in Vista, Better Graphics, Some slight speed improvement on already fast computers, some things a little easier to use, better security for a little while. I rate all of them with a big "Meh" in my book and it will make it hard to convince people they they need to upgrade soon.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
...with the Blue Screen of Death?
Or what else would BSoD mean in relation to Microsoft?
I for one am sick and friggin tired of the continual Microsoft bashing that goes on here. Why don't you sorry jerk-offs get off slashdot and go to Monster.com. Maybe you can find an actual job.
From what it sounds like, here's what this article is really saying: Please please please please keep the MSFT stock up so I can sell it for a profit!
I am officially gone from
Microsoft may have announced a delay in Vista (thank god, I'd rather have it released right or not at all.), but Sony announced a delay in the launch of the PS3.
Microsoft has gotten so big, and diversified that if one division slumps a little, the others will easily be able to pick up the slack. It would take a catastrophy in several divisions to truly hurt Microsoft now. So what about a storm? We need only wait till Vista comes out, till PS3 comes out, and till the numbers on both are announced.
Personally, as I am sure most other slashdotters, I would like to see Sony prevail - see apple and linux rise, and see a market with true competition.
Go ahead and call me unreliable; reliable is just a synonym for predictable.
They aren't silent, I think just rather unsuccessful at gaining momentum and large public recognition on a series of products part of their new online service initiative going under the "Live" name, including Office Live.
.NET 2.0, which is the latest version of their widely spanning development API.
Not to mention
There's then Vista, and Office 12 under production, and even IE 7.
Actually, it was quite a while since I last saw MS have this many balls in the air. Whether they're doing well or not at it is another question though, and one that can maybe not be answered well until early 2007 or so when at least IE 7 and Vista is supposed to be done.
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
May Peace Prevail On Earth
They're just doomed. Code base size grew out of control, and they're clearly not able to meet deadlines anymore.
Keeping back-compatibility made their code ugly and huge, like Ballmer.
Office 2007 is absolultely killer software. It is really the first time since Office 95, where it is a must-upgrade. Betas are pretty stable, the new interfaces are well thought-out, its good stuff.
Microsoft's big market is the corporate desktop market. Corporate users don't like surprises. They like it when you announce software a year in advance and give them specs well ahead of time.
MS also knows that most of their big corporate users probably won't be migrating to Vista for at least 2 years. It's expensive and it takes years to get a budget like that pushed through the beancounters of a big company.
This is a good opportunity for Apple to gain some marketshare on the home user side of things. Most of us shrug off Boot Camp as "Yeah, dual boot, I was doing that with LiLo in 1995" but for the non-techie users, Boot Camp is *HUGE*.
It means they are no longer tethered to Windows. They will buy a Mac expecting to use Windows 90% of the time, but they will start using Mac OS more and more and come to like it. Once Apple introduces in-house virtualization, they will realize they really don't need to boot to Windows at all.
Once this starts to happen, the big achilles heel for Apple (which is largely a myth anyway) -- software support -- starts to go away. No, Apple's not going to have 95% market share overnight (the corporate side is a lot slower to move and there really is no replacement for the Outlook/Exchange combo on the mac side yet,) but I don't see 25-30% as an unreasonable number. People are *looking* for an alternative to Windows, and Apple is in the right place at the right time.
Hotmail! .net!
MSN!
MS Live!
MS Earth!
Origami!
Office with ribbons!
MS Paint!
Microsoft has for years been releasing cool new products that keep us more productive and, more importantly, provide job strong job security in the tech support field!
Yeah, so next time your banker or nurse tells you that the printer is broken, and that technology never works, you can just have her forward her thoughts to MS customer service.
If you don't know what AltaVista is (was), get off my lawn.
According to the article on CoolTechZone, the author believes that Microsoft will unleash an abundance of next-generation applications that will take everyone by surprise.
That would be like all the other new and innovotive things they have come up with in the past, like ... erm ... erm, 'Microsoft Bob' and ... erm ... oh yes, a talking paperclip!
That is so yesterday. Not just yesterday as in a few days, yesterday as in 1997, 1998.
Strange. When reading your post, I mentally replaced Microsoft with the word "women". And it still made sense.
8 of 13 people found this answer helpful. Did you?
should be modded as "redundant". Nothing new here from the last anti-Microsoft thread. No one has any new arguments, no one even has any new digs at MS. It's all rehashed /. rhetoric.
When was the last time Redmond spat out anything new, exciting, or technologically earth-shaking? Why should they be doing so now? Where's the incentive? They have 90% of the market and therefore are not required by market forces to make any true improvements or upgrades to their current software, let alone create anything new. The only reason for Vista's existence is to try and improve on their sorry security record. Their competitors are all far behind and despite the popularity of a whole slew of technologies like Linux, MySql, etc., no one's really knocking on the door. Until MS's share of the market dips to about 70% don't expect BG to stop counting his money.
GetOuttaMySpace - The Anti-Social Network
No pre-existing apps/OS generally take anything by storm. People don't like *change* The only apps I can think of that took anything by storm are *new* apps that do something revolutionary. (i.e Napster, ICQ, and DOOM for gaming) (Yes, I know of Wolfenstein 3D but it was only a concept footstep to Doom which added the graphics to make the experience truely revolutionary) A new version of Office or a new version of Windows isn't going to make huge waves in the way people do things immediately. Google was so far ahead of all the other search engines and they still took several years to catch on and dominate with the general public acceptance.
to the Chinese Government. The government of China will ACTUALLY own Microsoft. You say governments do not own companies and profit from them? George Bush will change that. Long live Plutocracy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plutocracy)
... but the site's already down.
Assuming the summary is accurate,
"...the author believes that Microsoft will unleash an abundance of next-generation applications that will take everyone by surprise. From the article: 'So why am I citing all these examples? Simply because I think Microsoft is itself poised for a big leap.'"
