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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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
Silent? Deadly? I don't know, but they sure stink.
You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
True, but don't they only have 2 profitable divisions (windows and office)?
Ohhh! Pay Dirt! A pair of half-eaten choco-pants!
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
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.
No, wait, this is the way Windows already works..
I'm not insane. My mother had me tested.
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?
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.
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
"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?
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??