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Paul Graham Claims "Microsoft is Dead"
netbuzz writes "He doesn't mean dead as in six feet under, but rather that the software giant no longer instills the kind of fear — particularly among entrepreneurs — that it did back in the day when it was making road kill out of companies like Netscape. Microsoft obits have been around for almost as long as the company, but Graham's stature, style and devoted following are likely to make this one a classic."
I can't speak for Mr. Graham, but I know my friends and I all use Macs, and always have. I've actually never seen any of my friends buy a new PC. Of course, I live in Brooklyn; prevailing attitudes towards operating systems must surely differ in red-state East Jesus...
comma
The only thing Microsoft should be worried about is Google IMHO. Anybody smaller will be assimilated. Resistance is futile.
Loyalty to any specific company in the computing industry is like being loyal to vaccuum tubes over transistors. It makes no sense. Go with the best.
The way I see it, people who adamantly choose Apple or some 'innovator' solution are the ones who have loyalty involved with their decisions instead of sheer usability/efficiency etc. People who choose Microsoft do so because it is simply the best solution in today's workplace for productivity. If and when that changes (i.e. when a critical mass switches to something more productive) those people will switch and loyalty will have nothing to do with it. They are the more flexible ones. Not the people who are 'Apple 4 life!' fanboys.
TLF
I do not respond to cowards. Especially anonymous ones.
This is a flame or a troll. Not insightful. Insightful would be saying that Microsoft is dying because they've completely lost touch with the world of computing. Insightful would be saying that Microsoft never was in touch with the world of computing, only with their own little microcosm.
SRSLY.
It amuses me every time some genius claims "only dumb people use Microsoft". Have you seen what they're doing to enable software developers? The WPF/WCF/WWF trifecta from .NET 3.0 are amazing pieces of technology and the automation they provide, like Enterprise Library 3.0, the software guidance libraries, etc... are innovative and stunningly useful. Biztalk 2006 is an amazing product. SQL Server 2005 is an amazing product.
Microsoft isn't going anywhere and the people _really_ into computers are using their technology. Microsoft will always win because they enable software developers to a level your average Linux sysadmin dude who drools when he hears about the latest GTK toolkit (give me a fucking break, how primitive) cannot understand.
You people focus on the desktop OS too much. Go look around msdn.microsoft.com and tell me Microsoft is doing nothing intriguing today. I can crank out a WS-I compliant web service with WSE-Security compliant Kerberos authentication, loggging, workflow automation, role based authorization, and Policy injection in literally one hour. Doing the same with Java or your average random open source tools would take days, and it wouldn't be nearly as simple, maintainable, or functional. You'd have to use commercial tools to even come close, and you'd still be missing functionality and it would take several hours.
You people seem to be on some kind of nerd jihad against Microsoft. The first rule of warfare is don't underestimate your enemy. The fact is that Microsoft has the best software minds in the world working for them. You all focus on Windows, but Microsoft will win this war nn the server and in the enterprise because they cater to the software developer.