Wrong. If MS had anything big up their sleeves--that is to say, anything that worked and was compelling--they'd have it out already. I'm not saying there's nothing cool left to be done with computers, but given MS's track record, do you really believe that they're just sitting on a pile of apps that will "take everyone by surprise"? No effing way.
"...people (and I don't mean technology enthusiasts) will continue to purchase Microsoft products simply because of the sheer familiarity and comfort levels (BSoD et al) that they have with Microsoft software.'"
This part is true. When people need a new computer, it'll come with Vista. When their games say they need Vista, they'll go buy it at CompUSA. When they need Office, they'll go buy whatever Office is current.
One more note: please, it's 2006. Can we let go of BSOD jokes yet? I've seen maybe 10 BSODs in the last five years with W2K and XP systems. Any time I see a BSOD reference I think "here's a guy stuck in 1998 who thinks Linux will rule the desktop because it's more stable." I know that a) he wasn't joking and b) he seems to like MS, but it's time to find a new representation of all things wrong with Windows.
And before you go posting links to sites that show pics of BSODs in airports, Time Square, etc., know that most of those systems are running NT.
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
Who are these people?
Will code a sig generator for food
Most people who have previewed Office 2007 will tell you that it's actually really cool. Office has always had great features, and it's finally getting a decent UI (which it needs BADLY). Google is making a lot of headway with online apps, but online apps will never replace Microsoft's full featured office suite, especially in business where it really matters.
Microsoft software costs way too much money.
Microsoft code (and bug fixes) can take years to get to the consumer.
Microsoft software isn't fun to use.
Live.com will eventually have a dhtml clippy2 that end users are going to love.
Do you expect me to believe that all of a sudden Microsoft is going to change? They actually win when there isn't any change. Now if they could only find a way to stop AJAX apps from being used...
Zonk, is it a slow news day so you felt compelled to post an article from a Microsoft fan boy (M$ftJack) just to start a pointless flame war in which probably nothing will be said that hasn't been said a million times before here?
For him to mention BSoD in his submission was just tired rhetoric. Yea I'm sure people are still running Windows 98 out there and seeing BSoD but that is what they deserve for running a crappy, ancient OS with no memory protection. Anyone running XP or NT isn't likely to see very many OS crashes any more unless they are hacked or infected. Windows security problems are a far more important talking point than BSoD. I'm guessing he put BSoD in his submission to distract some of the flamage in the wrong direction.
The fact is Windows isn't going away anytime soon whether they put out any exciting new products or not. Sure Apple is going to chip away at them from one end, for people who want cool computers and apps that just work and work together, and Linux may chip away at the other end, for the hard core who want control of their computers, but this slippage is among people that are technically literate. The fact is the vast majority of the unwashed masses, are going to have Windows sitting on their desk at work, and buy a computer for home with Windows pre-installed, and most wont even consider trying to run something else. Lots of people play games on their computers and unfortunately trying to run popular games on Linux or OSX is somewhere across the spectrum of painful, difficult or impossible.
That said the extent to which people's lives and computers are being made miserable by security exploits may well eventually create a tipping point of some kind though I'm not sure what it is. If OSX or Linux offered rock solid security and all the applications people want maybe people would jump over en masse but I'm afraid if OSX or Linux became the dominant OS they would become more of a target for exploits. I doubt they are as vulnerable a target as Windows but they are still vulnerable. The other possibility is Microsoft may have to try to really redesign their OS to be secure, and that could inflict things like Palladium on us. It may well be making Windows secure is an impossible task without throwing it out, starting over, and destroying backward compatibility which would probably eliminate Microsoft's death grip on computer user's throats.
@de_machina
>> people (and I don't mean technology enthusiasts) will
>> continue to purchase Microsoft products simply because
>> of the sheer familiarity and comfort levels (BSoD et al)
When Apple started with switch campaign some years back, I thought that one of the things that they needed to include in OS X for Windows users who were switching was a Control Panel that invokes a "Windows-mode".
When enabled, the Mac would do bizarre shit on an unpredictable basis (OS crashing, audio disappearing, etc) and on a regular basis (ie: getting slower as time passes).
This would sooth new users, giving them characteristics of the environment that they were familiar with.
I wonder if there's an open source project for this sort of thing.
--Richard
Detroit will never be the motor city that it once was. The auto industry is to the point of a government service now, with low quality cars at high prices. The important thing is that those huge auto companies provide jobs to michiganders. Now, the company is so bloated and laden with legislation, it can't respond quick enough to create great products. Too much risk involved.
MSFT has all the marketshare that it'll ever need, and the products they make have business decisions and not product decisions in mind. They care about increasing revenue, and controling the market; you can do that without creating any good products! That's what i'm saying about the auto industry example.
I would love to see those detroit makes come up with something innovative that are something special, but its not likely to happen.
http://www.havenofbliss.com/
Pony Edition?!!!~!1!
How is Google going to topple Microsoft? One is a search engine the other makes operating systems and a word processing application. Despite all this talk about their map systems, both make their real money from totally different operations. Unless Google has a web based operating system up its sleeve and can provide everyone with broadband so that we can use it, I don't see Microsoft getting toppled anytime soon.
This from a Mac OS X using Buddhist Agnostic.
Silent? Deadly? I don't know, but they sure stink.
You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
in 10e^827 years when all matter is simply low-level 5K background radiation, Microsoft will be just a distant memory. TAKE THAT, BILLY GATES!
To paraphrase Scotty: ... fool me 11 times - shame on marketers ... fool me 12 times ...
it's called, appropriately enough, X Windows.
The big changes have been from 3.1 to Win95 with the switch from 16 bit mostly 32 bit.
Then from Win9x to Win2K with the final removal of DOS. (Yeah, if you were on NT you already had that, I know).
