Slashdot Mirror
A Microsoft-Speak Timeline - From Altair to Zune
netbuzz writes "No company has had more to say about software over the past 30 years than Microsoft (for better or worse). How they've said it — the actual language used — reveals a lot about the company's evolution and is the focus of a new timeline. There's a look back at a 'tag cloud' provided by the Seattle P-I. In addition to analyzing the linguistics of about 90 documents, there are also links to such gems as Bill Gates' Playboy interview and his famous 'Open Letters to Hobbyists.' From the article: 'We're talking all the way from Altair to Zune, with stops along the way for every technology the company developed, bought or borrowed, right on through to current entanglements with Vista, Linux and Google. The tool allows for an at-a-glance view of company priorities as they evolve and shift.'"
Even in their marketing material, "programmers" and related terms are often more prominent than "users." Bill & co realized early on that the way to get users is to get software that users want/need. They've been courting developers since the beginning and I've never seen (historically speaking - since I was born about the time Altair came out) that they deviated from that plan. Apple didn't start this model until OS X came out and even Linux is only just starting to lower the barrier to entry for developers of *desktop software*. (that's not entirely true, actually, but we in the Linux community have generally treated trolltech/QT like redheaded step children so if you don't count them the previous statement is passable)
It's interesting that the word "users" features much more prominently in some of the earlier texts than it does in the later ones.
I find the absence of the word 'security' very interesting. I wasn't expect to see a word like 'quality' of course.
stored on computers from birth to the grave
Try embedding an Excel spreadsheet into your non-MS calendar, or pasting a MS Word doc into a non-MS email app. It doesn't work so well, does it? The incredible inter-operability and compatibility that you're describing exists because MS has direct control over all the specifications and interfaces for pretty much all the apps most people use today.
MS didn't "innovate" the idea of getting everyone to use only MS apps for everything. If any company held such a powerful monopoly, they could do something similar. MS enjoys a greater degree of compatibility and interoperability in their software because they control the whole game - the OS, the browser, the word processor, the spreadsheet, etc. are all totally under the control of MS. If a small company has a truly innovative idea, they have to fit it within the existing inflexible MS specs and APIs, or they're out of luck. Meanwhile, if MS has even the slightest idea for a new feature, they can just re-mold the entire OS and application architecture to implement it.
What if you could get better gas mileage in a Ford, but you could only use Ford gas and drive on Ford roads? Would that be considered "innovative"? Requiring people to commit themselves to a restricted proprietary environment in order to get the benefits of interoperability is a sign of lazy development at best and anti-competitive profiteering at worst - but if that's what they call "innovation" these days, who am I to argue?
Keep saying something enough and it will become true. Gates just lies and lies in the Playboy interview:
What was the first microcomputer software company? Microsoft.
WRONG Digital Research was found the year before, it was also the company Microsoft stole DOS from....
And who were we imitating when we did Microsoft Word? When we did Excel?
WordPerfect and Lotus 1-2-3......
As you move the slider forward through time you start to see less "computer" words (like Altair, cassette, floppy etc) and more "business" words (agreement, indemnification, patented etc). That's very telling all by itself.
You are so boring that when I see you my feet go to sleep.
Who were we imitating..
Oh, DEC BASIC, Wordstar and Lotus 123.
try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
In fact, there's the famously funny exchange on crossfire where Stewart has to remind his hosts their show is on CNN whereas his show is followed by puppets making crank calls.
C'mon buddy--- get real... If anyone's looking to "Comedy Central" for news on what's going on in the world, they've got bigger problems than a left-wing bias- that's for damn sure.
And as much as Blogs might be a concern, frankly, if you have the wherewithall to subscribe/read a blog, then you're far better off than the remote jockey that takes in his news in the 30 minutes before South Park. Chances are you're aware of the slant and prefer that blog for that specific reason- and remember, blogs are not governed with the same liability and adherence to source material as traditional broadcast media... But, hey, at least you're literate- Congrats!
I'd have modded ya up anyway just for the assertion that FOX/CNN/MSNBC are absurd- even sans the caveat... My .02--- keep the change.