Since then, there hasn't been anything really compelling from an end-user stand point. Crappy apps are still crappy apps. Good apps are still good apps. Most people still login as "admin" with all the associated problems (and for all the perceived benefits).
98% (stat pulled out of my butt) of the home users would be perfectly happy with Win2K if it would run their current apps (and mostly, it will).
... don't forget about the ongoing "silent but deadly" problem.
I always thought that Jobs was smarter than Gates.
Apple's "Boot Camp" beta that lets you run XP on your MacBook? Wonderful! especially now that we hear you can actually triple boot the MacBook into Linux! Yeee Haw! I want one!
Who cares if it does not run Vista! I don't. I don't want to have to replace my 5 computers that run XP just fine, thank you, with whatever yet hardware that Vista requires!
The MacBook running windows is just the kind of disruptive technology that Gates should fear. Users can adopt a new platform, but still have access to their old platform. Why spend the money to upgrade to Vista? I want to upgrade to OS/X! This will certainly have a negative impact on Vista.
there are 3 kinds of people:
* those who can count
* those who can't
"the author believes that Microsoft will unleash an abundance of next-generation applications that will take everyone by surprise"
That would make the whole community drop jaws in unison so hard it would move the earth a fair bit. What next-generation application can anyone think of that has had its origin within Microsoft? Everything i can think of has either been bought or Xeroxed. Even one a unique first generation application would make a pretty big splash since it would be the first.
I imagine anything Microsoft will "unleash" will be the same old but done in another development platform. It must be infuriating with AJAX, Mono, Apache, MySQL etc stealing all of the light.
HTTP/1.1 400
You could roll the clock back 40 years and change Microsoft to IBM and have the same article. Face it, IBM was THE technology company of the 1960s and Microsoft is now. However, PC industry that gave rise to Microsoft is now a mature industry, just as the mainframe industry was in 1965.
That is why Microsoft is so desperately trying to define what the next great computer frontier will be - whether computerized games consoles, entertainment systems, kitchens or whole houses. However, while these are all interesting, none of these will be "it."
"It" will have to come from outside Microsoft, just as the PC came from outside IBM. Oh, sure, IBM spawned the PC age, but they never grasped it's potential, because it was too outside the box. Likewise, Microsoft, is looking at what's new and trying to fit it "in" with their plans. As long as it is being forced to fit "in," it won't be the next technological revolution, or if it is, Microsoft won't be the one to capitalize on it.
Why not? The fact that the next technological revolution will dictate out with the old and in with the new would require Microsoft to abandon their flagship, dare I say "legacy" systems. That's hard for a company to do.
What will the next technological revolution be? I don't know. I do know what it won't be, though. It won't be found in something that is restrictive as to how it can be used or with what it can be used with. Those attributes are signs of protection for "legacy" systems.
Protection of legacy systems doesn't lead to innovation or revolution, only stagnation (and a lot of marketing expenses to convince the public that things really are new and improved).
well, this is sooo true.....why a mp3 player is nothing more than a really small player piano....
with a battery instead of a foot pedal. and a digital file instead of a roll of paper with holes punched
into it. and instead of vibrating strings, there are little cones that vibrate directly next to your ear.
But a player piano never looked so shiny and cute and a player piano never played "Fuck the Police" or "Too Drunk to Fuck" ( I don't think ).
This is the genius of apple !
so, where is my book deal.
music lover since 1969
According to the article on CoolTechZone, the author believes that Microsoft will unleash an abundance of next-generation applications that will take everyone by surprise.
People (and I don't mean technology enthusiasts) will continue to purchase Microsoft products simply because of the sheer familiarity and comfort levels (BSoD et al) that they have with Microsoft software.
Revolutionary, new and completely different products that people will buy because they're familiar and comfortable.
Now there's a trick.
Bill should run for President, taking an ultra conservative, pro-life platform that supports women's rights to choose and caters to the liberals. He'd clearly be a sure win.
Or, alternatively, someone's so enthusiastic that they miss when their hyped statements contradict each other. Most likely, Microsoft is working on new features and products that will be quite a bit ahead of what they launched three to five years ago - but not so radically different that they lose the familiarity card that they play on so heavily. In short - for all they're amoral, they're a smart company that can target the sweet spot pretty well - but a sweet spot isn't, and is never meant to be, all things to all people. No matter how over excited fanboys might get.
Which means, all the MS haters/flamers posts will get modded up as insightful or interesting (and will by in large be neither), anyone saying anything contrary will be left untouched or modded down. Nothing new or valuable will be said, all the same flames will be rehashed yet again.
And I'm sorry, love them or hate them, but to say MS is doomed and going to fold is beyond stupid, with no basis in reality. If you have any sense of the scope of their software suites and the size of their user base, no one in their right mind would say that. You might WANT it to happen, but hope and reality are not the same thing
'The unexamined life is not worth living' - Socrates
... the day you buy from either of them you get an awful infection.
Your anaylsis is false. I do not have the numbers to back me up, but (perhaps someone will fill them in)Microsoft seems to make all of their money from the office division. Period.
Microsoft Office makes money, the OS division makes money. Everything else seems to loose cash hand over fist. (Think X-Box, MSN, MSNBC..) In fact, you could argue that the reason that the OS division makes $$ is because you (Effectively & via the EULA) need the OS to run Office. (Perhaps I should restate this as Outlook makes MS money?) So while Microsoft is huge, it is a leviithan financially propped up by a small number of legs...
As far as Sony goes: Do you really want a company that distributes rootkits becoming the 900 lb. gorilla in the room?
my $.02
...calling vista a ground up re-write is terribly misleading. MOST of the code that installs isn't going to be new at all.
The problem with quotes on the internet, is that nobody bothers to check their veracity. -- Abraham Lincoln
I am suprised that people have not caught on to this sooner. Vista, from what I have seen, addresses some very deep technical issues while opening software development up to the masses. I think MS has done a lot of thinking about what an OS needs to do. People will be able to easily create usable applications with a minimal amount of programming skills. If you take a good look under the hood Vista is a pretty big leap from XP. As far as release dalays, I don't see why everyone trashes them for it. Blizzard does the same thing with their games, they don't release until it is ready. I'd much rather have something delayed for a year than buy a product that was pushed out the door to make some marketers deadline even though it was buggy. Considering the number of problems they have had with security would you expect anything else? If they had released Vista 6 months ago you would all be trashing them for shoddy code. Now they are waiting so they can release good code and you are all trashing them for the delay. I'm not an MS fanboy but you gotta be fair, otherwise you just come off as a zealot.
Could chocolate be quiet and let me finish?
I just can't get excited about yet another bloated piece of crap OS from MS with the ability to bring a really nice machine to it's knees, all in the name of 'more security', and a better dancing paperclip.
Maybe they're spending all this time considering releasing win2k as open source project. - yeah that's it.
Would anyone even go for a win2k open source project?
MSPaint, now there's some quality software. *cough*
Why is it that Microsoft has poked every pie except the realm of photoshop? You'd think that would be a lucritive market they'd want to destroy and absorb...
crazy dynamite monkey
With the combination of words "Microsoft," "Silent" and "Deadly" what else am I to read?
Come on people, this is Microsoft we're talking about here. The kings of pre-announcing software the moment they even think of an idea for a product. If they had something in the pipeline, Gates would be talking about how innovative his world is, and Ballmer would be even more hyper and sweaty than usual.
Tired of FB/Google censorship? Visit UNCENSORED!
The storm of Office 11, WinNT 6.0 and other super surprises? Myself, I believe they're just silent, and can be ignored for a while. Please post an article when something interesting happens...
I'm in a Unix state of mind.
As far as the Enterprise is concerned Microsoft isn't going anywhere. They have too much inertia in the business world. They could produce late crap for a few more rounds and they'd barely lose market share.
As far as the home user things are different. Vista will require new machines. What aps are really compelling enough to require a new machine these days? A handful of games, but the console market is rapidly chomping into that market and Microsoft is in there with both feet already.
Certainly Microsoft would like to sell copies of Vista to all of their installed base but they don't care if you load that copy on a Dell or Apple machine. If Vista tanks I think Dell is going to hurt more than MS.
No doubt true. My point was that MS is building it in-house, something they haven't done since DOS. Well, I suppose WinCE might count.
"We are all geniuses when we dream"
- E.M. Cioran
In all honesty, when was the last time you got a BSoD? Since I've switched to XP pro I haven't had a BSoD since. I have to admit to being pleasently surprised.
If corporations are the new empires, then MS is Rome.
Rome grew--it conquered and absorbed other cultures. Eventually, it grew to be quite large--so large, in fact, that it began to have breakdowns in central authority, etc. Rome fell eventually.
Microsoft has the same problem that Rome had: the world is never enough. MS wants to compete in every market: gaming, operating systems, desktop, server, search engine, email, etc. MS has always had some quality control issues and outgrowing their supportable size has only exacerbated that problem.
Sure, Microsoft might be lining up to dish out a huge new line of products and/or services, but I think many people are starting to get the MS Ennui--inside the hedges at Redmond and outside in consumer land as well.
I wouldn't say MS is "doomed" per se, but I do think they are in for a downsizing. (Which, I suppose is doom to shareholders and top brass).
If I could say anything to Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer, it would be this:
However, I think it's too late for them--they're already so ate-up with corporate jingoism that they'll set themselves up for a fall.
I might know what I'm talkin' about, but then again, this is Slashdot...
No, wait, this is the way Windows already works..
I'm not insane. My mother had me tested.
Microsoft is dying, losing marketshare...yea sure...with the chance of being trolled - they have _90%+_ of the market in dekstop, they have about 99% of the business dekstop market and even in the server world, while they don't have a lead, they're in the fight.
Quiet or not, MS will have a major switch in the next year and a bit with a new Windows coming out, a new office, new API, new IE, new webapps...and while for most people here it's a big MEH, for the sheer majority of users using MS products it will be a _huge_ thing.
Vista is not just XP SP3 - I've tried out the beta and I like it much better than XP: it's more stable, you're not running as admin, it's improved security a lot - and this might actually make regular users dislike it since it asks your everytime it needs to do something "unusual", Joe user just wants it to work, no clicks, even if it trashes his machine.
Office might not bring a lot of technical improvements (yay for Save as PDF after years with OO), but it will bring a huge UI change which will make users more productive.
IE7, although arguably inferior to Firefox, is much better than IE6, and for people who have not user Firefox/Opera it will be great. The rendering is better, it's more standards compliant.
Live has some neat ideas, they still have lots of work, but it's playing decent catch-up. They have the data that google has, MSN has been crawling the web for years, they just have to improve the way to get that data.
MS has been lazy in the past years, but they work the best when they have clear competition, and with Google, Firefox, Linux/OSX, OO they have clear targets.
You can't honestely think the largest software company in the world that has LOTS of smart people working there and has virtually unlimited resources will go away because they now don't have 95% of the market, but 94%...
"They have TONS and TONS of highly qualified techies who are working to make new products that MANY people will buy."
What product do people go out of their way to buy?
Please do not include:
1) Windows - It's preloaded. Try to buy a dell/toshiba/whatever without it.
2) Office - it's required to do business. People don't buy it because they "want" it. They buy it because they have to..
So where are these products that bring people out at midnight at CompUSA to buy? In your world, MS is making tons of these products, and I can't think of one!
Ummm this is microsoft we are talking about, that is not how they do business.
All 'embrace' jokes aside, they dont take risks like that. No need for them to start now.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
So there's nothing on the horizon. But somehow we gotta sell our subscriptions. How're we gonna make people buy subscriptions for nothing?
I know. Have someone write a rumor 'bout us releasing something soon!
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Digg has a link to some HTML that can cause XP to restart. It is here:
s _Windows_XP
http://digg.com/security/Simple_HTML_code_restart
Mayhaps you will eXPerience a flash from the past.
Since when was DOS made in-house? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DOS
You will be able to see none of this unless you also have a shiny new Bitboys Oy's GLAZE3D video card!
the author believes that Microsoft will unleash an abundance of next-generation applications that will take everyone by surprise
... Minesweeper.
... Hearts... HEARTS, ladies and gentleman, now coming with resizable cards, never before seen.
Finally someone with a positive eye towards Microsoft. They can surprise us now, come on. I can almost see it...
Gates: And now, ladies and gentleman, the event you're anticipating all evening, presenting the new, BETTER and SMOOTHER... [the presentation projector shows an image]
[storm of applauds in the public]
Gates: THIS Minesweeper game... is totally redesigned, TOTALLY reimagined to make use of our incredible new framework, WinFX.
[applauds]
Gates: Oh, and ONE MORE THING...
[the public goes crazy]
Gates: We've also redesigned
"...Microsoft will unleash an abundance of next-generation applications that will take everyone by surprise."
That would be very surprizing, indeed.
Microsoft is so rich, they could do almost anything.
But they probably won't deliver any of these big surprizes.
Microsoft's own, last century corporate culture is the biggest problem they have to face.
They simply can't step over their own shadow: they simply don't understand the shift, which has happened as the result of the Internet. They clearly did not recognize the importance of it and how it has changed everything.
They jump on the bandwagon, they are trying hard to keep up with the latest catchfrazes, but they only follow, it just sounds fake from their mouth. They are as if Michael Douglas were trying to play Romeo with a teenage beauty Juliet.
In fact, their biggest efforts (eg. pushing DRM) are focusing on trying to put the genee back into the bottle. Their corporate mindset can't deal with any concept, outside of the corporate world. This used to be their strength, but now it's a liability. They don't understand any community, which is not based on corporate structure.
Since the rise of Internet the paradigm shift is to tap into the previously unthinkable power of communities, which are not bound to traditional corporations.
All the "recent last big things" were related to discovering, creating global communities without any corporate or other traditional organizational boundaries.
Microsoft is completely lost in these areas.
Microsoft is like a filthy rich old man, who's vision is degraded to black and white, while the world has turned extremely colourful.
This old man can't even go to auctions to buy up the best available "next big things" - he is not only not able to invent them, he can not even recognize them any more.
Um, no. Their execs scammed investors by fudging annual reports to hide the real corporate income levels. They made money on the sale of stock at inflated prices and by demanding exhorbitant salaries based on claims of producing fictional profits, not by actually taking money for themselves under the table.
There have been claims that some of Microsoft's accounting practices have been questionable, with slush funds created in times of high growth (i.e. 1995), to delay reporting that income for later years. There's also the way employee stock options have not been declared as liabilities on the balance sheet. In other words, Microsoft have been gaming the stock market and investors as well, they have (probably) just barely stayed on the legal side instead of crossing into blatant fraud.
The comparison between Microsoft and Enron is a stretch, but not completely undeserved.
Like any behemoth in the face of rapid change, Microsoft has much to fear. Its reflexes are not what they used to be. Specifically, Microsoft (and a bunch of other big computer companies including Intel) has failed to acknowledge the biggest problem facing the computer industry today. It's the problem of software unreliability and our inability to manage and create highly complex and safe systems. This is the reason that none of us are riding in self-driving vehicles today among other things. Clearly, something needs to be done and quick. But the big guys have no idea what this something is. That's where the fear comes in. Some other company may come into the ring out of nowhere with a definitive solution that takes everybody by surprise. Microsoft and the others would then be left in the dust holding on to yesterday's obsolete technology.
At this point I just want Microsoft to go away. They've corrupted the computer industry. Before their vendor-lockin tactics, software was designed to be crossplatform. Now they have everyone convinced that "designed for WinXX" or "best viewed in IE" is the way the world is supposed to be.
No thanks. Please, just get out of the software industry and let people that actually care about the consumers and quality products have some room.
I cannot understand how so many people make a living because of Microsoft and yet these same people whine and bitch about it. Grow up look at what products butter your bread and move on. NO other product on the market can compare to the ease of use, installation and support of Microsoft products. I say all you children need to put your pocket protectors back on and wipe the tears from your eyes. You are supposed to be professionals. (I use that term loosely!) Act like it! Go ahead and flame me, it just proves I am right.
If microsoft released a whole bunch of stuff, they'd get nailed with so many monopoly lawsuits it could actually bankrupt them. That's why they have to be late to the game, otherwise they will be accused of antitrust(not that they won't anyways, but it would be easier).
stuff |
Anyone remember Creature House? Microsoft bought them out a few years back. Just a couple of weeks after they released a beta version of LivingCels, a next gen 2D animation package which was most definitely a Flash killer. Creature House Expression's in the Microsoft stable now, just one of a line of graphics products (http://www.microsoft.com/products/expression/en/d efault.mspx).
But LivingCels?
Is it possible that revolutionary, industry-shaking animation software can really just vanish without trace...?
1. Article about yet-to-be-announced MS vaporware?
2. More than 50% of the comment responses are, "Go Go Gadget MSFT!"
3. Numerous replies talking about the superiority of Vista, Office 11, and IE7, even after all 3 are in beta, and the "primary" MSFT review sites (like winsupersite) say things like, "Nice, a decent upgrade, but not earth shattering....
Smells like astroturf. This article was posted as an MS fanboi wank-fest, and I suspect there may even be an MSFT plant here and there.
And yes, Slashdot is big enough (haven't you seen the tech rags quoting slashdot COMMENTS for god sakes! (even business week in the tech section)). Astroturfing blogs is a sound business/political strategy; that's why the Government wants to regulate blog political speech.
WhiteWolf666 an exBush supporter. All you new-school,compassionate,save the children Republicans can rot in hell
...way way back when hardware cost a LOT more than the software that run on it, if you mean normal office type stuff. Now? They have a business model where over the counter prices are much higher for just their OS and one application than what the computer cost. They can't keep that sort of thing going on forever, they will have to keep dropping prices down, even to the OEMS. And they still aren't out of the woods yet with the european commission and huge areas of the planet are moving to open source, even if "piracy" is still common. Software piracy is a big issue inside the WTO and a lot of countries that currently tolerate it are going to find out it will bite them hard if they continue, and MS can't compete officially in those areas because they simply charge too much. It is one thing to ask some first world person to pop a few hundred for an OS and one app, but someplace else where that might be two or three months gross pay to people..nope, they are going to be needing a new business model soon. Now I wouldn't argue that the US is still a huge market and they will continue to do well here, but as the rest of the planet starts moving away, eventually even US companies who do busines internationally are going to see it is fairly ridiculous to keep dropping millions a year on licenses for in essence a web browser, file manager and something to type up memos and documents with. It is just *silly* to spend a lot of money on those functions now.
Besides some propietary business apps that are windows only, the biggest impediment for a switch to anything else over MS is the so called "gaming" community. They honestly don't care, biggest bunch of me me me me me wimps out there. The computing world in general would be a lot better off without gamers dominating the PC, I so much wish they would stick to consoles and stop b0rking the PC market with their useless fantasy drivel. We wouldn't have forced hardware upgrades and the other 99% uses/users of computers could finally bust away from expensive and buggy code easier. I *don't care* if every three months their are new whizzbang videocards, they are without any doubt at all the computing equivalent of one fat guy driving a SUV back and forth to work 100 miles a day carrying a briefcase and a laptop, a total waste of resources.
Google makes a search engine, a mapping tool, and some related portal-esque stuff.
Microsoft makes operating systems, office products, servers, video games, developer tools, PVR software, home finance software, an encyclopedia, computer hardware and accessories, a search engine, and a mapping tool.
So how do you get that can Google topple Microsoft? Especially since the revenue generating things at Microsoft are not the ones Google is attacking?
Perhaps Slashdot will tell me that Mattel will topple Toyota because both make cars. Or maybe Hormel will topple Taco Bell because they both make meat products. (hmmm... well, maybe neither of them do.)
One reason is they don't have to be revolutionary. The stuff Microsoft makes needs to make sure MS keeps a certain market they already dominate, and, if a competitor shows up, such as Apple, Google, Sony or Oracle, to leverage the huge user base of Windows and Office to make inroads in that area too, and also to buy the technology needed to do that. The problem facing Microsoft is that the competition is much more tenacious and better now than in the 1990s and earlier.
Another problem is that the PC market is not growing exponentially any more. Businesses feel they don't need to upgrade their hardware, operating systems or office suites as often as they used to. Microsoft needs to find other sources of revenue: services.
They need to make somthing like iTunes Music Store, but for TV shows and games, not only music, and they need to do it before Apple or Sony gets something running. No harm in that. Let them try. But it won't be a major leap forward. It won't be geared towards creating a wow factor, but towards real sales. Microsoft is a great sales machine, not a great technology company. They don't need to be.
Beauty is in the beholder of the eye.
Microsoft's demise won't happen in our lifetimes. Sorry Apple and Linux users, but most people in the real world want best of breed applications. With few exceptions, the ones you find run on Windows boxes. In my particular part of the the business world (a law firm), the penetration of Apple and Linux is functionally zero. When I attend national professional technical meetings, and look at the hundreds of vendors supporting this market, Apple and Linux based systems are non-existent. I firmly believe Linux is a competitive server OS and Apple has stylish boxes, but neither of these are compelling reasons to adopt their use when best of breed business applications that run on them are practically non-existent.
Microsoft buys and then extends. Their OS, their web browser, their complier, their protocols, their... nearly everything. That is their biz model. That is their "innovation".
Despite all the rumors about Google and how it will topple Microsoft, I don't see that happening in the near future ... people (and I don't mean technology enthusiasts) will continue to purchase Microsoft products simply because of the sheer familiarity and comfort levels (BSoD et al) that they have with Microsoft software.'
No, people (and I don't mean technology enthusiasts) will continue to purchase Microsoft products simply because it's Microsoft products that come in the bundle that's included with their PC. Doesn't matter whether it's an in-store purchase, or a checkbox they clicked on the web, 99% of the time, the decision is: do I order a PC with Windows and Office, or just Windows?
from SS(/. summary):
:)
others say Microsoft is silent before a deadly storm
never ever has anyone said some fact like this...
my system always hangs before showing me the BSOD [AKA deadly strom], yours might vary
everyone downmodding this post will be prosecuted for reading my post without first buying a license!!!
Problems With Latest Windows PatchesApril 11 2006
What kind of a design is it that breaks the printer when you patch the browser?
davecb5620@gmail.com
It has never been Microsoft's way to keep hush about their upcoming products. Maybe they've changed their tactics, but I don't think so. The recent press releases about MS changing their slogan would seem to suggest that MS is not one to keep quiet about any little change.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
Who cares about the software????
Or so Slashdot morons having been saying for the past 10 years.
China's been there and tried the "great leap forward" approach before ... we know how well that one worked out.
It would be pretty simple.
1. You only need an operating system to run apps.
2. If Google provides apps for everything you need, then it doesn't matter what OS you have as long as you have an operating system. So for example if Google provided a Google Office and Google Calender and say Google AV....etc and then Google has just cut Microsoft's revenue in half by taking out Microsoft Office. People would still need an OS to get online of course but any OS would do for that so people could stick with XP forever or get Macs, Linux...etc.
And thats how it would be done.
Mac OS X and Windows XP working side by side to fight back the night.
Did they not do the same thing in the past saying how sucre and fast and stable ME is and that is fixs X amount of problems... I am tired of windows and that it is the largest thing on the block... We need competition amongs this 800 lbs gorrila and I think that apple and Linux are stepping into the right direction... That is why I am giving up Windows for the Next round of OS I will not drop any money on to it and will be switching to Apple's OS X for my main computing and looking in on SuSe 10... But MS needs a threat so that we as consumers are not left to what one company can dream up but to have several in the hunt for our money...
"The Only Way Evil Men Can Succeed, Is if Good Men Stand By and do Nothing"
However, Microsoft has serious financial outlook issues-- they are coping with market saturation in the developed world, lack of copyright enforcement in developing nations, resurgent competition, and the burden of proof in further operating system antitrust cases.
And they have their economy of scale to contend with.
If Windows or Office sales slow at all, they will cause a direct impact on Microsoft's bottom line. Their profit is a pretty simple mx+b line where b is somewhere in the negative billions of dollars. Indeed, I have estimated that if Microsoft lost only 30% of their current customer base, they would likely become unprofitable as a software vendor. Granted this isn't going to happen in the next year or so, but it will occur over time.
When this occurs, Microsoft will have to reinvent themselves. They might become an open source services company, or we might be drinking Microsoftdrinks.
LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
So if that friendly postal worker gives you a Stepford-like smile and says: "Where do you want to go today?"
Quickly turn and walk the other way.
But that's because of crap hardware drivers (Cheap ass VIA chipset), it has nothing to do with the OS. As is probably 90-95% of the BSoD in windows these days, some obscure or shitty piece of hardware that someone bought just because it was cheap.
It's unpleasant to suddenly realize someone let out Microsoft in the room, but could you really consider it Silent but Deadly?
Microsoft was recently rated "low" in customer satisfaction. People are stuck with MS because it systematcally eliminates alternatives. It comes with the box they buy.
Hey, it has a word processor, and while it has no hard drive and the Internet didn't even exist when it was made it DOES have a nifty handle on the back, one of those fancy new 3.5" drives, and 2K of static RAM!
A total knockoff of Mac OSX graphics that will somehow not run on the current years' hardware, when OSX can run on freaking underpowered Apple computers from the last 5 years!
Never mind that consumer computers are slower than ever, with people buying wifi laptops and cell phones instead of big multimedia gaming desktops. I'm so glad they found a way to bilk more money from their customers instead of offering free new features that work like Google - with current hardware and software.
And they were doomed.
Empires fall suddenly, unexpectedly, and often without forewarning.
Nothing is certain.
Microsoft has very bad karma.
A lahore from Mt. Rainier could take out their main complex and then what would they do?
The thing is McDonalds changed with the times. From the old styrofoam take home containers to the eco friendly paper bags. And now, dozens of Ronald McDonalds and several lawsuits later, they're changing the menu to include more healthy friendly choices. Granted the Xbox was pretty cool, but so was the Atari 2600 or the lightbulb for that matter. I'm still using Win2k to play my windows games. There just isn't a reason to upgrade.
More to the point, how often has Microsoft really come out with something innovative that took the world by storm? It's released rehashes of products it bought from other people, but I can't think of many cutting edge, out-of-nowhere advancements that have come from them. It's not really their core competancy is it? Which isn't to say they can't produce some slick stuff when they want to, but rather they're more often riding the coat tails of smaller trailblazers (who they either crush or swallow in the following years).
Wood Shavings!
- Godai
Must I end everything with "-NOT" for some of you?
Is this the same Microsoft that's been silently fixing security holes with some of their patches recently ?
Wanna fight ? Bend over, stick your head up your ass, and fight for air.
What about if they are preparing to atack free software with their patents? :(
Does this article deserve even /.ing?
I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
I dont know why anybody would think more bells and whistles are an upgrade for an OS. You can add bells and whistles yourself in the form of applications. Out of the box, I'd consider speed, stability and compatibility the only features of importance to an OS.
Note: many people think that there is an anti-Microsoft bias among Slashdot moderators. This comment, however, is proof *) to the contrary: Although it points out Microsoft's lack of security, it will be modded down!
*) Note to the nitpickers: technically, it's not proof. Just another data point. In addition to all the others!
Indeed, your example clearly shows that despite heavy pen testing by the black hacker, the penguin does not blow up!
Oh come on, seriously, when's the last time you've had a BSoD? I've only had two on all my XP and Server 2003 machines combined (both on XP) - and that's quite a few - and was because of Creative Labs drivers, which - as everyone knows - suck. In this case the BSoD was just a kernal panick because the driver was doing or about to do something terrible and linux et. al. would've reacted no differently.
So, get off the BSoD kick. I'm doing kernel debugging, user mode debugging, development, running all sorts of apps (both Microsoft and non-Microsoft) and haven't had BSoDs in years except for that Creative Labs driver I installed (and soon after uninstalled!).
Yes, but the question is: profit for whom, exactly? For Red Hat? For IBM? For the retail chains?
What?!?
I think the secret sauce is still that if you build the OS, you can build the best apps for that OS (where best is certainly subjective - but let's drive it by "most used"). Microsoft->Office, Apple->iLife.
In other words, he who smelt it, dealt it.
--
graphicallyspeaking
graphically speaking
In a few paragraphs, explain why, as a business guy interested in a return on my investment, I should put down a few grand on Office 2007.
"While we love to hate the Redmond giant, there is no denying that wherever there is money, whatever is the next big thing; Microsoft invariably ends up being there sooner rather than later."
I read the whole article, but knew as soon as I read this sentance that I didn't really need to. When has MS *ever* been "sooner rather than later" to the next big thing? Historicaly they have been the ones slow to the punch. One rather outstanding example... the internet.
We have enough youth, how about a fountain of SMART?
Microsoft is a lot like Anheuser-Busch... Both are global forces and probably aren't going anywhere soon. But you feel kinda guilty after buying anything from either of them, and you usually have a bad taste in your mouth for days...
-- Never hit a man with glasses. Hit him with a baseball bat.
Yup. But this is Slashdot.
In Soviet Russia, our new overlords are belong to all your base.
besides support M$'s nasty long filename overlay hack.
I would say exactly the opposite: that 95 was the biggest nothing-new ripoff in the history of Office
oh, you must mean a SHITSTORM
If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was probably worth it.
Microsoft has "been in trouble" in the past. Symantec used to do compilers on both Mac and PC, and had developed "Bedrock", a technology that would allow a developer to develop one app, then compile it for both environments seamlessly, including all windowing.
Microsoft still here?
Netscape was building the virtual computer -- very few applications need serious, native-compile number crunching. And you'd just run this virtual computer in your Netscape web browser. Presto! No OS needed whatsoever, at least beyond a bare bones needed to support a Netscape. Microsoft would die a quick death (as would Apple) when people realized all they needed was this little virtual computer.
Microsoft still here?
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
You WILL upgrade whether you like it or not, because MS will End-Of-Life XP as soon as possible and cut off updates to everything but Vista. You and I both can see that coming. I guarantee you that there are enough yet-to-be-discovered critical flaws in XP as to make it unsafe to run 2 or 3 years from now. When they stop patching XP, you will be forced to upgrade to Vista. You (and I) will take it and say "Thank you Sir, may I have another".
Microsoft will unleash an abundance of next-generation applications that will take everyone by surprise.
Yay! Vista. Word 12. Excel 12! PowerPoint 12!! FrontPage 12!!!~! OutRage 12!!!!!!
And all of them bundled as Office 2007!!!1!!!!!
I can't wait.
thegodmovie.com - watch it
I keep hearing that Microsoft's upgrades are basically trash. Our shop is running Microsoft and we have been running Software Assurance so we upgrade every time. The changes are subtle, yes, but I've upgraded at home every step of the way after seeing the massive benefits here at work. I mean, I remember some really basic stuff like how in 95/98 it was so much damned work to set up new hardware. Networking was a pain in the ass. Then comes ME and despite its problems, all the sudden I had real plug and play functionality. XP brought in a ton of new features with networking, allowing me to control all sorts of devices remotely, including hijacking user's machines to do fixes. Not only that but XP rarely burps and never blue screens. This stuff is huge for IT departments and it would take a serious departure from reality or perhaps a course in idiotic "damn the man" ideology to not see the benefits Microsoft is putting out there for you. Ignorance has to be what causes most of the complaints. Then again, Linux users, you get what you pay for. You wouldn't know it if you hadn't paid for and tried to learn the software.
Hundreds of comments from the doom and gloom slashdot readers who have been predicting the end of Microsoft for years == nothing new.
... MS isnt going away because XYZ distro of Linux has a better flux capasitor warp drive interface communications condit architecture!
... not because it is the best == news flash.
Microsoft continuing to make software (not the best much of the time i agree) that is used by millions of people everyday == nothing new.
I know which one i would say has been more successful.
Get with the program people
Software is successful because people use it
Oh! Wow! When was the last time you had a blue screen of death? Running on ultra-cheap worthless memory are you? Shall I bash you with some issues from Linux that are >5 years old? You can do better than that can you? Or not?
I'd like to ignore such crap myself, but I know I'll be hearing it over and over again. The upgrade train is building up steam again. Because so many people have been burnt before, M$ is having to crank up the volume more than usual. The article is a sorry apology for M$'s glacial six year OS pace and inability to do anything innovative. Just the same, we are going to hear more of the same. M$ might be deadly, but they are never silent because hype and anti-competitive tactics are all they have. People speculate they are dead because that's how you describe a listless company with mediocre product in a competitive market.
It's nice to see the typical, loud M$ build up to their next release. I can remember the idiots who bought and echoed all the XP hype without ever having run it. "It's based on NT Technology so it's like solid," I overheard some marketdroid in a supermarket. That's the level of penetration M$ achieves with billions of dollars worth of advert budget. Similar stupid things could be heard a year before the release 2000, 98, "the end of DOS, USB support", 95, "the 32 bit computing and the end of DOS, a real multitasking GUI.." Some people still believe these things.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
If Origami is any indication, MS is fscked.
At a recent Korean demonstration showing off Origami hardware, the software hung and choked many times.
or... how 'bout the TABLET PC??
Welcome to /.
author says : "While it doesn't have too many earth shattering features, it looks phenomenal."
that pretty much says it for me...Purushot!
MS Bob 2006!
Get a free ipod.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Never underestimate the POWER of the dark side!
Your business model? Comment as an AC and state the obvious as if it's a bad thing?
whose company looked over the hill.
They're delayed and vermillion
but have fifty billion
so can bear to keep pumping out swill.
Cake or Death? Cake Please!
I almost never buy from McDonalds, there are so many alternatives. There isn't a single thing McDonalds has that I can't get elsewhere.
Can you say the same for Microsoft? Nope, too much vendor lock-in to their OS.
Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
Agreed. But careful with that McDonalds comparison.
You don't want a woman with a tag "1 Billion served...":D
The best planning can be done after the project completes.
Steve Ballmer is waving FUD again with his threat to sue "Linux"! But I think the Microsoft managers including Bill are doing some brainstorming on how to make money with FOSS. A hint is maybe the combination of the give away of the Virtual Server and together with VS support for Linux (alas not free) as well as the drop of the shieldieng of the MS Linux-Lab. BTW Linus patched the OS bridging proof of concept virus in no time (1 day) - lets see how fast MS will do it ;o)
As a company grows, so does its consumers. Eventually, the company gets "new" consumers in the form of children / young adults. These consumers are exposed to the products from outset, forcing the larger company to lose its stronghold in favor of the "better" one.